Not every song on . works, with FREEDOM.’s disco-ish production feeling decidedly amateurish and the songwriting on TOO HARD. leaning towards generic, but there’s still space for a highlight like RED FLAG.. .... Indeed, tracks like this could be the start of a new chapter for Kesha, with more creative freedom and her infectious sense of fun intact.

Virgin may not be Lorde’s most polished album, but it’s certainly her most compelling and revealing

Weighty topics, then – but don’t think for a minute these difficult subject matters do not make for a good album of pop music. For BC Camplight is an incredibly smart songwriter, capable of channelling deep-seated thoughts and emotions into pop songs that work just as well for the surface level listener.

Metallic Life Review is one of their finest achievements, an elemental album that never loses touch with its human origins.

Still heavy, still personal, but with the support in place. There’s something generous about it. That matters, especially in a genre so easily pulled into nostalgia as shoegaze.

An album that takes a lot of creative swings – some of which don’t always connect, but is never less than entertaining. It acts as the perfect shake-up of Haim’s formula – still comfortably familiar, but one hinting at an intriguing new direction.

Contentment for Cosey Fanni Tutti also means restless exploration – and there is plenty of that in evidence, creating an album to savour.

As it stands, this is a glorious return from one of our most distinctive artists.

Sogolo is the sound of a band still developing and exploring, and that they’re still making such vital and interesting music at this point can only be saluted.

It is an intoxicating mix, adding another striking feather to the bow of Richard Fearless.

Birthing feels, in a romantic way, like both an ending and a beginning. An exceptional album from an exceptional collective, led by one of the most powerful songwriters of the past 40 years.

The album is not necessarily vintage Garbage, but it confirms the band still have their best qualities intact – no-nonsense music and a vocalist on great form.

To come back after over two decades and casually produce an album that sounds like it could have been made in the band’s heyday is quite some achievement.

As ever with Miley Cyrus, there’s a lot going on with Something Beautiful, and sometimes it doesn’t quite work. Yet it’s definitely another pleasingly unpredictable swing from one of our more intriguing and exciting pop stars.

Black Hole Superette also has some surprisingly pretty instrumentation, such as the shimmering synth leads that open Checkers and the descending chord sequence of Black Plums, subtly embellished by harmonies as the track progresses. It’s elements like this, along with Aesop’s wordplay, which make a lengthy album consistently engaging.

We Were Made Of Prey is an intense, haunting listen – it may not be the place to come to if you want an album of singalong tunes, but the raw emotion that Joseph and Campbell can conjure up is something to behold.

It may not be up there with the best of The National, but Get Sunk is definitely a new avenue for Berninger to explore. That closing choral shout of “Get sunk! Get drunk!” on the final track Times Of Difficulty feels both playful and emotional, as the best of Berninger’s work can do.

Ignore the occasionally terrible lyrics (rhyming artist with “fartist” for example) and The Painful Truth contains some of their most heartfelt work.

By the time the closing track, the swaying, communal singalong of Lord Have Mercy, comes around, you’ll be mentally reordering your list of top 10 all-time Sparks albums. MAD! is the sound of the Mael Brothers defying age and still doing things their own way.

Crooked Wing is another accomplished, thought-provoking instalment from a duo operating from a highly distinctive position.

The overwhelming impression is of a band looking forward, seizing opportunities and further boosting their reputation. The second half of the album feels like it has even more to dig into, even greater depth to explore.

Better Dreaming feels not so much like a reset, but as if they’ve rediscovered what made them such an exciting prospect in the first place. It’s resulted in the best Tune-Yards album for some time.

It’s Billy Nomates’ best album to date, and testimony to the fact that whatever doesn’t kill you does indeed make you stronger.

By the time Dislocated’s restless drums drop out he has also demonstrated a level of originality comparable to Madvillainy or Vaudeville Villain – a true artist.

It may not have the single-minded focus of All Of Us Flames, or the striking ambition of Transangelic Exodus, but it’s another startling record from one of the most exciting songwriters around right now.

The ambition of Home? is admirable, and Wretch 32 delivers his best album yet by centring the music around these weighty themes.

All in, Tall Tales captures these two veterans in great form, locking into a sound that plays to their strengths while differing from anything they’ve done before – moody, enveloping, surreal in effect, but emotionally potent.

While this never quite touches the highs that Erasure can produce, there’s enough moments on Ten Crowns to convince that Bell and Aude make a good partnership for when Vince Clarke wants a rest.