It's not an entirely off-putting mix, but it's only after a few songs that one starts to get a handle on what Branan's up to.

Although the switch in tempo and style from song to song is abrupt, there's consistency that follows the album through to the end.

Diver completes Lemonade's transformation from jerky, banger makers into wistful, all-encompassing pop sophisticates. That it was done so flawlessly makes it such a triumph on their part.

Harder, better, faster and stronger than their excellent debut, 2009's Post Nothing.

Words and Music further demonstrates this while helping us realize just how lucky we are to still have them around.

Too many bearded men in isolation have sapped such joy from the genre, but Here brings it back in full.

Valtari might not be Sigur Rós's greatest work, but it is an album of subtle beauty and remarkable restraint that deserves to be heard.

I can assure you that you will not stand still while listening to this album.

For listeners that like their electronic music with a pulse (both literally and figuratively), this release will be a rewarding experience.

I Predict a Graceful Expulsion is not the great record some would have you believe it is, but it is a very good one.

Invasive and unknowably vast, Oro:Opus Primum is an excellent listen if you're looking to be blown apart.

If Habits & Contradictions was a reinstatement of gangsta rap, then Control System is a giant leap forward in conscious rap.

This is the band's best yet.

Stephens fronts the group with aplomb, with her Joni Mitchell-esque vocals floating through the album's 11 tracks like smoke from a campfire.

Although Jimmy Edgar isn't the first (or best) to do neo-electro (Chromeo and DāM-FunK come to mind), Majenta shows that he might just be the most believable.

Night and Day [is] another true testament by one of America's last genuine musical anti-heroes.

Cancer For Cure is El-P's most accessible album yet, and with the right push it could be his breakthrough release.

This one is cohesive and feels like a band affair, feels like an album, feels like it has the chemistry Velvet Revolver frustratingly didn't quite have but a certain other band had once upon a time when Slash was in that crew.

This is highly listenable, but equally disturbing.

This is not exciting music; it's a hypnotically paced political screed.

Cosentino's songwriting has definitely strengthened, it's just that instead of sounding like her peers at the Smell, she'd rather sound like her heroes on the AM dial, and that's not a bad thing.

Gallery falls short of living up to what Idle Labor promised, feeling more like a case of the leftovers.

Dig deeper into Heroes and you might find a newfound respect for the aging outlaw.

Bloom leans heavily on that push-and-pull dynamic and the results are hugely effective, affecting and ultimately beautiful.

Ufabulum shows Squarepusher pushing forward some of his leanest, most unfurled compositions to date.

With a more dynamic and drastically enhanced sound, this is how Dopesmoker was meant to be heard.

Not every moment is seamless, but the results are fascinating and, more importantly, enthralling from beginning to end.

Even though their singer will soon be pushing 60, it's clear these guys haven't run out of things to say. Or shout.

Unpatterns straight-up works.

Like your favourite beer, Municipal Waste are reliable and will whet your whistle for thrash, a comparison the band would welcome with arms, or mouths, wide open.

While this record is steeped in mature rhythms, the hype tendencies that make the music ghetto are never sacrificed.

Death Dreams is the perfect example of a "same but better" second outing giving fans more of what they love while presenting something new to consider for those who weren't sucked in the first time around

Arguably Cattle Decapitation's best offering to date, Monolith of Inhumanity is a dynamic record, with many different elements working together to create one cohesive, disgusting and brilliant release.

There's so much going on throughout each of these nine songs that it's hard to take it in all at once, yet whether it's because of time shared or friendship and family connections, the performances are in perfect sync.

The craftsmanship of the album is impeccable, synonymous with the Cologne sound Kompakt has become so well known for.

With Memory, it's apparent that Lazer Sword have toiled over the big picture, leaving little room for twelve-inch singles, all the while crafting an absorbing full-listen.

An original record blending beauty and brutality.

Shows that CFCF aspires to be known as a serious artist, not just an electronic one.

Numbers like "Springs" and "NoWayBack," featuring the "good witch/wicked witch" vocals of Berlin Germany's Butterclock, may show that oOoOO is willing to move forward with his music, just not at the destroy-and-rebuild pace that the average ADD-afflicted hipster has grown to crave.

This Norah Jones is damaged, dangerous and vulnerable, and Burton's mastery of sound helps deepen the relationship between listener and song.

The Pilgrimage is a triumph.

This is outsider music that manages to remain accessible yet endlessly provoking.

The result, while a bit surprising, is entirely satisfying.

The Place I Left Behind is another wholly satisfying album that builds upon past successes and carries the band forward as one of the country's finest roots acts.

Despite a three-year hiatus, Claro Intelecto continues to generate quality, masterful releases.

Orcas provides much to engage fans of both Irisarri and Pioulard, as well as lovers of languid, abstracted pop song craft.

The seemingly strange power that Actress has is to disorient the listener (i.e., the visceral shock accompanying the tonally maximal "Shadow From Tartarus"), though this contrast mostly allows for R.I.P.'s intricate and detailed beauty to thrive just beneath the cracks.

While the layers of oddball narrative that Black brings to the table help distinguish it, aesthetically it's at least five years too late and feels like something aimed squarely at hip, divorced dads.

Put succinctly, awE NaturalE leaves listeners wanting more.

Harmonicraft is filled with catchy hooks and pop melodies, as well as progressive, atmospheric rhythms.

The melodies can blur into one another and some tracks don't stand out, but Rock and Roll Night Club is so ephemeral and addictive that you'll want to be making love in this club regularly.

