Wrong Creatures succeeds far more often than it fails. It’s epic, full of attitude and done with a whole heap of style.

Oh, inverted world, you’re not as much as fun or as interesting as we hoped.

The opening half sees him attempt something a little different with mixed results, the second half seems him return to more familiar ground with only moderate success.

While undoubtedly a bit too long, The Time Is Now reaffirms Craig David’s standing as a fine and flexible pop songwriter with all sorts of hooks up his sleeve.

If the point of a debut album is to capture a moment, to provide a snapshot of a new, hungry band bursting at the seams with hope and abandon, then this must already be one of the debut albums of the year.

Those who have followed Warp and Nightmares On Wax since their inception will be reassured that all is well in both camps. If anything Shape The Future is one of George Evelyn’s finest achievments, and is all the more affecting for its refusal to be dimmed, keeping a zen-like stance in the face of adversity.

In The Thread That Keeps Us, Calexico have learned to let go a little, to let nature take over. The result is surprisingly comforting.

At just 34 minutes, Could It Be Different? rarely takes a breath, propelling us forward, dancing and laughing, towards whatever comes next.

It’s easy to appreciate and admire, but difficult to enjoy.

This is just another good First Aid Kit album, one that suggests their peak hasn’t yet been reached.

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.

Heading back in the direction of their louder MBV influenced roots, married with their clear confidence in producing dreampop, could be the way to go to produce something more unique. Because when the noise comes, it comes in spades--and it’s simply irresistible.

Songs Of Praise distils the best features of classic British alternative music into a vital band passionate to enervate, communicate and entertain.

It may have taken some time to arrive but Two Trains is a strong personal statement that should find wider appreciation.

If you’re willing to give it your full attention, this is a frequently stunning record. It may often be difficult, but like most hard work, Utopia reaps its own rewards.

The result is an eclectic mix of psychedelia, electronica, dance beats and space jazz as well as rock which moves along the scale from The Beatles towards erstwhile collaborators The Chemical Brothers. The tempo is upped, while Gallagher’s vocals are in a higher register than usual and the guitars are much further back in a musical mix that is highly textured.

There are some songs, such as Deadly Valentine, that just seem to fall a bit flat, and considering that’s there’s only 10 tracks, it seems to be an oddly lengthy record. Yet, like most of Gainsbourg’s work, it oozes class and, at times, it becomes startlingly beautiful.

His 11th solo studio album Low in High School is a mixed bag of brilliance and dross. There are some genuinely interesting new explorations while other tracks are deeply disappointing. Disconcertingly uneven, yes, but not safely predictable.

For all its flaws--it’s overlong, and sometimes seems too keen to be meta and self-referencing--it’s full of energy and often makes for an exhilarating listen. It may not quite measure up to the heights of 1989, but whether she’s Old Taylor or New Taylor, there’s enough here to demonstrate why she’s still one of pop’s brightest pop stars.

This is a joyous artistic rebirth, its creator shaking her tail feathers, pushing her own boundaries and immersed in emotion and whim brought out from within.

Esmerine has once again created an album full of depth, wonder and flights of fancy.

Comfortably surpassing Poison Season, ken is hugely listenable throughout, and with so many ‘80s touchpoints in evidence, it often sounds like it could actually have been made at that time. Which, despite the uneducated blindly condemning the decade due to its considerable amount of cheese and big hair, is no bad thing.

These might not be the original performances, but the reworking of them has made them a little brighter and most importantly, they’ve lost none of their original power.

The problem with Colors is that where once he innovated, Beck now seems to be imitating the slew of fizzing faceless pop clogging the airwaves buried under a mesh of corporate production.

This is a diverse collection of quality melancholia by two intuitive veterans with nothing to prove except their ability to create music to invest your soul into.

Pacific Daydreams certainly doesn’t achieve the grandiose aims from the aforementioned inspiring proverb. That said, thankfully it is still a solid record which should satisfy fans.

Second album Open features a significant amount of fine-tuning and finessing and as a result sees them operating at a markedly higher level.

In the face of this conflict, the only other option is to face up to the now, with all the problems and issues that go with it, and the album is at its best when it does just that.