There is a lot at play here, both sonically and lyrically, and the album rewards repeated listens. Most importantly, Little Broken Hearts is an album that just works.

With a couple of judicious tweaks to the song choices, this retrospective could have been truly great rather than simply very, very good.

Ultimately, if a Flaming Lips didn't include a high degree of experimentation, you'd be disappointed. Yet when they keep things simple, such as the closing piano led Goin' On, the results are magnificent.

It may not be groundbreakingly new, but All Our Favourite Stories is one of the most entertaining albums of the year.

A fine piece of work here, both profound and mysterious. Hopefully we won’t have to wait another eight years for the next one.

Musically it ranges from coruscating to eerie, from ominous to plangent and sees the quartet operating at the height of their powers. It’s a hard-hitting, ambitious album that only serves to further consolidate the reputations of all involved.

This is the most consistent album to date by a band whose flashes of brilliance hitherto seemed often dissolved in their encumbering desire to set down a surfeit of ideas on each record. Here, their creative energies are reconciled just as the salt doll is reconciled with the sea.

The overall take out from I DES however is of an artist continuing to play to his strengths, delivering another slowburning set of songs full of delicate beauty and affecting warmth.

Therapy is a well-balanced record that plays to Anne-Marie’s strengths, complete with glossy production and hooks to keep the avid pop fan humming.

An album that’s more mature and focussed than Stealing Sheep’s debut, harnessing all of their interesting quirks within a showcase of excellent songwriting.

It’s another intriguing step in the evolution of Everything Everything – it ultimately doesn’t matter whether you buy into the overarching concept of the record when the songs are as good as they are on Mountainhead.

MassEducation is that rare record that works both as a standalone album and a companion to the original.

There are no earth-shattering changes to Linkous' studio-warped rock 'n' roll pastoralism. As there was nothing broken on previous Sparklehorse outings, there is little in need of fixing.

They may not turn out to be a Lee & Nancy for the 21st century, but Gentlewoman, Ruby Man is a massively enjoyable listen and is hopefully only the prelude to more work between the pair.

This is an illuminating and captivating insight into the world of Zero 7. Far from being coffee table fodder, it provides a near perfect chill out soundtrack - easy to relax to, but always rewarding closer inspection, especially deep in the small hours.

The later half is really rather spectacularly ace, in an unexpectedly grandiose way.

This is a strong record, and one made with a singular artistic focus. Senni clearly knows what he likes, and he does it incredibly well.

It is apparent from the start that the album is a valuable piece of work in its own right however and its reclaimed origins should not bring any negative preconceptions.

The good news is that while it’s not better than Hippopotamus, their latest work is just as hilarious, and just as focused.

Black Dog might not be a comfortable listen but its unrelenting power and undisguised starkness demands attention and makes it impossible to ignore.

This is an adrenaline rush of an album, an electric shock in a world of flabby gas. Proof, if any were needed, that it’s possible to reinvent the wheel if you’re committed enough to the spin.

Home is a groovy, infectious and deeply listenable record, recommended for all fans of repetitive electronic beats.

False Idols confidently returns to a simpler, yet contemporary version of Tricky’s working formula.

It’s unlikely that this album will achieve legendary status but there are more than enough signs here to suggest something massive might be around the corner.

My Best Friend Is You hasn't got the immediate freshness of Made Of Bricks, and it can make for a disorientating, uneven listen at times. Yet it's never anything other than compelling and demonstrates that, despite what a lot of people thought when she first appeared, that Kate Nash could well be around for a good few years yet.

The Inheritors is a rich and vivid work that is as mysterious as it is compelling.

In all aspects has Swift built upon her work on Folklore, creating a vast soundscape of poetical stories, and it is only at the end of this album you realise that Folklore did leave you wanting. Evermore also does this, not because it doesn’t reach up to the pedestal of folklore – in contrast, it covers the more complex ground.

AI vocals or not, this is an album that goes up near the top of Caribou’s achievements, a feelgood set of tracks clinging on with determination to the summer, providing a sun-drenched idyll as Europe heads towards autumn. Dan Snaith is clearly in rude health – and with Honey his experimentation has paid off.