Like many of James’s records both as a solo artist and in My Morning Jacket, Uniform Distortion occasionally suffers dips in quality control and consequently the truly great album you feel he’s capable of is once again frustratingly elusive. But it’s still an absolute blast.

Coupled with mostly low-key guest appearances, The Pool isn’t an album that jumps out at you. It’s an easygoing record that has a sophisticated yet soulful centre, and that’s where its appeal lies.

Overall, Power is a highly impressive body of work from a producer who continues to engage and surprise with each release.

Mental Wounds Not Healing is a good launch point for those eager to discover both The Body and Uniform. It’s also one of those rare collaborative efforts that perfectly combines the aesthetics of everyone involved.

Years & Years offer a blueprint for UK pop that carries on the lineage of Pet Shop Boys and George Michael but is also forward-thinking and connected to the broader scene. And that really is something to be proud of.

Year Of The Snitch feels totally alien. It is an exhilarating release that doesn’t let up, and proves that six years on the group are still a force to be reckoned with.

An album that keeps pace with modern pop trends while remaining true to Aguilera’s past.

Themes For Television might not be the most dynamic album, but for fans of ambient electronic music it hits the spot.

Sadness may remain her true love, but when she flirts with other emotions, the effect can still be magical.

This is a healthy, diverse, multi-faceted music that should be approached critically in much the same way as any other genre.

In this age of bonus tracks and seemingly endless ‘deluxe’ versions, at just 40 minutes and 10 songs long, it never overstays its welcome. If this new, compact, less overblown Machine shows what Florence Welch is capable of, may it run for another 10 years.

Expecting consistency from an album like this is a mug’s game. There are good tracks here, about 35 minutes’ worth.

All The Things That I Did… takes a little time to truly unfurl, but over time it opens out into a wonderful, if occasionally heartbreaking gem.

It’s a thrill to listen to their experiments, their tinkering with sounds and ideas.

The album flows well, with a funky instrumental interlude picking up the pace nicely around the middle and its relatively short run time making it a light and breezy experience.

It isn’t always the most substantial record, flexing and braggadocio abound, but it’s an enjoyable collection of tracks from the power couple.

It’s a strange sort of record which doesn’t exactly grab you from the off, but has quality enough to keep you coming back, and at least suggests that Ryley Walker’s next move will be intriguing.

The Orb have long made a virtue out of following their own path, and there are still times in No Sounds Are Out Of Bounds where this pays dividends, but there are also sections where they merely retread old ground with diminishing returns, making this an only half-satisfying LP.

This is not the King Push we were led to expect, but it is a quality record in its own right.

Oil Of Every Pearl’s Un-Insides does not remove all mystery, but is a powerful statement of identity, a shattering of traditional genre boundaries and nuanced, moving expressions of emotion where there once was an inscrutable deadpan. The fact that it all sounds so irresistibly good is the icing on the cake.

There are some slight missteps, like West’s tedious hook on Everything, but Nasir proves Nas’ ongoing relevance as one of New York’s biggest living rappers, with the best overall production and best quality control since Illmatic: the curse may finally be lifting.

The tracks all flow into each other, giving the album the feel of a particularly eclectic DJ mix, and overall it proves to be a fascinating, varied, atmospheric release that was thoroughly worth the wait.

In their rousing live shows, Benin City are better able to keep up the momentum and present a case for the preservation of London’s club scene, but Last Night is still a fun late-night journey around the boroughs.

Marr offers a vision of a more humane, liberal future. While one Smith seems to have lost the plot, another has found his voice.

Lush is an album that the devoted will take to their hearts and luxuriate in its sadness. Some may decry the lack of variety on show (there’s a definite template to a Snail Mail song and it’s stuck to rigidly on Lush), but it cannot be denied that this is a debut that promises great things to come.

There are mixed results as some tracks on Something Else feel like the band are going through the motions, while others flow with more energy.

Bad Contestant is full of strange little pop songs that can delight and subvert in equal measure and makes for a pretty startling debut, all in all.

Islands will take a little longer to hit the spot. When it does though, it could well challenge some of their best efforts, even if their diehard fans fail to agree on first listen.

She’s bringing a perspective which is often fascinating, but never less than interesting.

