In broadening their horizons they've not sacrificed quality, every note and sound is perfectly executed. Foals have made impressive strides forward, and you'd be mad not to follow them.

Impermanence might have started out as a personal project, and it is an economical record consisting of six minimalist tracks, but self and city both run through it, giving a great sense of scale and scope.

This is peak Metronomy, Mount and his charges at the top of the game as they move with pop music’s ever-evolving sound.

It's far more fun, however, to sit back and appreciate the album as the dawning of a new, unique voice which, through its influences (both obvious and not-so), is blending styles and carving a niche in to the increasingly crowded canon of independent and original female artists.

Girl Band possess enormous potential and big, big things look to be lying just around the corner for the Dubliners. Whilst this often only remains as potential for this first step, Holding Hands With Jamie is a refreshing change and welcome one-fingered salute to the mundane and safe rock music of today.

As well as this angrier, more focused lyrical approach, some of the arrangements on Raskit are pleasingly minimal.

No longer clogged with the skyrocketing phosphorescent noise of yore, Growing’s agile and insular sound has permeated into a fugitive multidimensional fog, more muted than clamorous and constantly adrift on the faintest of prayers.

We may not know the full detail behind each song but simply being drawn into her world and sharing in the healing process ensures Big Picture provides a cathartic experience that few other albums will match this year.

Its inviting atmosphere, the beautiful playing and gorgeous harmonies make for an approachable, if not wholly accessible, record.

Overall, Sound The Alarm is an experiment that sometimes wildly succeeds, sometimes pleases, sometimes bores, and sometimes crashes and burns.

This is a gloriously atmospheric second album from a band who will surely soon be as lauded and acclaimed as their better-known labelmates.

This is punk music delivered with a righteous feminine fury.

The Love Invention wades into territory more mainstream than even Supernature, slotting merrily between Murphy’s recent output and Kylie Minogue‘s return to her Disco best, and succeeds very well in creating stylish, louche, mature bops. In so doing, it unquestionably establishes Alison Goldfrapp as a solo force.

After the crossroads moment that was Present Tense, Boy King is undoubtedly a powerful statement of intent from a talented, ambitious group of musicians clearly keen to explore new and bold territory. Yet by making this call, they have also sacrificed some of the crucial nuances that made Wild Beasts stand out from their peers in the first place.

Kollaps Tradixionales is an outstanding album that competes with anything the band has done previously under its various monikers. It's early in the year to be predicting albums of 2010, but this will surely be up there.

He’s crafted something braver, harder, and worth a spin. White paintings be damned.

It’s been seven years in coming, but Nature has most definitely been worth the wait.

It’s an album that’s full of poise and confidence, which bodes well for her future.

While the pudding is occasionally over-egged, in general this is a work of great individuality and poise that should increase MONEY’s currency as one of the best young British bands to emerge in recent years.

Minor rants notwithstanding, Heartbreaking Bravery is a decent album.

In parts, it’s just as absorbing as anything they’ve released.

'Em Are I is an abandoned puppy of an album that you can't help but take to heart.

Dry Food approaches the subject from a different angle to the tried-and-killed solo artist template of acoustic guitar plus deserted cabin with nothing but a glove puppet for company.

It’s probably not the sort of album to cosy up with – there’s so much emotion pouring out of Cummings’ vocals that it may all become a bit much for some listeners. Yet it’s astonishing that this is just her second album – there’s more poise and talent on display on Storm Queen than in artists with twice her career.

Whilst this isn't the album many may have expected, it should match their hopes in a different and, ultimately, fulfilling way.

Frank is a superb debut album that announces Amy Winehouse as a major young talent. With hardly any weak tracks on here, it's frightening to think what she could produce in the years to come.

This is an antidote to both Plessow and Worgull’s respective day jobs and the way they craft their soundscapes is admirable.

The sound on Welfare Jazz may be more of the same glam-phetamine trash disko bomp that made the first record so distinctive – a ramshackle wad of low-end guitars that spit and burn like chip pan fires and boisterous oft intoxicated vocals with a surplus of undulating sax – but there’s something else that’s been added to their arsenal, something that was hiding in plain sight all along. The protagonist of these songs may not be all that apologetic as he pontificates of his transgressions, but he is at least man enough to put his grubby hands up and forewarn friends and lovers that he’s a little damaged. It’s a good start.

Their calmest album to date.

While Ashin is clearly a major talent, he just needs to dial it down from time to time if he’s to deliver a wholly satisfying record.

