Their transformation into a Eurodisco powerhouse may come as a shock, and at times it’s like being repeatedly punched in the face by The Village People and Simon Cowell, but beneath the surface lies an album rich in ideas and social commentary.

Odludek is a mixed bag, then. But it’s to Goodwin’s credit that the bravery he shows in trying to pull so much into one album is more often than not worthwhile.

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

Crawling Up The Stairs is a very fine follow up that sees them once again exploring the inner workings of their souls and collective psyche with often beautiful results.

Go Away White is an unevenly inspired valediction.

There is nothing on this record that is going to convert the previously disinterested. But although Ounsworth is still yet to return to the high watermark of Clap Your Hands Say Yeah’s first record, he has produced his most affecting work since then.

The more instrumentally talented Eno has struck gold with these pretty arrangements, providing a worthy reminder of why his career hasn’t fallen victim to the passing of time.

A mostly harmless exercise in selling records.

Rather then shy away behind tricksy, overtly difficult melodies or instrumentation, Little Boots has created a pop record in the truest sense of the word; not only does it fizz by in no time at all, it also doesn't alienate or discriminate.

It comes armed with a pocketful of melodies and great musicianship. But yet somehow it doesn't convince. It's hamstrung in part by its length.

Ultimately The Century Of Self won't trouble the charts and Trail Of Dead's status as a cult act will be assured. But there's enough here to keep their small group of followers very happy indeed.

The Family Jewels isn't the classic debut album that her early singles suggested was on the way, but there's enough promise here to carry her through the hype.

Just when you think things are getting a bit too glossy and radio-friendly, there's a reminder of the edge that makes her such a good listen.

This feels like something that Harcourt did for his own satisfaction, and as a little treat for his fans. There’s nothing wrong with that, it doesn’t leave a lot for the rest of us to dig into.

Yet, for all its flaws, there’s something undeniably addictive about Rebel Heart, and even the songs that don’t work so well are still a million times better than anything gathered on MDNA or Hard Candy.

At times, the music is so rousing and glorious that it’s easy to just not care about the fact that they’re heading down a well-worn path. Needham and Violet have conjured up a heavily melodic album that is as surprisingly well thought out as it is satisfyingly loud.

The Alesha Show contains at least five songs that could easily crack the top ten and while it does occasionally dip below perfunctory there's more then enough to keep any pop fan happy.

Pritchard is a revelation, and someone of real songwriting talent, not just a mere lucky soul who got picked up on the streets by Presley and told that she had the looks and just needed to supply the talent. This is a pop star who knows her roots and knows where they may take her.

While it’s a hard sell to recommend something like this in the middle of summer, those brave enough to embrace the darkness will find much to enjoy.

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.

Gallagher has done a very competent job of producing the album by himself, but his High Flying Birds glide effortlessly at mid-altitude rather than aiming for the heights.

Basses Loaded is something of a mixed bag. Some of it works, some of it doesn’t and some of it is just a little bit too silly for its own good. As usual though, the good far out-weighs the bad, and the Pinkus and McDonald and Warren contributions make it worth a look.

Jawbone certainly has an interesting sonic palette, but like most soundtracks it really needs the accompanying moving images to make it complete.

The album doesn’t take The Orwells to another musical level but, produced by Jim Abbiss (who worked with them previously), it makes for fun listening.

This dreamy, warm and otherworldly concoction is the perfect antidote to the grey and chilly beginnings of the impending new year.

It’s always a joy to hear a band blossoming into something bigger and bolder. Apar is the glorious sound of Delorean taking that step.

A passable release that’s half what you’d want and half what you’d rather forget from a Guided By Voices album.

If you’ve yet to indulge in this band’s output, you really ought to, bearing in mind this is now the third album in a row where their strange but endearing music hits the spot.

Hannigan is talented and Sea Sew is a pretty album. It's just if there is a lot of heart in the music, there's not a lot of brain.

This record is fun, it’s exuberant, and it’s diverse--and yet nothing sounds unnatural or feels crowbarred in.

The album dips when they try too hard not to be pop.

Be Your Own King, is above all things, a fun record.

The joyfully unabashed massiveness of it all is what makes Big Black Delta such a promising prospect.

