Mi Plan is a mildly diverting listen that doesn't tarnish the brand and helps re-connect the artist with a core fanbase.

What Regan has unquestionably created is a landscape of wide-eyed, sincere beauty that is very much his own, delivered with a poise that few of his contemporaries can match.

More often than not, most of the songs feel like they're only 75% there; so close to really coalescing into something special.

Winterval is intermittently graceful yet often slight and inconsequential: an enigmatic album that is unlikely to linger in the memory for long.

It might not be wholly successful but that could be due simply to our unfamiliarity as listeners with music that manages to be different in an instinctive way.

Second album Open features a significant amount of fine-tuning and finessing and as a result sees them operating at a markedly higher level.

Some may find it all a bit too intense, while long-term fans may be put off by the departure of their earlier, more pastoral sound. However, their ambition cannot be faulted, and when it comes time to look back on the band’s career, Vide Noir could be seen as a pivotal moment.

Had they been performed by any other band, these regularly mawkish and sorrowful lyrics could have tipped the album over into an joyless torrent of petulant whining but the Danish rockers’ mish mash of catchy hooks and reflective self-awareness skilfully instil just the right amount of vitality so as to prevent that outcome from happening.

Easily her best since Made Of Bricks, and it’s a beautifully satisfying conclusion to what has been, by all accounts, a turbulent few years.

There’s a lot of nods and winks to other artists, while Antonoff’s own personality remains hidden. Every track on the album is nicely played and produced, but there’s nothing that really stops you in your tracks.

Veronica Falls have carved into a niche that will always have a small but loyal following which will baffle those on the outside. Newcomers would do well to do their homework first, and enjoy this debut with a thousand points of reference.

It’s a lot more ambitious and experimental--more often than not, anyway--than previous releases. When it stumbles, it’s merely fleeting. There’s no doubt that their reputation is intact.

If it weren't for the big three singles... and the habitually contagious Golden Skans standing well above the rest of the album, there would be nothing new or interesting about Myths.

There's nothing here that's going to surprise anyone in the slightest, but this is sleekly produced, brilliantly written and expertly executed radio fodder.

99¢ is slick, soulful and full of the imaginative use of reference points that she is so accomplished at bending to her will. It’s by no means as immediate as Santogold, but its pleasures are plentiful if you give it the time it deserves.

Delphic have started 2010 as we all hope it will go on - with superb music.

This adds up to a solid album that presents as an immediate difference to what went before, even if it does not roam too far from the grounds of its creator’s past. That certainly doesn’t mean it can’t be enjoyed. Electric Light is a thoroughly immersive ride that shows James Bay has plenty of ideas brimming in that now hatless head.

Kweller's talent as a pop-rock songwriter is plainly evident, but despite the consistent cheeriness that's offered across Go Fly A Kite, it never manages to shake off the feeling of being merely an appetiser for a main course that never materialises.

You can slice up its track-by-track constitution--a gently sung, interesting turn of phrase here, an evocative chord progression here--but it is a beautiful, haunting creature as a whole, and a poignant testament to the power of simplicity.

It seems as if You Know Who You Are is a shrug of the shoulders, a ‘let’s get on with it regardless’ statement instead of letting themselves get hung up over near misses and spluttering to a mid-air stalling. Instead they’re very much still soaring amongst the clouds.

It’s an album that comes from an older, more mature band than the Jimmy Eat World that yearningly whined on Bleed American, one that has refined their melodic craft.

With razor sharp, expletive-ridden lyrics and tight beats aplenty, it's undoubtedly Odd Future's most accomplished album to date.

One of the best albums in North America last year and surely one of the best of 2006 for us; Live It Out is sinister, intelligent music for sinister, intelligent people.

So, from bed-bound broken foot casualty to creator of the finest debut album of the year in just over a year.

While the aesthetic of Lust For Youth’s music may be dated on a surface level, good pop songcraft tends to become timeless once people have got used to it. And this self-titled album of theirs is full of this, tunes that work their way into the listener’s head and successfully strike a balance of being nostalgic without being derivative.

Beautiful Thing works so well because it reminds us of that fact without losing its own emotional resonance.

How Did We Get So Dark? has plenty of appeal, possibly just edging the debut, and is the sound of a band enjoying their niche, but how long that can last has to be the concern here.

I realise that bemoaning the inclusion of crowd noise on a live album is a bit pointless, but when it detracts from the enjoyment of the album then it's a valid grumble. But it's a minor issue.