The defining characteristic of ‘Happiness In Magazines’ isn’t its full sound, nor its sharp reminder of what a great band Blur used to be; its in the sheer imaginative scope.

Nothing less than a whole new world will do, and Adem has created just that.

The key is - unlike the tongue-in-cheek cock-rock of The Darkness and the running joke of Electric Six - Scissor Sisters are reverential to the sounds of the 70’s.

His mumbled burr recalls that half-awake state where reality melts, a strain of Southern Gothic best listened to at 3am with a half-empty bottle of bourbon and all the lights on.

From the start, she's made an ideal record for people who already like her.

Quite simply, this is the most invigorating album released in recent times and definitely one for the collection.

Though Auf Der Maur has run off with their blueprint and built it as seen, there’s raw passion and no little class here; Corgan and Love must be rueing their luck.

This is what you get when you give an overactive imagination the space to expand; it’s indescribably perfect.

Felix Da Housecat’s shift into the wastelands of punk- funk and No Wave has given ‘Devin Dazzle And The Neon Fever’ the feel of an excursion into virgin territory.

Bazan will never sound truly happy on record, but here he’s as content as anyone could have hoped for, and all the healthier for it.

The names Pitchshifter, Nine Inch Nails and Rammstein are often bandied about in this company, but here’s a tip: Skinny Puppy have rendered them once again irrelevant.

A significant broadening of the tonal spectrum notwithstanding, the outfit manages to keep their ferocity intact, although the malevolence is structured with a shrewd infusion of melodic vocals, flourishing experimental dynamics and a motherlode of striking riffs.

It isn’t the place of a debut to straddle styles as diverse as harmony-drenched 60’s beat-soul, the shoegazing sound-paintings of the 80’s and relaxed futurism of now, yet this is their debut, and it covers all this and more.

Even a half good Morrissey album is streets ahead of the competition.

Their most accomplished album to date.

This is music best heard in the dark, on your back.

Mirah’s ability to paste candy-pop nursery rhymes over voluptuous, macabre arrangements is truly unique and wholly un-matched.

It’s as simple as songwriting can get; as striking as songwriting can get.

Catching electronica in it’s embryonic state and somehow fusing it together with lush folk stylings, weathered ambience and the slightest - most beautiful - trace of vocals ‘Summer Makes Good’ is a truly breath-taking record.

Perhaps the album of her career.

A collection of frisky funk, slinky soul, raucous R&B and heated rock ‘n’ roll based on real songs, rather than the doodles and sketches that have recently become the norm.

If invention and imagination are the criteria to judge, this is a future classic.

The Veils debut is a colossal - yet strangely intimate - record.

By far her best yet.

A window into the sublime mind of one of Britain’s great outsiders.

They’re the most unique band since The Van Pelt or At The Drive-In, with vocals comparable to the lyrical finesse of Tim Booth.

Their third album finds them immersed in light-hearted, yet imaginative hop ‘n’ soul, Parliamentarian funk and the fiery chants of lead single ‘This Way’.

It’s Kweller’s lyrics and voice that do it though; joy and melancholy combined to deliver pop as uplifting as Weezer and rock that’s as unsubtle as Kings of Leon, with anti-folk and Merseybeat along for what is a thrill-filled ride.