Tangk is sadly, and far too often, a rather boring album by a band who can and should be doing much better.

It’s as good a debut as you could hope to hear, a fresh injection of pure brilliance and beauty to a genre that is creaking under the weight of mediocrity and a lack of adventurous inventiveness.

It’s not quite her Blood On The Tracks, but it’s a record that’s similarly compelling to listen to.

Its genesis was borne of urgency, and that’s a feeling that permeates every aspect of an album that positively twitches with energy.

The band have fully reasserted themselves, taking equal parts past and future to make a record that fits the present day like a glove. Twenty years in and the fires are still burning brightly.

Makes A King takes it up a notch: the same ingredients and patterns are there, but The Very Best now sound much more like a fully operational band, rather than a fortuitous hodgepodge of singing and sampling.

She’s certainly an artist following her own vision: one which may sometimes grate, but is never less than intriguing.

His dedication certainly pays off, Friends & Family grabs ears almost immediately--but as his tropes wear down, it can't help but feel a little hollow.

At times, it’s the lyrics in Old Fears that firmly stand out over the music itself.

You know it's special from the first bars.

The only problem is, that like other Charly Bliss records, it sounds better in little chunks, rather than as a fully-fledged album. There are 12 tracks on Forever, and it’s undeniable that after a while, the songs begin to sound rather the same.

The follow-up does just what Human Ceremony did, but more so. And better.

Grails have been many things over the last 15 years, but with Chalice Hymnal, they seem to have found an identity that fits them perfectly.

Though it stands up well enough on its own The Stand Ins does feel like a follow-up, rather than something completely new and fresh and forward looking, and it is not as instantly gripping as The Stage Names, it takes longer to wind your way into your mind.

Collaborations may not work for everyone (hi Metallica, rest in peace Lou Reed), but this is one that certainly does.

Emerging at the end, the listener has a real sense of having been immersed in something coherent and whole over the course of the 10 tracks; even if at the same time--dreamlike--there may well be no such clear sense of what it all might have meant.

While the album's opening single, Sentimental Dishes, is far from the endgame--its jauntiness an awkward fit for the album's wider angst--there's a recognition in its pace, and the broadening ambition of the sound, that PS I Love You may be ready for more.

It's a joyful, undeniably positive album but more significantly Electric Cables has the potential to grow into one of those cult records that may not make a sizeable impact on the musical landscape but becomes cherished by a devoted group of listeners.

Pig Lib Part Two? Maybe so, but there are enough subtle evolutions here to keep any SM follower listening intently until the cows come home.

Absolutely essential listening.

The vast majority of I'm New Here sees Scott-Heron looking back on his life. The result is remarkably honest; as he puts it at one stage, "If you have to pay for what you've done wrong, then I've got a big bill coming".

Against all odds, the completed Mezmerize/Hypnotize project is actually greater than the sum of its parts - in fact it quickly becomes impossible to think of it as anything else than one epic piece of work.

The album's not for everyone, but if her sound is to your taste, then it will prove a rewarding, delectable, necessary thing: one of this year's most consistently interesting albums.

An invigorating album, then, and one that says a great deal despite being instrumental the whole way through.

The final results are of such subtle beauty they take the breath clean away.

It's an uplifting end to one of the best albums of 2011, one that marks Ghostpoet as a name to keep a very close eye on.

It's a self-assured and very cohesive piece of work. Lisa Hannigan's journey as a solo artist continues to trundle along without any bumps in the road.

Kinshasa Succursale is bursting with ideas, not all of which hit their mark. It's refreshing however to see an approach to recording and production which doesn't strive for polish and perfection.

It's undoubtedly an acquired taste, and you can't imagine actually wanting to listen to it all that much, but there's definitely much to admire here.

They are truly captivating when they take the best of their talents and translate them as they feel and, frankly, it matters little whether the product bears sonic points of reference to others or not.

Recommended Record may flit between styles but it’s a cohesive and polished third effort from the band.

An engaging and rather captivating record.

His compositions are conceptual and carefully planned, but the resulting performances also have the strong sense of freedom and spontaneity that comes with the musicians’ experience in jazz.

Psychic 9-5 Club is a rare, gentle masterpiece, and to paraphrase Kurt Cobain, this album definitely won’t let you forget your ex-girlfriend.

Into Forever is not the first record to attempt to contemporize the generations-old kosmische sound, but it’s certainly amongst the finest in recent memory.=

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

No Time is a huge step forward since the 2012 debut and yet another essential psych-heavy 2014 collection, this time from a more unexpected source.

