It is certainly worth investing raw, unprocessed time in exploring.

The deeper resonance of the piano is boosted further by judiciously deployed synth sounds and the effect is slower and more dreamlike. Quando eu era Pequenina is particularly beautiful, with its expansive piano chords and haunting synth sounds, while Os meus olhos são dois círios, rooted in electronics, is flatter but, thanks to Lina’s vocals, scarcely less beautiful.

Not since The Strokes exploded into our consciousness in 2001 with Is This It has a band delivered such a sharp and concise debut.

The Notwist is an apt example of a band that is making good music for no other reason than because making music is what they love to do, which Close To The Glass demonstrates in spades.​

It's the perfect end to a blissfully gorgeous album--one that showcases Ane Brun as being at the forefront of the new wave of Scandinavian pop music.

As down-to-earth and likeable as its creator, this is an enjoyable collection that mostly avoids the pitfalls of solo albums by members of successful bands that are still very much a going concern.

These are songs recorded tens, if not hundreds, of times before, and are by no means definitive versions, but in the attempt to capture something of the historical importance of the railroad, Shine A Light’s songs tell their own story; one which will prove excellent company on any similar expeditions, whether across the plains or the 08.16 to Euston.

Annual feels like a one-paced, indistinctive first step into a new world and one that is begging for just the odd about-turn to maintain interest.

Working on many levels: entertaining, thought-provoking, musically satisfying and yes, still pretty funny too in parts; YACHT might not be genuinely looking to save your souls, but they certainly have more to offer than most other sects that you might care to join.

On the evidence of The Glow, DMA’s are more than ready to stand on their own feet, with a sell-out show at the Brixton Academy having already confirmed. Welcome to the party.

It’s an emotionally exhausting listen at times, but it’s also a frequently stunning one.

This is a quiet triumph that is remarkably captivating and doesn’t need any up-to-the-minute technological tools to improve it further.

Trouble is an album of bewitching treasures, equally at home in the bedroom or in the throes of the most intense club dance floor--an extremely impressive debut that introduces TEED as one of the UK's premier electronic artists.

At times, the low-key, downtempo atmosphere may threaten to overwhelm, but Nocturne is an album that both solidifies and enhances Wild Nothing's growing reputation.

Stephen Merritt and his many collaborators have made a wildly varied and highly entertaining album that reads like a book of poetry and plays like a soundtrack to a particularly fun (barely remembered) summer.

It's certainly nothing unfriendly, and none of it would sound out of place on the duo's traditional weekend slot at Lovebox.

Both Ways Open Jaws is an album that is best when taken as a whole and wholly intriguing trip into that most treacherous and elusive of terrains: the happy marriage of eccentricity and pop song craft.

There is little filter on the creativity here as White’s legacy allows him to explore and indulge odd ideas, but it could do with some productive channelling. Hence Fear Of The Dawn ends up a partially enjoyable but partially frustrating listen.

True North is a decent album, but one with no real standout tracks.

We have an album that opts to cater for the variety of fans that flock to support Rihanna in her time of trouble. It's a diverse work. But this so happens to be its biggest setback.

While not offensive, it’s watery childlike-ness is like a kid’s paddling pool--no deep end and replete with a drop or two of unwanted warm yellow liquid.

A monstrously grandiose, ridiculously gargantuan and stunningly inventive work from start to end.

There's enough talent here to suggest that the hype around The View at the moment is thoroughly justified - hats off to them indeed.

Twenty One is an excellent album replete with brilliant, clean, original production and instantly memorable songs.

The Bells is a mixed bag of accomplished piano pieces that could do with a bit more subtlety in those passages where the intensity rises. It's those softer, more intimate asides that have the greatest impact.

This is music to come home to, to guide you back through the darkness at the end of the evening and deliver you to the doorstep of a nice semi somewhere in Middle England.

As frenetic as it is instant, melodic and catchy.

Like many victims of the cut-throat mainstream pop game it wants to join, Heartthrob falls down more often than not because the songs capture the immaturity of its target audience a little too well.