Lahey’s debut is a confessional, confident and important arrival.

As a collection of songs, however, Colors is by far Beck’s most upbeat and enjoyable record from front to back since the ’90s. Repeated listens will no doubt be rewarded.

It's a collection of enthralling confessionals where stabs of bleakness mean that heavy bleeding dominates.

Kojey Radical sells us the image of refined Renaissance man he has become, rather than merely resting on his potential.

'Ringleader Of The Tormentors' sees Morrissey not only in wonderful voice, but more flamboyant and alive than at any time in his solo career.

Tune-Yards might have taken a deep breath and a step back, allowing their infectious melodies some space, but their breathless skew-whiff eclecticism remains anything but safe.

The choices and the arrangements on ‘The Land is Inhospitable…’ are some of Mitski’s most complex and richest, yet they translate to such simplicity, a statement that there is pain and love and that’s it. Those are the ingredients with which we make everything.

Whether channelling her larger-than-life musical heroes or shrouding her music in something more subtle, Moriondo’s lyricism shines through – she’s yet another Gen Z star willing to try the pop-punk outfit on for size. The fit? Pretty damn good.

Chvrches are effortless and close to svblime.

This isn’t an album you can dip into; instead dive in and sink to the bottom and let it all gloriously wash over you.

Capped with Dan Devine's vocals – a scream as angry as it is distraught – this is despair with a backbeat, and punk as it should be: courageously self-destructive.

A beguiling, uplifting listen.

‘Double Infinity’ is a surprisingly classy blend of two disparate genres, one that pushes the boundaries of what Big Thief sounds like – all while preserving the introspective soul that shot them to fame in the first place.

Only the plodding ballad ‘Hurt Yourself’ fails to earn its place on the track list, and on the whole Death Magic makes a grander statement than its more rudimentary predecessors. It sounds like Health finally know what they want.

‘Afterglow’ might be ‘Eusexua’ offcuts, but FKA Twigs’ B-sides are so good they can outrank entire discographies. Does it live up to the lofty marketing of its predecessor? Perhaps not. But it still proves that Twigs is one of the most prolific and original alt-pop icons of our times.

It would seem from the evidence presented here that [King Of Leon] are intent on rebuilding themselves from scratch, drawing on whatever wild and wonderful influences they've tripped over in their race to live five lifetimes in every day. [30 Oct 2004, p.63]

While we may never fully understand his inspiration, when his work is as colourful and inventive as this, it's a small sacrifice.

By embracing the pop orthodoxy, you might argue that Boucher has sacrificed some of what made her seem so alien when 4AD debut 'Visions' emerged from the ether back in 2012, but rest assured: she's still laughing and not being normal, only this time, it's all the way to the bank.

Mojave 3's Great Leap Forward. [17 Jun 2006, p.39]

‘Star’ is his most cinematic and widescreen work yet. Clean, cavernous sound design directs all attention to his speak-sing drawl, while ear-candy sampling – such as the pitter-patter of rainfall and indulgent vrooooooms of a race car – makes for effective world-building.

Not ‘dance’ music by any stretch of the imagination, but beautiful all the same.

The effortlessly cool beats, hooky choruses, and above all, his witty, super-fast flow indicate this skinny blond to be a genuinely talented star.

This is an album to file alongside Aphex Twin’s ‘Syro’: one-of-a-kind electronic artist returns reinvigorated and still way ahead of the game.

At least two thirds of it is still comprised of head-spinning speed metal, but there are signs of genuine progression -- not to mention progressive rock -- from the off.

Certainly confirms him as one of hip-hop's most gifted wordsmiths. [8 Jan 2005, p.45]

At times, in the past, he has relied on his autotune to compensate for lacklustre lyricism, but Future is a megamind whose pioneering spirit is the very reason trap feels alive today. With ‘I NEVER LIKED YOU’, you’ll happily applaud him for that.

As a record ‘The Art of Losing’ also holds up a reflection which is both painful and familiar – it captures the unpredictable, spinning chaos of grief with a searing precision that’s hard to turn away from.

Safe, yes, but by no means stale.

If the worst of times brings out the worst in people, Viagra Boys are set to be icons of the age, and ‘Cave World’ its defining document.

Far from a total reinvention, but all adds up to a confident, rewarding and subtly adventurous new chapter for Interpol.

Any record that burrows as deep into your psyche as I Like It... should be considered essential. It’s hugely clever and wryly funny, too.

The album’s inner momentum offsets any occasional wrong direction.

Depending on your standpoint as regards selling out and cashing in, you'll either be baffled or delighted to discover that they've adjusted their modus operandi not one jot on the follow-up, O Shudder.

'The Czar' is a microcosm of Crack The Skye: thuddingly impressive, richly textured and constantly surprising.

‘Shoot For The Stars, Aim For The Moon’ showcases a multi-faceted artist only just discovering his potential. What makes the album truly stand out is that it serves as a testament to the strength, power and knowledge Smoke held in his ambition to go to the very top.

