There’s a fresh energy and swagger about the Jarmans now, helped in no small way by producer Ric Ocasek.

Admittedly, this is pretty much Bruce does karaoke, but when it’s done this well and with so much obvious love for the source material, it’s irresistible. Volume 2 can’t come quickly enough.

This is one of the most exciting debut albums for sometime.

It’s encouraging to find Kid Koala beginning to push the envelope and explore new territory, and these transmissions from the satellite heart are a fine starting point for future adventures.

Ultimately, this album will draw the attention of McCartney fans and of the artists involved, and will remain a curio for the rest. Yet it’s good to see rock’s ultimate ‘Elder Statesman’ reaching out to a younger generation and trusting them with his material. Not all of McCartney III Imagined works, but when it does it sounds genuinely exciting.

It’s a poised, carefully executed balance that captures Ikonika in an intriguing period of transition.

Stephen Malkmus’s career post Pavement has largely been hit or miss, but on Wig Out At Jagbags the hit quota is as high as it has ever been. This is the album that any Malkmus aficionado would hope for.

Much of the experimentation is on the surface, and there does not seem to be a great deal of further depth or sophistication. Often, it is all too bright and too relentlessly ecstatic to feel truly meaningful or substantial.

It’s that smoothing of Ditto’s edges that prevents Fake Sugar from moving from a good, perfectly serviceable pop album to something truly great.

Cookies is a fairly typical debut album, in that it sees a band define their style and stick to it. No doubt in time they'll develop their sound, but in the meantime if you're after a good soundtrack to a party grab this album, kick off your shoes and get your rocks off.

All You Need Is Now is unlikely to win over any new fans, but it might reignite or validate forgotten guilty pleasures and, for Duranies, it's an album to sit alongside its older relatives with pride.

It turns out to be much more than just the sum of its influences. It's evocative when it could just be shamelessly retro.

Nobody Knows should be the start of a brilliant career, not the conclusion of a merely promising one.

Ultimately, Vestiges & Claws is a solid return from González.... Though, as without a distinctive cover, his comforting, low-key style can at times become repetitive and forgettable.

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.

Luminous, all told, is a sure-fire summer soundtrack from a band who are far more cerebral than they’d have you believe.

Whilst Living Proof is very much the blues, Buddy Guy's solos give this a rawness that swells with discord, and the result feels more akin to the avant-garde guitar days of Sonic Youth and Shellac.

The moments that do shine are thoroughly warm; warm in a natural, pretention-dropping way, which seems to be where they're aiming. If The Donkeys can recreate that feeling a few more times they might be wonderful. For now they're merely salvageable.

Young Guns may have pushed themselves to the edge to create Bones, but the end result confirms the hard work was more than worth it.

Silver Eye is undoubtedly a masterfully crafted, emotionally rich and enjoyable record.

First Love is a promising, and at times deeply impressive, debut album.

Finishing with the title track, The Small Hours finally becomes as strange and otherworldly as perhaps the entire album should have been. The whole work is not a disaster by any means, but it’s when Berry’s focus seems to wane and things seem more spontaneous that his music becomes more alive.

They’re constantly trying to better themselves, and provide their listeners with new ways of looking at old feelings. As Long As You Are is an endlessly rewarding listen, and it’s certainly worth the wait.

The general tone is low-stakes, suggesting that Bada$$ felt obliged to link the record to 1999 regardless of the content, and it lacks the impact he might want from his first release in five years. That being said, good taste in production makes it very listenable and his sound has evolved in an interesting way, meaning that ironically he’s not stuck in the past.

Peaches' overt and upfront sexuality was once refreshing, but it now feels a little relentless. Quite possibly, the novelty has worn off.

Grace/Wastelands is Doherty scrubbed up, older and wiser and showing signs of regret for the past. It is a great album but then, so have they all been.

Gracious Tide, Take Me Home is a frequently stunning and achingly earnest debut effort whose sugary gossamer moments find themselves perfectly underlined with a bitterly sad aesthetic, but it would definitely benefit from the rougher edges that the band bring to their live show.

Creep On Creepin' On is a richly textured, intriguing piece of work that bears up well to repeated listens.

Marks To Prove It remains oddly unsatisfying.

There's just enough pop influence to catch the audience's ear along the way - the refrains on Chocolate Makes You Happy, Dear God, I Hate Myself, and This Too Shall Pass Away (For Freddy) are as infectious as any mainstream pop song.

Think Belle and Sebastian or a touch of Aberfeldy and take that east over the North Sea to Sweden, adding exquisite touches of orchestration and a touch more wistfulness as you go, and you have a rough template for the sound of Loney Dear.

For the most part however, this is a focused and enjoyable stomp.

