It still sounds like them--just an improved, sharpened up them. And it’s wonderful for it; their best yet.

It feels like the deepest and most soulful album she has made.

It is without doubt Zola Jesus’ most heartfelt utterance to date, the emotion coming from her very bones--a case where you really can see the wood for the trees.

Heartleap benefits from some subtle, unexpected instrumentation, including kalimba and vibraphone butalthough it does include contributions from her touring band (including the great guitarist Gareth Dickson), it still feels personal to the point of being solitary.

There isn’t a weak track on show. It makes Plowing Into The Field Of Love a truly impressive piece of work.

So while Cuomo might be frustratingly stuck in himself, Everything Will Be Alright In The End shows that he’s taking the first trepidatious steps into an earnest reflection on what it’s taken to be the man he’s become.

Atomos is an outstanding, thoughtful piece of work which should see their reputation rise to a new high.

There is something new and exciting in Ellison’s bewildering synthesis, and something very original in his seemingly unlimited horizons.

If a handful of tracks from the first album had been replaced with the best tracks here then Marr would have produced one of the best guitar albums of the last decade, but taken on their own individual merits, neither quite achieve greatness.

Everyone else can celebrate Peaking Lights’ decision to target the feet, rather than the minds, of the listeners this time round. Their reward is one of the year’s most intuitively entertaining releases.

There are enough highlights here that make this a very enjoyable, if unvaried, record.

Despite the immediacy and urgency of its public genesis, Tomorrow’s Modern Boxes is probably the least immediate album Yorke has been involved with to date. Like Kid A before it, it may turn out to be one of his most enduring.

This is a commendable album and the two acts clearly work together incredibly well and challenge one another. But the most magic always happens when Prince’s presence is at its strongest.

There are sections of this album where the excessively excessive for excessiveness’ sake draw attention away from the parts that are genuinely fantastic. Not that Prince cares what anyone thinks. He proves with this album that he will experiment and make the music he wants to make.

It’s a smart, attentive-demanding progression--within the song and throughout the album as a whole--that deftly captures various stages of love’s cycle. With added synths.

Chinese Fountain really is everything that you would expect from these beach grungers, but it’s still fantastically unique and sparkles delightfully with fun and a sheer honesty.

The more abrasive elements of Please mean that, on the first couple of plays, it might pinch and pull like a new pair of shoes. But, give it a fair hearing, and eventually Lerche’s resplendent melodies will shine through and something akin to a mild obsession might gradually take hold.

It’s heartfelt and sincere without pandering to any audience.

The Violet Flame is a decent, solid album that will satisfy the faithful, while reminding the rest of the public that they’re still a going concern.

Very occasionally there is an element of mediocrity and you do feel that they could easily raise themselves to the next level, but for now this is another delicious helping of Apple Pie. Tuck in.

While At Best Cuckold is an album of entertaining truth and teenage legitimacy, and while its sprightly sound and pleasant air create a funny kind of optimism, it does not offer material that will sustain itself over time.

Overall, A New Testament is an improvement on Lysandre and demonstrates Owens’ ability to adapt to a multitude of different genres.

This excellent record stands as a testament to the fascinating links and interactions between musical cultures.

There’s talent here, although it’s often buried deep beneath generic beats and lyrical self-obsession that eventually becomes a bit exhausting to listen to.

Overall, No Romeo does a good job of laying down some promising foundations and confirming what Solo Dancing had already suggested--that Indiana is far more interesting than most of the uninspiring pop artists dominating the charts at the moment. Where the album suffers is in its baggy running time and lack of standout tracks to match her most recent singles.

It really is a shame that the production is so muddled, because Soon Away has some incredible moments that are marred by the sheer inability of the fidelity to convey what GRMLN and Park are feeling.

Wonder Where We Land sounds like an album of great moments, rather than a consistently great record.

By the end of Sparks, there is really nothing else left to do but marvel at the brilliance of Imogen Heap.