Dismiss his second album, Songs, only at your peril.

This time there are killer hooks aplenty that immediately hit the spot. Midnight scorchio, more like.

One of the best rock albums of 2003.

The vibrant ‘Shine’ is filled with languid horns and sweet doo-wop backing vocals. Rolling ragtime piano (‘Flowers’) and hip-shaking melody (‘Better Man’) pick up the pace and there’s bluesy sass in the shape of the upbeat ‘Twistin And Groovin’.

While Be The Cowboy hears Mitski traverse new sounds, new voices, and the anxieties of growing older, it’s clear the wisdom was already there.

It may sound a little high-concept, but its ultimate themes of empathy and diversity are subtly communicated. Glass Animals’ melodies have an immediacy that diffuses any hint of chin-strokiness.

Melissa has delivered a hugely sexual, gleefully psychedelic rock record that’s so full of deliciously melancholic stadium destroyers and beautifully de-tuned melodic bombs that, at the perfectly reasonable age of 32, you get the impression that the really good stuff is only just beginning.

An album packed with skyscraping highlights.

Phases is a deeply autumnal album, perfectly for listening to while strolling down dimly lit side streets with crisp leaves underfoot.

Whereas his 2002 solo debut shot a glance back to Michael Jackson's 'Off The Wall', this is more indebted to 'Smooth Criminal', early '80s Prince and on its ballads, Stevie Wonder. [9 Sep 2006, p.37]

For all its weird beauty, this is very much Damon's record - much more so than Gorillaz. Or indeed, Blur.

Royce’s 2018 album ‘Book of Ryan’ was always going to be a tough act to follow, but ‘The Allegory’ stands up as an accomplished body of work, packed full of poetic intricacies and life lessons, soundtracked by the sound of Detroit; it will likely end up on the majority of 2020 end-of-year rap lists.

Production here is crisper and warmer than that of the original, and Swift’s vocals are, understandably, more mature.

This album shows that Pearson isn’t shying away from darker themes. Instead, she guides the listener through new sonic terrains and out into the light.

‘In Sickness & In Flames’ is a defining work that showcases a sonic universe, rather than a structured set of songs, expertly capturing the inescapable tension of 2020.

'Capricornia' and 'Europe' thicken their debut's effervescent jangle to a rich lustre, and Morris' solo uke classic 'Tallulah' makes sending postcards of sausage-eating Germans sound as romantic as dinner on the Danube.

Their 2011 debut album was nominated for the Polaris Prize, Canada’s equivalent of the Mercury--although UZU, its follow-up, is bolder, rangier and more ambitious than anything likely to trouble that bauble’s orbit.

This time around, Beam is less like some dungaree-wearing, O Brother, Where Art Thou? throwback, and more like the natural - and, frankly, wonderful - successor to the Elliott Smith and Nick Drake school of perfectly beautiful songwriting.

Kelela has crafted a cool and sensual album which feels cohesive without slipping into saminess.

This fifth album of Afro-Latin rhythms, tropical chanting and brass from the former TV On The Radio (on 'Return To Cookie Mountain' and 'Dear Science') and Foals ('Antidotes') collaborators will do nicely.

He pushes deeper and comes up with something that’s both poignant and fun in equal measure – a solid gold record that leans into the little moments and produces pure, emotional magic that will ensure many more “biggg mad crazy” times in Fred Again..’s future ahead.

A debut album proper in all but name, in fact, ‘Demidevil’ shows that Ashnikko’s far more than a two-trend wonder – with a tank full of intriguing bangers that evade living under ‘Daisy’s formidable shadow.

A quietly accomplished jazz project.

By taking what worked about Lungs and amplifying those qualities to a natural, satisfying conclusion, Florence has made a near-great pop record that should afford her the creative freedom to do whatever the hell she wants next time around. She may be away with the faeries, but she knows exactly what she's doing.

While this record smacks of a youth spent listening to Blur, Oasis and their baggier forbears The Charlatans and The Stone Roses, its pool of influence is bigger.

There is little Beyoncé has to prove to anyone 25 years down the line, but the start of this “three act project” proves that she’s still able to push herself and delve into new sonics, styles and ethos.

Such confident, experimental songwriting points to a rebirth for Wild Nothing, and means ‘Life Of Pause’ can be considered alongside indie records like Tame Impala’s ‘Currents’ and Unknown Mortal Orchestra’s ‘Multi-Love’.

Friendly Fires songs are all manufactured to a similar formula but there’s a whole lab shelf lined with addictive variants.

Zayn has clearly achieved his aim of making an album of sexy, credible pop-R&B.

‘Suckerpunch’ is a bold sonic adventure that thrives on excess. Throughout the record’s constantly shifting 13 tracks, Moriondo proves that she’s an artist that can do it all, all while having an absolute ball.

Blonde Redhead continue to splinter off into an exciting world of their own.