Much of Nervous is a little heavy for what is, on the surface at least, a gentle, lilting folk inflected album. However, there are moments of utter joyfulness to be found.

Yes, it’s a mess but somehow a thoroughly glorious and jubilant mess. In other words, it’s a perfect encapsulation of everything that Man It Feels Like Space Again is.

Each song is so comforting, peaceful and downright beautiful that it’s like being lost in a wonderful auditory dream.

Jekyll Island is probably not going to be their breakthrough album to a wider public, but their forthcoming debut European tour is bound to bring them some new fans.

Contrepoint delights in its escape, and while it might be unhinged and unstructured at times, it is never anything less than intriguing.

Those who are justifiably fond of Tigerlily will find much to enjoy here. But it’s a shame Merchant didn’t take the opportunity to shake up the original album a bit more.

Although occasionally lacking focus (unsurprising, since large chunks were apparently improvised) it is a quietly mesmerising piece of work that breathes new life into Yorkston’s career.

It may not have the instant listenability of We Were Here, and there are parts where it gets slightly bogged down but, in the end, it is another worthy addition to their catalogue.

Wells is an immense talent, and for those willing to put the time in, there’s so much to enjoy in these dreamlike baroque-pop numbers.

Trick may well be his masterpiece, combining all the elements that have made him such an enduring and much-loved musician over the years to create a genre-bending classic.

There’s something monumental about it. Something of Swans in the way they harness the brutality of instruments played at the edge of breaking point. The same apocalyptic destination. There’s also a similar use of repetition, looping sections over and over with bulldozing impact.

Fifteen or so albums in, Bamboo Diner In The Rain is not much more, but crucially nothing less, than another reliably solid album from one of our most consistent acts. A resounding success, then.

There are so many ideas, grooves and interesting deviations on Pas Pire Pop that it is impossible not to be drawn in by it. Rather than being overwhelming, it’s a record that stuns with its hypnotic and jubilant rhythms.

Comfortably surpassing Poison Season, ken is hugely listenable throughout, and with so many ‘80s touchpoints in evidence, it often sounds like it could actually have been made at that time. Which, despite the uneducated blindly condemning the decade due to its considerable amount of cheese and big hair, is no bad thing.

Overall, A Humdrum Star is GoGo Penguin’s most cohesive, pleasing record to date.

Big Wows is highly polished and lacks the intimacy and fragility that made Into Their Diamond Sun such a compelling listen. The pay-off is a more distant but fascinating record that charts their evolution as a band.

One of his best albums and deserves better, confirming Damien Jurado to be an artist operating at the peak of his powers.

All this amounts to, in the nicest possible way, is an album that sounds sleek, professional and (say it quietly) a little safe.

It is a storming electropop record taking account of the times in which we live but fighting them with positive energy. His music is as strikingly relevant now as it was in the late 1970s, the creative fires burning brightly in the relative darkness.

It confirms how they’ve always been a band that have explored human emotion in deep, meaningful ways but Distractions feels like something more, like the beginning of a fresh chapter in their story.

This music is less underplayed than a confident expression of mid-life experience.

Their fluctuating randomness trails away from scattered innovation and colourful variances in pitch and tone to become interchangeable noise. Without sufficiently varying their distinctive sound, they still serve a herbal tonic for the senses, even if there’s a decidedly bland aftertaste this time. Still, at least there are some nice vinyl options to put away on the shelf.

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.

By the time the melancholic Schoenberg soprano has drifted into the ether at the end of The Abandoned Colony Collapsed My World, you’ll be ready for a repeat listen – although you’ll hear so many different elements the second time round, you’ll wonder whether the album isn’t secretly mutating whilst your back’s turned.

This album works best at moments like this, sweet and soothing – not exactly ambient, but soft and comforting like a nest of scatter cushions.

The whole album is delivered with great assurance and feels instinctive, Moderat effortlessly rediscovering their mojo as a band. They may have had a break of half a decade from releasing music, but MORE D4TA proves they have never really been away.

The sheer brevity of the record means that it doesn’t really feel like a ‘proper’ record as such, but it’s still a lovely listen.

An envelope-pushing record, admirable in its ambition even when the thread gets a bit lost.

There are a couple of tracks that veer towards the forgettable, and the overall downbeat tempo of the album as a whole may test the patience of some listeners. ... Yet even on the less memorable songs, Merchant never sounds anything less than completely captivating.

It might not be as cohesive as some of her earlier work but The Age Of Pleasure is still an album that bristles with energy and boldness.