Tomboy once again sees Lennox creating a distinctive, hypnotic sound-world - but it sometimes feels too much like a world from which there is a strong desire to escape.

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.

As its title rightly suggests, this is a feel good slice of fun best served with a cocktail in hand.

The Orb have long made a virtue out of following their own path, and there are still times in No Sounds Are Out Of Bounds where this pays dividends, but there are also sections where they merely retread old ground with diminishing returns, making this an only half-satisfying LP.

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.

If the album spent more time doing what it’s good at we would have a classic on the level that Stormzy seems to be aiming for.

Feel The Sound provides, when they’re on form, a reminder of how reliable they can be at creating crowd-pleasing indie pop.

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.

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?

Shulamith can still be considered a worthy addition to the band’s back catalogue, even it just doesn’t quite reach the heights of their excellent debut.

While it lacks the finesse of the band's previous work, somewhere in amongst all the bluster, soul-searching, adrenaline and anger, the record carves out a space where everything seems to fit together.

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.

Girl Band possess enormous potential and big, big things look to be lying just around the corner for the Dubliners. Whilst this often only remains as potential for this first step, Holding Hands With Jamie is a refreshing change and welcome one-fingered salute to the mundane and safe rock music of today.

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

It doesn’t quite hang together in the way that an official Harcourt album does, acting instead as a kind of taster for things to come. Yet as aperitifs go, it’s pretty satisfying.

On the whole, Momentum is a solid slice of radio friendly pop-rock, and sadly, it’s truly deserving of that particular set of epithets.

An all-out disco party record is waiting to be unleashed amongst it all somewhere, but Discodeine's debut is something of a mixed bag.

The dynamic has more in common with Verlaine's best (known) work, even if the drama isn't as fully realised.

It's obvious that they've spent a while cultivating a specific look, but they seem to have only spent half of that time on the album.

There’s no wild pretension and little real originality here, and it’s not going to change your life or make any critics’ Greatest Album lists, but it’s a lot of fun, and sometimes that’s all you want.

In Waves is not Trivium's finest moment by any stretch of the imagination but it does point towards the band having found direction and its own voice for the first time in quite a while.

Things start to become a bit samey three quarters of the way through the album.

Brash, wearyingly loud and very funky, As If certainly isn’t lacking in emphasis, but will likely disappoint if you’re searching for a little more.

Ultimately this is a solid record, if not necessarily one that will change either the world or people's perceptions of folk.

Eyes Open takes the formula of the last album and magnifies it.

It would appear that Tim, Tom and Richard have spent some time at the U2 School of Squillion-Selling Records, their final project sounding more expansive and dramatic than Hopes And Fears ever did.

The album, then, is a bit of a mixed bag but does enough to deliver on its mission statement.

So the songs merge into one, and the parts add up to less than the whole. And taken as a whole Future This is a bit much.

Described as bittersweet feel-good music, The Stoop does pop music with a capital P--in wolf's clothing.

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.

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.

Despite her albums being snapshots, sometimes a little more diversity in subject matter would be a good thing. Ultimately, while some intriguing risks have been taken, 30 is probably the weakest, as well as conversely the most intimate and in many ways bravest, Adele album to date.

There are some noteworthy moments where brilliance is glimpsed, but this album seems to be maintaining the status quo rather than sparking a revolt.

Neontwang is a successful comeback from a band that have been written off more times than they would care to remember.

Love Is Dead is not a terrible album and it certainly has its moments, but it’s not as engaging or interesting as its predecessors.

At times, it's so relentlessly bouncy and upbeat that you feel like mowing down an entire shopping centre with an AK-47. Yet there's enough promise here to confirm that the hype about Mika is pretty much on the money.

Although The Morning After's mood is distinctly downbeat and does not have the same direct appeal as The Night Before, the songs are often touching and grow more so with each listen.

Preacher’s Sigh & Potion finds Dear mostly content with spinning his wheels, but luckily his unique style and vocal delivery make it an enjoyable spinning.

