If it’s not especially the place to come to look for surprises, it’s still heartening to see that, at an age when most people have happily settled into their Saga Magazine subscription, this sonic surfer has still got the blues.

Le Bon and Presley are certainly a potent cocktail and this is one of the most uncommonly satisfying releases of the year so far, whose charms reveal themselves best after a few plays.

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.

The pop souls of both its creators couldn’t help but surface, and this is manifestly true of many of the tracks: the words may be dark, but the upbeat hummable melodies just keep on returning from the crypt.

Blackberry Smoke are the ultimate antidote to bad vibes, and You Hear Georgia is more than just escapist fun, it’s a superb record.

This is a quiet album, simmering with authenticity and potential.

There are also a couple of tracks that threaten to fall into formulaic power-pop territory, such as Tired Old Dog and Lift Heavy. Yet there’s still a lot to enjoy on Film Buff, and it also acts as justification for Shea’s decision to carry on with the band when Vikingstad and Lokøy left.

It [Die Like A Rich Boy] is a poignant conclusion to what often feels like a cathartic record; one that will take you on a wonderful rollercoaster of emotional highs and lows.

While this probably won't go down as Adem's greatest work (he's too talented a songwriter in his own right for that to happen), it makes for a nice curio.

The album, in general, is much more relaxed than anything Reed created (post-Nico, that is), and while the whole thing has a vaguely hazed-out feel, the effect created is more stoner chill than frenetic heroin-induced madness

While no record of this nature could have presented SOPHIE’s music exactly the way she envisaged it, the album is enjoyable and a fitting addition to her legacy.

The results are not quite Tasty, but they're pretty damn close.

What we're left with is a sincere, patiently crafted musical statement that is high on atmosphere but rather hard work.

Edgy and highly innovative for the most part, Pivot do have some so-so moments too. But overall this is good stuff; they are trying to push the boundaries of music and, as a result, they sound like nobody else.

There is much to recommend in Nneka's third album, though if it was slightly shorter it could be considered a great album rather than merely a good one.

Though this is a flawed collection, The Cautionary Tales Of Mark Oliver Everett still partially succeeds in getting the message across perfectly in an accessible and honest manner.

Sun Structures is a compelling listen throughout its 55 minutes, holding together perfectly as a whole with strong tracks dotted throughout.

Despite a couple of forgettable tracks near the end (the bland Tony The Tiger, and the overlong Everything To Nothing) then, this is an album that wears its befuddled, het-up, over-emotional heart on its sleeve, and is all the better, less slick and more interesting for it.

Fans of him and the band will love the intimacy and relish the chance to hear him without all the trimmings, but for everyone else, it would be wise to take him with the excess before going without.

There is definitely some promise in Laetitia Sadier's solo work, but the material here feels more like rough sketches than finished product. That said, if you were a Stereolab fan and have withdrawal symptons, this will definitely satisfy your curiosities.

The introspective narrative may not be uncharted territory, but Dido chose these waters. She is unrivalled in navigating them with her disarming and melodic harmonies. If we’re going to hell after this, let’s enjoy this atmospheric goddess while we can. Beautiful.

Until they're discovered by a big primetime television programme--and that day will surely come--those who know can rest assured that Buffalo is another strong entry in their impressive catalogue.

In contrast to the potty-mouthed numbers that precede it, the song's ['Heartbeats'] starry-eyed optimism is contagious and solidifies Tilly & the Wall's status as an indie band with dance-floor aspirations.

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

When it gets the dynamics right, it’s undoubtedly a work of considerable skill, but it’s hard to escape the sense that what we’re hearing is essentially a well-crafted pastiche of other artists, rather something truly memorable in its own right.

With great pop hooks a-plenty, Daydreams And Nightmares amply demonstrates that growing up doesn't always have to be boring.

Still, for all its buzz and energy, Women's Studies does feel frantic and maybe even a little cluttered, as if Murderbot has felt compelled to insert a passing reference to every genre of music he has ever appreciated.

In Time To Voices is an extremely impressive and clever modern rock record.

It would be easy to look at the words and assume that this was a band on the brink of a split, were it not for the fact that their first album featured a very similar outlook and identikit themes. Essentially, it is hard to see where the band might go from here.

Yes, it’s Elton John by numbers, but it’s his talent as a songwriter that has solidified his stature in popular music and that wide appeal will only be further cemented by Wonderful Crazy Night.

