Although it seems reductionist to place the album so closely with Ellery's other work, it does seem fitting. He writes in a certain style, produces in a certain style and sings in a certain style. LUH keeps everything that made his previous projects captivating and channels them into areas where they shouldn't really work. But that's why this album works.

Whether they're delivering something rocking, glistening or simply breathtaking, almost every song on this 12 track effort is a gem (only the strange sound collage that is 'Go In' falls flat).

Their vocal frustrations make perfect fodder for their post-punk blasts, and in combination they add up to some of the most invigorating music currently being created, making Wide Awake! a valuable and vital call to arms.

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

Devour is the first Pharmakon album which was recorded live in the studio, and there is a sense of organic creation to it which is pivotal to the ideas layered within. The warmth of the production separates this album from her previous three, perhaps even suggesting a sense of hope for humanity in the face of overwhelming odds which are stacked against us.

Gira, with the help of many talents, has concocted Swans’ most beautiful yet most bleak sounding record of its 30-plus years existence.

Panda Bear Meets the Grim Reaper is not the private masterpiece that Person Pitch turned out to be, but it might be the final triumphant salute to an unforgettable chapter in Lennox's career.

Everything’s for Sale will find an audience. Its gilded despair only leaves a greater impression with each listen. If there’s an album for the sad Instagrammer, posing in a beam of perfect light, copyrighted smile, only to heave a sigh, this is it.

Jessica Rabbit is a fucking great feminist-punk record, one of the pop highlights of the year, and the best thing they’ve ever done.

Beware of the Dogs is a wonderful debut album from a luminous young talent.

For anyone willing to stick around long enough to listen, they are richly and endlessly rewarding.

Nilüfer Yanya has managed to produce an album which flits from one template to the next, yet at no time is there a tendency to feel that this is contrived and neither does it suggest an artist scrabbling around for an identity and an audience which then comes with it. These shifts in style always feel controlled, as though the song demands them.

He's created an album that stands as one of his most evocative and ambitious so far.

Ultimately, Abyss is like a nightmare. It consumes you, shows you a darkness you'd tried to keep away from, but in the cold of night, wide awake and heart-pumping you can't deny you enjoy the thrill of it.

The Undivided Five is slow, meandering and intelligent. ... A Winged Victory for the Sullen produce breath-taking works of sumptuous beauty which will no doubt bore the shit out of those who are not equipped with the patience, cultural competence and time to delve into the work properly. That sounds wildly elitist but so be it.

This is still dense music, yes, but crucially it never alienates over its epic 68 minutes: you can drop in on this record at any point and still find a good time. As such, I Was Real feels like the band’s most thorough examination of itself yet--and is all the more satisfying as a result.

Riot Boi is an immensely listenable, often thrilling record, and on the first few spins you're more likely to be seduced by the beats, before digging into the lyrical content.

Diet Cig’s debut album Swear I’m Good At This is a reclamation of female sexual agency, a physical mandate for equality, a gauntlet-throwing promise for world domination, and the most fun I’ve had with a punk album this year.

DeMarco has shifted his musical style in a way that does not feel forced or as though he lost anything in the process. In fact, he feels though he is more refined than ever, offering beautiful and heartbreaking sentiments with a remarkable economy of language, all the while delivering another sonic masterpiece that will undoubtedly soundtrack all too many summer soirees this year.

Sonically the album is engaging and intriguing, but that's only the first layer. The lyrics are poetry, each word there on purpose, just like each note and beat.

With more than enough flagrant energy to satiate the average punk, The Murder Capital—still—is most affecting through its delicate and understatedly sad musings on life and death. In fact, the rest of the record sees the band tap into poetic introversion that is both broad enough to latch onto, yet intimate enough to impress your own experiences and fears.

With Life Metal ... they have minimized those aspects of their sound which were perhaps becoming too comfortable for them, and too familiar for the audience. The result is a work rich in texture, depth and tenderness.

An album that is stacked full of mind-transporting moments, rendered by carefully selected, produced and deployed analogue elements. It’s a lot to pack into 40 minutes, but it ensures that Theory Of Colours is not only a noteworthy debut album, but a statement of beautiful, fascinating intent from Dauwd.

It's rare to come across an album that allows you only the faintest impression of its workings while simultaneously impacting you in a profound way.

If Astroworld suffers from any sin, it’s a nearly endless ambition.

This is perhaps the most simply alive Baths has yet sounded on record, retaining enough of his emotional heft, while allowing for an entirely new collage of flashy, elated songcraft. This is Baths triumphant.

Musically, Mannequin Pussy show off a new-found nuance and detailed understanding that backs up this intricate situation perfectly, spinning the threads of guitar so beautifully that you can mistake the song for romantic, before you’re knocked back to earth by the painful reality of the situation.

Throughout you can’t help but feel the constant swing of life’s moods, channeling through Elias Bender Rønnenfelt to become a drug that’s uplifting, unifying and ultimately deeply entertaining.