Listened to as a journey from beginning to end, this is a genuine attempt to progress to pastures new after With Teeth.

If this truly is the end, Sauna Youth should be more than proud of the work they've created. It is an oeuvre many would be lucky to have, and this album detailing the struggles of balancing your art with every day working life is at once frustrating but relatable and rewarding.

The Chills’ most compelling album yet.

There really isn’t anything wrong with this album. It’s just the most amazing sugar rush you’re going to have this year, and is what, at this point in time, sounds strongly like the best debut album by a British indie band since Tigermilk.

It is a stunning and ambitious piece of work; one for the ages.

The two sides of the group, both new and old, combine gloriously in Summer, creating a pure pop climax some of the supposed greats of the genre would be proud of.

At a time when many electronic albums sound more like mixed sets than collections of songs, this expansive double album is all the more impressive, with its 33 abruptly separated songs holding the listener captive within Zomby’s edgy world for well over an hour.... It’s unnervingly beautiful.

It’s one for the wider music aficionado too though, a fine opportunity to appreciate the best band of the past 20 years.

The unashamed enthusiasm and fun in 'Elephunk' makes BEP the true heirs to the legendary De La Soul.

Wired with a sense of opportunity, these little Caesars continue to play mother's favourite rather than the ostracised gurning recluses they initially cast themselves as.

Will Bevan's done the unthinkable in managing to both appease and pull the rug out from under his fans.

It’s how Interpol would sound like if they dealt with universal themes and reflection rather than singing about fellatio fantasies with Stella, or their length of loves.

They turn critics into gibbering wrecks unable to write proper reviews and leave us forced to just string together our favourite lyrics like a damn teenage girl scribbles Tokio Hotel choruses onto her bed headboard. But, y’know. Hairier.

In four minutes of this record there are two tracks that together have more melodies, more moments of joy, than most bands will manage this year.

Wonderfully accomplished in construction, devastatingly powerful in delivery, Echo Lake have just raised the bar one notch higher for everyone around them.

He has followed up the exceptional Sleep with yet another dazzling work that is “full of echoes, of memories, of associations” that celebrate and reflect this towering writer.

What’s really on display here is a well honed, experienced band flexing their muscles and creating tightly controlled, good old fashioned rock ‘n’ roll music (of a rather cerebral variety) on their own terms, free from the weighty plague of fashion.

Over twenty years later their music continues to connect.

A debut album containing no filler whatsoever, and a record that mirrors the ferocious intensity of those live shows to boot.

Here she’s hacked away the art school whimsy, tossed out the crystals and burned the floaty headscarfs, focussing her talents into ten razor sharp songs, some subtle, some vicious.

Defeatist it may be, but such genius is very rarely recognised in a band’s lifetime. So be it – because there genuinely is no verbal persuasion that could exceed a single listen to America’s most underrated.

Think of Sensuous as like walking round a modern art museum: sometimes difficult to fathom, always a perverse thrill.

Executed with serious flair, it manages the rare feat of being both mentally stimulating and musically satisfying. It is, in every regard, one of the most daring albums you’ll hear this year.

This was written to be listened to, and to be lived. Don’t dream this away.

Inevitably, critics will place Devils & Dust in a trio with Springsteen's other quiet albums Nebraska and The Ghost Of Tom Joad, but be aware that there’s significantly more production polish on Devils & Dust, as well as a wider palette of moods.

From the twin guitar salvos of Mark Goldsworthy and Liam Matthews through to Tom Kelly and Henry Ruddell's flawless rhythm section crowned by Mitchell's voice of reason, they're an unshakable and on this, their long-awaited first LP, an unstoppable force.

This is widescreen alt-rock with an appropriately mammoth production, where euphoric choruses and crushing verses don't just sit alongside each other but ebb and flow to become inextricable entities.

Such is the emotive power of ‘Sea of Blood’, it would be easy for the rest of the LP to be overshadowed by it, but it’s to the credit of Tall Ships and Impressions that this is never a factor.