Although she’s been around for over a decade, Whole World As Vigil can serve as an introduction to one of the most exciting voices in contemporary experimental pop music.

These are songs to throw yourself around the moshpit to – it’s the sound of a band realising their potential and loving every minute of it.

With Wild Mountain Nation they present a raucous and varied constellation of souvenirs, rough-hewn but lush, crackling with a weird and lucid energy.

In his second album, The Wild Hunt, Matsson has made a stunningly genuine folk record that compares favourably to staples of the genre dating back to Bob Dylan's The Times They Are A-Changin'.

It is full of sadness and hope, but ultimately it is a celebration of human spirit and the unique talent of Roky Erickson. This indeed is special and magical music.

Esmerine has once again created an album full of depth, wonder and flights of fancy.

Rudi Zygadlo proves here that he is far more than an electro producer, and has delivered a second album that frequently captivates and often mystifies.

Comfortably impressive, it’s difficult to see how Near To The Wild Heart Of Life will leave the turntable once it gets spinning. Despite being less striking than its predecessor, it’s another great Japandroids album.

Their previous albums were exercises in fuzzed up, energised sonic assault, and whilst Fantasy Empire is no different in terms of attack and intent, there’s a clarity to it that makes it more effective.

Minor missteps aside, Further Complications is a bold, progressive step forward in the so far, so very good solo career of Jarvis Cocker.

What might start as a project which has specialist appeal only therefore becomes something well worth hearing, a lesson in how to make the most from an instrument with seemingly limited range, without overdoing the beard scratching.

No embarrassing side-project, Let Them Talk turns out to showcase heartfelt and sensitively handled musicianship from one of our finest all-round entertainers.

Luckily, there’s enough energy imparted by the snappy drums and darkly driving basslines to keep it interesting, giving structure to the more ethereal elements without overpowering them. If the thought of trawling through the ’90s again leaves you cold, pop this on and party like its 1980.

A quite astonishing record then, and one which establishes Chasny as a bona fide guitar god, proves that Comets On Fire are much missed, and knocks the notion of guitar music being dead into a cocked hat.

If you can cope with the intensity, there are rewards aplenty to be found here - Sons And Daughters are the perfect group to fill the hole that The Delgados left when they split up last year.

Picture You succeeds in combining influences from a variety of genres to make an end result that’s lush and timeless.

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.

Live On Ten Legs captures 18 brilliant moments in the history of one of rock 'n' roll's most consistent bands.

This is a delightful record, plain and simple.

He remains a formidable wordsmith, and a fast mover by the looks of things. However his career develops, it will be crucial for him to keep a tight hold of the bewitching elements that help make not just his debut, but also his latest, a refreshing listen.

There may be no words, but their music speaks volumes--and is consistently rewarding and charming.

Gira’s ability to look at the world and show us how terrifying it is continues to reap rewards. It might not throughout be what we’ve come to expect from Swans, but it is decidedly relevant.

This is a quality piece of craftsmanship and there isn't a weak point on the album.

The full blast of bass and guitars from Nic Bueth and Alex Sprogis that respectively fortify tracks like The Big Curve, Decoration and Slideshow are as grotty, inexorably heavy and domineering as the world frontman Charlie Drinkwater finds himself lashing out at.

Feed The Rats is everything you could hope for from Pigsx7. It’s heavy, stoned, accessible and transformative.

There may be nothing on here Funplex that will challenge the likes of Rock Lobster or Love Shack, but Funplex is a consistently brilliant party album from a band that knows the value in simply having a good time.

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

It might not be wholly successful but that could be due simply to our unfamiliarity as listeners with music that manages to be different in an instinctive way.

Far more nuanced and textured than its two predecessors, it sounds all the better for it.

If SZA needed to prove that she’s still at the top of R&B, she has succeeded with emotional heft, piercingly astute lyrics and a versatile delivery: with more than a few similarities to Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers, SOS is perhaps the best break-up record since TDE’s last one.

There is enough control behind all the madness to ensure that the result remains just the right side of uncompromising.

Yesterday’s Gone is one of the finest debuts you’ll hear for quite some time.

It’s probably the most accessible Soccer Mommy album to date.

For a debut album it's remarkably consistent and confident, and promises great things to come for the future.

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

The truth of The Sound Of Yourself is that it is a sometimes confused collection of songs, almost as though it were two albums co-existing in one space. ... However, the quality across the board in these compositions is consistent and the sound of McCaughan in this kind of form is always a delight.