The overall effect is one of cloying, claustrophobic one-paced idolatry that needs a bit of fresh air and a good night out.

The Black River Killer EP isn't the best place for Blitzen Trapper newbies to start--that would be Furr or Wild Mountain Nation. But, as a stopgap for existing fans, it's well worth a download or--if one's feeling old-fashioned--a trip to the music emporium.

While the concept behind Lysandre works well on Owens’ first debut outing, there is always a nagging feeling of something missing throughout the record.

Yet while this is good mood music, like a lot of soundtrack material it requires the element inspiring it--the visuals.

When it comes down to it, the second part of Green Day's trilogy of albums is another crushing disappointment.

Overall, it's an easily enjoyable album with its heart in the right place.

Love At The Bottom Of The Sea certainly has its moments, but Merritt albums now feel like inessential appendices to a great catalogue, rather than fundamental further developments.

Green Day have become the very thing they once despised: buck-chasin’ mild boys of mayonnaise corporate rock.

Otherness is probably a better album than Bainbridge’s debut as Kindness but it succeeds in different ways and is certainly more of a slow burner.

The band crafts incredibly tight arrangements of complex, space-age country rock songs that require patience, vision, and time to create. Often, this approach is impressive. And, frankly, it is not always successful.

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.

The music of London Grammar continues to bewitch, soothe and inspire in equal measure, and when Truth Is A Beautiful Thing is at its best, it fully lives up to the title.

When it catches fire, as on Unholy, it sounds terrific but those moments are too few.

While their venture into psychedelia was a failed experiment, everything about Free Your Mind, from its title to its monotonous songs, is undeniably lazy.

The second half of the album slows the pace somewhat and perhaps suffers after the thundering EDM and lyrical onslaught of the first few songs. ... Yet, for the most part, Innocence Reaches is a triumph of adversity and experimentation.

Yet for the faithful, and even anyone who's heard the name but never the music, this is the same old wonderful stuff from one of our finest songwriters.

With little in the way of instrumentation and production tricks there's a rich atmosphere of intimacy running through the album and it's difficult not to take a shine to this no-nonsense approach.

While Deaf Havana have worked hard to get where they are, there’s no getting away from the fact that Old Souls is a substantial step in the wrong direction.

Its experimentation is narrow, its mode virtually constant, yet given time there are shades, hues and tones to discover.

Monkeytown is definitely an intriguing and thoughtful project, and improves with each listen.

Fridmann's production has given the band a whole new environment in which to play, and they've had their fun whilst making great, powerful music in the process.

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.

G I R L may not be breaking many new boundaries, but it’s guaranteed to keep Williams in ludicrously large hats for some time to come.

The band may not have moved on musically but with the results this strong it feels much more than just a lazy trip down memory lane.

The album doesn't reach the heights of the seminal Black Album but is an exciting opener to a hectic schedule for Def Jam.

A rousing and eye-opening full-length debut.

Their third outing has ironed out the kooks and cracks that made them so endearing.

Aitch clearly approached this record wanting to prove his staying power, and while he delivers some quality verses (and roughly an EP worth of great music) the fog of compromise hangs that bit too heavily.

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.

In Search Of Elusive Little Comets is a lean, provocative and utterly enjoyable statement of intent, and belated confirmation that Little Comets, having proven their ability to defy pigeonholing by deftly handling a multitude of diverse musical elements and influences, are a genuine proposition to behold.

As debuts go, this is fairly solid stuff, but it’s hard not to feel that Real Life should be so much more than the sum of its parts.

It’s a concept that really shouldn’t work, but somehow does. Cave’s songs, usually so full of menace, mystique and melancholy, are given new light under Smith’s light, airy voice, and the fact that she was unfamiliar with the source material means that no tracks are treated with any over-reverence.

The songs where Burna Boy focuses on nimble flows and minimal production, like Dem Dey and Kabiyesi, are far superior. He’s a versatile, engaging performer, and No Signs Of Weakness is at its best with no distractions.

Evil Urges represents the creative peak of a band that has shown glimpses of greatness in the past and will hopefully continue to evolve in the future.