His verses mostly feel redundant, hastily thrown together to validate the presence of these songs on his project, and while the album has been described as introspective this very brief release only allows for skindeep thoughts on any one topic. The Kanye West show has already rolled on, but some of the magic of yesteryear has been left behind.

Kids See Ghosts overall is a good album, and leaves the listener with a much better impression than last week’s Ye and 2016’s Passion, Pain & Demon Slayin’, though it can be a frustrating listen.

Clearly Sheff is at something of a crossroads in his life and his world view is changing; perhaps he doesn’t quite know how best to make everything fit together just right. Given time, there are moments of this album that will shine, it’s just a shame there’s so few of them. 


soil is an extraordinary album, triumphing seemingly without making any artistic concessions.

Importantly for a concept album like this, the pacing is effective throughout with a good balance of light and shade, and because of this the narrative is consistently immersive and engaging.

God’s Favorite Customer is the next chapter to Honeybear: the story of the hedonistic shroom-addled Hollywood waster who fell in love and started to grow up, even if the occasional pelvic thrust, sardonically raised eyebrow or over-dramatic fall to the floor wouldn’t go amiss.

It’s a heart that’s filled to bursting on Babelsberg: you can’t really imagine a better soundtrack for the end of the world.

It’s the sound and pen of an artist who’s grown up in the public eye rewriting--or reaffirming--her identity. But that honesty sometimes comes at a cost. It’s heavy stuff, that at times feels more like an emotional release than an album she wants people to enjoy. Only with the last few tracks does she hark back to the upbeat, summery pop she’s perhaps best known--and loved--for.

Hell-On is a good demonstration of just how great she’s become.

The tracks continue to balance deep, droning synths and fuzzy percussion with Marling’s folkish phrasing and occasional, vaulting shifts in pitch, to not much effect.

With Chapel Perilous, Gnod have managed once again to create something that is both liberating and, at times, terrifyingly oppressive. 


Liberty, her seventh album, feels like the record she’s been desperate to make for some time.

The music is plainly listenable, the progressions are often entertaining and the lyrics are intricate. For fans, the minor evolution and heavier sonic palette may whet their appetite, but for anyone in search of a new revolutionary energy in the realm of indie rock, steer clear of the throne room.

This album could easily be written off as being derivative and stale, but when you spend more than 30 seconds thinking about it, you realise just how rare and unique this sound actually is in 2018.

Love Is Dead is not a terrible album and it certainly has its moments, but it’s not as engaging or interesting as its predecessors.

Daniel Lopatin’s eighth album as Oneohtrix Point Never finds him splitting the difference between the synth-based abstraction of his previous albums and a more visceral, abrasive style. While neither of these are bad templates to work from per se, the result is an album that doesn’t know what it wants to be.

Wide Awake is certainly not their best, but it is their most wide ranging and as such, it could just be one that splits the hardcore fanbase right down the middle.

If you love Snow Patrol, Wildness will please. But while it has moments that can be thoroughly enjoyed in increments, if you’re expecting developments--especially given the seven-year gap between released--then you’re out of luck.

Some may miss Taylor’s presence and powerhouse vocals, but Slow Club fans will still find plenty to enjoy--and the uninitiated will be able to hear a truly talented songwriter coming into his own at last.

V is laced more richly with sunshine: it’s the mellowest and brightest album Wooden Shjips have released to date.

Here Lies The Body might contain its fair share of matters of the flesh, but it’s also an album of depth, ideas and ambition that retains a highly personal feel. Moffat and Hubbert prove the collaborative Scottish spirit is in fine condition.

This adds up to a solid album that presents as an immediate difference to what went before, even if it does not roam too far from the grounds of its creator’s past. That certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed. Electric Light is a thoroughly immersive ride that shows James Bay has plenty of ideas brimming in that now hatless head.

If there is a critique to be made it is that the bass is sometimes a bit muddy, as the production can contain bass notes that clash with the lower notes of Lattimore’s harp. This is not an overwhelming flaw, however, as the mix is on the whole clear and pristine, and as the final piano and harp notes fade out at the end of On The Day You Saw The Dead Whale the lasting effect is one of calm contentment.

Clocking in at around 32 minutes, this is an album that tells the story of a 20 year journey in a staggeringly short amount of time, particularly for Dylan Carlson. It’s rare to request further exposition from this artist, but maybe it’s just the desire to bask in these wonderful tones and layers which mean that, as Reaching The Gulf reaches its conclusion, more is definitely required.

