Merging the sounds of space rock with an element of trance and a smattering of early Velvet Underground experimentation, the group ends up with an enticing album that holds a fresh mix of sounds.

This is an album rich in ideas, heavy on emotion.

When it does flare up at its brightest though, [despite sounding a little burnt out at times] Weapons is exhilarating, a real call to arms from a band that deserves every bit of their continued prevalence.

Overall The Book Of Traps And Lessons is best with a healthy dose of thoughtfulness and nuance, and while it falters on the occasions when these are disregarded, this album is another example of why Tempest’s spoken-word works now routinely amplify well beyond her poetic beginnings.

The band's formula is nowhere near broke, and while this tenth album might not necessarily expand on that greatly, it doesn't mean that anything about the band's music is in need of fixing.

However, dark and compelling though MU.ZZ.LE undoubtedly is, there is the niggling sense that this greater focus and narrow tempo range doesn't really suit Gonjasufi.

Combat Sports is their shortest album yet, with none of its 11 tracks straying over four minutes, all in bursts of compact energy. Each song has a short guitar solo, while riffs and hooks abound, in stories of combative love and sex couched in Young’s characteristically wry lyrics.

To that end, and overabundant allusions to The Beatles aside, Dig Out Your Soul is a feat in its own right.

As it is, Divine Providence is very good rather than truly great.

This isn’t a concept, or a wild divergence from his earlier work. Rather it’s a bigger push musically and collaboratively with less emphasis on the politics that have dominated his past.

In the end the record greatly exceeds its perceived strengths, building and out-doing itself over its 40 minutes.

In sum, there’s enough varied, interesting and accessible material here to make Butler’s sonic manifesto worth paying attention to.

Side project, collaboration or fully fledged act, Neon Neon have a Mercury nomination under their belts--and now a follow-up LP that, for better or worse, peddles the same worthy wares.

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.

This is a solid, if unspectacular, comeback and fans will be crossing their fingers that The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind is a new beginning, rather than a one-off cash-in.

It’s an album full of quiet confidence, and of an artist having the courage to move out of her comfort zone. It may not prove to be Hannah Jadagu’s big commercial breakthrough just yet, but by the sound of much of Describe, that can’t be too far away.

Adventures... is an accomplished album, one which makes the most out of not over-complicating things.

This comeback effort is a huge amount of fun and a reminder that it's great that the Happy Mondays have never completely disappeared.

It makes for interesting listening, sitting sonically as it does between Frahm's minimalism and the rich swathes of A Winged Victory For The Sullen.

The jury will be out for a long time while they argue whether this is dance, classical or jazz but they're sure to deliver a thumbs-up for this far from amateurish collection of tracks.

They are a group that exist solely to make abstruse, dark and head spinning noise. As such, Zeros accomplishes its goals very well.

Silver Tongue is her most consistent album to date.

It could be said that a work as strong as Majesty Shredding cements Superchunk as an important band or a permanent indie fixture, but that's a bit of a misnomer. If anything this record is simply proof that Superchunk are going to make the music they want to make regardless of whether it fits into a modern context or not.

If you relax into it, and not expect the same experience as seeing Steve live, it's pretty good.

Fans of Animal Collective and Panda Bear will obviously love this album; another creative triumph for the boys from Baltimore.

Klinghoffer wisely makes no attempt to mimic Frusciante; the new boy on the block's musical talent is obvious in its own right here, and the musical partnership that has formed between the older members of the band and Klinghoffer is evident. Red Hot Chili Peppers are not quite ready to slope off yet.

All Living Things shows how Jiha is able to navigate the border between the experimental and the accessible with confidence and deftness, its woozy textures and spectral aesthetics making for an engaging listening experience.

Le Noise is the sound of a restless and prolific artist striving to deal with the burden of his great legacy.

What is clear is that the band’s songwriting will never be short of heft, with the potential to rouse a festival crowd. The Alchemist’s Euphoria will definitely do that, especially the primal, chest-bared early examples – and so for now the band look set to begin chapter two of their story with a show of strength.

It's not perfect and there are two or three tracks that don't really work, but it's hard not to be won over by the LP as a whole.

Jens sticks to what he knows, combining his spry guitar playing and razor sharp pop sensibility.

Island Universe is a reassuringly confident and energetic album, and suggests a band with enough promise to make even stronger bodies of work in the future.

Do Things represents an admirable sonic development for May and co. Packed full of songs to wile away summers to come, it feels like an undiscovered soundtrack to summers past as well.

Horses And High Heels is another impressive entry in her catalogue, as genuine as anything she's done since the 1979 classic Broken English.

