Once again, Kanye has released music filled with contradictions and confusion. Once again, it’s like nothing heard before. Once again, it’s good to have him back.

All in all, Wide Open demonstrates a band in transition. Methinks, overall, Burke and her motley crew are headed the right way in their conflicted and thus accurate portrayal of our tangled ids, egos, and libidos.

Cupid Deluxe is arguably Hynes' finest work and an improvement on his debut release but he shouldn't be afraid to place himself centre stage instead of hiding behind a host of guest appearances.

While Universes never quite reaches the heights that might be sought by this confident-sounding producer, there can be no denying that this is one of 2015’s boldest electronic releases, and that it deserves to be one of its foremost too.

Consolers of the Lonely is often grotesquely overblown despite moments of genuine excitement.

The contrasting movements, the peaks and troughs, the brightness and darkness and the intensity and calmness allow you room to think and to breathe. Triangle is truly massive and mesmerising.

Whatever looming shadow might darken your homeland, Music for the Long Emergency offers a substantive retreat, with enough room for minds to rest and wander in peace.

To be blunt though, for all the great literary and musical figures involved, the result of this creative vision sounds more or less the same as the music Natalie Merchant has been making for her whole solo career. Only more boring.

Jherek Bischoff does not mess around. It’s amazing to see an artist make such pure, uncompromising music.

To those who care about the small differences, it's another tremendously strong album from a career already littered with them.

It's practically a compulsory purchase.

Though Way is at his most engaged in years, there's no major reinvention here. If anything, his first solitary missive registers as much as a tribute to influences as it does a focused reboot.

This record may well work as ambient escapism, but in its serene tenderness it’s also a reminder of the fragility of all that surrounds us.

Celebrity guest star wobbles aside, Write About Love is a well crafted, very listenable album, one that sees Belle and Sebastian ditch the qualities of their music that were starting to cloy without totally jettisoning the old charm.

So there is a lot to love within this album. Its knowing winks to rock’s early ‘70s excesses and sage-like nods to the soulful marriage of rock and rhythm and blues exemplified by Sly and Curtis mean that we’re comforted rather than challenged.

While most would expect nothing less from a Mark Lanegan Band LP, the end result is a record for ardent fans and not casual admirers.

Apocalype then, is another Bill Callahan album, similar to those that came before it, with some particularly beautiful songs and some particularly considerate musical accompaniment from the band he has gathered around him. That it happens to be both heartbreaking and life affirming is just something we've come to expect.

Despite the occasionally more personal tone to Tooth & Nail, he continues his role as social commentator magnificently.

The scrappy indie bite of Lewis’ early work may be gone and you won’t find much in the way of Marshall’s emotional bloodletting. But even if it’s likely to cost Lewis the affections of online tastemakers, she looks set to charm an increasingly large audience for years to come.

This is strong stuff that thankfully avoids falling into crass sloganeering, and the music backs it up, it's arcing guitar lines and tribal percussion generating a growing atmosphere of anxiety, outrage and disorientation.

This isn’t the sound of him stretching himself, or pushing boundaries--it’s the sound of him comfortably in his sweet spot, and that’s no bad thing.

Somehow, by taking these backwards steps, Peaking Lights have, rather bizarrely, flown forwards, proving in the process that, when handled correctly, nostalgia can be a fine tool. A fine tool indeed.

It’s raw, human, stripped of all excess and laid bare--and it’s quite possibly the most beautiful thing the band has ever released. Near perfection.

All in all, a fine introduction to the compelling Will Johnson, but a peculiar idea, to make a painfully intimate album with two songwriters rather than just one.

It’s no laugh-a-minute ride, but there’s a beauty in Raposa’s misery that’ll appeal to acolytes of Will Oldham and his aforementioned collaborators alike.

Bahdeni Nami is nothing more than a dull and flat dance record, dressed in the trappings of the 'exotic' and 'worldly'.

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

Expo 86 is good, it's just not great. Wolf Parade, the 2010 model, are good, not great.