Mazes are forging a distinct path from their peers and their second record offers rich rewards for like minds who wish to join them.

Shadow Of The Sun marks another triumph for the rapidly becoming essential Moon Duo, or Moon Trio as they should now be known.

Popular Songs may not quite scale the same heights as those found on "I Am Not Afraid Of You..." or "I Can Hear The Heart Beating As One." It is, however, another really good album by Yo La Tengo.

We Built A Fire is an unassuming, quietly smouldering flash of brilliance to carry us from the deadened depths of whitest winter into the slanted and enchanted light of a spring well spent.

Whether the second volume expands on this achievement is unlikely, but Thile now must be considered--along with Bela Fleck--as one of the contemporary masters of the mandolin, exercising his powers across multiple genres.

As Getting Back Up rides out the album on the back of some more glorious brass melodies, it proves that not many make pop music that leaps off the page so high and vividly as The Go! Team.

Harry’s House is a heavyweight pop release that feels understated and lightweight. It threatens to give everything about Styles away and strip back his starkest emotions, but leaves it still ever so slightly cloaked in mystery. We’re closer than ever before to truly understanding Styles the person, but he still keeps us ever so slightly at arm’s length. Styles, the artist, the pop auteur, though is far more clear.

Prisoner is an album that must have been tough for Adams to write and record, but ends up sounding like one of the great break-up albums of recent times.

It's an adventurous, seductive and plush exploration of the depths of progressive and popular metal.

It is, more importantly, a fine record of a dynamic live performance by a hugely influential band who transcended their punk origins.

It is delicately shaded and tells us more of her hopes, dreams, fears and feelings than any interview ever could. It is this direct communication with her listeners, coupled with the strongest of loyalties to her underground heritage, that makes her music as strong as it is.

It is because of this collaborative rejuvenation that Monsters Of Folk is a worthwhile endeavour, a stirring album and an outfit that is as nourishing for its constituent members as they are for it.

There have been some excellent debut albums out this year already, and Love In Arms stands comparison with them.

There may be no one track that could be a crossover commercial hit for the Wolter siblings, but this is an album full of signs of longterm progress. This is the sound of a band in it for the long haul, and by the sounds of it, it’s going to be quite the journey for them.

Stark yet still overtly dramatic, it's an astonishing showcase of confessional songwriting.

Three Dimensions Deep is a winner, as diverse production allows for a collection of tunes that are never boring.

Chatma never feels like any kind of compromise, and the presence of Tinariwen singer Wonou Walet Sidati adds a new dimension to the music, one that sometimes threatens to overpower Ousmane Ag Mossa’s less imposing vocal presence.

Of course their music is heavily in thrall to the 1960s, but they wear their influences with an easy-fitting indifference, like a comfortable jacket.

Crystal Fairy is a solid and impressive album from start to finish.

A definite case of still waters running deep, Nerissimo is a quiet work of craft by two musicians entirely happy to follow their own instincts. Like Spinal Tap.

Alanis Morissette has long been a rarity among her peers, more than willing to address significant, yet unsettling subject matter. Such Pretty Forks In The Road is a case in point, with inspiring lyrical touches and affecting vocal sincerity placing it among her best albums.

The Hospot may be a fictional place, but Warmduscher have created the kind of soundtrack that makes it feel like the kind of place we’d all want to hang out in.

This is a quiet triumph that is remarkably captivating and doesn’t need any up-to-the-minute technological tools to improve it further.

Like many of James’s records both as a solo artist and in My Morning Jacket, Uniform Distortion occasionally suffers dips in quality control and consequently the truly great album you feel he’s capable of is once again frustratingly elusive. But it’s still an absolute blast.

The fact that it’s not doing anything particularly new doesn’t really matter because it’s hitting all the right notes and pushing all the right buttons. Most of all, just like their debut, it’s a lot fun.

Oh My Sexy Lord is not an easy album to break down. It’s really designed to be consumed in one awesome lump, an electro-odyssey that unsettles and delights in equal measure.

What really makes Gliss Riffer stand out in Dan Deacon’s discography though is the feeling that you’re being allowed in to his own personal, private world.

The album does not quite have the same frisson of avant weirdness that the best Sonic Youth records have, but there is more than enough quality here to once again establish the eternally youthful Thurston Moore as one of alternative rock’s most vital voices.