Like all of Hval’s work, this isn’t an album to listen to as background music, or pick and choose what tracks to listen to. It’s an album to immerse yourself in (a real ‘headphones listen’) and just surrender to for 42 minutes.

The production on Sugar Mountain is not as polished as Live At Massey Hall, which was recorded three years later as Young's career trajectory was reaching superstar status. As a result the atmosphere is electrically intimate, making the listener feel like they are actually at the gig - the true marker of a great live album.

HEALTH's musical talent can be heard during every song on this album, but there is also some room to grow--another good sign of a promising new band.

A collaboration enrichingly beneficial to both sides - and to the listener.

While it doesn’t quite have the instantly addictive quality that Pupul’s work with Charlotte Adigéry does, this is still a rich, multi-layered work that serves as both a fine tribute to Pupul’s mother and a compelling journey of grief, loss and the effects of ancestry.

Spellbinding debut album, its vivid subject matter dealing with depression, sexuality, prejudice and matters of the heart with an uplifting old-school feel complemented by celestial vocals.

While far from immaculate, Cookie Mountain is the logical progression from Desperate Youth, with its conception fruit enough for those who appreciate musical innovation.

If a classic pop album is something that defines the moment, is rammed with ideas and necessarily crammed with singles, then Lady Sov's cracked it first time out.

Björk's mind remains artistically open to just about anything, and on this album she sounds like she's enjoying recharging it with another tranche of skewed new ideas.

The evolution and maturation of The Shins might continue at its steady pace with this record, but it’s all the better for the sense of nostalgia that pervades it, seeping from both its music and its lyrics.

If there's a bundle of stereotypes preceding any singer-songwriter of Scandinavian extraction, it surely includes the following: glacial beauty, whispery vocals, tenderly picked guitars and perhaps a touch of glockenspiel or synth. Silje Nes's second album Opticks delivers all of the above, but that doesn't diminish its thoughtful loveliness.

The Joy Of Sects is exhilarating, witty and addictive, which blends perfect pop melodies with raw punk energy. It may not appeal to everyone, but it’s the perfect album to dance into the apocalypse with.

The reality that Vanishing Point is such a vibrant and quintessential Mudhoney album makes it a real triumph.

What makes this the best Beabeadoobee record to date is its willingness to explore whatever musical direction takes her fancy. So there’s a delightful little waltz-time on Coming Home, while A Cruel Affair revisits Laus’ love of bossa-nova and embroiders it with some slide guitar

Glitch Princess certainly isn’t an easy record to listen to, yet neither is it wilfully difficult or unwelcoming. It’s perfectly emblematic of the pop period we’re living in, with a new generation of artists changing the meaning of what it is to make pop music on their own terms.

The music can be deadpan and serious at times, but Magazine 1 gives the running impression that it was a huge amount of fun in the making.

For the most part, it is an assured collection of songs that exudes the confidence of an artist at the peak of her powers.

Yo La Tengo have nothing left to prove and this allows them the room and scope to simply showcase their talents, which are many and admirable as well as being both under-exposed and under-appreciated.

Listeners with open minds are strongly recommended to give Pageant Material a try. It’s brimming with wit and wisdom, and it really should have featured on more end-of-year lists.

[Cursed is] a rare misstep in an assured record that brings out the best of both collaborators.

Autechre albums have been famously challenging in the past, but Quaristice is an easier way in, and impresses with its structure, its continued innovation in texture and in the way every sound remains vital, even in the course of a seventy minute album.

While Street Horrrsing may never scratch the surface of the mainstream, it is going to make an indelible mark on all those interested in ground-breaking underground music

Second Love pays off most of all on those repeated listens--it’s not her most immediate collection of songs, but over time they reveal themselves to be her most rewarding.

You don’t see the whole way through it, you get a glimpse of shadows on the other side, but in the end it is the colours and the craftsmanship that keep you looking, or in this case listening.

Be Your Own King, is above all things, a fun record.

As gross as The Body set out to make No One Deserves Happiness, it is Wolpert’s presence that actually provides it with an element of hope. She’s like a flower in a bomb crater, and in a weird way, The Body might just have made one of the most hopeful pop albums ever.

The ingredients, and the musical personalities, combine to make a very intriguing and invigorating listen.

Yummy adds itself to the James canon as an album both for fans and newcomers, a triumph over prejudice and anxiety. Everyone is welcome here.