Maximum Balloon is by no means a perfect album, but there are some fantastic performances to be found (Karen O, Ambrosia Parsley's sultry Pink Bricks). It's a shame that Sitek never steps up to the mic, but when you've got friends like these it doesn't really matter.

What could just be another run through a well-worn genre becomes an album that is worth a place in any serious library.

This album provides ample proof that Ash’s embers still fizzle away and look likely so to do for some time yet.

The recorded experience of the band is entirely different to that of seeing them live of course, but these last two albums are perhaps about as close to the bone shaking, mind expanding, air shifting onslaught as has yet been committed to tape. Somehow, Pyroclasts is more stripped back than Life Metal, but that merely adds to its live and immediate feel.

The Loon will stand up as one of the best albums of the year, and Tapes 'n Tapes as a jewel in the American music crown.

The Republic may not be an album that will make headlines but it shows a musician immersed in his art achieving a real consistency and equilibrium of sound.

The Demise Of Planet X feels like the most refined statement Sleaford Mods have made so far. Its production is tighter, its ideas clearer, and its impact sharper – it’s an album that gleams technically while documenting a world that very clearly does not.

The songs themselves range from the good (the surprisingly energetic I Can Do It With A Broken Heart, throwback ballad But Daddy I Love Him, the extra textures of the Florence + The Machine duet, Florida!!!) to the somewhat samey but still enjoyable (So Long, London; the title track; Fresh Out the Slammer), to the unnecessary retreads (Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?, The Alchemy), to the truly rotten (Down Bad – which can’t manage to disguise its hollowness with truly beautiful textures, and I Can Fix Him).

This is purely primal, instinctive rock and as derivative as it may be, it still sounds awash with originality.

So, very strange but oddly compelling--rather like Mr Haines himself.

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.

It's a journey through the West Country trio's brand of infectious bluesy garage rock and evocative of a head on collision between The Kills and the Arcade Fire.

The strutting No Consequences and the triumphant closing number of Mon Amour end the album on a high, and surely ensure Superbloom’s status as one of the albums of the year.

No Mythologies To Follow is a solid record, one that features a slightly older and more thoughtful MØ. It should make any fan of pop music look forward to what’s to come next from this gifted artist.

A quintessential collection of the kind of subtle contrasts and ambiguity that makes her such a fascinating songwriter.

Newcomers to Justice will find A Cross the Universe only an occasionally endorphin-boosting experience, with most of the rest of the record a polished, if soulless recording of a group nearing the height of its powers.

Although it is only nine tracks long, Goat manage to get a lot in there in a tireless pursuit to keep creating.

At just eight tracks long, EyEye never outstays its welcome, although its relentlessly downbeat nature may put some people off. While the absence of a big pop banger is a shame – Li is so good at them – her restless nature and willingness to experiment is to be admired.

After the divisively funky Evil Urges and Z before it (which quizzically drew comparisons to Radiohead, of all bands), Circuital feels somehow both grounded in the soil that spawned it and operatic in scope.

You'll find more wit and invention on a solitary track by Ethan Kath and Alice Glass than you will on this depressingly retro and lumpen homage to a scene that wasn't even all that back in the day.

Lady From Shanghai is not an enjoyable record--it’s not meant to be--nor is it by far Pere Ubu’s finest or most original musically. Yet it deserves applause for what it attempts to achieve, which is largely successful.

Something cleansing, refreshing and captivating, much like a dip in the sea. Once again, they’ve managed it here.

Long and short, it’s hit and miss.

The production of this album in so short a time is nothing short of miraculous, and listening to it is an experience to savour.

A great comeback from an artist who's been away for far too long.

In 1000 Forms Of Fear, we have what is probably Sia’s finest body of work.

The results are often fascinating. Matmos clearly revel in exploring and manipulating sound, however unlikely the source, and there’s a variety here.

Ghost On Ghost is a relaxed, unburdened work that should please most fans and generally be viewed positively elsewhere.