Regardless of what anyone wanted or expected from them though, this brilliant debut sees Diet Cig establishing a complex, nuanced voice with a subtle uniqueness, a fierce emotionality and a great sense of fun.

The result is Mogwai’s most vital release in years; a collection of fully realized pieces that could be the closest they’ll ever come to an unplugged greatest hits.

It’s also a big album: a long, sprawling epic that stretches out for it’s slightly-padded running time, but one so full of ideas and intricacies that it’s an easy album to get sucked into.

Smart, fast and visceral, debut LP Time Team is unpretentious and unfuckwithable; inviting, evasive and very occasionally serene, like a cosmic kaleidoscope peering beneath the totality of existence.

This is the sound of a band that, all things considered, has upheld remarkably high standards over a four decade career, and this eighteenth studio album is the latest highlight in a long list of very genuine standouts.

The album is a collection of songs from a band at the peak of their powers having their cake and eating it too.

The few extra tracks that follow ["Slow Fade"] don’t really do much apart from bloat the run time, which is my only gripe with the record, really. That aside though (and what it lacks in depth, it more than makes up for in atmosphere) it’s an intriguing look at a talented producer carving his own path, and making dancefloors a little bit weirder.

Unpatterns feels like less of a discrete instalment in a collection and more an accomplished blend of the two things James Ford and Jas Shaw do best--gigantic, open-armed, open-air pop, and femur-fracturing analogue techno.

Now Mi Ami are making sense. Now you realise that this band is actually really good. Really, really good. And they make you want to dance.

Whether they're prepared for it or not, 'Open Season' is set to transcend indie cliques and hardcore raving mentalist fanbases and blow BSP wide open.

Despite the variety of influences which went into the making of this album, Band of Horses have a characteristic sound which can occasionally become samey and slightly dull, yet for the most part it gives the album a comforting continuity.

Perhaps the true beauty of Neon Bible is its imperfection.

Magic is a strong record, riddled with sad emotion yet a noble intent to carry on.

This is a loud, confident album, best enjoyed at high volume.

Age Of is a maddening, compelling, even thrilling record that feels like a conclusive summation of everything the Oneohtrix Point Never project has been (or even hinted at) to date.

The music goes over old ground, with none of the inspiration found in Finch's material after-...Burn. Then a post-rock-influenced guitar break arrives and they start to gather momentum.

This is a fantastically arranged and conceptually exquisite record, and as much as it feels like anathema to say that a contemporary pop highpoint has sprouted below the surface, in the case of Class Actress it's true.

The most important thing to establish is that most of this music is extraordinary and that the first half is nigh on faultless... much of the second half really does feels like band or label have tried to airbrush out the stuff the Yanks didn't like so much.

That word, confidence, is one that can be applied to much of the record. For many other bands, it can be hard to pull off accessibility with credibility. Of course, that credibility could falsely come from their community more than anything, but this case is not that simple. There are real take you aback moments on this album that are based on plain pop sensibility above anything else.

Overall, the album is thought-provoking and relevant. It’s an enjoyable listen and one which morphs and draws deeper messages with each listen. The moderate changes in sound only serve to highlight the poignance of the words through unassuming backing.

Thrillingly improbable pop made by a grade-A maverick. Three cheers to that.

What we have in Pala is not some great band reinvention, or some desperately profound effort; it's giant choruses, relatable lyrics, a million earworm riffs and 11 dance anthems.

If the results are as finely crafted as The Harrow & The Harvest, she can take as long as she likes with the next one.

An unerring sense of conflict courses through The Dusk In Us, and while that might sound like business as usual for a Converge record, it’s a testament to Bannon and his cohorts that they remain so compelling nine albums in.

This album sounds more rounded and more complete than her previous releases; the sound of an artist truly ARRIVING and ready to play.

Essentially the real joy is to hear the three original members locking in so tightly together.

While perhaps not as immediate or instantly accessible as Eagulls, it represents a marked progression for a band seemingly intent on developing themselves at every possible juncture.

Comforting, unsettling, danceable; one way or another Macaroni is a record to make you sweat.