Club Meds is deliberately dense and cluttered and at times confusing. The fact that it manages to be beautiful and intriguing at the same time is quite a feat.

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.

Nine albums in Belle & Sebastian may have just achieved what many once thought impossible--they've reinvented themselves and perhaps in doing so, released one of the most important records of their career.

Vocally, Black Messiah is sparse, but sonically, it is accomplished and fulfilled. Every sound, every instrument, every lyric and harmony is in the place it needs to be.

Islands is truly singular work, emotionally affecting, funky, infectious and philosophical.

Through Girlpool's seven tracks, the band grow into their make-up as a two-piece with aplomb, complementing each other with both voice and instruments.

The album features far too many flabby hip-hop/pop and pop songs.

Quite possibly rushed so the house number could match the year, J. Cole's latest album is a damn good attempt, but it just isn't the real deal.

They haven't reinvented Christmas music and made it respectable, but it's infinitely more palatable than anything else you're going to hear for the next month.

Power is richly produced, up-beat in the pop mould at times, and tugging away at something deeper at others.

[A] lovingly crafted, adventurous soundtrack that easily stands on its own merits.

[An] electronic gem.

Unlike so many reissues of late, the out-takes and demos on Painful genuinely do give an insight into how the record was made, how the band honed their sound and what direction they were headed.

A Better Tomorrow doesn't quite hit the heights of The W, but it's a considerable improvement on 2007's 8 Diagrams, making it a stellar body of work for a group celebrating their twentieth anniversary.

It's a wholesome piece of work that just keeps on giving.

Kinsella's intelligent reinterpretations of the works of his contemporaries seem like they might represent a nice point of entry for those ready to delve into his work as Owen.

This collection of tracks could be spunked on by a Joe Satriani-type noodle, and individually each member could break free and have their moment to shine, but instead they shun solos and move as unit, maintaining collective power and defiantly sticking to their modus operandi.

Take this record as your starting point and move forward.

This latest effort isn't comparable with the visceral exoticness that Jimmy Page began to find on Physical Graffiti, but a more focused and staunchly unified project, designed to push the conventions of improvisational rock music and provide Rhyton's competent credentials with actual substance.

A whole album of bare arrangements might have been too much to take, but The Fact Facer applies variety and imagination throughout, which doesn't dilute the melancholy, yet ensures that the album doesn't become an overbearing listen.

Black Moth are a young band who are improving fast and although they've got a lot of catching up to do with some of their contemporaries, the potential is there and Condemned To Hope is one of the better heavy British records of 2014.

We are left at its end feeling reflective, yet somewhat lost as to how these feelings we just experienced could ever be rediscovered. It's something that only the power of music can create, and Bing & Ruth do it with style, elegance and tact.

A record rich in fruits to reap, the result of unbridled enthusiasm, masterful craft and, yes, a long gaze sunwards.

Whilst making a discernible attempt to liven up their song-craft, 2:54 has definitely returned as a stronger, more endearing band. Sometimes the experiments don't work.

Jonna Lee and Claes Björklund have created a record that they hope will stand the test of time and whilst it remains to be seen if that is the case, Blue is a beautiful, engaging record that entertains as much as it inspires.

Both the fact that this effectively represents a collaborative effort and also that there's three different singers across the album's twelve tracks are probably reasons behind the fact that it feels like a pretty diffuse collection of songs; the only real unifying characteristic to Hold It In's songs are their punishing level of loudness.

Rhythm is a collection of great ideas, improperly organised and occasionally poorly executed.

Content Nausea doesn’t feel like a landmark release for the band, more of a palette of ideas and experience mixed together with some undeniably great songs.