This is a highly accomplished and deeply felt third album to add to an already auspicious Gaz Coombes canon. He is on fine form at the moment, undoubtedly one of Britpop’s Strongest Men.

Tell Me How You Really Feel is a wonderfully curated record, which manages to be both cynical and whimsical at the same time. The depth of musical ambition and of poetic expression deserve a suitably large audience’s attention.

This may not be an album you’d revisit often, but we should be very glad that it, and its unique, maverick creator, exists.

At times it feels like an album with no real purpose other than to be heard and then forgotten. Few tracks jump out as being memorable. A more driven focus upon one element of their sound could have led to a far greater album, or could have at least tested the waters in terms of what they might achieve further down the line.

An intriguing and powerful release, Simian Mobile Disco prove with Murmurations that they are still as vital as ever.

When the Arctic Monkeys’ career comes to be reappraised, this album could be seen as an outlier, or the start of their next phase. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but sometimes, dividing an audience is exactly what you need to do.

7 might have been a gamble for Beach House then, but they don’t appear to have lost anything. What remains to be seen is whether they stay on the same path of progress with their next record.

Minus boasts a melding of styles and influences, underlining that Blumberg is at his best when he’s most experimental. This is a recalibrating album that sets him up well for even more leftfield musical forays ahead.

As it is, New Material is now their fourth release. It may be the most consistent of the lot, but it isn’t the strongest. That accolade, for now, goes to their previous record purely because of the variety of textures and tones. But it’s exciting to see what comes next.

It’s their strongest album to date, and while Speedy Ortiz are probably never going to make that giant leap into the mainstream--they’ll always be a bit too abrasive and lo-fi for mass acceptance--Twerp Verse is the sound of a band standing on the verge of great things.

Perhaps inevitably for a first solo album, this is Mark Peters’ most personal work to date. It is the dissemination of music that has occupied his inner ear for decades, the soundtrack to countryside and habitats that have been a lasting part of his life. Because of that, Innerland has a deep set emotional significance and intimacy that carries beyond Peters and out to the listener.

For body and mind, then, this is a powerfully affecting release, one that cements Rival Consoles as one of the brightest jewels in the heavily studded Erased Tapes crown.

Clocking in at 41 minutes, Speak Your Mind is a slick, well-produced offering that delivers on Anne-Marie’s potential without overstaying its welcome, the best British pop debut in a while.

He delivers an LP of soulful songs with the help of songwriters who have also written for Ellie Goulding and Ed Sheeran. The result is a mixed bag.

The music here is, at times, superb--it’s just hard to imagine anything (except maybe Rose On Top Of The World or Killed Someone) finding a place in your permanent playlist. And a lot of it is just average, which is probably the worst thing you could say about a band as mercurial as this.

Artists risk an absolute mauling when they wear their favourite era as a Halloween costume for a whole record, but here, at least, the joy of an unknown nostalgia far outweighs the realities of the grim present.

When the album comes to a close--with pulsing bass and swirling vocal layers slowly fading out--it feels like the end of some strange Odyssean journey, one that you may want to embark on again before long.

It’s probably their most ambitious effort since Brain Thrust Mastery, delivering a sprawling and colourful collection of pop songs which are sure to leave a smile on your face.

Lanois and Snares are an unorthodox pairing, and the former’s fans may have mixed reactions to the latter’s noisy beats, but they complement each other well, and what could have been just a niche curiosity is instead a real treat.

This is as close to the spirit of punk as you’re likely to hear this year (or any year).

Building on the innovations of previous album Immunity, it invests more emotionally and retains the primal physical stimulus behind Hopkins’ best music. He remains a wholly individual voice in a congested field, a single phrase played from his piano speaking volumes. And Singularity is his best album yet.

It’s by no means flawless, with tracks such as Going Nowhere and There She Is too earnest for their own good, while his political comments are not hugely controversial – which is hardly surprising considering he was burned for his views on socialism back in 2012. Despite this, however, the record is refreshingly honest and delivers a timeless message with passion and plenty of anthemic hooks.