Let's Wrestle have certainly crafted the sophomore album we all expected from them. There's little, beyond even that Albini attachment, that strives beyond the aspirations of a general set of rickety punk tunes--but at the same time, everything here is working wonderfully as intended.

It's all very Jeffrey-Lewis-esque in fact--another entertaining album from a man determined to cling to his cult status as long as possible.

The occasional introductions and interludes niftily splice together some sampled voices that add to the sense of abstract threat and unease, even if their impact feels a little hubristic at times. Yet beneath the tempestuous tensions in this music there are also occasional hints of reflection and consideration.

Dienel and co have surpassed any of their previous efforts, including the incredible debut Phylactery Factory, and the most recent beauty Kairos.

The skill involved in composing and producing A Paradise is not in question, but a little less cerebral meandering and bit more fun really would go a long way here.

There’s a new sense of optimism shining through the songs, especially on tracks like Hey I Won’t Break Your Heart and Tell Me, but it’s always tempered by a wistfulness that only experience can bring.

Some may be turned off by the sheer melancholy on European Heartbreak, and yearn for the drive and verve of songs like It Changes. Yet, for anyone who enjoys soaking in sorrow, this makes for perfect listening. For anyone from other states of the European Union dreading the uncertainties of life post-March 2019, this album could at least be a security blanket.

This sort of music is not intended for close listening, relying as it does on repetition and vibe. It does, however, deliver the sound that Com Truise is known for in abundance, and delivers it with a nuance that’s a cut above the other YouTube wannabes.

Despite the dark emotions on display, Not To Disappear is the sort of album that can sound oddly comforting, one to which you can gaze out on a bleak and snowy landscape, while musing over January’s travails, and take some sort of solace in. That’s the sort of thing Daughter do so well.

Konkylie is a vibrant, often intense, mix of house and pop, infused, wonderfully, with both a spiritual glow and a dark clubland soul.

Closing in on his sixth decade as a recording artist, it is heartening to see one of our national treasures still pushing the boundaries. Long may he continue.

A rich and rewarding album from an artist who - thankfully - keeps on evolving in subtle and exciting ways.

Such an impressive cast might initially give rise to the belief that this might be an album that delights in twisting the conventional, but in truth everyone plays it fairly safe which is likely to disappoint those hoping for something mind blowing.

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

There’s much to admire about Savage, but it’s definitely one that you have to be in a particular mood to enjoy.

So the odd mis-step aside, the death of Arctic Monkeys appears to have been greatly exaggerated. Rather, this is another intriguing evolution for one of the country's great bands, and a shot in the arm for Britain's rather moribund 'indie guitar' scene.

All in, this is a strong if straightforward album packed with effective if safe earworms, albeit from someone whose very name suggests twists and turns.

There are many joys to be found within its brittle, opaque sounds but it’s undoubtedly an album that must be lived with for an appropriate length of time for these to fully surface. Yet, this isn’t a bad thing.

Little Death is indie for the fanzine generation, 12 blazing little fires of warmth that'll connect stylishly with the masses too.

As excitingly promising a solo debut as any.

This album shows him to still be in thrall to the possibilities of composition and unafraid of tackling the bigger issues it can so powerfully address.

It has an unnerving, visceral impact--it is fragmentary, destabilising and confounding but all in the best possible way.

You don’t often have to wait as long for debut albums, but by taking their time and perfecting their first full length release, THOAP have created something truly memorable.

It is consistently fresh, inventive and beguiling, showing a band surely at the summit of their powers.

The album is no attempted revisiting of past glories but shows The View exploring a more varied sound with a mellower vibe.

From the outset, A Situation is a black hole of an album: cold, dark, even nihilistic. It’s easy to get drawn into the music but it doesn’t offer any obvious exits or conclusions.

It’s a fun, if inessential, listen and more proof, if it were needed of course, that Lambert is an excellent interpreter of other people’s songs.

It picks the world apart in a way that evokes both horror at our present and an underlying optimism for our future, expressed in a way only music can. Here is confirmation that Suzanne Vega remains one of our musical treasures.

Just occasionally the music gets over-produced, with the beefed-up strings on Retreat smothering the Bach-like arpeggios of its piano, but mostly we breathe the outdoor air in a meditative state. For this is Moby at his most effective, with no need to play to his audience, simply offering private musical ambience to soothe and console.

In Boarding House Reach White gives himself a free hand, and the result is a more experimental and surprising work.

Breezy pop structures are undercut by experimental sound design, a playful spirit buoying up the record throughout.

It’s A Holiday Soul Party is, for the most part, smooth and subtle enough to be enjoyed at any time of the year.

This is very much a fans only album, much like Missy's other efforts.

Spirit is, ironically enough, sometimes lacking in that, with a few too many downbeat, mid-tempo brooding numbers for comfort. For a soundtrack to a revolution, we’re going to need to party more.

