It’s not the sort of record you look to for big surprises or revolutionary moments, but if you’re looking for an excellent pop-soul record from an artist who’s going to be around for years to come, you can’t go wrong.

There may not be a track that grabs you by the scruff of the neck like 7/4 (Shoreline), but Remember The Humans reminds us that on the rare occasions that Broken Social Scene release a record, it remains a moment to be treasured.

While Wolfe’s incredible vocals are the main draw, her long term collaborator Ben Chisholm deserves significant recognition too. Not only does his fuzzed-to-fuck bass make these songs feel genuinely threatening, his manipulation of sound and creation of washes and collages provides unsettling backgrounds for Wolfe to weave her magic over. Without him, the oppressive atmospherics of the album wouldn’t be nearly as effective.

Whether John Wizards’ debut album has lasting power is impossible to know, but for the moment, they’ve wholly succeeded in at least making something to appreciate.

Anyone looking for party bangers may be disappointed (apart from Natural Skin Deep) but Broken Politics is the sound of an artist growing and maturing very nicely. These are intelligent, beautifully crafted songs to sink into and luxuriate, and tracks like Black Monday and Synchronised Devotion will live with you for months after first hearing them.

Whilst R.I.P. certainly has some of the cold detachment that often characterises electronic music, it is also a remarkably thoughtful and creative work that has clearly benefited from a more personal and human compositional approach.

While James Blake came good on his Mercury prize winning second album, William Doyle as East India Youth has delivered a stunningly exquisite work on his very first go.

The band’s third album has a raw power which has the ability, at times, to stop you in your tracks. It’s also their best work to date.

Cerulean Salt was a tough album to top but, with this bleak yet beautiful follow-up, Crutchfield might have done just that.

It will be intriguing to see where he heads next on his musical tour, adapting as he does to different styles, though time and again the music of True Meanings feels like the most naturally sourced for him as an artist now. It is very much a case of a little less being a whole lot more.

His music is inventive and intriguing and has that special quality where you’re never quite certain what will happen next. Shelley’s On Zenn-La only adds to his increasingly impressive reputation.

Though it adds no innovation to the genre, Lay It Down's tried-and-true approach should appease longtime soul fans

Like all ambitious double albums, [Aerial] is not without its flaws, but even Bush's moments of failure are much more interesting than those of her contemporaries.

Evans The Death have come of age and produced an album that sounds like them, only lots, lots better.

Slight quibbles aside, there is plenty of gold to be found here.

Although the year may only be a matter of a couple of weeks old, You Are The Morning is already one of 2025’s best albums.

This is a diverse collection of quality melancholia by two intuitive veterans with nothing to prove except their ability to create music to invest your soul into.

Halo On The Inside is a harsh, often claustrophobic record that draws you into the emotional whirlpool of its sound and won’t let you go.

Coxon has come up with an album full of raw guitar licks, killer hooks and heartfelt lyrics.

Most importantly, Sadier succeeds in her aim, offering a genuine musical antidote to the cultural scars and traumas we carry from recent years.

The album is a triumph and a testament to the enduring creativity of Warren Ellis, Mick Turner, and Jim White. This is a truly wonderful album from masters of their craft. Enjoy it loud, and often.

Sinister Grift, as the title implies, has a shadowy underbelly, a curious tension at its heart that makes it equal parts happy and sad. Yet it is a beautiful record throughout, enjoying the freedom that characterises Panda Bear’s best work.

This is an odd gem of a record that should be cherished in a class of its own.

While the days of the indie dancefloor hits from their first two records may be long gone, the Arctic Monkeys we’re left with now are undoubtedly at the top of their game.

There are some mis-steps--California English employs Auto-Tune about two years too late--but overall this is a fine follow-up to their successful debut.

So put aside your disappointment at the lack of squealing guitar solos and take Get Behind Me Satan for what it is - another massive step forward in the evolution of a truly great band.

It stops short of SMD's effort by quite a way, but it's a fine and much welcome showing for a pair of self-professed amateurs.

For those that can stand the fact that this lot really do possess some talent, this might be another slice of Sub Pop to add to the collection.

It all adds up to Stern's most fully realised, most rounded album yet, and a huge step in her evolution as an artist.

Apart from a short reprise of the McNally-penned title track this, then, is how the album closes, and the lasting image that it leaves you with. It is a fitting summary of all that is great, and troubling about this unique, uncompromising band.

Even if Settle quiets the unreasonable expectations surrounding it by offering a solid collection of smart dance tracks, some songs do not fully live up to the hype.

An immersive listening experience is guaranteed.

