What is surely one of the year’s most frustrating releases.

There’s more than enough here to establish Ryder-Jones as a serious solo artist--all it needs is one more notch on the self-confidence dial, and that potential could translate into astounding results.

Its youthful sense of noise and joy and wonder are heartening, its way with a tune addictive. Would that all summers were as warm, as happy and as big-hearted as this music.

Whilst it obviously won’t be eligible for the Mercury Music Prize on the basis of nationality, this compelling, rigorous and often beautiful work ought to receive the same level of attention as Jessie Ware’s debut.

They are not evidence of a group wallowing in their own experimental pretentiousness. They are the finishing touches on an already admirable piece of work.

Chant Darling is an album that won't leave a massive impression on first listen, but there's a definite charm that keeps you coming back for more.

It's an album that is truly surprising. It's clever enough with the homages to properly capture the spirit of the period they are referencing, but smart enough to not ever just pastiche it.

Caustic Love is the sound of Nutini finally finding his groove and producing a record that lives up to his talent.

Expect The Best is the most akin to Mazzy Star so far.

It makes for a decent companion record to Fear Of The Dawn but also works perfectly well as a standalone album in its own right. Two decades on, Jack White’s creative fire shows no sign of dimming.

An album for repeated plays, this is an exhilarating, bittersweet addition to the Joyce Manor canon that easily stands alongside their best work.

Another Iron & Wine album that consolidates Beam’s reputation as a songwriter of distinction.

Grant’s lyrics have always been striking, often highly emotive and confessional, but also frequently designed to raise more than a few eyebrows. Here, there are moments where he is more cutting, and more sleazy than ever.

What it may lack in cohesion, it more than makes up for in adventure and it is certainly one hell of a captivating ride.

Scout Niblett is an acquired taste, but so many of the best things - olives, anchovies, nipple clamping - are. And if you have ever been tempted to acquire a taste for Niblett, The Calcination..., along with This Fool..., would be a good place to start.

A Swedish Love Story is, from one end to the other, a completely enjoyable slice of violin-driven pop perfection. But its brevity means that the listener is slapped in the face with reality all too quickly, like being awoken from a dream just as you were getting to the really good part.

Blu Wave sounds absolutely steeped in sadness – it’s full of pedal steel guitar, luscious string arrangements and Lyttle’s fragile vocals. It is, in a word, beautiful.

It showcases Bradley’s strongest talents, and is just as good as any of the records he released when he was alive.

This is, therefore, a searing, no holds barred album, uncompromising in its delivery and unstinting in its musical language.

Sundfør's combination of careful, detailed arrangement and unrepentant magic realism is visionary and enriching.

In The Shadow Of Heaven, Money have unveiled themselves as an ambitious band, who owe a fair bit to the influences of the city they live in as well as the generations of artist who have been inspired to write thoughtful rock music there.

There may come a time where repeated fine-tuning becomes progressively more difficult, but in the meantime Remember Remember have released an album that consolidates their position and shows off their abilities in impressive style.

What Gnod has done with Just Say No is to keep their statements brief and ally them to a handful of bone-crushing and thrilling sonic vistas. Sometimes a catchy slogan and a fucking huge riff is all you need.

It’s true that the steady pace of the album may turn some people off (there’s barely any percussion to be found on the entire record), but for folk fans especially, there’s a rich vein of history mined on Bonny Light Horseman that makes for rewarding listening. Some songs, after all, are just timeless.

It’s a record bursting with so much confidence and instantly likeable songs that it already sounds like a hit.

Some of the tracks, especially towards the end, don’t have quite the immediacy of the earlier songs. .... That’s a minor quibble though – at its best, The Good Kind is proof positive that The Big Moon have actually had two excellent songwriters in their ranks for some time.

It all adds up to one of Jeffrey Lewis’ finest albums – which, considering the size of his back catalogue, is some achievement.

The only issue with My First Album is that it sometimes feels a bit unfocused, and the tonal shifts the record takes can become a bit jarring.