It’s universally accessible, and it’s the kind of pop that has the potential to dominate the charts and win over hearts during festival slots.

Poignant, lush and beautifully played, this is another predictably wonderful record from The Antlers.

The Dream Of Delphi is another starkly beautiful missive from one of our most consistent artists.

Raffertie’s talent as a producer has never been in question. Sleep Of Reason has been a long time coming, but these 13 pieces of fractured soul represent a supreme triumph.

ny quibbles are minor here though, for Devotion is a truly impressive debut album from yet another talented British singer.

A brightly uplifting record.

It is a testament to Eminem’s enduring talent that the album never feels laboured or even slightly dated. Instead, it is a perfect reflection of the world of Marshall Mathers in 2013.

Most of the tracks here could have emerged at almost any point between the late 60s and now, but when you're confronted by the sheer bittersweet enthusiasm that van Pelt manages to squeeze into each one, it would be a little unfair to draw up a family tree.

It feels engaged and defiant, but perhaps more inward looking than the inevitably direct political feeling behind Albala.

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.

If the sound of Beyoncé‘s similarly sonically adventurous Renaissance whetted your appetite for challenging, demanding soul, then Sudan Archives’ latest could be just what you’re looking for.

With the band straying very little from the original templates, the main surprises come when they have to change styles to fit the songs.

Ultimately it's an incredibly rewarding listen, even if the self-observing anxiety that's writ large throughout means it doesn't quite reach the lofty heights to which its creators have bravely aspired.

The consistency and linear aspect of Bloom ensures it is, as the band recommend, best experienced as an whole.

In the end, then, it's as if Austra are old hands; Feel It Break could be them overcoming difficult second album syndrome with aplomb. Goodness only knows where they can go from here; such peaks represented the end of the road for The Organ.

Thankfully, McCartney appears to be grasping the nettle and squeezing the most out of life and his apparently never-ending songbook. A definite thumbs up.

Sacred Paws strike a match by igniting the themes and musicality of their record, and the result is hugely satisfying. There is something ballsy and defiant in the simplicity of the duo’s approach and directness.

It's a rootsy album that is delivered faithfully and respectfully, but one where the strong, clear voice of its author cuts through powerfully.

On closer inspection and at a suitably stupid volume, however, Preparations rocks and lurches in grand fashion.

It Is What It Is sparkles with inventive songwriting, chunky production and pervasive good vibes, a worthwhile addition to any R&B or jazz fan’s collection.

As with all Björk albums there’s a lot to unpack and it requires several listens before it all begins to fall into place but, once done, there’s a case to be made for this possibly being the best Björk album (and certainly the most animated) since 2011’s Biophilia certainly in terms of breadth, aesthetic and overall engagement.

The flipside to this slightly dark streak that permeates the album with its huge drum pulses and malfunctioning circuitry, is the gentle subtlety at work.

Sprawling, strange, baffling and beguiling, this psychedelic treasure is unlikely to appeal to the unadventurous, but it’s hard to imagine there will be another album released anywhere this year that’s quite like it.

If C,XOXO’s creative team (El Guincho, Jasper Harris et al) intended to trigger a resurgence of popularity for the former Fifth Harmony member then they have singularly failed, but they’ve certainly helped Cabello stand out in the crowd of female popstars releasing albums this year.

Unlike those other Radiohead solo and side projects, you can easily imagine The Smile appealing to more than those aforementioned obsessives. As a soundtrack to these unsettling, rather terrifying times, you won’t find many better composers than Yorke and Greenwood.

Yes, Heavy Ghost is weird, but Stith's melodies are simple and wonderful, making his experimentation easy to follow and, with his enchanting choral throughout, it's easy to get lost in every song--or even engulfed into a new fantastical land that you may never want to escape from.

This is a splendid and rather accomplished debut album: one senses we haven’t heard the last from Louise, Sophie and Gemma.

Some of the experiments here may work better than others in the long term, but it is far better that Beam is an artist prepared to take risks. His best work may be yet to come, while his writing remains vivid and evocative.

Whilst this is an album that will draw comparisons to the band that made her name, it is a fine, if long overdue, solo effort.

Foster The People make infectiously good music, don't stick to a formula and make you yearn to lie on your back in the middle of a field, feeling the hot sun streaming down on your face.

