Sophisticated yet uncomplicated, misty yet vibrant, luxurious yet disquieting, 'Melody's Echo Chamber' is a lovely record full of dualities.

Bastille’s choral, digestible power pop DNA is present, but grittier than usual.

Recorded with longtime producer Neal Avron, Southern Air isn't a major step away from the band's previous work but a return to the original fire of their early years.

The cover boasts No Thrills, but listen to the music inside and you'll know nothing can be further from the truth.

Where Westerman’s debut suffers is in its consistency: there’s such a distinctive sonic palette that, within a batch of tracks whose tempo never steps past ‘mid’, it’s hard for individual offerings to always stand out. But really he’s done the hard work; now Westerman’s defined his niche, all he has to do is refine it a little.

Energetic, furious and deeply lamentful, perhaps the main achievement here is how Italia 90 so forwardly address a near fifty-year old cultural heritage which so many depend on yet take for granted.

Regardless of how wonderful, awful or daunting it sounds in principle, Laibach command that you listen to it regardless.

Despite an overall likeability and affable sheen--it’s a little flatter than that.

At times, the overly-clean production does the songs themselves a disservice, but otherwise everything about ‘Panic Shack’ feels in its right place. Book-ended by two tracks about friendship, this is a debut that presents its protagonists as a gang everyone’s going to want to join.

Twenty years on from their debut, ‘The Big Come Up’, it’s a statement of how far they’ve come, as well as an indicator of where they might be heading next.

Umberto has created something which, despite being by its very nature incidental, is incredibly enveloping.

There’s still that personable rawness to her production – the synthetic drums and often sparse arrangement mirroring her frequently despondent lyrical themes (“The death of everything real has happened…” begins ‘apathy is wild’). But her vocal offers warmth.

As a listen, it doesn’t always completely land, but when it does it’s truly exciting. As an artist, ‘Did You Know That There’s A Tunnel Under Ocean Blvd’ shows Lana Del Rey pushing herself perhaps more than ever.

A reminder of the echoing, scatter-brain drumming trips of the good old days.

It’s comforting like an old blanket. Perhaps a bit itchy in places, but when things get cold it’s just what you need.

There are points here where it threatens to remain a little samey – the ‘80s radio pop of ‘Yesterday’ quickly becomes repetitive, while ‘ICU’ hints at something more yet never quite gets going – but mostly ‘Sniff More Gritty’ is another solid release.

While stuffing itself with enough insight to force its listeners to acknowledge contemporary issues, also present is enough charm and wit to remind us of the importance to having a little fun along the way.

Sucker Punch does much as the name suggests. It’s full of swooping, dramatic choruses and clean-cut vocals, where almost every song is a potential radio hit--only that’s not a bad thing.

This record might not quite affiliate the soundtrack to your stereotypical image of a hoedown, but it’d more than cater for the boozy walk home under starry skies.

Gone the mangled Nuggets riffs and LSD infected yelps, replaced instead by slide guitars and deranged yee-haws. It shouldn’t really work, but it does.

The trick is that, while you know that she's stretching, she never sounds anything less than completely comfortable and in total control.

‘GULP!’ isn’t Sports Team’s number one-scoring album (that could well be still to come). What it does offer is a heft of new ammo for pint-flinging, moshpitting chaos on the dancefloor.

This is one of the most engaging dance albums you're likely to hear this year.

‘Children of the Sky’ and ‘Gravity’ both prove that its possible for the duo to summon up genuine atmosphere without bogging down the songs with overcooked compositions. There’s still the odd experimental misstep - the meandering ‘Eyes of the Overworld’ in particular - but for the most part, ‘X…’ is endearingly light on its feet in a manner that suggests a real rejuvenation in Conrad and Jason’s creative partnership.

‘Natural Brown Prom Queen’ is Sudan Archives’ most accessible record to date. An unashamedly brash and confident one, but much more subtle and realistic. Rumbling beats, smooth R&B grooves, with just a touch of the experimental. Yet, in opening itself wider, it loses some of the sharp idiosyncrasies that made the early material so exciting.

Even when 'Turns Turns Turns' or the astonishingly upfront 'Bugs Don't Buzz' offer vital, personal refuge, an evil, grating side to you will crave a crescendo, a clamouring climax all coloured and epic. Majical Cloudz is the antithesis of such, but when he flirts with dangerous grey areas, he actually ends up striking gold.

While ‘Harlecore’ may be primed to bring the party, it’s just not quite the mad one we were hoping for.

Individually these would be two good albums. But as a complimentary pair they become much more.