It's easy to get sucked into darkness and despair, Heart Under proves that so, but thankfully, Ball's voice oversees that listeners only merely toe into these bottomless, murky waters.

It’s all at once a whirlwind of colliding ideas both past and present, a bold stride into the future, a new sound pushed beyond expectation, an album that marks the passing of time and the changing of minds, a continued rebirth.

What’s so beautiful about The Passionate Ones is the simmering afterglow in every song, enhancing his mixture of chillwave, Arthur Russell, and SWV. Brown’s more spacious arrangements have helped him eloquently articulate his compelling words, catching your unsuspecting attention whenever the music lulls.

Mass appeal might be the only thing missing, perhaps not possible for a band that has to asterisk their name sometimes. It’s not stopped them from perfecting their place in vibrant scenes that have scaled to wider appreciation, and with I Got Heaven now in the back pocket, few groups deserve a share of the limelight more.

Over Natural Brown Prom Queen’s 53 minutes and 18 tracks, the Cincinnati-born Parks displays her compositional skills, penchant for winning melodies, and versatility as a performer. Most strikingly, the set documents Parks as she integrates myriad approaches, balancing discipline and the hedonistic impulse.

Its standing as one of the best albums of the 90’s remains undiminished.

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.

His creation of such an overt sense of nostalgia, grief, loss and mourning, whilst also making time to make statements on social justice issues is impressive.

The unstoppable momentum of hypnotic build-ups and genuinely unique, masterfully maintained combination of moodiness and muscular physicality that characterises Feeding The Machine place Binker & Moses far ahead of the combination.

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.

In Nobody Loves You More, Kim Deal delivers an album that stands both as a tribute to her past and a reassertion of her relevance, it’s an emotional and moving experience.

Chance is still just 23 years old, but Coloring Book is a staggeringly mature record, and while it isn’t on par with Acid Rap in terms of unforgettable lyricism, it also has a different mission.

On this record it is clear that Staples is making his own assertive artistic statement for these turbulent times, while also firmly establishing himself as one of the brash, singular voices that is going to be leading the music world into the chaotic, unpredictable future.

A muscular yet nuanced sound that balances intricate arrangements and layers of subtle electronics and keyboard sheens with the sweaty dynamics of a guitars-drums-bass rock ‘n’ roll (this is very much a rhythm album) and you’ve a masterful record that sounds like a full flowering of a remarkable talent.

Golden Hour imagines a world much sweeter than the one we’re living in; and for 45 minutes, it can just about take you there. Kacey Musgraves’ golden hour is far from over.

Like Chris’ persona, the album is lean, unashamedly self-aggrandising and thrillingly audacious. Here, pop is a transformative power. Subverting male privilege to her own advantage, Chris has built an album of tunes that could not only top charts, but also change worlds.

With Tigers Blood, Crutchfield continues to perfect her songcraft and elevate the Americana genre – asserting a panoramic vision, radiating wisdom.

On U, she finds a clearly-defined, rounded-out identity in her music for the first time, and she delivers the most immediate and the most robust work of her career.

All in all, Pink Noise is a roaring success for Mvula’s reinvention. It’s a joyous celebration of her past, her present, and all the success that is to come in her future. Laura Mvula is back, and she’s not going anywhere.

There's no doubt that the five-piece have created something incredibly special, and they’re already working on a tour to showcase yet more new music for later in the year – nothing can keep them still. The world is truly Squid's oyster.

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.

A tenth studio album that feels less like a late-career coda and far more like a daring new beginning.

This is the sound of releasing a lifetime’s worth of strife and unease. That sounds, it turns out, is pretty damn excellent.

Like all great works of art, Illmatic isn’t just about the story it tells; it provides us with a fully-fledged character study of the genius behind it.

