It is also a daunting record--when is an hour and a quarter of ambience not?--but a thoroughly rewarding one.

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

The more collaborative approach this time around has led to a more fleshed-out sound than his early, more minimal work, but it still contains the usual Oldham magic.

It may be the antithesis of Shiny Happy People, but this Beat Poetry is never anything less than compelling.

An unremittingly sad record, one that almost suffocates the listener with its own melancholia; and yet there's also something strangely inspirational in its 10 piano-led hymns to failing and trying again.

It’s a strong and pressing example of how musical elements from different geographical sources can be integrated successfully and portrayed in cohesive, striking style.

This is the most professional, mature, clean-sounding hit of saccharine pop the band have ever delivered, and it’s certainly their best album since Day & Age.

There may not be a big crossover hit on the album, but that doesn’t stop Moonshine Freeze sounding like the best record of Kate Stables’ career so far.

Fatima’s Hand is another evolution for McPhee’s singular playing style, and a characteristically immersive, absorbing experience.

It’s a testament to Broderick’s talent that even on an endlessly intriguing and clever record like this, he can still play straight to the heart.

This is the most consistently impressive Beirut record yet, proving its creator is now able to harness his occasional excesses and directly engage with his audience without losing the invention and flair that make him such a rare talent.

An album that showcases the development of an artist who seems to get better and better as the years roll by.

There’s more than sentimentality to these songs; they resonate at a more fundamental level.

The Rat Road does indeed become an accurate reflection of modern life, but it lifts far above the routine, providing an insightful and emotive soundtrack for many who cross its path.

The band may not have moved on musically but with the results this strong it feels much more than just a lazy trip down memory lane.

Birding is a well-crafted album that draws you into a world you’re more than happy to get lost in. That this is deary’s debut is genuinely impressive; few bands arrive with such a clear aesthetic and sense of control.

Even the less successful tracks have something interesting about them, and they never flatten the feel-good mode of the album. It’s been a while in coming, but Bunny could be a case of third time lucky for Willie J Healey.

The Granite Way is the perfect demonstration of how he still stands as one of the leading figures of English folk music – nobody can quite tell a story like he can.

Super, as you will have gathered, is both old and new. It is old in the sense that all the Pet Shop Boys’ calling cards are here--the vocal clarity, the production precision, the wry observations on daytime ordinariness and night time escapism. Yet the nostalgia trip is a good move, with Price giving their beats a firmer kick.

The Men have clearly reached the level where they can turn their hand to anything and, once again, it has worked a treat.

It might not be FOTL’s most accessible album, but The Peace And Truce is perhaps their most rewarding. Once those rough edges have been understood and accepted, Falkous’ cryptic lyrics are an endless source of mirth and puzzlement. There’s depth here, and it’s not just in Ruzick’s bass lines.

A solid album, one which, given time to explore its layers and textures, justifies investigations tenfold.

The last few records have seen them experimenting successfully with dashes of vivid colour, spinning bass lines towards the dubby area of the spectrum and enjoying a laugh at theirs and others’ expense. Wheeltappers & Shunters continues the trend, with music of colour, mixing its cold shivers with moments of unexpected charm.

Iradelphic is certainly Clark's most accessible record and it is arguably his best.

Women + Country is something of a concept album, providing a necessary and unflinching look at a people who are often too proud to admit they're dying slowly of the lonesome blues.

Young Fathers are exactly as their name suggests: firstly young, but more noteworthy, brutally honest father-figures who show the music world that, when you take musical and topical risks, you get noticed.

You Are All I See may be surreal and even hard work at times, but this is a work of sheer beauty whose contours are worth exploring in depth.

The emotional impact of this music is sometimes disorientating or alienating, but that is probably the intention. It's mostly impossible to discern the lyrics or comprehend their themes. Somehow this doesn't matter, given the striking, weird and often turbulent music beneath.