For large parts of this record, perhaps for the first time since the group's inception, Animal Collective sounds like a band doing little more than going through the motions.

25 is very much Adele playing safe.

The Inevitable End, whilst more reflective and introspective, is little different. If this is the end of this current stage of the Röyksopp story, it’s a pretty classy way to bow out.

Humbug is another intriguing step in the evolution of Britain's most exciting guitar band.

Tales Of A Grass Widow won’t alter opinions; if anything it’ll cement them. But for those who enjoy CocoRosie, album number five is every bit as intriguing and fulfilling as they’d hope.

It is the penultimate songs that show some signs of invention.

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.

It is also a daunting record--when is an hour and a quarter of ambience not?--but a thoroughly rewarding one.

It makes sense that the conceptual gravitas behind an album like this wouldn't have enough fuel for 11 songs (the originals of this scene weren't necessarily known for their full-lengths) but it certainly would've been amazing to see him pull it off. Specific, loving, authentic, but limiting, it may leave us wanting more--but there's no doubt that John Maus made the album he wanted to make.

It means that the album’s instantly accessible and familiar to anyone who’s ever smoked a cigarette, flipped the bird to The Man or nailed the pastor’s daughter in the churchyard; but is subject to the law of diminishing returns which kicks in every time the fuck-you teen persona is reincarnated.

Whatever your interpretation, it's clear both parties have a deeper understanding of one another's music than any outsider could ever hope to comprehend, a synergy that has only strengthened over the 20+ years of their acquaintance.

It politely demands your attention; it wants to transport you elsewhere, to a place in which to daydream and reflect. Hindman and Versprille were absolutely right to go it alone; they’ve made a beautiful album.

This is an intriguing record whose rewards come slowly but which leave a lasting impression. There is a restless quality to Sam Eastgate’s songwriting that feels very much of the times in which we live, but there is a warmly soulful side to balance it.

Thanks, in no small part to Spank Rock producer Armani XXXchange, Midnight Boom also possesses of this air of modernity and experimentation which is never less than startling.

You probably wouldn’t have started 2018 predicting that a 50-something bunch of grunge-era survivors would produce one of the most startling, exciting and vital albums of the year, but the sheer strangeness of the times dictates that that’s exactly what’s happened.

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.

This is a young band not taking themselves too seriously, and you can really picture them as they rock out and enjoy themselves.

An intriguing and powerful release, Simian Mobile Disco prove with Murmurations that they are still as vital as ever.

Whilst nothing on The Light Of You is quite as sumptuous or ornate as the best moments on Deserter’s Songs, it does demonstrate that Mercury Rev are a band still able to engage the senses.

While it’s a consistently strong collection, with no real missteps, certain tracks on Beginners really stand out. The quality peaks with the mid-album triumvirate of Unforgivable, Northsiders and Twin Souls.

As things stand, a lot of people are going to fall in love with this new young talent, and her ambitious and creative debut. But Lykke Li is likely to stay a cult curiosity for now.

Weird and wonderful in roughly equal measure.

Childs doesn’t always find the music industry an easy place to be, but when the end results are as likeable and appealing as those found on Situation Comedy, you hope his restless creativity never truly goes away.

It is the work of a group of musicians finally comfortable in their own skin, with all the elements coming together in perfect harmony.

It probably won’t lead to any sort of career revival, but you get the impression that Lloyd Cole’s perfectly happy just following his path and seeing where it leads at this stage.

Chewed Corners is a perfect comeback. It’s an album full of vivid, reflective, yet inventive electronica that ties together all of Mike Paradinas’ influences.

Sex & Food might be reluctant to fully reveal itself, but in being the most uncompromising album in Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s discography it also feels like Nielson’s most honest musical statement to date.

Noisy and chaotic, passionate-sounding, complicated and confusing as it is, it nevertheless emerges as something a bit more than the sum of its manifold parts.