Those not familiar with John Carpenter’s work may find his approach a little baffling, dated, and over the course of an entire album, somewhat monotonous. But they’d have never got it anyway.

Part of the problem is that faced with a performer as low-fi and minimal as Conor Oberst in the first place, many of the unfinished demos presented here, such as I Will Be Grateful This Day and Seashell Tale, sound much, much too thin.

On the title track, Steve asks, "Don't you got nothin' better to do than listen to a man from another time?" The album presents itself as a fitting answer to that question, and an appeal to anyone wanting to look into the distant delta past.

Despite all the mysticism, religion, tradition and history tied up in Advaitic Songs, this is a surprisingly accessible album, and one that finds OM at their best

Chopped & Screwed is a thoughtful experiment at best and a quasi-misfire at worst, but either way it demands to be analyzed--which alone makes it worthy.

Set It Off is the work of a talented rapper with an interesting taste in production. Offset just needs a bit more consistency to stick the landing.

At its core, throughout the course of Come Into My House, No Kids remain a group of talented musicians with excellent, compelling ideas.

Hooded Fang reference stalwart genres of old Americana without ever falling into parody--Gravez feels nostalgic but never dated.

There is nothing especially wrong with it, but it hits the middle ground all too easily, sounding like Home minus the guns-out anthems and the hands reaching for the sky.

Monoglot English speakers may have little idea what she’s singing about, but such is the passion and grace of her delivery, Brahim could be reciting the Milton Keynes telephone directory and few would object. The fact that she has an important message to share makes her performance, and this album, even more significant and impressive.

This is an extremely fine piece of work, another auspicious addition to the already impressive Border Community canon.

An electronic album that manages to sound intimate, late-summer warmth turning to autumnal melancholy, and a cartoon band that suddenly seems a little fragile.

It's a pleasure to listen to, over and again.

The Divine Comedy's most spontaneous record in ages.

While you may know what you're getting with a Chemical Brothers album, they remain damn good at what they do.... You get the impression that their next album may have to be a bit more adventurous if they're to survive.

There is still much to admire and enjoy, not least Al Qadiri’s pursuit of an individual, politicised, socially-conscious path that never lacks ambition or self-confidence.

Not as endearingly obviously pop or as chilled out as their debut, The Enemy Chorus takes some getting used to before it unfurls it pleasures.

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.

It's likely that the first couple of times you hear it, it may just wash over you completely. Yet give it a few plays and Mayer's unique ability to reflect on the human condition cannot fail to charm.

The Cornshed Sisters display moments of Joni Mitchell's exquisite songcraft, the choral elegance of The Roches and witty buffoonery of John Grant amalgamating Tell Tales into its own refreshing niche in the ever-expanding folk cartel.

An album that ably melds together ‘80s coldness and ‘90s warmth, and then brings it right up to date.

The problem with To The Ghosts is, that as nice and pleasant as it all sounds, it does tend to float by without leaving much of an impression. Sometimes, it threatens to push the envelope a bit.

Tomorrow, In A Year provides a complex view of The Knife as unmatched in their daring, their music quite defying categorisation as one species or another.

The less is more production suits her, and for a first time we get a real and lasting glimpse of Stefani herself.

Iradelphic is certainly Clark's most accessible record and it is arguably his best.

While Amphetamine Ballads is as exciting as any debut record in recent times, it’s also a reminder that the British ability to conjure depth from a sparsely coloured palette is as strong as ever.

Ultimately, it’s disappointing that after Pop Tune, Shonen Knife seem to be on autopilot, creating songs that could have appeared on any one of their previous records.

Much of, if not all of What Did You Expect From The Vaccines? suffers from a complete lack of intelligence, candidness or originality: elements that help make guitar-based music interesting.

There's more emphasis on guitars, and they appear to have ingested a whole load of pharmaceuticals, but at heart they're a great pop band, and their ability to write a heart-rending tune certainly hasn't been hampered.

Dark Hearts is a mixed bag: it has many well-crafted moments and some stellar production choices, and there aren’t any outright bad songs; the likelihood is that some of the less obviously pop moments have the potential to grow over time.

Wiley may be a little further along the grime road than when he started with It's Not Me It's You, but he continues to keep the genre travelling at an impressively quick speed.