Aguilera has a fantastic voice, which, when used properly, can carry a song that would have otherwise been fairly ordinary (Prima Donna being just one example) and the production on most of the songs is exemplary. It's just unfortunate that either Aguilera or her label didn't have the balls to make a very brave and exciting pop record.

The band’s ability to contrast their often dark lyrics with upbeat melodies ensures that there is much more to the record than first meets the eye and, while Little Green Cars may not be the finished article just yet, Absolute Zero proves they undoubtedly have bags of potential.

In sum, A DFA artist such as Gus doesn’t have to be dancey to be catchy, but he has to offer something to which one can willingly return. In that aspect, Gus succeeds a few times, but he still has a way to go.

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.

The problem with Little Neon Limelight isn’t so much the quality of the songs, as they’re generally an intriguing bunch. It’s that it could be rather too eclectic a collection to listen to in one sitting.

Any one of these songs has the potential to be a dance floor filler and that's what they've been designed for. There is nothing too original here, nothing big nor clever neither, but then if you like guitars and songs about teenage love you're going to be well catered for.

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.

It seems a blinkered record, which can be admired for its defiantly non-commercial stance. It won’t win Fearless any new fans, and may distance Death In Vegas into more of a cult concern. All well and good if that’s the intent; otherwise, perhaps it’s time to draw the curtains, get some vitamin D and thumb through that ‘guest vocalist’ address book.

For those unwilling to ride his digital wave of collapse and partial reconstruction, Farmer's mythological re-enactments will seem essential.

The major problem with It's A Corporate World is that it's all a bit too nice.

Clocking in at a nifty 38 minutes, Obey is a solid release, though it trails off near the end with tracks that are clearly less inspired than the others. In these sections the minimalism is stretched too far and the arrangements are too loose, but the album has great moments elsewhere.

The two albums she released under the Saltland name may have established her credentials as a composer in her own right but Waxing Moon feels a more personal, considered release that should give her the confidence to explore and develop her sound further.

Pink Friday 2 is very much a grab-bag of a record, its 32-minute version sounding no more coherent than the 70-minute version that was released on streaming. But if the best songs sustain her legacy, Nicki Minaj will most likely see it as mission accomplished.

It's an album far more than a parasite riding the wave of a traumatic situation, with a confident protagonist at its heart.

Overexposed is rather patchy and its highs are countered by some fairly wretched lows.

The record is undoubtedly an enjoyable, comforting listen, one that provides an interesting trawl through Band Of Horses’ back catalogue. It is, however, unlikely to appeal to anyone who is not already a fan.

The lingering sense, though, is one of repetition. Now the novelty of her songwriting has worn off, she needs to find a whole new language again.

Shotter's Nation has no stand-out moments. Delivery is about the best of the bunch, but it's no rival to anything The Libertines ever did.

Waking Lines may not always hit the mark, but for a debut effort it offers lashings of promise for Patterns’ future if they can either hone their songwriting skills or take a detour down the lengthy drone-pop street

This is a mixed bag, and is – unfortunately – a bit of a momentum killer.

Golden Animals do a remarkably impressive job of conjuring up just the kind of image they set out to do: floppy hatted, Afghan-coated drop outs singin' blue-eyed Blues as the acid gradually seeps out of their veins and into the foothills of the mesa.

Sky Swimming is an album of many twists and turns, but the effectiveness of these flourishes varies wildly.

To produce songs that listeners want to stick on over and over again is the holy grail, of course, and although the whole album doesn’t manage to maintain this level, the highlights could stay with you for a considerable time.

This is a protracted album centred largely on song based material, and its rather inconsistent levels of success rely heavily on the quality of the melodies and textures, and on the strength of communication from the vocalists.

It may tread familiar territory but that’s fine--this far into the game, they’re hardly going to deliver their jazz odyssey.

When the band does not explore their influences as assertively, their music blends in a little too closely with that of their peers.

The two note piano trick gets slightly overplayed on Practicing Magic, but then it represents the only real misfire rather than a lack of ideas. This is an utterly intriguing and unsettling album.

