And yet, as is often the case with music crafted solely in the key of strife, the result is bizarrely life-enhancing, chiefly thanks to the head-spinning fashion in which Gnarls condense 40 years of rock'n'roll into one seamless psychedelic whole.

Calexico's dusty vistas make a welcome comeback.

As bright young things fall in and out of fashion, it's a joy to have these gnarled veterans back to reinforce the sheer visceral thrill of timeless heavy metal.

This previously unreleased mini-album (recorded in late 1974) turns out to be a marvellously invigorating blast of proto-punk intensity.

Tones of Town finds Field Music... hurling themselves into an abyss of pastoral abstraction with a wholeheartedness that is utterly thrilling.

On his 24th album, Springsteen reaches for the simple power and unabashed romanticism of early pop.

It's a state of the union address, an apocalyptic protest album. It also sounds phenomenal.

It's Never Been Like That reunites the quartet with the kind of jubilant, foot-pumping power-pop that, at best, is informed by the brevity of new wave and the breeziness particular to pre-punk West Coast rock.

Soul is about voice and music that connects the church and the bedroom, with elegance and earthiness. And, by that crucial measure, Jim is a great soul record.

It's a bravely eccentric selection and a captivating homage to a singular writer.

If you like the Hot Chip album, you'll love this.

It's a real thrill to find TV on the Radio pushing through the portal into the ethereal space-rock paradise that they always seemed destined to inhabit.

Whether live or unplugged, though, the effect is much the same: disbelief that one band can convey this much emotion when, for all the unearthly beauty of the music, the lyrics amount to little more than gibberish.

It starts out blustery and familiar, before gradually revealing an unexpected and almost lovable sense of vulnerability.

Wait till you hear 'Norrlands Riviera', the best thing Belle and Sebastian never did. Blissful.

The banjos and root-tootin' bass might seem overly reverential but there's something comforting in her landscapes of small-town America.

There is a lightness of touch at play that gives the XX a sophistication beyond their years. It probably means that their dream pop will become the ubiquitous dinner party album du jour.

It sags mid-album, but the Brits won't demand a recount.

It's a collection of 14 songs that will be instantly recognisable to those who loved them back in the Nineties.

Check out the dissonant 'Womankind' ("Wish I had a lover who could turn this squalor into wine"), while the show stopper is 'Sing'--a collaboration with 23 female superstars that is incandescent.

Barat does a great job of revitalising the ramshackle thrills that the Libertines did all too briefly so well.

The 27-year-old has stepped up into territory that references his background in gospel and soul but avoids the more obvious nods to the past.

The problem is that these songs are mostly too corny to have much drama restored to them. This is not folk music as mystery or romance or danger but as communal singalong.

An unexpected winner.

Battles combine the power of hard rock with an experimental aesthetic.

Sublime.

Listen intently, repeatedly, and you'll hear much to widen your consciousness... But listen for, you know, enjoyment and you'll be left wanting.

Amid the sighs and groans, she hits the pop G-spot with her savvy hooks and superlative rhyming.