Selling is an inspired project, and On Reflection utilises the best of both artists to produce a project that is fascinating, pretty and groovy all at once: required listening for fans of electronic music.

The record doesn’t just match the standard of their first, it surpasses it.

Throughout the 10 songs both performers are clearly having fun, and yet--as you might expect from its Ghost Stories title--there is darkness at the heart of this album. For that reason it is the perfect Yuletide accompaniment, capturing perfectly the comforts and wonder of the season--but also the awkwardness nobody wants to talk about.

This album is full of fun, and peppered with potential classics.

There are 14 tracks all in all, together with a couple of skits. Yet Smith refuses to fall into this trap, by some smart sequencing of the tracks: with the ballads mostly gathered towards the end of the record, Falling Or Flying feels like a coherent album rather than a collection of tracks stringed together.

What really grabs the attention about Animal though is its energy. ... LUMP are just as effective though when they bring the tempo down a bit.

An album that could just see Hemming and company add some more fans in addition to their celebrity admirers.

King Of Limbs is a subtle, muti-layered affair - surprisingly low-key in places, and it certainly won't win back any fans who checked out in the late '90s.

These songs might not be his most immediate, but House Of Sugar, it rewards repeated listening as these songs start to reveal their hidden depths with every listen. Whether its ever possibly to get right to the bottom of them is another matter, but really, it’s the mystery of them that makes them so appealing.

Whilst the record is without doubt clamorous, murky and often times boisterous, it’s in no way petulant or immovable.

If you don’t pay attention, it’s harmless background fluff, yet if you concentrate there are mysteries and subtleties to discover that demand repeat listens.

All in, Courage marks an impressive return.

It’s hard not to see Playground In A Lake as the most ambitious Clark release to date, an adventurous collision of different musical worlds that also carries an important underlying environmental message. It offers a bold pointer towards the future, both in terms of Clark’s own ongoing musical journey and the broader fate of the planet.

It's appealingly uncompromising and right on the border between lucidity and madness.

Join The Dots is a very good album, derivative maybe, but much more than the sum of its parts.

The essence of what made Penguin Cafe Orchestra is here: the music is dreamlike and does indeed touch the heart of the listener.

Even with 14 tracks, Blue Rev never seems to outstay its welcome. That’s probably helped by some curveballs that the band throw.

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.

There are times when it feels a bit prescribed; dream-pop by numbers. But when they're at their best Sun Airway have a knack of perfectly balancing melancholy with intelligence and brutal honesty.

In less skilled, less ambitious hands, this record could have been derivative and hackneyed. Instead it is an unqualified triumph for a young band who, with a little luck, should go on to achieve widespread acclaim in years to come.

The muted, lo-fi quasi-psychedelia of his early work has largely been replaced by mellow, contented songs and while it may take a couple of plays to fully establish itself it’s very much worth investing time in. Sonically, it has a notable consistency and poise with the quirkiness of his early albums now having given way to more conventional approaches.

It might not be as immediate in places as some of his previous albums but given time these songs grow and blossom in similar fashion to the flower that adorns the album cover.

There is undeniable passion and love infused throughout these songs and, if they tick all the right boxes, they do it magnificently.

Less inquisitive and much more personal [than 'Silence'], Security Screenings' giddy mosaic of psychedelic disorientation has the morning-after effect of tweezing dream from memory.

There’s the feeling that, behind her mask of the anthropomorphic goddess of climate change, maybe, just maybe, this is Grimes’ most honest and reflective album yet.

This a slow-burning, intimate and accomplished disc, best enjoyed if you clear some space to let it grow.

Mackenzie Scott seems to have reached that stage of her career where she’s just happy to please herself, and it’s resulted in her best album to date.

For deep and lasting inspiration, A Small Death is hard to beat.

Amid all this existential and transcendental pondering, there’s the sense that Vampire Weekend have re-imagined themselves as the sort of band who could be doing this well into their 30s.

Half remembered, half acknowledged, half understood, it is, in short, very subtly brilliant.

Highlights are hard to pick out when so much of Happysad pursues the same vibe, but overall the album is an easygoing yet expressive release, highly recommended for fans of jazz and Stones Throw’s output.

Strange Friend is a tight, concise and incredibly satisfying listen with the right mixture of familiarity and progression. Read more at http://www.musicomh.com/reviews/albums/phantom-band-strange-friend#XfgsSdbaV2H9zOTz.99