It just isn't a consistent !!! album. But if it's any consolation, As If is still brimming with the ecstasy and feeling of freedom that you'd expect to be promoted by the band at this stage in their near 20-year lifespan.

Without question, Twin Peaks has nailed the mood they strove for with Down In Heaven. Sunken and Wild Onion were solid outings, but it feels as if the group has really hit their stride here with their third and best LP to date.

Everything's connected on Chiaroscuro, providing an extra jolt of energy and plentiful scope for hidden nuggets upon repeated listens than if it was just chopped up singles.

The variety of sounds and instrumentation on the record is something to be admired.

Although elements remain, the core of humanity and character drive this collection to an equally intriguing effect and leaves a far more immediate impression.

Still feels modern and reflective simultaneously along with Mazzy Star continuing to produce romantic songs fitting for long road trips or evening drinks.

Ultimately, Book of Life feels like a confident step forward for Fujita. It opens up his compositions to new sounds without sacrificing the core of what made his earlier records such an intriguing listen.

A strong component of the record is the varying light and shade between tracks, with head-bangers like 'Heavy Bells' sitting alongside reflection and soul.

There is no tweed/banjo suffocation here, and the hands-aloft brand of folk that Horse Thief have stumbled upon only strengthens the power of what are finely-honed pieces of intelligent songwriting.

More often than not, his debut is one that gives any room a light up disco floor, makes any moment a reason to escape to the Ibiza nightclub in your mind.

At its peak, Boo Boo is Toro Y Moi’s most luxurious, if not remarkably lush effort since 2011’s Underneath the Pine.

After a three year album hiatus, Rih has rendered her most profoundly authentic and effortless act of rebellion yet – she’s making the music she wants to make without a singular fuck. Anti-pop, anti-album, anti-industry, anti-expectation, anti-perfection.

Overall this is a successful first solo effort. It is similar enough to his band to take Arbouretum fans on board, and it is different enough to justify the billing under his own name. Another Side of Dave Heumann, maybe.

The Diary's strongest cuts come when Dilla is behind the board.

III will bring a needed meditation if your day was rough. All it takes is the antithesis of a pop song to snap you back into reality, but III will hold your head close while it has your attention.

Ellipsis has an air of Moving Pictures about it; an amalgamation of everything that came before it into a cohesive whole, with a couple of new bits added in. It's still Biffy, but it sounds a little new.

The album is a thrill from start to finish and is perhaps surprisingly accessible, particularly if you are aware of their previous work.

Although Stuff Like That There drags a bit, it's lovely to think that Yo La Tengo parse through their history as closely as their biggest fans do.

Few albums in the Oh Sees catalogue are as emotionally intimate as Memory Of A Cut Off Head.

Recorded without the aid of computers, its songs evoke great monsters of the '70s in its heavier moments, and '90s stoner rock in its mellower, more melodic moments. Innocence is an album that manages to balance these two styles incredibly well.

The result is a measured, wonderfully arranged, but emotionally singular album, tackling very personal feelings of doubt, pain and insecurity in a way that's easy to feel, but difficult to truly connect with.

Compactness aside, the tracks here don't give up on lyrical imagination.

While calling Fishing For Fishies stale at first may be a bit harsh, it becomes pronounced once you consider the adventurous image King Gizzard & The Lizard Wizard has carved out for itself over the last five years. With this passive listening experience, rarely was I ever intrigued by the band’s songwriting.

While this sound is by no means new or challenging, it is a lasting one, ensuring that Mondanile's work is always relevant (especially when the clouds disappear).

There Existed An Addiction to Blood is shocking, insightful and unlike any other hip hop release this year, and quite possibly Clipping’s most impressive work to date.

The album works best when listened to as a whole, and this is something that Sascha Ring’s later output as Apparat has in common with itself.

A captivating and downright fun little album, but it does feel just like a little side project--some friends just having a mess around--than a proper juicy album.

Drastic Measures’ kaleidoscope of sound will undoubtedly charm you, as Sellers himself sings “she looks like a go-getter.”