Yet for all the individual moments of sleek electronic beauty, Goddess as a whole often sounds frustratingly unconvincing and almost fragmented in its production.

It’s warm, delicate; a real feast for the ears.

Once the irritatingly catchy melodies have passed through a love/hate relationship though, to the point where they may start to annoy, there is sadly not enough left to warrant a long lifespan for Youth.

Whether the record would have benefited from the band focusing more on fewer tracks is debatable, but Wicked Nature is in many ways a miniature triumph for an outfit written off by many as has-beens.

Like much of his best work, it’s a slow-burner of an album: at first listen, it sounds a pretty decent radio-friendly record, but it’s only on repeated plays that the full emotional scale which Adams is displaying becomes clear.

Although this album is at times a difficult listen, you can’t help but admire Busdriver for his innovation and general wackiness.

El Pintor is sleek, minimalist and brilliantly realised, and is the band’s best work since Antics.

The Physical World is a tremendous, rollicking, riotous blast of an album.

There seems to be a number of ideas thrown together into the mix and this does result in the collection sounding a little confused towards its conclusion but there are many highlights before this point that suggests The Ramona Flowers are likely to be around for a long time.

It would appear that every step he takes is another step in the right direction; his is a remarkable talent worthy of wider recognition.

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

This entire album is in a constant state of movement, and could just be their finest moment yet.

They know their way around a captivating (if not subtle) hook, so whilst it sounds bigger than the sum of its parts, there are enough great songs to justify this super-stylised and fearless approach to pop.

In comparison to earlier efforts though, the new album feels like a huge step forward and the lengthier fuzzed out jams are excellent, and surely good enough to be spotted on a few more radars.

These outstanding songs, imaginatively and intuitively balanced by clever production, cohere to form a serious work reflecting on landscape, memory, regret and the pull of our roots. It more than earns its somewhat portentous title.

Primitive And Deadly, in part, represents an encapsulation of Earth’s discography, but more importantly it also sees the band moving on, entering a new phase and expanding their dimensions.

The grace is still there, but something far more engrossing has now been added to the mix.

New drummer Alexis Nunez adds a percussive edge, but much credit must go to hip-hop co-producer Inflo for this fresh lease of life.

It has some great moments but is probably one to listen to when you want to drift off into a peaceful slumber.

Merchandise are a band at a crossroads, and After The End reflects that--they’ve proved here that they’re very good at creating accessible indie-pop, but seem more comfortable with their more brooding side.

Drummer Gianni Honey and bassist Daniel Rumsey create a magnificently grungy smear of grinding fuzz, before Bell’s squalling guitar adds just the right amount of 1950s style terror to proceedings. And there are sufficient quantities of those sort of moments to make this a very fine debut.

Even though this is her ninth album, she still sounds fresh.

A truly superb comeback.

It doesn’t hit the heights of his debut nor is it quite so thrilling; however, it is certainly an impressive work nonetheless.

At times, a startling album--one that will please Hitchcock obsessives and also provides a decent gateway for the uninitiated.

It’s a lot more ambitious and experimental--more often than not, anyway--than previous releases. When it stumbles, it’s merely fleeting. There’s no doubt that their reputation is intact.

Wilderness Of Mirrors provides satisfying proof that there is still plenty of value, purpose and life left at the margins.

The overall impression [is] that Alarms In The Heart is overall an opportunity missed.

Listening to Meshes Of Voice is somewhere between a terrifying hallucination and a relaxing daydream. It makes it a memorable, and strangely enjoyable, experience.

There’s more than sentimentality to these songs; they resonate at a more fundamental level.

Like all of Wainwright’s music, Haven’t Got the Blues (Yet) will divide opinion, depending on whether the listener enjoys his style; but whether the listener agrees with him or not, they cannot surely be unaffected by his rich outpouring of love, amusement, scorn, wit, and above all, spirit.

In The Wild has some super solid additions to any electronic music playlist--the singles mentioned previously are pretty damn hot--but exploring it front-to-back is simply too much to handle.