Mike Skinner seems to have produced a funny, sad, emotional, honest album to rank up there with his very finest work, making us fall in love with him all over again, just as he leaves us.

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.

The sub-two minute ditties appear out of sequence and fail to offer much narrative glue to stick the album together. But at least they threatened to provide some structure to an album that sounds great but leaves you starved of proper sustenance.

Gravenhurst's most solid and unsettling work to date.

An instant classic for some, a slow-burner for others; this is what we've come to expect of Stars.

The result of using these familiar names is that Simian Mobile Disco lose something of the edge that gave "Attack Decay Sustain Release" such a heavy clout as a sharp piece of electro.

While the anodyne Around U and the UK garage stylings of Devotion could easily be jettisoned, lessening the stylistically jumbled, overlong effect. Ultimately, though, Goulding’s experiment with carefully crafted but impactful Big Pop was a success.

There’s no big anthem like Landed, and sometimes you do yearn to hear Folds properly hammering his piano like in his early solo days or during his time with Ben Folds Five.

Another superb Zero 7 album.

Whilst it might not always be a pleasurable listen, there's something visceral and exciting about this music.

Plants And Animals can write good songs, but because they tend to be quite long and full of melodic meandering, they were better suited to their old acoustic style were the electric guitar was used sparsely to take the song elsewhere and captivate the listener. You can have too much of the good thing. But at times on La La Land, the guitar work is undeniably brilliant.

They’ve certainly aimed for the mountaintops with Himalayan and quite often they reach the summit.

It's a slight album, but by the standards he himself set, and patchy Black Francis is better than no Black Francis at all.

Tonight... isn't a bad album by any means, and it's certainly an improvement on their last effort, but at the same time you can't shake the feeling that they missed a trick.

Fans of Joan Wasser's previous releases Real Life and To Survive will find plenty to fall in love with on this third album.

y may want that you are always happy, but, while there's much for the listener to enjoy here, they will need to be more concise to achieve their obvious potential.

There are still several moments of brilliance--including the mesmerising and cinematic Bloodflow Pt II, which revisits their debut--but it is also found lacking when it comes to the overall end product. That said, it remains a worthy and accomplished follow-up from Alt-J.

It is to Dry The River's credit, however, that they have in Shallow Bed created an album that both plays to their strengths and showcases a diversity of modes, each sculpted authentically. An outstanding effort.

In lesser hands, the sheer number of collaborations on I Remember could have spelled trouble, but AlunaGeorge are no ordinary band. They are so much better than that.

There are moments of raw beauty in some of this music.

There’s no doubt that tracks like Full Back and Sweet Moon make for nice background music, but after 60 minutes of songs that sound pretty similar, they seem a bit inessential.

It might be a bit too idealistic for some people, but these are songs with melodies in abundance, and appealing melodic and lyrical quirks.

More often than not you do wish another eternity was a little less slick and had a little more of the oddness and darkness which permeated Shrines in another eternity.

The music here is a weird mish-mash of FM rock, folky ballads, and funky, poppy dance tracks. It makes for a diverting, interesting listen - but not a totally successful one.

On the whole, it’s business as usual; a collection of brilliantly composed melodies that just lack the gravitas to lift them higher.

While there is a satisfying absence of polish, there is a feeling of substantial professionalism to the whole of One Track Mind.

What sets Bleached apart is their palpable energy, consistent catchiness, and the sheer effortlessness of their sound.

This mature, nuanced performance of Berlin communicates the human tragedy of the story, leaving behind the chilliness of the studio and using the medium of the stage to its full dramatic advantage.

It is clean, polished rock with a vaguely punk edge that stays within a clear set of boundaries but in doing so manages to appeal to indie-kids and metal-lovers alike.

Don't be put off by these four tracks being hard work, because the other six are fantastic and consign Broderick as the lo-fi bedroom auteur to his past.

Somerset may be a little detached and introverted, but Waves Of Fury certainly are not and on this evidence, they can stand proudly with the county’s finest exports.

It requires a few listens to grasp but after that it’s pretty rewarding.

Dear Life is a fine album that will appeal to his long-term fans – the sort of steady, consistent record that we’re used to from him by now.

Though it's commendable to stick with one set of producers to give a sense of cohesion, Memoirs could have done with some variation.