Lush and atmospheric, with shades of the paisley funk of Shuggie Otis, the laid-back, freewheeling early ‘70s Marvin Gaye and Todd Rundgren’s cosmic mishmash (with centrepiece soul medley)--A Wizard, A True Star, Green Twins demands your attention, in a subtle but compelling way.

There are no low points in this relentless record. At times it is beastly, baring its teeth. At others, it’s divinely angelic, St Purple Green and Sky Musings being prime examples.

While Damned Devotion is not the Police Woman at her most arresting, it is nevertheless a solid showing from a performer who always has plenty to say.

Some people will bemoan the lack of a real crossover hit (there’s certainly no The Noisy Days Are Over contained on Open Here) but it’s one of those rare albums that you just know you’ll keep coming back to, time and time again.

Dead Magic is a brilliant artistic statement, Anna von Hausswolff’s best self-definition to date.

Melt Yourself Down have always had jazz antecedents and connections but they’ve never sounded more like a jazz band than they do here. While this album sometimes struggles to maintain focus in its thematic range, the music never misses a beat as it reaches far and wide.

In short, it’s an album that demonstrates the continuing merit of musical collaboration while also offering a hopeful counterpoint to a world all too often consumed by negativity and strife.

It continues a run of quality that stretches all the way back to her debut.

Becoming Undone is a twisted, thrilling ride, at once stylish and unhinged, showing that more sophisticated production techniques haven’t taken away any of ADULT.’s edge over the years.

It’s a brutal, intense listen, and certainly won’t be for everyone, but those who care to take the journey will find many rewards.

Star Eater’s Delight is Neale’s best, and most accessible, work to date.

The whole record is exhilarating, a bustling house party where the aux is only ever passed judiciously.

Beck proves once again here that he’s a tremendously versatile artist, capable of excelling throughout the musical spectrum.

The Inheritors is a rich and vivid work that is as mysterious as it is compelling.

There is pain, frustration, beauty and love whistling away in every crevice of this album.

At times The Decemberists sail close to being an horrific hybrid of They Might Be Giants and The Coral - all arched eyebrows and accordions.

This is a very carefully thought out new page to Hayden Thorpe’s career, yet the page has freshly written calligraphy on it. There is much to admire and much to relate to, in what is surely just the start of this particular Wild Beast’s solo migration.

Musical diversity has been embraced to better reflect his character, whilst a positive tone remains, even when he’s examining negatives. No longer is McKenna a teenager emerging at Glastonbury, he is someone for the generation he speaks for to listen to.

Like much of Richard Dawson’s material, it’s an album that has to be immersed in and savoured – and although it may be a struggle sometimes, there’s nobody else out there making music quite like this.

Altogether a belter of an album, then, as their reputation for consistency prevails once more.

The emotional impact of this music is sometimes disorientating or alienating, but that is probably the intention. It's mostly impossible to discern the lyrics or comprehend their themes. Somehow this doesn't matter, given the striking, weird and often turbulent music beneath.

It's a work of craft from a continually rewarding, continually American, singer-songwriter.

Everything Everything return with Fever Dream, a brave, boundary pushing album which shows many of their peers how things should be done.

Caroline Rose’s most personal album to date which, while it may not have the immediacy of Superstar or Loner it will, given time, prove just as emotionally affecting.

Cold Spring Fault Less Youth is an album that’s as purposefully awkward as its title: cleverly put together, but occasionally just not very much fun.

There’s the bones of at least three spin-off albums within its grooves. Yet, this constant shapeshifting means that there’s much to be discovered and loved here. Sounding different every time it’s played is the mark of a great achievement.

An album of satisfying wholeness, its range of moods power Taylor’s most successful solo outing to date. Anyone who had him pigeonholed will have to think again.

Whilst the linguistic half of Sleaford Mods is developing in two very different directions, Andrew Fearn has turned in his most musically satisfying set of tracks to date.

Quite comfortably the duo’s best album to date, Unity is – literally – like all your favourite bands rolled up into one.

By the time the album’s 54 minutes have drawn to a close, you feel exhausted but in the best possible way.

Inspiring and ingenious, this is an album you shouldn't be without.

Lopatin dispenses with radio’s interchangeable verse chorus verse format, instead replicating the labyrinthine ways the internet once promised formerly unreachable music might become graspable before being commoditised.

As an exercise in maintaining artistic form, it's an indisputable success.

It’s a brilliantly consistent and, at eight tracks, concise offering that perfectly captures their sound.

One of the best Pet Shop Boys albums in years.

This is very much an album that feels necessary right now--one that packs a political punch without being didactic or evangelical--and offers positive thinking, including a clarion call of co-operative and community responses to global issues.

