Lightburn is on fine form throughout – vocally, he’s been compared to Morrissey for most of his career, but on Lovers Rock he’s more like a downbeat Damon Albarn.

The overall effect of Skeletons is akin to being poked and prodded by a bratty child for over half an hour.

With songs that are inspiringly teeming with originality and ideas, Courtcase 2000 is as exciting and mind expanding a record as any this year.

Overall this is an unpretentious and varied album of rave stompers, hands-up disco and sedate moments of beguiling ambience that combine to form probably his best and most cohesive album since "Play."

If Alanis lacks breadth in terms of her subject matter, and she does, she makes up for it in the rich variety of styles that have influenced each track.

This is, truly, an album worthy of obsession.

In summary, Drones is utterly bonkers and silly. And yet, it’s for the most part enjoyable.

All The Plans is full of driving piano, anthemic guitar, and a bit of swagger. They owe a huge debt to Coldplay, Ocean Colour Scene, and Oasis which, in itself, must be quite galling.

Producer Will.I.Am's contributions are, for the most part, utterly bland and lacking in bite. The sanitised R'n'B of Heaven is embarrassing with a generic construction that feels as if he went to a superstore and it took it off the shelf.

Once the irritatingly catchy melodies have passed through a love/hate relationship though, to the point where they may start to annoy, there is sadly not enough left to warrant a long lifespan for Youth.

Despite the solid highs, there’s nothing truly spectacular and the end result is rather uneven in terms of quality.

Portico have certainly succeeded in reinventing themselves, and they sound like a completely different band to Portico Quartet. The flipside of this is less positive: with their synth textures and post-dubstep influences, they don’t sound all that different from much of the pop music being made at the moment.

With only one true standout track, a handful of fillers, and little innovation or progress, it reeks of diminishing returns from start to finish.

Complete Me is a clever, well crafted and painstakingly produced pop concoction that was well worth the numerous delays.

This is a fascinating record that will initially bewilder, but rewards repeated listens.

When it hits the spot, Moby’s writing is still subtly powerful, but when it doesn’t a curious and lasting emptiness remains. This may accurately reflect the imbalances of the world, but as a musical work it ultimately feels off-kilter.

Not a bad effort, but we've come to expect more.

Yuck, however, sadly comes off after several listens as a little flat, the low points seeming all the more so for resting, as they do, in the shadows of the occasional peaks.

It’s the sound of a band who have slowly taken the time to consider how their evolution should develop, and this deliberation has borne fruit. Wildness may well have grown, but for Gengahr, something rather more long-lasting may have also taken root.

This debut is a polished effort which manages to balance both sweeping synth pop with euphoric indie anthems.

For all the humming and picking, the songs feel too similar to each other to hold interest throughout.

While this may not be his finest solo moment (that honour still belongs to his debut, "Rockin' The Suburbs"), if you want some intelligent, moving and addictive pop songs, you can't go far wrong with Mr Folds.

It’s not perfect, but it does point towards promising a future.

MGMT seem to have settled into their groove here, or more correctly their two concurrent grooves. On one hand, they seem able to produce easily digestible fuzzy pop songs slightly reminiscent of soft rock with what appears to be consummate ease; on the other, they can enter into all manner of sonic digressions with a noteworthy lightness of touch.

For better or worse, Thievery is ultimately content to stick to the script, busting out another batch of worldly background noise perfect for a post-party VIP lounge in Ibiza.

The album may revive the band's career in North America, but for many of their loyal fans it will come as a major disappointment.

Despite these quibbles, there’s a definite sense on Life By Misadventure of a major step up from Human. It’s a conscious move to move Rag’n’Bone Man up to the level of the likes of Michael Kiwanuka and Ray LaMontagne – if he carries on at this trajectory, he’ll have a career to rival them both.