Although unlikely to have any individual impact on CBC’s all-time song chart, it’s yet another consistently good all-round album out of Canada.

Shelter has plenty of moments of understated genius, and it’s fun to watch a producer find what works for him or her as their game just begins.

Foundations showcases the development in the band’s songwriting skills.

The Magic Numbers’ latest LP may not be perfect, but it is a big step in the right direction.

The overwhelming feeling at the end of Black Rat is that this is a band with a lot more up their sleeve.

Angst-rock is promised, but power-pop is ultimately delivered.

This is emotional, mature art you listen to on some lonesome night--or with a loved one--intently, focused, and open. You will not be disappointed.

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

As a standalone album From Scotland With Love is good, but found wanting in areas of length and substance. As a soundtrack to a film, it’s wonderful. The context to choose is the listener’s.

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

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 remarkable the album sounds so cohesive and richly defined.

Though scattershot emotional mayhem, this album is a resounding triumph.

Musically, I’m Not Bossy is pure pop with a wonderful glam mindset, but there was certainly more lyrical attention needed for it to succeed its intended purpose.

The Voyager is less of an addition to her back catalogue than a summary of her work to date, dipping into different eras of Lewis, and not settling on any.

Simply put, When The Cellar Children See The Light Of Day is one of the best albums of the year.

Angus & Julia Stone have succeeded in sounding like a lo-fi Australian indie version of late ’70s Fleetwood Mac, and although this record is no Rumours it is without doubt the Sydney siblings’ best effort yet.

A dense, intelligent and rewarding album.

These slight niggles [Failure never fully reveals itself and feels a little like an idea that never really developed. Similarly, K Street is short, sweet, and fun, but doesn’t really anywhere] aside, Volume X finds Trans Am in rude health and still delivering fresh exciting music. As an introduction to the band this is a good starter for 10.

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.

Hutchison may seem down on himself on this record, but the music is full of creative energy.

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

For those late to the party, the album offers an opportunity to catch up and at least not miss out on a fine batch of Beck songs which might have otherwise evaded the mainstream. For those with more time and the urge to explore, though, just get yourself down to songreader.net where the real spirit of the project still awaits you.

There’s something almost mathematical and architectural about Brooks’ guitar aggregations but these qualities are conveyed humbly and unobtrusively throughout.

McGuinness is having a fantastic time on this album, but the try-too-hard attempts at shock value and relatively derivative riffs occasionally detract from what is an otherwise fantastic recontextualization of British alternative rock into older trends.

Pe’ahi may well have arrived softly, but you can’t criticise the size of its stick, nor its ability to do different and interesting things with that stick.

A priceless archival exercise: these eight sides of vinyl represent both the holy grail of New Zealand indie rock and proof of its insidious journey to a wide world. [Aug 2014, p.100]

Elly Jackson firmly takes control of her career and delivers a tremendously confident second album, one that repositions La Roux and has a whole lot of fun while doing so.

Though his aims of presenting this as a robust, high-concept album aren’t necessarily met, this is still wonderful pop.

Deceptively expansive, Fink’s tricksy Hard Believer is essential listening.

The promise is unquestionable but the songs and melodies aren’t memorable; this is hopefully all part of the transformation and something that will develop as they enter the next stage of their intriguing growth.

It’s a glorious anthology of affective, brutally precise top notch electronic pop.

At almost 55 minutes, some of the 12 tracks could have done with a bit of trimming, while some songs work better than others. But overall World Peace Is None Of Your Business is a distinctive contribution to Morrissey’s oeuvre.

This is deeply satisfying and enjoyable--perfect for those who prefer their summer soundtrack to have a bit of firepower.

By the time the spine-tingling hidden track after the closing Wanderer Wandering has faded out, you’ll be convinced you’ve heard one of the best albums of the year.

Gulp suffers from the side-project lack of focus, but they have the capabilities to push their music to the edge on which they obviously live.

Whilst it doesn’t always work, and the shorter tracks do little to add value, the atmosphere they generate is often spine tingling.