It's the driving, rock-based tracks like "Recoil" and "Just Dust" that give Life Somewhere Else its energy, as Kilbey matches Cain's chugging-but-ringing guitars with a lust-for-life delivery.

With its hypnotic loops and acoustic percussion, this great downtempo record, at times, calls to mind a looser, dreamier Teebs, with the melodic sense of early Four Tet.

This is a lovely record with enough autumnal tones to ensure that you'll still be listening to it in six months' time.

Shallow Bed is refreshingly free of archaic, "old timey" references; it feels both relevant and familiar.

In many ways, Sweet Heart is the most complete Spiritualized album yet.

Above all, Cynic's New Year sounds incredible; its production quality alone is worth several listens.

In nearly every case, the remix version does justice to the original while taking the track to a completely different place sonically.

The songs are engaging and incredibly catchy, but lack emotion ― that intangible quality that will take this feel-good record and give it staying power.

This is a minimalist masterpiece.

When it starts, the overt prettiness and ornate, layered arrangements are very reminiscent of Owen Pallett, but very soon it veers of in some lovely tangents, although it inevitably comes back to string-laden, experimental pop.

There's little about Dead Set on Living that isn't an improvement on the band's past efforts, from the thunderous guitar tones to the frenetic energy pouring out of every song, courtesy of live-off-the-floor recording.

There's a comfortable vibe that the project ease into, content to deliver serviceable lyrics over straightforward beats and nothing more.

Each song on Ataraxia/Taraxis is diverse, with moments of melodious prog-rock, powerful riffs and hazy ambience; however, there's also cohesion to the EP that makes it feel expansive and utterly epic.

Like many bands with a "core" attached to their sub-genre, Emmure are adept at making every song into an almost continuous, ferocious breakdown and it's a formula that keeps the album's momentum at its peak at all times.

An even stronger effort, one that avoids the sometimes-frantic pace that marred that earlier album a little.

Rhine Gold does feel a bit frontloaded, with the most compelling tracks happening in the first half, losing a little momentum towards the end, but this is still a superb release.

Alex Winston is capable of writing some excellent indie-pop gems, she just hasn't figured out to do it with consistency.

This album strikes an intriguing, if slightly schizophrenic, balance between gently meandering almost-psychedelia and the restless rhythmic activity of recent dance styles.

The lower your expectations, the better it will seem.

Staring At the X is definitely cut from the same cloth as its predecessor, but even more so. Everything has been ramped up, making for an even more satisfying record.

The rawness of the band puts them in a different category than other soul revivalists like Sharon Jones & the Dap-Kings, but the visceral quality of Boys & Girls gives Alabama Shakes an edge.

While listening to Phèdre, one can do nothing but feel helpless in the face of nearly perfect pop experimentalism.

Iradelphic is great stream-of-consciousness art.

De Vermis Mysteriis is a bloody, hard-fought triumph.

Don't call it a full-fledged De La Soul record--call it an enjoyable diversion until the full crew come back proper.

Torture is classic Corpse. No complaints.

Spooky Action At A Distance is a sprawling pop album beaming with the kind of confidence none of us, likely even Pundt, expected. Some surprises are worth waiting six years for.

Seeds strikes the perfect balance, as Madlib's thickly layered funk and soul samples and cabinet rocking beats pair with Muldrow's gloriously off-kilter vocals and free-form song structures to make this her most satisfying release to date.

Both Lights fails to hold together because of its numerous failed lines of attack, which undermine the goodness.

Despite suffering from flatness, the album is an enjoyable enough romp and in its almost naïve purity, it is endearing.

While her debut featured plenty of catchy tunes, Sees the Light captures Goodman in a far more confident mode, showcasing her wit and personality.

This isn't poppier than anything they've done over the past decade or so, but few individual songs stick out like good pop songs should.

The balance between abstract, synthetic noise and soothing, organic timbres is remarkable; it literally feels good to hear, like a conscious meditation.

This album demonstrates that Yukon Blonde can transition and adapt to a change in sound efficiently and damn well.

Sadly, Relapse sounds like an uninspired band ripping off, and attempting to sound like, classic Ministry.

Here, Unsane deliver the goods with efficiency and reliability.

The album brings the dead back to life with the best kind of dark thrash, which is dripping with West coast hardcore aggression.

It has the type of energy that invades, penetrates and carries the listener forward; it's the perfect balance of seduction and strength.

Zeus avoid indulgent jamming, filler material or ill-advised experiments. Just 14 blissful tunes, rich with influences.

Ghosts is the thinking electronic music fan's subtler and more paranoid alternative to Amon Tobin's brick-smashing A/V opus, ISAM.

As a finale, The Wilderness serves as a perfect summation of the project, confirming the Junkies' core musical principles, as well as a sign that they are sure to carry them into the future.

Although their sound has been copied Ad infinitum, with Koloss, Meshuggah prove that they still do it best.

While the rest of Nothing's Gonna Change sometimes falls prey to sheer navel-gazing, overall it displays some clear signs of maturity in someone who remains more determined than ever to carry on his father's legacy.

Like its predecessor, the new disc delivers a nice mixture of lighter fare with heavier songs acting as an anchor, though Happy To You has a distinctly animated glow.

If The OF Tape Vol. 2 proves one thing it's that Odd Future aren't just a product of the Internet hype machine.

The results sound predictably off-the-cuff, and several tracks like "Jaw Dropper" and "I've Got Money On My Mind" sound like little more than microphone level checks. But when Williams decides to say something meaningful, as on "Dirt," "A Good Day To Feel Bad" and the title track, his sage-like delivery is as devastating as ever.

It's apparent that these newcomers certainly have their ears wide open, reimagining everything they rebroadcast.