With its 16 tracks clocking in at 63 minutes, it’s the band’s longest album to date and, despite a smattering of classy highlights, it feels laboured and cumbersome. With that in mind, the album as a whole falls short of The National’s best work. Yet it is, in places, an admirable detour.

Night Music is the sort of album that demands an active listener, that brings all those lurkers in the lobby of the mind into full view.

Now there is an extra dimension, an extra frisson, for like their contemporaries this year (Erasure, Depeche Mode) OMD are bringing some raw feeling to the studio.

It’s unlikely there was any desperate clamour for a new Ratatat album during the duo’s prolonged absence from the scene. Nevertheless, Magnifique is a nice reminder of the band’s command of their tiny, unfashionable corner of the music world.

The addition of electronic elements to her sound here suggests Godmother to almost be like a set of vintage photographs that have been digitally restored. It might not be enough to move her out of the musical shadows (a place she may well feel content to stay) but it shows her capable of pursuing idiosyncratic alternative paths while consolidating her position as a distinctive, singular artist.

It's a curious, rather than classic, record - with the hooks to make the leap to the mainstream, but with enough residual oddness to maintain Goldfrapp's air of mystery a while longer.

Each presents a very traditional, very organically energetic arrangement of a folk standard performed by undeniably contemporary musicians--emphasizing just how current many of these songs have come to sound.

If there’s a critique to be made, it’s that All Worlds sometimes feels like a victory for a race that very few people ever saw. But maybe that’s the point, and the lads just did it for themselves? Like the Golden Record, it’s less about delivering a neatly packaged message and more about sending something out there.

It is in Anthony Gonzalez’ veins to make pop music where the listener will swoon, dream and ultimately smile. Despite the mournful lag in the middle of JUNK, that is what he does once again here--in his own inimitable way.

Hercules have furthered their ambitions on Blue Songs, drawing more of the late-great disco scene into a modern vehicle. Yet it's an album that does many things well but nothing to perfection.

They are a band who want to form a real lasting connection. Diver only sporadically does this, but this is still an album that shows vast promise.

Sudden Elevation is yet another solid display of Arnalds’ talents and is arguably the LP that most newcomers to the singer-songwriter should arrive at first.

Twelve years may have been time to labour too much over some ideas, but there are core moments to this that show an intelligent and important band still stretching the parameters of what’s possible for a rock outfit.

Native Sons is a surprisingly great piece of work by a band who know how to please their fans and accidentally make new ones.

Yet even with his occasional indulgences, No Sad Songs is an impressive comeback.

Renegade is lots of fun, even if it’sa few tracks short of its true potential.

The entire album takes a couple of listens to fully digest – the immediacy of Minimum Rock N Roll entirely depends on your level of excitement about this peculiar type of post-punk.

Flux is a qualified success, then – an ultra-cool album of moody music to listen to in ultra-cool places. Even if you might not be emotionally heated by the end, it subtly makes its mark.

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

While Blue’s electropop soundscapes are hardly a great move forwards from their first two projects, there are genuinely majestic emotional moments to savour here.

This is an album that, once consumed, lies dormant in the mind of the listener, ingrained but not at the forefront, playing in the subconscious; more demanding than background music, but short of immediacy.

Diamond Eyes is an impressive offering from a mainstay band whose time should have already come and gone.

This isn’t the Coxon of Coffee & TV or Freaking Out, nor indeed the Dougall you may remember from the perfect girl-band pop of Pull Shapes. Instead, it’s a mediative, often beautiful record that often has the capacity to surprise and delight. Just be sure you like saxophones.

So, very strange but oddly compelling--rather like Mr Haines himself.

Altogether different from normality, and further down the path towards minimalist orchestral experimentation than expected, Terrestrials is a challenging listen yet it retains some weird, mystic ability to attract and transfix its audience.

Playful and spontaneous.

It is neither their most immediate nor their warmest album, yet its provocations are effective, and become curious and complex in light of the melody and harmony that sits above them.

At its best this is a confident début that will doubtless please lovers of hooky, carefully crafted guitar pop.

A welcome return of Jamiroquai's trademark blend of '80s funk and pop sensibilities - familiar, yet refreshingly different to so much of their current competition.

The results as diverse as one would expect from such a multi-faceted pairing: chaotic, withdrawn, subtle, bombastic, promising and ominous all at the same time.

Despite its name K2.0 is neither a straightforward sequel nor a reboot; rather, a half-familiar formula performed with renewed vigour.

Love Yes is a memorable listen, if just a bit too busy at times.

