Cola make it all seem effortless to create perfectly catchy post-punk tunes, incorporating their punchy instrumentals with casual social commentary and calming meditative meanings.

With a total of 17 songs and a runtime of over an hour, Salutations is Oberst's most ambitious album since his 2002 Bright Eyes masterpiece Lifted, and the best instalment in his solo discography.

While still entertaining, Kaani sounds like the same moving parts with a cleaner exhaust.

While this is an album with no shortage of ambition, and one that will certainly make demands on its listeners, their patience will certainly be rewarded by the multitudes that Quelle brings forth on Guns.

This record is both a rocket and a time machine, fusing influences so thoroughly that the sum of their parts are barely discernible, and offering both comfort in the familiar and an escape from our current time it hurtles you into orbit.

Fans will find much to love in Blue Smoke, and while nothing here approaches "Jolene" or "Coat of Many Colors" or "Here You Come Again," songs like the title track or "Banks of the Ohio" wouldn't feel out of place on a playlist next to these classics.

It's always drifting, skilfully, from challenging noise to fragmented affection in the most beguiling way possible.

The result is a stunning balancing act between ingenuity and accessibility.

The compositions here are solid, but it's sonically where Vessel holds his own. In that regard, Punish, Honey is close to perfection.

A challenging listen full of shifting, ephemeral environs marked by harsh, disrupting events, it's a deeply unsettling record about our ongoing becoming, and perhaps the science fiction soundtrack our brave new world deserves.

The end result is a pretty extraordinary album, but what makes Goon really special is the future it hints at.

On R Plus Seven, it just sounds like triumph.

It's a sweet musical reprieve from radio presenters with beaming suicide smiles gracing subway posters with snappy catchphrases.

Shabazz Palaces offer an ethereal conglomerate with a prophetic voice, a gutsy move that's more than paid off here.

It's headphone music for sure, optimally experienced on a slow train with a glass roof so the record's atmospheric elements can aptly complement the passing stars.

Americana record of the year? It's up there.

You don't have to be a churchgoer to recognize the positive, life-affirming role music this powerful can play. Given the state of things in the American South (not to mention various hotspots around the world), music this soulful is clearly timeless.

With an album-long theme revolving around the ascent of an alien who joins forces with natives to save the world, Antibalas seem more than ready to push themselves to another musical level with Where the Gods Are in Peace.

Unlike her Polaris Prize-winning 2015 record Power in the Blood, there are no love songs; Medicine Songs is unflinching in its focus.

Although Kinsella still writes dense math rockers ("On with the Show") alongside uncomplicated acoustic ditties ("Headphoned"), The Avalanche seems to meld together into slosh of uniform sound, leaving the listener with an album that is emotionally thrilling even when it is tactilely urbane.

Taking all of 99.9% into account, it's really no wonder that Kaytranada has become one of the most sought-after producers these days. This will surely mark yet another, even weightier, launchpad for Kaytranada to head skyward, out towards that much-fabled 100%.

At the end of the day, this project shows Megan Thee Stallion in her most refined element--confident, powerful and never submissive.

Pushin' Against The Stone is a rare case when a young artist's natural instincts are spot-on. As both a singer and songwriter, June is a major talent with unlimited potential.

Recorded with Mike Sapone of both Brand New and Taking Back Sunday fame, the album has a lot in common with the former's Deja Entendu. It's also another fierce entry in the more recent catalogue of young and earnest bands like the Hotelier and Modern Baseball who are pushing a similar message of hope in the midst of struggle.

Whether you're aware of the conceptual backstory behind Potential or come into the project blind, Hinton makes the album just as conceptually moody as it is conceptually aural.

How the West Was Won is a very welcome return.

It's a heartening LP, both because of the top-notch, life-affirming beats throughout, along with the renewed vigour in the voice of a man who clearly takes nothing for granted now that he's on the mend.

Although Sprinter is a singular vision, it won't help rid her of the PJ Harvey comparisons, proving Torres to be musician unafraid of comparison, but even less afraid of compromise.