An album that could have easily come off as a millionaire’s vanity project with his rich mates is actually a surprising, creatively rich endeavour.

It is unlikely to be held in the same esteem as its predecessor, even if there is enough here to confirm that The Last Shadow Puppets are more than just a side project.

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.

Their creative fires are clearly burning again, even though it feels like this album had to be exorcised for them to fully ignite in the future.

It isn't their best record, but as an acknowledgement that slabs of feedback-laden noise weren't going to take them much further, and change was needed for an attempt at a long-term career, it's promising.

Tired Of Hanging Around is as delightfully quirky, original and catchy as its predecessor, whilst also representing something of a leap forward.

It’s hard to deny that The Third Eye Centre is probably a fan-only affair and, indeed, a bit of a curate’s egg. Much of the time though, it’s a pretty tasty egg.

It is, all in, a fantastic first effort.

Whilst they are mostly good cuts, the vocal tracks are disappointing in comparison (with the exception of Beneath The Black Sea); ultimately, there’s likely to be a few yawns and subsequent yearning for a new album by The National instead.

This album at its best can be genuinely explosive – see Holding Back with its booming trap beats and chipmunk-soul hook – but Banks’ central problem on Serpentina is how to channel emotion without straying into musical indulgence, and how to evoke situations without wallowing in them.

Bold, bizarre, brazen and beguiling, Madame X is Madonna living her Latin American Life. Brilliant.

She’s come a long way from those more quirky days, but Remember Us To Life is a good reminder that Spektor is still more than capable of conjuring up moments of magic.

A real mixed bag, then--M83 still show plenty of guile and in their best moments present music of hidden power and grace.

For a 21st century rock band, there isn't a single moment here that threatens to turn into an 'anthem' to be balled out at the Nestle-Monsanto Rock Festival at a mud-pit near you next summer.

Sometimes their creativity leads them astray into territory that should best be kept in the art room, but otherwise Axes is a delicious listen.

Phosphene Dream is not a release to sing along to so much as lie helpless with whilst narratives spawn and play out in your imagination, invariably twisted and terrifying but always interesting. Psychological trauma might not necessarily be what you what you want from an album, but at least it provokes a response.

There's going to be a coronation very soon, and anyone who cares to invest will be handsomely rewarded by the future king.

Eugene McGuinness has created the perfect musical definition of a grower as opposed to a shower, a subtle nudge instead of a smack in the face, and the album's all the better for it.

Erratic songwriting is evident from start to finish on the record.

Outlandish and of infinite humour, Octopus is an LP to die for.

All things considered, this is an impressive debut album from Rizzle Kicks.

A continually evolving amalgam of influences and sonic oddities, it slowly creeps into the subconscious, unsettling and calming as it works its magic.

The reliance on the atmospherics created by synths, pounding basslines and heavy guitar passages added considerable weight to these songs; when you take all that away, it leaves a hole.

It may not be up there with Rumours or Blood On The Tracks, but given the emotion and heart poured into it, Chemistry is a more than decent break-up album.

Ultimately, the sense of pastiche, and the fact that it’s a bit one-note (even at just 31 minutes running time) counts against What’s Wrong With New York?

Archives will not compensate for the lack of new Department Of Eagles material. Indeed, it appears that the project will be on a long hiatus whilst Rossen is preoccupied by Grizzly Bear. Yet it does have merit as a fascinating document of a band veering out of its comfort zone, starting to make what had previously been the music of their dreams.

Enough of Valhalla Dancehall's moments work surprisingly well, that despite its breadth and occasionally aggravating density, it becomes a spectacle worth experiencing.

Harvey’s talent on Four is to mix impressive arrangements with obtuse lyrics yet still add something to the debate on a well worn topic.

By the end of Sparks, there is really nothing else left to do but marvel at the brilliance of Imogen Heap.

Chinese Fountain really is everything that you would expect from these beach grungers, but it’s still fantastically unique and sparkles delightfully with fun and a sheer honesty.

The third instalment in his Actual Life series continues the concept of an artistic journal, but fails to convey the intended poignancy.

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.

The key to enjoying this album lies, ironically, in forgetting that the Pumpkins ever existed. Remove the past and the baggage, and take it for what it is; a pretty decent rock album.

Crying Out Loud offers plenty of confirmation that Kasabian are in rude musical health.