Patchiness is the main shortcoming of ‘Dreamer+’, interrupting the immersion that Lindgård commands so carefully in tracks like ‘Dreamer’ and ‘Sleepwalker’s Pendulum’. Nevertheless, the record proves Lindgård is a force to be reckoned with on all fronts – as a producer, songwriter and vocalist.

This record offers a maelstrom of mistakes and confusion and glee and love and loneliness and hope – and the mess of it all makes for the biggest gift.

Extremely moody yet highly groovy sixth album.

The Futureheads have defeated the machine at its own game and made a record that’s every bit as vibrant and vital as their 2004 debut.

Wire have bizarrely remained a cult concern. This ought to change with the release of their 12th record, 11 clever tracks of unrelenting and witty pop.

‘Use Me’ is the sound of an artist flexing her muscles, making sense of and peace with her past and, most importantly, embracing a new future.

Wooden Shjips obviously aren’t interested in the same progressive spirit as the likes of fellow travellers Oneida but they’re still damn effective at what they do.

It's still wordier than a second-hand bookshop and the screwy mental tics remain. But it's also one of the most heart-lassoing '70s radio-pop records since the death of flares, its psychedelic oddness leavened with big gnarly hooks, the emotional thwack of a shattered heart and intimate and bloodied narratives.

It's a lot to take in, sure, but each listen is as fresh as the first.

'Insignificance' lays down an awesome challenge to other guitar records - it contains more great ideas than most bands have in their entire career. It's the first unequivocal classic album of the new year.

The 15 impressively arranged tracks on ‘Tracey Denim’ will only bolster Bar Italia’s discography to date, ushering them, whether they like it or not, even further into the spotlight.

At times, ‘Crash’ eases off the throttle slightly – the interpolation of ‘Show Me Love’ on ‘Used to Know Me’ is infectious, if slightly too straightforward, while smouldering ballads ‘Move Me’ and ‘Every Rule’ could do with more of the skewed hints of unfamiliarity found in spades elsewhere. These are minor gripes, though, and by the time those synthesised strings whirr into life on the jagged pop-funk track ‘Baby’ they’re easy enough to overlook.

If the best country music has always been about storytelling, then on ‘Cruel Country’ Wilco are delivering it in its purest form.

Compelling from its first note to its very last, the record presents a band who, yes, are still in their infancy, but clearly know who they are and what that sounds like.

The Raveonettes are super-cool Scandinavian noise-rockers and they’ve shored Lust Lust Lust in that turmoil to create their most engrossing album to date.

Star-studded, shimmering, danceable and intimate, ‘A Muse In Her Feelings’ is R&B in its purest form.

This is a Suede record, so there are moments of aching majesty – see the tormented ‘It’s Always The Quiet Ones’, ‘Turn Off Your Brain And Yell’ and the hopelessly devoted ‘What Am I Without You’ (which sees Anderson giving himself to his fans) – but, all in all, ‘Autofiction’ finds the indie greats getting back in the garage to make a racket.

There are moments where the production feels slightly misjudged. .... But ultimately, ‘Virgin’ is a vibrant combination of Lorde’s best qualities, and then some.

'Poker Face,' pretty much the one song 2009 will be remembered for, are included on the original album, this becomes essential for anyone who even remotely likes pop. For the rest of us, it's the moment Gaga cements herself as a real star.

‘Audio Vertigo’ is their best record in years, and one to blow the cobwebs off some sleepy arenas this summer.

Aldred shares Richard Hawley's producer Colin Elliot, but also his gruff, warmhearted authority, and it's a similar hard-won wisdom that makes Herd Runners so moving.

Along with his collaborators (including David Byrne and Damon Albarn), he has neatly stitched a tapestry of musical cultures into a cohesive, convincing whole.

Not to be outdone by US stoner-rock peers Sleep and Earth, who have records out this year, the Dorset satanists have spat out this eighth album.

What's finally made it is an expansive, guest-packed 57 minutes that recall the Southern hip-hop bounce of 2003's 'Speakerboxxx', but with an added twist of maturity.

Belying its also-ran billing, Darkest Before Dawn... is a minor masterpiece of dark, smart, modern hip-hop.

Fact is, though, the best metropolitan records are part gutter reality, part romantic fantasy, and so it goes with Panic Prevention.

At 47 minutes, Long Way Home may seem lengthy for a debut, but it feels cohesive without boxing Låpsley into a limited sound.

Journal For Plague Lovers is an outstanding album in its own right and is not "The Holy Bible." But then again, what is?

Endlessly charming.

The absence of original guitarist Jim Martin is soon overshadowed by just how focused the record is.

An album of impossibly adorable disco - Star Wars "ping p-p-p-ping ping" bits, cheesy synths, George Clinton (!...hmm) workouts... all delivered in a slightly unsettlingly ersatz kitschness, half-hinted ironies, indietastic samples, hip-hop phrasings and The Asian Influence seductive throughout.

The Courteeners have developed the ability to, at points, blow away tribal allegiances with hooks forged from pure indie gold.