It is harsh, unflinching and, at times, pretty hard to listen to. But it’s an album that had to be made, in order that, as the title suggests, demons can be exorcised. It’s this quality which makes Exorcism such a compelling, and ultimately uplifting, experience.

At best, it sounds like an honest re-fashioning of comfortable old sounds. At worst, it sounds like a forgotten Christine McVie solo album.

Although there mightn’t be a Feed The Tree or Super Connected to be found this time round, Dove is a coherent collection that retains Belly’s essence while acknowledging the passing of nigh-on a quarter of a century.

The relative brevity and sparseness of the album, allied to the fact that it largely extends ideas laid down earlier in Harris’s career, won’t see Grid Of Points talked of in the same elevated way as some of her other work. But it serves as a timely reminder of her ability to create beautifully slow and contemplative music.

It’s Prince’s ghost that reigns supreme over the record, and while she nails both absorbing his spirit and infusing her own, there are times when you wish she would push the envelope a little harder, as she has on previous records.

The album is very cleanly produced, though at times it has an unfortunate tendency to become ignorable rather than interesting, Guidance and La Force De Melodie with LouLou Ghelichkhani being the chief offenders. However, the beat switch-up in the middle of Music To Make You Stagger--which turns it from a chilled dubby number to something approaching drum and bass--is very enjoyable, as are the chilly textures of Water Under The Bridge with frequent collaborator Natalia Clavier.

Some may find it all a bit too intense, while long-term fans may be put off by the departure of their earlier, more pastoral sound. However, their ambition cannot be faulted, and when it comes time to look back on the band’s career, Vide Noir could be seen as a pivotal moment.

Pinkus Abortion Technician is another solid album from Melvins, but is nowhere near their best. It’s not strange enough to be labelled a curio, it’s not massively experimental and there are very few surprises even with the two-prong bass deployment.

Novelist Guy remains a very promising debut from a young artist who has already placed himself at the forefront of grime’s equally promising future.

Fifth album The Louder I Call, The Faster It Runs doesn’t have the dramatic sense of change of its predecessor, but it is a fascinating album that may even ultimately prove to have more to offer. It’s one of those albums that grows with each listen.

Producing it must’ve been a huge job, the result is more than worth it. Higgledy Piggledy is brilliantly weird, packed full of ideas and sounds. It is a record you could spend a lifetime dissecting, yet still never get bored of.

Beautiful Thing works so well because it reminds us of that fact without losing its own emotional resonance.

If there is a flaw, it is that some jams are more eventful than others, as seen on the busy but ultimately inconsequential Daylight and Tear To My Eye featuring Eric D Clark and Beirut‘s Zach Condon, but this is something of an occupational hazard and the creative spirit is clearly heard throughout.

In The Lookout, Veirs has done what she does best. Instantly recognisable and comforting, she opens her personal world up as safe haven in these strange and noisy times, whilst still keeping you at arm’s length, listening for secrets.

Josh T Pearson’s latest experiments have made for his most uneven record yet, but among the less characterful songs, there’s still some of that old miserable magic to relish within the directness of it all. The Straight Hits! may not be his finest, but maybe the purge was a necessary one.

Tinashe draws on her R&B influences to greater effect with the sensual, Dilemma-sampling Ooh La La, and No Contest is another highlight, but overall Joyride does not deliver on its potential.

While there are a couple of misfires (Broken Algorithms is as messy as its title would suggest), this is generally a fine return to form from one of the country’s most treasured bands.

Eels don’t do anything markedly different to what they’ve done many times before, but E’s songwriting remains in fine fettle and he still has plenty to say.

Sex & Food might be reluctant to fully reveal itself, but in being the most uncompromising album in Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s discography it also feels like Nielson’s most honest musical statement to date.

Overall the lingering feeling is that I Don’t Run is a pleasant enough listen, and one that would happily soundtrack many a summer barbecue, but it falls short of the promise of their debut.

There’s enough variety and sheer pop power here to merit the hype, and more.

It’s the sound of a band who have slowly taken the time to consider how their evolution should develop, and this deliberation has borne fruit. Wildness may well have grown, but for Gengahr, something rather more long-lasting may have also taken root.

This record feels like half reboot and half memoir. She goes out of her way to acknowledge the fact she’s not a teenager anymore, but with a gentle defiance, a little nostalgia and a subtle change in direction that makes Golden both touching but also really good fun.