Fade Away is by no means a backslide--these are some of Cosentino's best songs to date--but rather than pointing the way forward, this EP feels more like the end of an era.

With Shulamith, Poliça have managed to create one of the most confident and assertive albums of the year.

There isn't one sound out of place and absolutely no fat; it's just that you can't help wondering whether a weekend away from Berlin drinking mushroom tea with James Holden might help to take it to the next level.

McCombs tries on many different hats, but has the skill to produce mostly positive results.

Although many tribute albums have a tendency to come across as disposable, Red Hot + Fela stands with the best Red Hot has to offer.

While the Body are experts at playing with aural textures and layers, the decadent variety of sounds on Christs, Redeemers is next level, even for them.

Head Up High satisfyingly winds itself from one song to another, yet lacks a bit of overall "oomph"; it also sounds as if it could have been made ten years ago.

This is another solid effort from the man born Curtis Cross.

[Kwes delivers] poignant wanderings from within his inner-monologue, while voicing a soul-expanding sound that makes James Blake's noir&B cool seem like nothing more than ostentatious art school assignments.

From the brash, banging tracks all the way to the idyllic soft touches, Beautiful Rewind is captivating and completely refreshing to hear.

So far, Cults have relied on that brand of fresh, unbridled energy that fuels new groups like them, making Static a fine example of an album running perfectly off of kinetics.

This is an intense, unsettling work from the Canadian musician and if it doesn't quite reach the heights of Ravedeath, it's mostly down to Virgins lacking the fluid album arc of the former and not because the tracks are any less powerful.

While founders Jonathan Russell and Josiah Johnson do seem to come from the Simon & Garfunkel school of songcraft, an appreciation of California pop also comes out.

The 11 tracks on Magpie and the Dandelion were recorded during the same Rick Rubin-produced sessions, and now stand as a well-timed response to those that found The Carpenter too weighty for its own good.

There's enough flat-out enjoyable tunes on Lightning Bolt to set aside the past, at least temporarily.

Born 50 years ago, he would have been the toast of the avant-garde community; his musical experiments are a rarity in this ADHD world of MP3s and free downloads.

More Is Than Isn't showcases an artist refusing to learn from prior mistakes and not yet ready to capitalize on his past achievements.

To call Shout! a mixed bag is redundant, as being able to assemble your favourite version of the album is part of its intrinsic appeal and quite possibly a way for non-Mule fans to get introduced to their wide-reaching approach.

Each song is injected with sharp, drug-filled commentaries that deliver, brick-by-brick, a solid foundation for King Push's cocaine castle.

The melodies, meanwhile, avoid obvious hooks, in favour of tension and knotty complexity. This rescues Lousy with Sylvianbriar from dreary rockism.

He's unable to find his footing, whether as a blues, soul or country singer, and the end results are a bland pastiche of all three.

It may not be quite as consistent as its predecessor, but Interiors showcases the continued development of a vital emerging voice in popular music and features frequent moments of shiver-inducing beauty.

Sleigh Bells should be applauded for their attempts to move beyond their simplistic formula, but the growing pains are evident and awkward to listen to.

Calvi is unquestionably a great performer, but on One Breath, her work reaches a level of nuance that the majority of contemporary music lacks.

There are great moments that fulfil expectations of Jesu as a dissolving whirlpool bath of glass shards, but these flashes don't carry the full weight of the album.

Stylistically, White may be a one-trick alligator, but it's a damn pleasing one.

The indecisive saga of Soulfly continues: sometimes their albums are quite good, sometimes quite bad and sometimes, like this one, they're just in between, not leaving much of an impression at all.

Love in Flying Colors is steeped in an honest, vulnerable lyricism bolstered by dreamy, feel-good synth vibes regarding the complex emotion called love and all it represents.