They’ve never really risen to heights that maybe they should have scaled but with so many infectious pop melodies lurking under the fuzz, it’s just as remarkable that they remain on the periphery of their genre.

While a good half of the album demonstrates a genuine songwriting nous, other elements hint at a mere rehashing of old Suede ideas. More's the pity, as the opening three tracks alone are worth the price of admission.

We Are Together Again is the latest instalment of his slow musical evolution, a balancing of longstanding tropes of hardship and sorrow with the new human connection.

At times, Alpha Games does hark back to the glorious early days of Bloc Party, and while this doesn’t quite measure up to Silent Alarm, there’s enough evidence that the band’s line-up changes have reinvigorated them.

Innundir Skinni is still a worthy achievement, it's emotional but not melodramatic; understated yet grand. But it is a mixture rather than a whole and lacks the cohesion of Arnalds' inspiring first album.

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.

At times it can become something of an amorphous blob, with songs blending into one another, but the highlights of Home and Flight ensure that there's something tangible to hang on to.

New Blood has its moments, but it's hardly an essential purchase.

Even when he doesn't quite get the dynamics right, Sivu's gift for melody never deserts him.

Whilst La Isla Bonita might end on a downer musically, this is an album that finds Deerhoof sounding refreshed and eager to go for another 20 years.

It may not be an easy listening experience at times, but Violence is ultimately an album that deserves your patience.

Kings Of Leon's newfound pop sensibilities often feel at odds with their southern-rock instincts, and while this may result in fewer immediately recognisable radio hits, it makes for a largely enjoyable batch of surprisingly invigourated tunes from one of American rock's most unlikely mainstays.

Occasionally the wish remains Lord Huron would vary their delivery a bit more.

In total, The Still Life is a spry and rewarding sonic balm that doesn’t outstay its welcome.

The best thing about Malachai is that they're delightfully odd.

his album is a playfully flawed triumph. There are more than enough highs to satisfy both fans and casual admirers, while the lows are not quite low enough to founder the project.

It is at times a little too simplistic, and you have to be in the right mood to accept songs about cakes, capybara and economic meltdown. However, when the world starts to look too serious, spending your free time in the day-glo world of Shonen Knife can only lift the spirits.

The album reaches something of a climax with On Each Of The Six Fives Of The Moon, which features thick, metallic tones encircling over bleak and unforgiving terrain. Its Deathprod-like heaviness is sustaining and compelling in equal measure and, like much of the album, there’s little option but to submit to its force and embrace the imposing mass face-on.

Flynn remains one of the country’s most overlooked songwriters and Country Mile is a good reminder of his skill with a well-crafted song.

It’s never an easy listen, sure, but there’s method to the madness.

At times, Estoile Naiant is a challenging and occasionally thrilling listen, as Key Embedded particularly demonstrates. But it’s almost too typically Warp in its sound and composition.

There may be a general lack of aggression or grit this time round, but this is more than countered by an impressive selection of songs.

The Sunshine Underground has managed to take the band’s signature big hooks and beats and transform them into something bigger and more relevant, Orton’s contribution a key aspect.

It’s when the pop sheen is dropped and they head in a twitchy, darker direction that Hurts are at their most effective.

This collection of songs have no problems with originality (redundancy isn't an issue) but it never escapes its aged disposition.

The voyage is not a wholly successful one, due in part to its short length which makes it more lengthy EP than full length album, but there's also an occasional lack of musical focus.

For all the wait and weight of expectation, and despite some qualified successes, ultimately The Soul Of All Natural Things proves to havde too big a shadow to fill. Yet hiding within it is a charming mini-album by a sweet lost voice, one that’s ready to be found again.

Despite its promise then, Folk Songs is one of those albums that fails to live up to the sum of its parts. However, despite its faults, it is still an admirable stab and worth checking out for anyone keen on a back-to-basics approach to folk.

What you do get with Dr Dee is a fleetingly beautiful record that is baffling and bewitching in equal measure, and one that should inspire people to see the accompanying opera as it tours this summer.

Everything seems to hang together in its own peculiar way, to deliver an overall experience that’s unfailingly interesting, although perhaps ultimately lacking the truly special, standout ingredients needed to elevate Webb’s solo work to the kind of rarefied levels he helped Talk Talk achieve.

Ventriloquizzing is a real night time album, and should be enjoyed as such--just don't expect an abundance of melodic pop hooks and you'll return for repeat prescriptions.

What can be said for Alberta Cross's debut LP is that it does what it does very well, and the good and great of songwriting deserve recognition regardless of how conventionally they reach their goals.