This is an organic, homegrown creation that sounds as though it's had a lot of time and love invested in it; lend an inquisitive ear and find yourself instantly besotted.

There'll always be a suggestion that Rise Above is just namby-pamby, pretentious, art-for-art's-sake bollocks, and those whose ears pricked up at the Black Flag connection may well be disappointed that it rarely bears any similarity to its 'parent' album, but either way, at least it's interesting.

There's just so many country records being made, each a replica of another, that in moving away from Phosphorescent's original sound, much of Here's To Taking It Easy has found itself dangerously subscribing to banal convention.

As a representative document of the band's formative years to the present, Creatures Of An Hour is an astounding debut that can only bode well for the future.

This is an impressive record that occasionally tries to cram too many ideas into one place but more than makes up for it in sheer song-writing quality.

As an observer however it’s tempting to shoo him away awhile into the redwood forests, just long enough that he might wrestle with something a little meatier, a work as gently heartbreaking as it is cerebrally seductive.

It’s by no means a flawless debut but it provides a perfect platform from which SOHN can only rise.

None of the live tracks which also appeared across various formats of This Is My Truth...'s singles are included, which is a shame as there was no better live band anywhere on the planet at this point. Nevertheless, this is a rewarding compendium if only as a means of re-evaluating an album that was promptly dismissed by some, yet when all's said and done, in many ways years ahead of its time.

But then after a couple more artistic false starts and nearly-getting-it-together moments, the clouds part and Stay Where You Are' shines through with its grainy 12-string splendour and thrownback halo backing vocals and they finally seem to wake up to what they are: a good pop group.

Treefight For Sunlight isn't a knockout success, but it just about contains enough to suggest that, if there's any justice, the Danes deserve a second crack of the whip.

Koloss, however, is a real triumph of its genre: inventive, surprising, pleasingly punchy, unashamedly aggressive with just enough shade, tone and melody to balance the raucous but impressive production.

Once More ‘Round the Sun has lots to recommend it, but it’s a very safe LP that simply doesn’t provide fans with much they won’t have heard before.

Bibio’s tendency, across the album, to either smooth the edges of his creations into non-threatening abstraction or fail to zone in on his best ideas is frustrating.

On The Thread That Keeps Us, Calexico have splurged. They’ve flexed their muscles and had a go at everything, with the possible exception of speed metal. Some of it has worked, but not all of it. Hopefully, the next album will hone down their sound and focus it like a laser beam.

Their least bowel-emptying tremor to date, it does make one anticipate Sunn O)))’s next move with both excitement and anxiety.

It’s another subtly heart-rending effort from a band that remains one of the very finest in the world. If you needed a reminder of why Low are an institution then this is it.

Many bands have attempted to capture the appeal of college rock at its hight, but Happyness are perhaps the first that don’t leave you merely wanting to dust off your old Pavement records. Write In will do nicely.

Emperor of Sand, it seems, is a confident and timely step in the right direction. A balanced and well measured offering that might not revolutionise the heavy music landscape just yet, but positions them very well indeed for future greatness.

While Last Night might seem dressed to impress, Benin City hold a mirror to London’s nightlife that condemns and empathises in equal turns. And, even more than Fires, Idehen and the gang weave a mesmerising web, one you could either sit and admire at home or bounce up and down on the dancefloor.

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.

With Little Dragon, you get it all under the one roof: a groove-powered producer's band with a little edge, an indie sensibility and a soul singer at its helm, able to turn out a pretty melody on the right side of cloyingly doe-eyed.

This record is the group’s leanest to date. There’s no filler. It’s instant hit after instant hit after instant hit.

A useful entry point for newcomers, then, but there is just enough to make this a worthwhile purchase for long-time fans too.

Fans expecting moving, but wearily delivered, post-rock may be disappointed with that position, but it may just have seen Thee Silver Mt. Zion Memorial Orchestra produce a classic. At the very least it is the culmination of a discography that has always been leading to this as its high point.

Crain’s effortless yet potent vocal is the centre of things, as she seems to sing about making a box for herself to hide in, appropriating what is normally a downhome positive genre for her own more maudlin ends.

It is the band’s frontwoman whose personality is carried in the weight of this release--delicately cryptic lyrics screamed with a force that betrays the fact they're either complete trash or wilfully personal.

The boisterous, almost-live feel of the production, and a leaning towards big, striding choruses and unashamedly anthemic moments means that things never get too ponderous.

For all the coldness and brutality of Forget there are moments of beauty, validation and comfort, showing that these things can co-exist simultaneously.