In this slim volume of three-chord thrashing there's proof that while punk may reside in middle age, in some quarters its vital signs have never shown more strongly.

Stripped back to basics and muttering against the machines, they've never come on so strong.

It’s a diverse collection to keep you on your toes.

Everything they had, they still have - but now every note is ten times more focused and urgent.

Electrelane could do with tightening their concentration spans, but everything else is just fine and dandy thank you. [7 May 2005, p.66]

It’s a contemplative, conflicted look at modern life and feels relevant in a breathless, always-on society. ‘Sad/Happy’ is bittersweet more than anything – which feels like the truest emotion for this album, one that successfully communicates the modern maelstrom of everyday pain and joy.

A cinematic widening of scope, ’If I Could Make It Go Quiet’ occasionally leans back on some blockbuster tropes, but in the stand-out moments Ulven proves that she’s more than capable of rabble-rousing indie-rock and slow-burning yearning alike.

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.

A record that establishes Ballentine as a clear-eyed truth-teller, with poignant songs that move relentlessly as she revisits cobwebbed childhood nightmares and the dark shadow of familial trauma.

Sonically restless, Madame X doesn’t imitate current pop trends as much as it mangles them into new shapes. A record that grapples with being “just way too much”, ultimately, it refuses to tone things down.

Anger has always been at the root of Low's modus operandi; the difference, ultimately, is that where once it lurked behind marble pillars, it now stomps and snorts like a pig on a griddle. [29 Jan 2005, p.59]

Occasionally, Smith slips back into blandness. ... But like Adele’s ‘25’, this is an undeniably accomplished album that will, deservedly, shift a helluva lot of copies.

It’s an album of unabashed growth, as the artist gets in his feelings but never veers into self-pity. The masked cowboy is – paradoxically – baring his soul, unbridled and all the better for it.

CA7RIEL & Paco Amoroso have described ‘Free Spirits’ as “complex, fun, honest, with a little bit of everything” – and sonically it lives up to its name, revelling in being unconstrained, even if it’s lyrically all over the place.

British hip-hop finally got serious--and Loyle Carner is leading the charge.

'Spectral Split' is the pick, 17 minutes of tropical marimba, but the seamless whole is a joy, locking you in as you float downstream.

The most electric and exuberant record he’s made since ‘Up The Bracket’.

Gibson’s inclination towards expressing thoughtful and emotional contemplation largely balance out the record’s apparent eagerness to simply rave through the pain.

A rich reward for the Alex Giannascoli faithful: his 10th album is no less bizarre than what’s come before, nor the melodies less beautiful.

A direct continuation of the Gaslight man’s Americana-driven Horrible Crowes side project of 2011, only imbued with more confidence.

When the band aren’t flexing their muscles on arena-sized rock soundscapes, they prove themselves nimble and dexterous.

A striking funereal stomp, considering its bleak subject matter, it really shouldn't be quite as sensationally sexy as it is.

The album’s bittersweet introspection is complemented by samples of audio recorded by her and her documentary-maker dad.

On the self-described “club record”, XCX offers pure party girl hedonism. .... Yet these heady songs also see XCX at her most raw, smuggling the reflections that spill out in the early hours of the morning through the guise of club bangers.

It’s the work of a group who’ve managed to grow up without losing their spark. On ‘Selling A Vibe’, the trio are still finding new ways to sound like The Cribs – and that’s a more impressive and unusual feat than it might first appear.

‘Small World’ might be the biggest diversion from their main stage sound to date, but it’s also one of the most heartfelt and rewarding. Metronomy, it’s good to have you back.

A mesmerising album. [11 Mar 2006, p.41]

'News And Tributes' is not just better than their first album, it's a fabulous record from a band with an exciting forward catalogue ahead of them.