By leaning into powerful dynamics and their natural propensity for climactic moments, Foxing has crafted a remarkably emotional statement about feeling emotionless.

This collection excels by showcasing the depth of music that had the word applied to it during the album’s seven year time span ('88 to '95). That word, 'shoegaze', was applied to much more than just skinny guys looking a bit sad with guitars. By investigating these areas - from the end of the C86 scene through to shoegaze itself via grunge and ending with Britpop - Still in A Dream proves itself to be a truly comprehensive release.

Idles are one of the most exciting British bands right now and Brutalism is proof.

These stellar new songs show that there is still a way to turn that rubble into art as we try and rebuild what once was, and hopefully will be again.

No matter who it is, we know who Sampha is: a generational talent who has once again delivered a rich, emotional work for us to process. Lahai is phenomenal.

The band’s singularity makes their music something of an acquired taste. Hex Key is not accessible to a wider public. Or rather, only bits of it are, such as the catchy choruses of “Take Me” and “Nothing Lasts Forever”.

Ethel Cain’s debut was a feat of artistry. This is a feat of musicianship.

He’s produced his finest work to date.

Truly establishing themselves as the bright possibilites of guitar music, and blurring lines along with setting new ones out, ultimately with Blue Weekend, Wolf Alice continue to be the very essence of what is to be a band while also remaining - more importantly - human.

This lovingly and lavishly packaged reissue is a timely reminder of what a supremely focused and satisfying record Soul Mining is.

Waterslide, Diving Board, Ladder To The Sky is a brilliantly crafted album. Stylistically, all 12 tracks feel brilliantly stitched together, and the album as a whole is a complete standout for Porridge Radio as a band.

While lockdown may have forced Albarn and many others through a dark period, it’s produced some of his most awe-inspiring work.

Despite the odd misstep, it deserves to be lauded as the band’s finest hour as well as a genuinely bold adventure into the cosmos of heavy rock.

These ten tracks are an arrestingly assured summary of who they are now, while fully embracing their former selves.

The Hum is a shattering, all-encompassing experience; there's climactic rage, broken organs and blank-eyed trance outs. At times it’s like listening to war, but there are also moments of beauty, musical tantrums and periods of bummed out weirdness. The result of all this? Total exhilaration.

This album, as different as it is from the band’s other output, is simultaneously the most distinct Black Country, New Road has ever been.

Fusing progressive big-beats, deeply personal lyricism and intelligent song-writing, it once again reveals IDER as the indispensable voices of a generation. Utterly compelling listening.

Hadreas finally appears to have found a sound palette as provocative, forward-thinking and confrontational as his vehement, brave lyrical style.

In all Galipolli is the sound of one of our most talented musicians rediscovering his love for what he was born to do. It’s Zach Condon’s career highlight so far and shows that he's at his best when he enjoys making music and cares less about what critics and fans might think of it.

This is pop music as it should be: simple, unvarnished, young but world-weary, and ultimately timeless.

Its highs are higher, its lows are non-existent, and it has the government mandated Obongjayar feature, or it wouldn’t be a Simz project.

Each sound is lovingly wound up and left to tick away in the groove, a feat accomplished few times this side of LCD Soundsystem. Most impressive, however, is that this is just a damn fine collection of material.

TYLA is turned up to 11 – there is little emotional or energetic dynamism on the album, but every song is club-ready, danceable and infectious.

It’s impossible to consider this release outside of its original context. With no other albums to compare this to at the time, it sounded life affirming, with its promise of white lines, gin and tonics and taking us away.

An outstanding (dare I say ‘perfect’) debut.

While she’ll have to work even harder to find an angle for record number two her debut delivers everything you could have hoped for from a pop star in 2013.

Opening themselves up to new concepts and sounds, but retaining their trademark ability to captivate and obliterate in equal measure, listening to Holy Fawn’s Dimensional Bleed inspires a deep, unfading admiration for a truly genre-defying band.