The only caveat with the music of iamamiwhoami is that there is now a lot of R&B influenced electronic pop music around, increasingly from Scandinavia, and it seems to be the 'go to' sound of left of centre pop music in the middle of 2012. The good news for the duo, however, is that their particular take on it puts them right near the front of a crowded field.

While occasionally you miss the humanising influence of an analogue drum, or Void’s bowed guitar or even a voice which sounds more flesh and blood than silicon, the sheer force of will that drives 25 25 batters you into submission.

They do make thoroughly exciting music that becomes quickly airborne, able to move the listener to a different plane with disarming ease.

Part of the difficulty with this is, simply, that--taken as a body of work (album) rather than a collection of individual tracks--interest can start to wane. This isn’t helped, either, by the chiefly indistinguishable lyrics: that character-and light/shade-drenched vocal might be enormously listenable, but for most of the time we aren’t able to make out what it is articulating.

The Golden Archipelago is an admirable achievement: a project that has been meticulously prepared and executed with passion and flair.

Arguably one of Dutch Uncles’ greatest strengths is that their music never sits still and is devilishly difficult to categorise, thanks to the intricate tapestry of expertly woven threads painstakingly constructed on each song so adroitly that it all fits together perfectly, without any single element being allowed to monopolise the listener’s attention.

Me Moan is a flawed work, but even those who decide it’s not for them are likely to concede that no one else quite sounds like Gibson right now. With genuine originality at a premium these days, that’s to be wholeheartedly applauded.

With their eclectic cocktail of rock, pop, blues, jazz, soul, funk and traditional African music, these grandparents can still knock out an irresistible groove to match the best, but perhaps they need to be reminded that they should do it alone a little more often.

Wasted Years features another 16 blasters to add to your ‘essential punk’ playlist.

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.

In the space of an album, we discover the difference between contented coupon cutting and chronic coupon cutting. It’s a strong testament to Feels Like Home’s sheer quality that such balance is present throughout.

Flying Wig is a record that it’s probably easier to appreciate than it is to completely fall for. While this probably isn’t a record for a newcomer to Devendra Banhart, long-term fans will appreciate the change in direction.

It's great to hear this timeless artist so relaxed and enjoying herself. Perhaps if she continues her collaborative relationship with The Siss Boom Bang, future recordings could be even more special.

There’s a lot to be said for Fucked Up keeping it simple, they really inject their songs with palpable passion that simply pours out of the speakers.

As the vocals get filthier, the beats get glitchier and it still consistently exudes class.

It's far from self-indulgent; their song choices and clever arrangements make Rant a real, if unexpected, delight.

There is a sense, though, that the nuances and detail of The Shakes need careful unpicking. It might be a return to dance music, but it’s far from disposable.

Those that prefer a little excitement would probably be best giving the album a miss and checking out the début instead; in all honesty, you’re more likely to find more thrills at one of your ‘old late great great great great great’ grandmother’s knitting and sewing evenings.

There are new tricks in these old dogs yet.

There's much to appreciate on this latest offering from Quasi but the band is certainly uncompromising and you need to be into loud drum workouts, the odd bit of white noise and occasional dissonance to enjoy it fully.

Drokk should not be dismissed as a niche project--it's dark, rich and compelling in its own right.

Minor grumbles aside, however, Two Thousand And Ten Injuries is a deliriously fun listen, one that manages to suck you into its own little world for half an hour.

It will be intriguing to see where Cass McCombs goes next. A little more light and shade wouldn't go amiss, yet even his dark side is eminently loveable.

The band's relatively quick turnover suggests a restless creative spirit. However Sun Gangs harnesses that to communicate music of a raw emotional power, a record that should open more doors for the band than it closes.

The four pieces here make an album that carries a powerful impact, as well as recognising the obvious talents of both composers in writing for the string orchestra. The down side of this is that because of the performing forces the textures stay relatively similar the whole way through, and listening to all four pieces at once is not the best way to experience the album as a whole.

The lack of introspective revelation is part of the whole mystique, and this debut album offers a striking first glimpse into The Child Of Lov’s bewitching melting pot of sounds.

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.

There is more of interest on Sixteen Oceans than on 2017’s New Energy, and there is certainly nothing here that’s outright bad, but Four Tet is still stuck in something of an artistic rut.

Having done so with great assurance, he has made an album of lasting appeal which responds well to repeated listening.

Despite a tendency to drift into generic country-rock filler territory at times (the Noah Cyrus-guesting How Far Will We Take It, and Ever You’re Gone being particularly guilty of this), Stampede is more effortlessly entertaining fare from the man in the mask.

Nevertheless anyone wishing to appreciate not simply the overwhelming skill of a drummer at the very top of his game, but also one of the cleverest, best-constructed, most arresting releases of the year, should certainly pay this album a visit.

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.