Slowly but surely, they are moving towards something extraordinary.

Unafraid to experiment amongst all the traditionalist, lovelorn expression, the American Football of 2019 is a record both classic in intonation, and future-facing in intent. No longer a band of nostalgia bangers, American Football are back at the top of the pile.

It’s Chvrches’ best effort yet and a glimmeringly great addition to 2021’s cultural highlights, that would be a travesty.

A melancholy blend of shoegaze, hardcore and alt rock overlaid with Palermo’s dark and dreamy vocals.

The Oxford band’s second album since their 2014 reformation benefits from a wealth of creativity and experimentation that Bell may well have been suppressing for over 20 years.

Has them concealing Duran Duran, Tears For Fears, Wire and U2 under a thick pea-soup of organ and rolling bass. [30 Oct 2004, p.65]

What on the surface can feel like a lack of cohesion makes space for an eclectic, expansive sonic palette that constantly drifts between genres yet is anchored in his diaristic musings on finite romance.

This pervading sense of control and commitment to her art proves that Twigs is set on building the sound of the future all by herself.

Gerard Way has wiped the slate clean and started afresh, with invigorating results.

Their remix of Blues Explosion's 'Mars, Arizona' is the best record of the last five years, no question.... The rest? Merely brilliant. [15 Apr 2006, p.33]

The collection ebbs and flows steadily, and it’s undeniably sleek in its vintage Americana-style production. Some songs leave the listener gagging for more, as Savior flexes masterful lyrics, effortless style and poise. This is a timeless collection.

On ‘Louder, Please’, Gray’s music has finally caught up with her lifestyle. The crackly sounds of the underground finally have their unfiltered moments, while her long-standing pop sensibilities still retain their place through respectable chorus hooks and addictive melodies (her classical vocal training is also clear for all to see).

11 years into their career, SFA have produced some of their most beautiful songs yet.

The ambition on show throughout ‘Household Name’ is to be lauded in itself, and Momma deserve to be viewed like the rockstars they sing of.

One hopes that with the confidence this record brings, she'll take a more permanent seat at hip-hop's high table. Because when she's at her best, she's the bestest there is.

This is a simple collection of woozy slow-jams and blissed-out recollections (a step back from the hip-hop stylings of ‘Oxnard’, which wrong-footed some fans).

It's a bolshie, unapologetic barrage of electroshock rock'n'roll that's as snarlingly pissed off as it is inanely entertaining.

While they still sound pretty much like Neil Young if he'd heard an Aphex Twin record, the anxieties that '...Slump' articulated have been replaced by frontman Jason Lytle's desire to address more simple matters.

Fresh, modern soul music.

‘UK Grim’ is a more aggressive beast, with multi-instrumentalist Andrew Fearn bringing more colour to their sound, continuing to add new depths to his compositions.

Even in its more intimate moments, there’s a certain theatricality to ‘Once Twice Melody’, which is home to some of Beach House’s most surreal lyrics.

Tinnitus never sounded so good. [3 Sep 2005, p.74]

Dense, detailed and idiosyncratic, Redemption doesn’t slot in neatly next to the tropical beats and minimal pop hits that are currently dominating the charts. But there will always be a place for music as rich as this that dares to be a little different.

This excellent eighth solo album again finds him honouring tradition while taking pride in his struggle to find his own path.

Four potential singles are dropped in the first 15 minutes and, frankly, they're all about as good as it gets.

The period-precise score captures the claustrophobic dread and paranoia of the fictional film shoot documented in Berberian Sound Studio.

The blurred lines are kinda the point and half the fun. But now The Moonlandingz have turned fiction into semi-reality by making their debut album... and it’s brilliant.

There’s groove here. There are innovative experiments in atonality. And there’s a record that says as much about the lives of young people in 2019 as any we’ve heard released so far this year.