Sparks’ avant-garde tradition is freshly lacquered on A Steady Drip, Drip, Drip, a track record injected with further potency during dystopic times. Jaunty melodies juxtapose with typical wryly wrought themes, levity undercut with social critique - the brothers’ inimitable style at its finest on an album that represents one of their most prescient and much needed.

Anakin often brings an urgency with his flow, each bar breaking with his voice, snapping like a bonfire night firework. It's an effortless relentlessness, ensuring you watch but keeps you cautious enough through fear of getting burned. Those personal touches are truly where Frank shines.

Across the record it’s clear that Pillow Queens have truly hit their stride as a band. Leave The Light On strikes the balance between the excitement of an early career and the deliberate precision of seasoned musicians.

The powerful fusion of the electronic and the classical crucially allows the brothers to lightly grasp the hands of their listener, and guide them through dreamscapes of cosmic beauty, searing light and haunting darkness.

He provides a gentle yet absorbing escape from the hypervigilance with which we patrol our own lives. 12 songs that are soft around the edges and wash over the listener in shades of sunset orange and pink, guitars morph and collapse in on themselves like the contents on a lava lamp.

In excelling at hoping to convey music--or in this case, a suite--with a deliberate emotional arc, Pearce has re-established himself as an auteur to be reckoned with, delivering one of the very best albums of the year in the process.

Californian Soil is London Grammar in an act of gradual evolution, signs hinted at on their sophomore outing but blossoming to a greater extent here; retaining an ability to innovate within the parameters of their synonymously plush electronic soul.

It’s a scintillating sliver of glass to the senses – a defiant, desolate, and darkly beautiful album that commands multiple listens and highlights once more that Forest Swords is and always has been at the top of his game.

Those who never warmed to the sharp-elbowed vibe won’t find themselves wooed by a new angle, but for everyone else St. Vincent is close to definitive.

Savages own a gravitas, a brooding confidence and effortless cool, that no matter how cynical or wary of pretentiousness you are, will be suck you in.

With each record, Wolf Alice return with more bite, a new story to tell, and new fans to invite into their world, The Clearing is no exception to the rule.

Blending the raw energy of punk with the gritty realism of folk, the result being a potent double pint of catharsis and confrontation. There’s seemingly several albums worth of material on display, from industrial poetry to showmanship indie, held together by its narrative which howls to the struggles of the everyman, from the depths of addiction to the despair of a nation in decline.

Seeking New Gods is a fantastic album – and certainly one of Rhys’s best. No matter how odd the concept, or how strange the inspiration, each album that Gruff Rhys releases seems to prove that he couldn’t make a bad one if he tried.

The strength of Don't Let The Ink Dry comes from its mixture of vulnerability and power, both apparent in the vocal delivery where they subsist in harmony.

Punk Drunk and Trembling is an EP that displays the best of their later sound and leaves you wanting more.

Toning down her wry wit and wrapping her songs around the common theme of reckoning with and rebuilding from loss, Historian offers a more cohesive testament to Dacus’s exceptional songwriting.

For Yanya, this is a masterful debut that, like a tasting menu, looks jarring on paper but, in practice, is tantalising, surprising and undoubtedly impressive.

With a sense of perfection that may be tumultuous, Promise Everything is as real a record as you'll find. Swooning in some places and stormy in others, Basement have never sounded this good.

While vocally she proves to be a voice as unique as punk icons such as Kathleen Hanna, or Poly Styrene, her form on Comfort to Me has her, and her band hurtling towards being 21st Century punk icons with ease.

Depeche Mode are still at the top of their game and ready to explore their vulnerabilities in new and intense ways. Memento Mori is not a one-listen album; take a few rounds to wrap your head around all the little details and let your favourite song change with every listen.

Thumpers maintain a vertigo-high quality on Galore, and provide us with another option in the hotly-contested battle for ‘album of the summer’.

Old LP is so assured and confident, it’s easy to imagine another two decades of additional back catalogue we simply never heard. ... It’s a stunning success.

There's a substance and cohesion across Preacher's Daughter that's lacking on most debuts – and yet there's clearly so much more to come from this incredible artist and the rich world she's created.