It’s an intriguing album with few dips (only Kanye’s verse on Puppet sounds rather phoned in and lacklustre), and it adds up to Tyler, The Creator’s best work to date. He may not be threatening Western civilization anymore, but he is creating something far more interesting.

Your Future Our Clutter is a tight, coherent, rock-out album--and it's great to see some discipline back in The Fall after years of scrappy offerings.

R Plus Seven is as singularly compelling as any of his previous releases, but in his desire to transcend glossy hyper pop and introspective electronica into something new and fascinating, Lopatin has delivered a masterful debut for his new label.

Push The Sky Away demonstrates that even in his 30th year, nobody delivers a lyric quite like Nick Cave.

The Constant Pageant--particularly its first half--does indeed rock, and not just by the standards of folk music.

With the third in his Essex trilogy Darren Hayman has surpassed himself, creating an album that is intelligent, heartfelt, and musically stunning.

Something wonderful and terrible has happened in the world of Shabazz Palaces, and there’s no choice but to join the wild ride.

It’s beautiful in its own manner, and thankfully avoids the one-sound pitfall into which ambient music may fall.

In the face of this conflict, the only other option is to face up to the now, with all the problems and issues that go with it, and the album is at its best when it does just that.

Sometimes, Kinsella keeps it simple (as on the acoustic lament Headphoned) while at other times, such as On With The Show, the sound is more lush. It’s a testament to Kinsella’s abilities that he can pull off both equally well.

With Wish Defense, FACS have made a record that is as much a piece of Steve Albini’s legacy as it is to their own magnum opus. It is challenging, confrontational, and relentless – but for all its darkness, something striking emerges. Not beauty in a conventional sense, but something raw, vivid, and impossible to ignore.

Fur and Gold announces Natasha Khan's Bat For Lashes as a talent impossible to ignore and beguiling to behold, an album that, time and again, plucks one away from the mundane and offers a bewitching alternative galaxy of delights.

While as a whole it’s disjointed, and the variation could hinder its success, Arbouretum have undoubtedly released another good album.

It is apparent from the start that the album is a valuable piece of work in its own right however and its reclaimed origins should not bring any negative preconceptions.

The conventional instrumentation and song forms might lead some to consider it a conservative work--but its uniquely personal dimensions suggest otherwise.

It's hard to go into explicit detail on Music Sounds Better With You, simply because of how happily delightful it is.

The album also reflects the rebellious nature of Haiku Hands, throwing two fingers to the male establishment through a sound which is provocative and tantalising, one which sets about establishing them as a new powerful female voice in the era of explicit pop.

In lesser hands this mélange of vocalists and styles would be an unholy mess, but with experienced mood masters Raymonde and Thomas at the tiller In Quiet Moments is holistic audio balm to soothe, hug and give hope in these ‘unprecedented times’ and beyond.

I Speak Because I Can is, without doubt, an album to really delve into, and one to lose yourself in for hours. Added to that, it asserts Marling as one of this country's most talented young songwriters; our Conor Oberst or our David Berman.

If you loved Tindersticks then you will adore this.

It all adds up to an emotionally gruelling record that’s patently not intended for passive listening. But it’s an album that’s worth steeling oneself for.

The influence of new blood mixed with Paramore’s own distinct sound has created a vibrant, melodic record with sing-along choruses, and although it flirts with the softer side of the rock spectrum it’s still one ballsy album.

What it is, is a fine follow-up to 2009’s Halcyon Digest and another example of what can happen when a brilliant songwriter retreats into his own head and comes out with visions of monsters.

Partly cartoon, part Sesame Street, and with a healthy dose of consequence-free childish threats and violence, A Cold Freezin' Night is a welcome distraction to the meandering electro-drone that populates the rest of the album. But from here on in, it's a case of the law of diminishing returns.

Hardy's undeniably a talent, and Songs Lost & Stolen is a tasteful, better than average folk record that many aficionados will enjoy, but it lacks that extra ingredient to make a lasting impact or reach a broader audience.

There is more to Short Movie’s context than odd details, avant garde references and the philosophy of hippy shamans. Marling has long been able to trace a musical lineage back to heavyweights like Neil Young and Joni Mitchell, and this is cemented here.

An album that showcases the development of an artist who seems to get better and better as the years roll by.

Whilst Psychedelic Porn Crumpets remain an attractive proposition, this outing would perhaps suggest that they’re starting to cool off a little after the hot, toasting stage they enjoyed with their first two releases.

Akin to falling asleep next to an electric fire whilst snow begins to fall, Camila Fuchs have created an extrasensory gift of a record, one that is affectionate, woozy and a comforting delight in these most taxing of times.

Present Tense is yet another unusually powerful invitation to savour a few abominable maledictions by these wicked vagabonds.