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 are rewards to be had for perseverance but, just like before, we’re left wishing they’d loosen up a bit.

As comebacks go, Dodge And Burn is a solid effort and possibly The Dead Weather’s most cohesive record to date. It’s just a shame that the band leave it so late in the day to delve into their box of tricks.

A record that doesn’t always astound but has a fair few enjoyable moments, and some very effective vocal performances.

While Violens draw from strong influences, they capture their potency only fleetingly. Amoral is a worthwhile listen, with stand out tracks that hold much promise. As yet, though, there's too much that leaves you, like that promise, unfulfilled.

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

Watch the Throne feels all too fractured from the tension of two rappers (and two egos) at the top of their game, trying to get along.

If there were any criticism to be leveled at this album, it's that it is a little bland around the edges.

Surely satisfying to an unknown (but tiny) demographic, this record is instantly likeable, but it’s also just as immediately forgettable.

It’s About Time has joyous, feel-good highlights and low points that could have been worse.

Their debut album, Wasted On Youth is, at best, an exercise in earnest revivalism. At worst, it’s just as credible and entertaining as albums by The Ordinary Boys, Towers Of London or The Enemy.

Overall the lingering feeling is that I Don’t Run is a pleasant enough listen, and one that would happily soundtrack many a summer barbecue, but it falls short of the promise of their debut.

Diploid Love doesn’t suck, but neither is it revolutionary.

Here I Am is the epitome of cheap and cheerful R&B, 40 minutes of precision-tuned pre-club glossiness--without a doubt perfectly serviceable.

It’s not an unqualified success, but it’s a guaranteed seller over Christmas. And, as one of this country’s more entertaining pop stars, it’s nice to have him back.

A largely attractive album, then, but one that by its finish may well have you yearning for an injection of the funk we know Gonzales can provide.

By producing a more polished, more accomplished sheen while The Killers have roughed themselves up and forgotten to shave, the two bands have moved towards a middle ground where they're virtually indistinguishable.

Overall, Planet Earth is a competent collection of songs that are certainly too good to be given away free.

Although she’s not quite there just yet, with a more stringent editor, and a producer who could get the best out of her (Max Martin would seem a lip-smacking prospect), Maisie Peters is undoubtedly on her way to producing a truly great pop album.

On the strength of his recent chart performances, Harris is currently riding a crest of a wave, so he's clearly doing something right. But it feels like he's sacrificed some of his creativity in favour of simplistic and unimaginative output.

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.

The balancing act that any group has to perform in successive albums remains askew here. In trying to bring outside influences into their specific sound, Ratatat have gained an appreciation for novel sounds, even if they don't fit in well.

It’s another enjoyable album from a band quietly proving to be one of the more consistent groups around.

It might not be the explosion many were hoping for, but Progress sees Take That exploring and experimenting.

This certainly isn't an essential album by any means, and perhaps a retrospective of Tillman's previous five albums and EPs might have been a better introduction.

Whilst Psychedelic Porn Crumpets remain an attractive proposition, this outing would perhaps suggest that they’re starting to cool off a little after the hot, toasting stage they enjoyed with their first two releases.

This is a debut that is, at times, rewarding and marks out Huerco S as a producer to watch.

Flume is stuck between innovation and the urge to party like it’s 2014, and though Palaces has real highlights, it is weakened by this indecision.

The music here is, at times, superb--it’s just hard to imagine anything (except maybe Rose On Top Of The World or Killed Someone) finding a place in your permanent playlist. And a lot of it is just average, which is probably the worst thing you could say about a band as mercurial as this.

But for all its shortcomings, Bricolage is at least well intentioned and definitely well executed--frenetic, tightly instrumented, and performed with aplomb.

This Modern Glitch is a decent album. The problem is that The Wombats have a reputation as a better-than-decent band. This new offering isn't enormously different to what's come before.

There are a couple of tracks that veer towards the forgettable, and the overall downbeat tempo of the album as a whole may test the patience of some listeners. ... Yet even on the less memorable songs, Merchant never sounds anything less than completely captivating.