Super Furry world is a weird place, and the gift of hindsight simply tells us that the Welsh quintet were simply inviting us in the easy way. It also doesn't take much scratching at the surface of Fuzzy Logic to realise how insidiously bizarre it is. ... As with any reissue, the accompanying bonus disc of demos are a mixed bag; mainly straightforward runs of album tracks are interspersed with some genuinely interesting alternative takes of familiar material.

Some of the unexpected and as such extra-fresh thrill of the new of encountering Davis’s debut with the Roadhouse Band may now have eased into an instantly recognisable house style, but New Threats from the Soul provides another compelling flowering of a unique and idiosyncratic songwriting talent.

Creeper are so excellent and effective in their various, otherworldly melodramas because they have so much heart. At the core of whatever undead guise they’ve wrapped it in this time, it’s beating strong and steady.

[James] Ford's renowned ability to bring together ambitiously decadent ideas reigns supreme here. Helping orchestrate a throughline of this patchwork of ideas pays dividends as the grander character and geographical work of their past makes way for more personal offerings as they turn inward, processing the world they inhabit, rather than the one they've mused upon previously.

Blømi leaves solutions for our current problems back in the times where they could have been useful. This can only be music as morphine: a painkiller mixed with transcendental meditation.

Nastasia has turned her harrowing experiences into genuinely beautiful songs. At first, the bluntly matter-of-fact tone of the writing and simple melodies seem almost artless and first-draft rough. Over consecutive listens, the cumulative hypnotic pull and elemental, harsh beauty of the songs and especially their lyrics becomes evident.

WIMPIII culminates in a kind of languidness which shows that sometimes you have to let the songs lead you, rather than coercing them into something they shouldn’t be. There’s a coherence that exudes from the sparsity in the songs, and they’re never left feeling empty.

Incredibly enduring and undeniably influential, Anthology is a culmination of everything that prevails from this often omitted, golden era of music.

As a collection of music, There’s A Dream I’ve Been Saving is excellent, but as a story it is a true revelation.

With clever twists of post-production, Makaya chops and resamples not only his own band but also choice words and phrases of each stanza, making the poetry a percussive element and drawing out emphasis. A decade after his death, Gil Scot-Heron’s final oeuvre has finally settled into something great.

This is an album of Swift at her most knowing, pushing away the tabloid fodder that has often surrounded her artistry and magnifying the talent she's been honing her entire life. The melodies are full of warmth and round-edges, moving and twinkling on her whim as she indulges in one of the most most human and timeless past-times we have.

It might be the most accessible Swans album yet. The long stretches of abstract noise are draped over some surprisingly catchy hooks. A few moments might even qualify as singalong road trip anthems.

She’s delivered an album full of unrepentant honesty, decadent instrumental highs, and an unguarded emotional core. Few other artists can so perfectly capture the dizzying life-or-death stakes of those who love too young and too hard.

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

It is true then, that Russian Circles are no longer pushing back the walls of post-rock acceptability, and also true that their albums don’t bite down as hard as they used to, but it is still definitely true that they wield the ability to compose the most beautiful, thought-provoking pieces of music.

On Song For Our Daughter Marling intimately portrays her subconscious, the one that’s paved the way for her to survive to this point years before these songs were recorded, in its brutal glory.

Future Nostalgia is an artist in total control. It’s built on such an addictive carefree spirit that it’s hard not to let loose and go with it. The greatest pop star of this generation? That’s for you to decide. But Future Nostalgia makes a very convincing argument that Dua Lipa just might be.

With a formidable knack for telling an engaging story in the space of a song, Divers is further proof that, as a lyricist, Newsom is second to none.

30 sees Adele settle into the maturity and wisdom that the album presents, and truly is a coming of age. It is a well-considered progression for her, and while there are some missteps along the way, it is so good to see her moving forward.

Despite its love for the retro, it's still a modern and cutting edge work that feels essential for the scene right now. It's great to see a band from the back-ends of UK hardcore make a statement as gratifyingly massive as this one, that will hopefully grant them the audiences they deserve.