All that said, there’s a lot to love still, and if you carefully trim around the dross, you’re left with a stunning product and some phantasmagorical slivers of sonic mastery.

That an album that sounds this vibrant and thrilling came out of such dark circumstance is a testament to the songwriting skills of Showalter. Pain never sounded so good.

In 1000 Forms Of Fear, we have what is probably Sia’s finest body of work.

The duo have set themselves up nicely in a burgeoning genre and whilst their likeness for monochrome isn’t exactly bright, their future surely is.

For all its ’80s and ’90s pop influence, nothing here sounds dated.

Every track is quite full of life and holds no lack of energy that characterizes good, classic British rock ‘n’ roll.

His dance credentials already assured, this feels like Cutler reasserting his artistry; an exercise in expressive revivalism, where myriad influences are sketched from memory; an album whose headline proposition is new, despite the ageing origins of its component parts.

It’s stupid fun, but In My World is also a surprisingly intelligent release with quite a few surprises.

There may come a time where repeated fine-tuning becomes progressively more difficult, but in the meantime Remember Remember have released an album that consolidates their position and shows off their abilities in impressive style.

Martyn has an incredible musical heritage and series of works in his past, and it’s a shame that The Air Between Words simply is not as interesting nor as rewarding.

Fans of her debut may be a bit bemused, but this is a new direction that could lead to great things.

This is a worthwhile purchase for any David Gray fans, but for everyone else the world just keeps on turning.

The album experiments and draws on a number of electronic genres to bring together something that is at times mesmerising, even if it doesn’t always hold perfectly.

Most of these ballads are in the middle of the album, which drags it down somewhat, so it’s a blessed relief when Pharrell returns to produce the excellent Runaway.

Lizzobangers is a triumphant album by an extraordinary artist and woman, whose girl-empowering lyricism and social consciousness puts her at the top of the underground and alternative hip-hop community.

The noisy production doesn’t fall into the trappings of obfuscation, and with more adventures in the world, Dub Thompson should iron out the flaws of their debut into a more conceptually realised sound.

It may not be an album you’ll come back to again and again, but it shows off a refreshingly different side to Alexis Taylor.

Certainly there’s something mystical at work here, but, as with the rest of the album, the real fun is to be found when fully immersed in these hypnotic grooves.

There simply isn’t enough variation, with the overwhelming presence of Righton’s one dimensional vocals lacking allure after a few tracks and the invariable electronica also doing little to excite or surprise.

Although it will undoubtedly be adored by Kasabian’s fiercely loyal army of fans, to the unconverted 48:13 sounds like a band running perilously low on ideas.

On balance, Ultraviolence is ok, tending towards pretty good. However, there is a nagging wonderment over exactly where Del Rey goes from here.

The album’s probably better than expected, so it’s somewhat of a disappointment that the band haven’t been encouraged to recreate their main strength, the brilliant electricity generated by pulsating live shows as their music builds into euphoric peaks; too often, the production strips away the potential majesty.

It doesn’t have the timeless quality of her classic material, but it’s good to have her back nonetheless.

As an example of Boris at their best, it’s hard to top, but this is an album that finds the band in particularly rude health. Noise never sounded so good.

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

Greys need be a little more subtle in their own palette. It’s a great noise, just not yet a great sound.

It’s catchy, perfectly executed, and succeeds in both honouring the better aspects of a much maligned scene whilst also sticking two fingers up at the horrific ideologies that still populate it.

Sartain’s songwriting (and choice of covers) is superb throughout, and the album is immaculately sequenced. But that’s not really the main appeal of this record--the appeal is that it’s eclectic, and that it’s funny.

Lengthier drawn out psych-jams similar to TOY could be one direction that would be an improvement, as would the addition of a guitar maestro, but without a special ingredient you can’t help but feel The Proper Ornaments will sadly find themselves consigned to granny’s shelf too soon, a fact you desperately don’t want to see happen, such is the potential hinted at throughout.