It’s a staggeringly powerful, and admirably honest, piece of songwriting – one that leaves listeners wrestling with an indescribable sense of hollowness in its wake.

Yes, fourteen years is a long time to wait between records. But, when the end product is this good, it might just be worth the wait.

This stunningly ambitious yet surprisingly restrained album is a personal inspection of Declan’s current life, putting politics (mostly) aside and abandoning grandeur to think about himself for a minute, gifting listeners a vessel for empathy along the way.

32 Levels sees Clams Casino step up a level and make a hugely positive and lasting impression.

On Some Kind Of Peace, Arnalds has once again crafted an genre-defining album that serves as a much needed moment of reflection.

You might call Forever 2024’s ear worm central.

Made In California does a great job of confirming just how much more there was to The Beach Boys than sunshine and girls.

Loving In Stereo is a wholehearted triumph for Jungle, yet again delivering something fresh and distinctive to cut through today’s music landscape.

For the most part in fact, the album’s production is curated with Cudi in mind, a sonic bag of treats for those who vibe to the gloomy, celestial exploration of his early material as well as the rap rock stylings he has demonstrated since. ... Whereas the beats on ye sounded rushed and underdeveloped, the beats on KSG have some meat on ’em, crafting a sonic mood board that evokes thoughts of psilocybin mushroom trips, spiritual healing and yes, ghosts.

The result is a blisteringly progressive record - one that genuinely feels years ahead of its time.

Elliott’s latest body of work, the fittingly titled ICONOLOGY, is a taut collection of slinky, self-assured hip-hop that fuses throwback sensibilities with the rapper’s trademark futurism.

Sylvan Esso have always made albums that demand to be listened to at the expense of everything else in your record collection. Free Love is no exception. It’s the pair’s most cohesive body of work yet, and despite its more left-field moments, possibly their most accessible.

Burnished with all the hallmarks that have moulded the band into such a robust songwriting entity, As Long As You Are is a portrait of Herring and co at the top of their game - a collection of taught electro-pop numbers graced with poetic flair.

In seizing control of the means of production, they’ve reached a new peak and have never sounded so accessible. This is music to cry and party to at the same time. They’ll eviscerate you and you’ll thank them for the privilege.

No Cities to Love confirms that whatever alchemy seems to occur whenever the three sit down to make music together remains untouched by the passage of time. To put it simply, Sleater-Kinney have now made eight records, and they are all very, very good

Uninspired choice of featuring artist aside, the artistic breadth and depth of this project speaks to Reyez’s position as an emerging, formidable artist in her own right - someone who knows exactly what a good song, let alone a good R&B song, should sound like.

This record comes four years after Sheezus, and the time and space Lily has taken out has created a masterpiece. Ballads stand side by side with dance beats; rappers, dancehall and afrobeat singers feature alongside production from Mark Ronson, Ezra Koenig and Fryars--yet it all comes together into a smooth and succinct tale of finding your identity after a crisis.

After The Party showcases the band at their boldest and brightest yet.

Glory welcomes everything whether ecstatic or low-spirited, knowing that time, the inescapable spectre, will take it away and leave behind a masterpiece of memory such as this record itself.

Carly Rae Jepsen’s latest doubles down on one of her central messages as an artist--that no force is more potent than the emotions we feel. And while her third LP E•MO•TION certainly established this, on Dedicated, Jepsen’s infatuation with the rush of human feeling soars to dizzying new heights.

[The] band's most streamlined and forceful album to date.

Last Building Burning is, truly, as inspiring, energizing and life-affirming as punk is likely to get in 2018.

For the second time this year, Hey Colossus have succeeded in outsmarting just about everyone.

There’s still something fun and interesting to be found in what the band do and Little Dark Age is proof that they’re nowhere near done with inter dimensional meddling.

By coalescing a number of everyday influences – from Television to John Cale--and adding her own distinctive formula, Crab Day doesn’t really sound like anything else out there.

On Heavy Lifter they continue to find catharsis while moving in reverse as the bronzed halos of nostalgia meld with the intimacy of their blazed slow-core.

