When she turns from fathoming everyone else's existence to her own, and stops frantically waving her style icon credentials, the genius of hers and Mirwais' partnership is overwhelming.

If you're a fan, there's enough of what you expect from the Mac here not to disappoint.

This minor masterpiece of an album is nothing less than a precision exercise in deconstructed songwriting.

Though Manitoba's constructions are joyously slap-dash and defiantly experimental, he still manages to lure the listener in with woozy melodies and strangely beguiling textures.

'Elephant' is already this year's most crucial purchase.

Few debuts are as intriguingly addictive, physically compelling or effortlessly hip as this.

Sound-wise, 'Sleeping With Ghosts' is pretty much flawless.

Musically and vocally, there's few surprises but at least lyrically he's moved on from clever-ish wordplay and inane love songs, to tell tales of being generally screwed-up at the hands of the multi-million dollar pop machine.

Miraculously, given the similarity of the design, 'Meteora' avoids being a stagnant retread of 'Hybrid Theory'.

They've become accomplished, exciting, restrained and wise.

What makes these songs really special is their ability to maintain a pop coherency, whilst being genuinely quirky and experimental.

Despite its essentially downbeat lyrical thrust, 'Us' has joy written all over it and repeat-play etched into its grooves.

The problem is that 'Level II' is a pretty fabulous album caught in the wrong time.

'A Little Deeper' is a lyrical bombshell and its only downfall is that the production has a tendency to sound flat and mundane by comparison.

Neither Callahan's trademark poetic gloom nor his even-keel misanthropy have been ditched in time for 'Supper', but it does see him breathing deeper than before and moving with a surprising spring in his step away from the claustrophobic intensity of his previous work.

A real step forward - a challenging and melodic record.

The most obvious comparison for 'Tomorrow Right Now' is Roots Manuva's 'Run Come Save Me' and the UK's bouncement brigade. And the comparison is a favourable one all round.

Beats-wise, 'La Bella Mafia' is easily the strongest thing she's done, and it seems like Kim has raised her rapping game to match the strength of the music.

Yet though the music may not win any originality awards - Sebadoh and Guided By Voices spring instantly to mind as precursors - there is a refreshing lack of pretension throughout.

A more disparate and yet strangely coherent collection of moods and styles you will not hear this year outside a supremely eclectic compilation.

A unique and beautiful work that will be returned to again and again. Definitely, already, an album of the year.

For now at least this is the sound of a band trying to do too much at once and sinking under the weight of their heroes.

A mighty fine album which neatly sidesteps the tired alt.country tag, 'Feast Of Wire' is an engaging musical road trip that you wish would never end.

You've heard this album before then, but it's never sounded quite this crazed and pressed for time.

'100th Window' is every bit the production masterpiece its predecessors are - in places harkening back to, if not quite matching, the collective's glorious debut.

An album of patchy brilliance but with far too many freewheeling moments.

At times, 'Nocturama' feels like he's trying too hard. Some of the ballads suffer this way, as if Cave's straining to recapture the gravitas of 'The Boatman's Call' without excessive revelations or dramatic contrivance.

50 Cent's skills are better suited to the nagging digi-loops of inevitable smash single 'In Da Club', the steel drum roll-out of 'P.I.M.P.' and '21 Questions' - perhaps the track most like something that you might have found Tupac or Biggie at work on in their prime.