With ‘Blindness’, The Murder Capital have crafted an album that feels both urgent and timeless. Simply put, it’s nothing short of a triumph.

A masterclass in an emotional build and release, ‘Like A Ribbon’ is a fascinating release.

‘People Watching’ is a bleak but astonishing rumination on our current times, viewed through the lens of Sam’s whirlwind past few years - an album that undoubtedly firms up his position as one of the great songwriters of our time.

None of this is bad - in fact, it’s a collection of classic pop/rock songwriting - but when introduced with the kind of fanfare it is (and yes, compounded by the band’s past work), it feels safe.

While Horsegirl aren’t presenting groundbreaking musical ideas, on this joyful second outing the band clearly aren’t shying away from new sonic personas.

‘Everyone Says Hi’ is impeccably constructed and quietly lush – although towards the latter half, it does threaten to straddle the line between ‘quiet’ and ‘background music’.

‘Polari’ is a feat of punchy alt-pop that embraces the resilient and immortal histories of the queer community, encapsulating Olly Alexander’s alluring, informed artistry as a solo performer.

As insatiably catchy as it is disarming, the album marries its two sides perfectly.

An extraordinary debut that proves Heartworms is a force to be reckoned with.

Given its significant personal story - not to mention its lofty title - ‘Death & Love Pt. 1’ could have been an opportunity for the band to explore meatier topics of mortality and aging; instead, this feels like a frustratingly safe exercise in walking well-trodden paths.

You wonder whether this might have been the record to elevate Sharon Van Etten to arena status in another era; it is that stylish, that confident.

Yes, Squid have travelled the world, but they have also returned home with a sense of self that’s stronger than ever, as sharp as a razor dripping with freshly drawn blood.

A fresh, vital take on what post-hardcore can sound like in 2025.

Minor quibbles aside, ‘Never Exhale’ is a gripping exercise in textured menace.

It’s easy to see how ‘EUSEXUA’ is already being adopted by fans as something far more than an album, the hazy underground equivalent of BRAT summer with a massive injection of purified sex.

The album’s centrepiece, meanwhile, is classic Mogwai in both title and sound (‘If You Find This World Bad, You Should See Some of the Others’), but for the most part here, the band have committed to subtle reinvention.

A gorgeous debut.

That jasmine.4.t should be part of the Phoebe Bridgers cinematic universe is arguably the most glaringly obvious facet of debut album ‘You Are The Morning’. A record brimming with folksy warmth and vivid storytelling, with song structures that build on themselves so smartly as to belie their frequently six-minute-plus length, it brings the phrase ‘match made in heaven’ in mind.

There is a mesmeric quality to the production on the soothing ‘Vista’, while ‘I Don’t Know What To Save’ builds from a sparse, almost whispered vocal delivery to a euphoric chorus.

Alex Kapranos is on typically droll, playful lyrical form, too, grounding the record in Franz tradition, but the sound of ‘The Human Fear’ suggests a band still brimming with ambition.

Darkness and doom prevail. Just how enjoyable that is depends entirely on how much you are prepared to embrace the darkness, and to submit to Ethel Cain’s semi-fictional world.

Though lyrics are undoubtedly Lambrini Girls’ prime weapon of choice, with Phoebe also spitting home truths about police corruption (‘Bad Apple’), workplace misogyny (‘Company Culture’), industry inequality (‘Filthy Rich Nepo Baby’) and more, the record’s instrumentals nevertheless hold the weight of her words with ease; cleaner, more ambitious, and more diverse than the arrangements on 2023 EP ‘You’re Welcome’, they cement the duo as natural successors to modern punk rock greats like Green Day, SOFT PLAY and Amyl and The Sniffers.

Styles twist and turn, from the unabashed radio pop sound that excites on ‘To Kill A Single Girl (Tequila)’ to surprisingly vulnerable closer ‘I Was The Biggest Curse’ via ‘Sweet & Savage’, which has all the mindbending pace shifts of an early 2000s Xenomania production. Lyrically, meanwhile, she barely misses.

Her sixth album is a masterpiece, showcasing her ability to meld reliable sound palettes with some audacious new tricks.

An album that manages to be poignant and pointed without sacrificing any of its unabashed sparkle, ‘Vicious Creature’ adds even more dimension to the Chvrches singer; a sonic origin story that’s been well worth the wait.

‘The Weightless Hour’ is a mature record that sounds completely at peace with its place in life.

As perhaps one of the most refreshing voices in indie folk, ‘Seed Of A Seed’ sees Haley Heynderickx harnessing a uniquely spellbinding and sensitive power.

Kendrick’s sixth studio LP is a masterstroke - exquisitely fuelled by his love of his home city of Compton and his rage at his storied adversary, Drake.