This isn’t a bad or a lazy album, and Elbow are too good a band to ever be dismissed, yet one can’t help but feel they could push their envelope a bit further.

At 18 tracks, Aquarius may be overstuffed (the ambient interludes offer little) but it’s an impressive statement that should elevate Tinashe far beyond the hype that has surrounded her mixtape releases so far.

Its tales of fleeting love begin with a swagger... [and] the next seven tracks represent a complete emotional collapse. [8 Oct 2005, p.43]

Bold, brash and brilliant, this is Charli XCX at her most genuine, and it’s dazzling.

Though there are less standout moments than on previous records, it is a wonderfully cohesive whole that renders brooding menace into graceful songcraft.

This time, Suede sound bolder, brave and better than they have in over 20 years.

It almost goes without saying that this album is intense as hell and not exactly teeming with light relief. It’s also an intricate and an endlessly compelling artistic statement that only Halsey could have made.

A collection of songs that showcase the tangled feelings of this time, the young artist’s third record is a poignant, powerful thing.

Despite its dips, there are plenty of strong reasons here to keep Dinosaur Jr from extinction.

This album offers an elegant blend of trilling piano, strummed guitar and crisp digital beats, but it's dominated by Mason's voice, and his monastic chants prove as soothing and stirring as when they wafted across The Beta Band's deathless debut 'Dry The Rain'.

Common has just gone way, way off the hip-hop map.

As intelligent as it is ferocious. [31 Jul 2004, p.40]

There's a good single album here in need of editing.

Where there was tension and urgency [on his debut], now there's bigger, poppier and probably more commercially viable folk songs that don't quite pack the same punch.

The album features more deep cuts than you’d expect from a Megan Thee Stallion record, but it shows just how she’s pushed her pen since ‘Good News’, while also illustrating her broad musicality.

This is a very well-crafted album that succeeds on its own terms.

Propelled by sharp, angular sounds, ‘The Center Won’t Hold’ craves connection above everything else in a world that can often seem desperately lonely. Each dirty and distorted throb (unlocked to full potential by Annie Clark’s gift for making guitars sound positively devilish) seems to yearn for another body to hold onto.

Heavenly.

Girls are genuine drop-outs, bona-fide freaks who’ve made a record far removed from the predictable cycles of the music industry. Now that’s a real story.

It’s a more honest, human, realistic--and totally wonderful--guide to life.

Though by no means a disaster, they needed to hit back, and Arabia Mountain doesn't disappoint.

As ever, Blake’s singular vision results in electrifying and innovative electronic music.

This is a powerful, memorable collection. Accessible from the get-go, ‘Life Under The Gun’ carries a universal message while staying true to its hardcore roots.

The Machines have grasped that the zero tolerance of punk for the values of Yes did as much harm as good. [26 Jun 2004, p.56]

It has the reckless spirit of a record that hasn't been over-analysed, but with an intense flurry of ideas from someone in the absolute prime of their creativity.

The Manics’ 11th album is a subtle, satisfying record that showcases their continuing ability to soar, albeit without digging anywhere near as deep as their politico-punk-pop totems, 1992’s ‘Generation Terrorists’ and 1996’s ‘Everything Must Go’.

Fat White Family are a band reborn. ‘Serfs Up!’ is the richest, most accomplished music they’ve ever written.

It’s not only the boldness of Mason’s subject matter that makes this a brilliantly disquieting record, but also his ability to make it consistently warm and wholesome.