Nine-minute meanders and sub-standard I Am The Walrus clones aside, Third World Pyramid furthers and spreads out the BJM sound.

Expanding the boundaries of hip-hop and soul, it’s outstanding stuff which should further enhance the careers and reputations of both.

Some of the sisters’ rippling Kate Bush worship is so high up in the ether (or vocal register) that the listener feels a little queasy when glancing down to the ground below, but this nausea is only short-lived and sporadic. Most of the album is in fact rather comfy and well thought-out, lightly jazzy in places and often soaked in reverb seemingly inherited from Dead Can Dance.

Papa M is back. His best album? No. A self-proclaimed “weird ass record” of diary sketches and fragments that beam with refound passion and optimism? Hell yeah.

He shifts back to the modern world, with the excellent trio of Who To Love?, Come Close To Me and My Last Affair adding deep house backing to snippets of disembodied piano, guitar and soulful vocals.

Listening now, it’s easier to understand. Buffed to perfection by Scott Litt and John Keane, Out Of Time is a proudly pop album that demands new audiences. ... For hardcore fans, the extra material is a full but mixed bag.

Just like Iceage’s output however, Telling It Like It Is doesn’t always convince.

As a unit, Eternally Even misfires every now and then, and the impact is integral to the structure of the whole.

He’s on top notch form; sparking, soaring and grinding through five spirited new instrumentals and three from his back catalogue.

It’s a pleasingly consistent collection of songs, but special mention goes to the raunchy Relevant (complete with solos for Reinhardt-like guitar and swaggering piano) and May You Never Fall In Love’s wordly advice. All said, it’s a good look on him.

Produced by Kate herself, this live set sounds incredible.

There doesn’t appear to be much of a connection between any of the songs, and you’ll have to be fairly willing to wander through the wreckage to find much of any delight.

There’s enough previously unissued material, alongside superb liner notes, to make this entertaining collection a boon for Ra’s growing number of disciples.

Blue & Lonesome is as defiant a statement in its own way as any earlier landmark. Stones co-founder Ian Stewart should be beaming wherever he is, as his boys finally realise the potential he spotted at those first rehearsals 54 years ago.

With Bovell subjecting the nimble Pure Ones to his spacy, Channel One-esque trickery and City Of Eyes’ monster groove capable of electrifying the most torpid dancefloor, Honeymoon On Mars is never in danger of getting lost in space.

Over the 20 tracks spread over two discs, Steve lives every subtle nuance he wrings out of his voice or guitar. Now one of our most articulate links to a vanishing past, he deserves to be treasured.

As with previous records, this album features an array of guest musicians, including Rufus Wainwright, Mary Margaret O’Hara, Feist, Ron Sexsmith and the Pet Shop Boys’ Neil Tennant, but these songs remain Gibbs’ from start to end, and reveal his incredible ability to explore different styles while always sounding like himself.

No sanitary in-concert “best of” is this, for The Notwist have the knack of performing their pieces in a pretty faithful manner before all politeness is forgotten as they swerve into yet another freshly fleshed-out reinterpretation.

The new exclusive material for this Late Night Tales is quite superb; the cover of I’m Not In Love by Song Sung; Holmes & Steve Jones’ The Reiki Healer From County Down shows why he’s in such demand as a film composer. Best of all is the most amazing tribute by writer BP Fallon to the late guitar legend Henry McCullough.

On transferring the original tapes band archivist Cliph Schurlock realised that the original mastering had shaved off the mid-range frequencies, which he promptly restored, along with previously edited intros. So what we have here is a much warmer-sounding, fuller album, along with the contemporary B-sides, revealing demos and a raucous live set from Phoenix festival. It’s a psych-dipped, surreal set of infectious, concise pop gems.

Even in these bare-bones arrangements, the songs are fully formed, particularly the likes of Pleasant Street and Once I Was: as captivating as anything Buckley put to tape.

A fitting tribute and a welcome opportunity to hear Miller’s unreleased songs and performances.

Like Gainsbourg’s music as a whole, there’s too much going on here to do justice to the collection’s many layers.

While the visual presentation is a bit workaday and some of the chosen musical styles already outmoded (dubstep already being ancient history), the tracks work just fine, bristling with multi-layered mystical gibbering.

It isn't always the easiest of listens, but persistence pays off: XAM Duo is ultimately very rewarding.

It’s very much a full-band sound, yet the detail in the arrangements proves to be vital.

Movies are the best comparisons as Faun Fables’ dark yet beautiful songs are utterly cinematic.

Some of these quiet reworks are extremely good indeed; all highlight Burchill’s prowess with an acoustic guitar.