Written around the time Tillman got hitched to this girlfriend, it's a hugely ambitious, caustically funny album about the redemptive possibilities of love, and being heartily sick of your own bullshit.

He’s mastered this stylistic skittishness and you’ll do well to find much dispute about his talent.

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's strange that such a traditional set-up (drums, bass, keys, guitars, voices) has resulted in one of 2009's most unique debuts.

Waves of unidentifiable noise, dulcet vibraphone pulses and singer/guitarist Jonsi's ethereal singing (more like some ghostly instrument than any conventional vocal, borne out by Jonsi's fictional 'language', Hopelandish, which he often sings in) mesh to create an elegant, grand music that's equally ambient and epic.

It is wonderful to once again hear a Deftones record as heavy as molten lead, as furious as an enraged honey badger.

It rushes with liberating, infectious joy that makes you want to grab your own partner-in-crime and speed off on an adventure to find somewhere that’s, as ‘Angelica’s mantra suggests, is “good times all the time”. With Wet Leg as your soundtrack, it seems inevitable you’ll find that place.

By assembling a cast of their favourite musicians and delving into their adolescent memories, Daft Punk have created something as emotionally honest as any singer-songwriter confessional--and a lot more fun to dance to.

A record with the bleak-yet-redemptive spirit of REM's 'Automatic For The People' and the musical magnificence of a 'Deserter's Songs'. But also a record that - as much as 'London Calling' or 'What's Going On' - holds a deep, dark, truthful Black Mirror up to our turbulent times.

Although the record is vivid, striking and thought-provoking – with nearly every song on this album a deep, pensive sonic sulk – the south Londoner’s voice is beginning to slip further away from a generation he intended to represent: one that’s done overthinking and just wanting to feel.

It's a gripping darkness that doesn't often lift. It's hard going, but it's worth it, and that is undoubtedly their point.

Lana Del Rey is large – she contains multitudes, and the way she balances and embodies them on her fifth album is nothing short of stunning.

Epic in sound and vision, its sprawling Americana and gritty rock’n’roll taking in the big themes.

Powerful, potent and bloody good for dancing to, In A Poem Unlimited might just be the soundtrack to the revolution.

Cocoa Sugar isn’t a filtered version of what came before. Instead, it cements their status as riled-up oddballs determined to reinvent the wheel.

The Suburbs isn't anything as simple as back to basics--they're a much more accomplished, musically interesting band now.

Less has always been more with Smith, and the success of In Colour lies in his gift for melding together very few elements to create songs that are original, surprising and highly effective.

They can still write the most incredibly beautiful songs. [23 Oct 2004, p.49]

It’s maturer in sound and ideas, but retains all the hallmarks of what made Fleet Foxes so great in the first place: rich and studied folk compositions, unrivalled harmonies, stories that strike to the core of nature and human existence, and a dedication to art that emotionally lifts you off this planet.

MIA innovates club music, art music and pop music at every turn.

A playful record imbued with a sense of mystery and occasional glimpses of autobiography, slowly revealing itself as the cracked mirror image of ‘Róisín Machine’’s bruised optimism.

Nobody is making music quite like Harding, she is a special, singular artist. Just be sure to take the same approach to interpreting her lyrics as you would to any great work of surrealism; the joy is in the wondering, not the knowing.

Really, this is a piece of work to dive into and consume whole.

Sonically, it’s his most polished record yet. London producer kwes delivers a soulful, melancholic sound that helps Carner move from dynamic, multi-syllabic storytelling to a more honest, reflective voice.

The band have responded by unleashing their ballsiest selves.

‘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.

Miraculously, it feels in no way forced: it’s a joy to witness her glide into any genre and totally own it.

Twigs has successfully shown that the connection of music, movement, mind, soul and body can be converted into sound, weaving these elements into a cohesive and transcendent artistic experience. She brings her own assured sense of creativity and spirituality and combines it with her ability to materialise the intangible.