An album that really only Mitski could make: strange, otherworldly and yet immediately accessible and addictive.

An evocative album of considerable depth that beautifully completes the triangle.

After a while shapes form and the structure of this masterpiece become clear - a wash of beautiful melodies and sumptuous chord changes that sit somewhere between George Harrison and Echo and the Bunnymen.

A record which is dense, musically adventurous and arguably one of the more important albums to be released this year. It’s also a record that proves that there’s more to the trio than tabloid outrage and overblown headlines.

There isn’t any doubt that The New Sound will divide people – for every listener who has their mind well and truly blown, they’ll be another who derides it as self-indulgent tosh. However, you certainly won’t find another album this year that sounds so intensely creative, ambitious and packed full of ideas.

This is a fantastic, passionate and wonderfully eccentric debut album that's also a thrilling advert of what's to come.

Patterns In Repeat is one of the finest records of her career to date.

It has been a long wait for a British album like this, the kind that transcends age group appeal and inspires cool kids to form bands and geeky kids to lose themselves in music's history.

Rispah is a brilliantly sustained meditation that offers a full, enriching experience.

It’s an album that has facets from across the spectrum of experimental electronic music but, in the hands of the masterful sonic auteur Matthew Barnes, Forest Swords’ music sounds triumphantly singular. This is a very special album.

This might well be American Football’s finest moment to date. It’s certainly not an easy listen; at times it’s harrowing, emotionally ambiguous and petulant. But sometimes you need to reach hell in order to create something truly significant.

It may not be music for the ringtone generation, but for anyone who appreciates the understated power and drama that Sigur Rós can do so well, this is an essential purchase

There are, of course, echoes of the past, but there is also something pleasingly fresh in the way DIIV take an age old sound and turn it into something magical that's at times deeply beautiful.

At the centre of all of this, always, are Leschper’s remarkable vocals: brittle and quivering at one moment, bold and unfaltering the next, with an occasional folkish twang of Joanna Newsom or Jessica Pratt, her manner of occasionally over-reaching or stopping short of notes well within her range, her voice cracking at the edges, emphasises the fragility at the emotional core of her songs.... A beautiful album.

Strength in adversity is a powerful combination in music, and Doves have it in spades, delivering an inspiring sixth album.

This is an album which bears repeated listening, and which deserves to become more than just a summer soundtrack; but rather one of those releases that can be revisited again and again, with each listen revealing new details and delights.

It ["Too Many Rivals"] is one of the most beautiful and upsetting moments of an album filled with beautiful and upsetting moments.

Wholly unexpected and majestic, repeated plays will reward tenfold as song after song worms itself under the skin to create a thoroughly rewarding experience.

It is a remarkably enduring and giving album that further enriches this already flourishing genre.

He has bravely laid his songwriting gifts bare in their purest form.

With all matters of the heart explored in extremely intimate detail it sees Beyoncé back on top of the pop world ready to slay like only she can.

Despite its experimental genesis, Mines is an incredibly relatable indie-pop gem.

What makes Shortly After Take Off work is the attention to detail, both musically and lyrically.

With The World Only Ends When You Die, Skyway Man has come up with a boldly visionary record that is bursting with ideas and provides unexpected twists and turns at every corner.

Hospice succeeds by conveying deeply personal traumas as universally appreciable truths, until one man's lonely, painful catharsis transmogrifies into something panoramic and shared by all.

Skying feels like a watershed of sorts for the band, because if they now want to be seen as more than creators of masterful records, the whole package will need to reflect that brilliance and artistry.

This Music May Contain Hope will easily be a certain contender for many people’s end of the year lists. This is an album of rare scale and energy, and one that’s been designed to come back to time and time again.

An album full of off-kilter, strange pop songs, the sort that Phoenix do so well. It may have been four years in the making, but it’s certainly been well worth waiting for.