Imagine This is a High Dimensional Space of All Possibilities is one of those rare records that is very long but doesn’t seem to have an idle moment. The album becomes deeper and more rewarding with each consecutive track.

It’s a work that’s in a constant state of flux, the flow giving and yielding just like our emotions. A sense of healing and growth radiates from it, with the sparkling pop feel of “Yellow of the Sun” bringing the album round to a complete and circular ending.

[An] excellent record: the guitars throughout the album are aggressive and sharp-edged, the bass is consistently robust and roaring, and rhythms are serpentine and oppressive - barely a moment goes by that you aren’t feeling Shah’s own claustrophobia, the weight of her own aging bearing down on your shoulders.

Geist pulls off the impressive feat of nodding openly towards vintage inspirations whilst also sounding resoundingly distinctive, simultaneously timelessly classic and very now, ethereal yet intense.

A couple of contemporary artists with a similar method come to mind: Caroline Polachek and Christine and the Queens. Like their celebrated works, Hit Me Hard and Soft is equal parts nuanced and multidimensional.

Calling this album consistently satisfying might come off like a dig. Quite the opposite, actually. It's the mark of a classic.

This record is a creation: you can hear the adventure in it.

Souls may be sold separately on the trail for gold, but respect is earned, and Freddie Gibbs continues to rack up the points with another stellar entry in an almost-infallible collection of projects.

Modern Baseball have found strength giving a voice to their disillusionment. With the daring demonstrated here, they'll be singing their spirits sounds for a long time to come.

As they did with the fiftieth anniversary edition of All Things Must Pass, Paul Hicks and the Harrison family have delivered an excellent reminder of the greatness of George Harrison after and, in certain instances, the equal of his musicianship in The Beatles.

An album that sees Years & Years revisit the musical, lyrical and aesthetic concerns of their debut and refresh them with unprecedented confidence and self-knowledge.

Rage Against the Machine’s Zack de la Rocha, Travis Barker, Diane Coffee, the filthy-mouthed Gangsta Boo...they all contribute to the depth of RTJ2 but never outshine the stars of Render and Meline, despite all giving the best performances of their careers in some time.

Sure, his prowess in mope-pop makes for a voyeuristic listen, but on Shortly After Take Off he invites us to take a twitch of the curtain obscuring the life of Brian from the outside in, and it’s a spellbinding and utterly wonderful thing.

The result is a seamless psychedelic synthesis of pop noir, ghostly '60s girl group sounds, Lynchian-style atmospherics, ambient washes and dance floor undertones, there’s nearly always a subliminal sense of unspecified menace or is it simply the deep disorientation that love and desire brings? Surrender and immersion are the only sensible responses.

For all the thrills that Pixx’s precocious ambition offers on Small Mercies, it’s Hannah Rodgers’ vulnerability and restless search for comfort within herself that drives it.

If you’re looking for an album with a coherent, tangible theme then perhaps this isn’t the one for you. Instead it’s a coagulation of the weird and the wonderful, and just a snapshot of the immense power of FEET. Complete madness, but so much fun.

The record may be 24 tracks long, but it is delivered at such a speed that it packs its punches long before the ice in your drink has a chance to melt.

As with David Bowie’s entire career, he’s once again given us enough to keep us wanting more, while reminding us of all the inspired gifts that came before.

If A Black Mile to the Surface was the band’s first record back following a rebirth of sorts, then as far as the difficult second album’s go, Manchester Orchestra have absolutely nailed it.

The album fades out gently, a dissipation of tension and emotion that you don’t realise is cathartic until it’s over – for this reason, Big Sigh doesn’t just feel like Hackman’s best, but it feels like a distinct chapter marker in her catalogue. She closes the last decade stunningly, and nudges open the next.

It’s phenomenally exciting to have that sense of danger back in music. It’s subtle, malevolent and utterly charming noise, and if Glass Animals turned out to be buttering you up with a cannibalistic lick of the lips, you’d let them gnaw away.

The album’s strength is drawn largely from these expansive arrangements, which make use of sparsity and density with equal power.