Like her previous works, Loud City Song requires time and patience, but once you grasp its intent the investment will feel wholly worthwhile.

Embodying that impervious inner spirit that Kafka called the Indestructible, where the possibility of perfect happiness exists in spite of everything else, its calm resignation defines what A Moon Shaped Pool strives for. In honing that potential from start to finish, Radiohead have excavated their most accomplished album in at least 15 years.

The record is described as Gibbons’ “most personal work to date”, dealing with experiences of grief, change, and hopelessness – and it makes for a very conceptually decisive project, with a distinctive vocabulary of motion and stasis, weight and lightness.

Ultimately, MASSEDUCTION defies explanation and critique, rendering the critic a dead weight in the dust of its ever-accelerating sucker-punch of ideas.

It holds the best batch of Waxahatchee songs yet, with Crutchfield at her most candid, raw and clear-eyed. This is the work of someone who’s begun to write a bold new chapter in her life, and it’s special stuff.

This is Bey’s talent as an instrumental storyteller; genres are sequenced and held for their parts, yet respected like caged animals. Organs are the sound of the beginning, pianos of a demise; a dance groove is the motion of the middle, and forthright attitudes are evergreen.

Where Brat and it’s completely different but also still brat, may be hindered by its questionable collaboration choices, it more than makes up for it when it comes to displaying Charli XCX’s relentless pursuit of pop debauchery.

A a bright example of both authenticity and creativity. ... Sometimes I Might Be Introvert is tactical, theatrical, and is the product of 100,000 hours spent honing her craft resulting in a body of work with heart, and its head firmly on its shoulders.

The album could be one of the finest debuts of the decade, with every band member shining in their ability and craftsmanship.

She explores themes that have been relevant at least since the advent of the Cognitive Revolution 30,000-plus years ago – creation, destruction, ecstasy, transcendence – yet does so in her own contemporary, refreshing, and utterly commanding way.

Woods’ song begins with a view from a beach, watching as zombies staggering into the sea, except these bodies are actually just people, pushed from their home countries by corrupt governments and post-colonial extraction. “Universities empty, the troublemakers is drowned or drivin' Uber overseas”. Moments like these prove Woods to be one of rap’s best ever storytellers and, what’s even more remarkable, is that among this Golliwog remains a distinctly New York rap record too.

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

CALL ME IF YOU GET LOST has no central theme or concept. However, where Tyler, The Creator shines on this project is how beautifully he fuses together the youthful angst of his earlier output with the older, more introspective side we have seen from more recent releases.

Sometimes is the work of probably the best lyricist writing today, and roundly deserves to be an album for the ages. If it’s not, that’s only because she’ll have found a way to top it next time around.

This proves that it's Mike's rare ability to make powerful and relevant political music that sets him apart from the crowd.

Each listen helps to start piece together the overall shape of the album, something which remains a little shrouded throughout. But its length, and depth, is also Persona's strength. An album to get lost in and to discover bits of wonder along the way.

In breaking the tides of what was once familiar, Anna Von Hausswolff revels in the abundance that she fully embraces.

Delivered with a passion that feels like it could at any time escalate to a frenzy, Rosenstock laments the USA’s current situation in true punk style with his heart on his sleeve.

Though I can’t help but crave a return to the more dark and experimental avenue in the future, the execution here is indisputable, and album is a cohesive and worthwhile effort deserving of a wider audience’s attention.

It’s an incredibly tight record packed with stellar performances, production and presence throughout. The blood, sweat and tears of hip-hop run through the album, but Gibbs has once again redefined what that means.

It's a potent start, but Allbarone gets better, deeper, more engaging and – crucially – stranger with each track, with Dury’s half-muttered speak-song voice mutating into more and more enticingly contorted shapes with each successive track.

Big Time is really a remarkable and intimate display of growth on the part of the woman who made it, thread-bare and unashamed, competing with the new Kendrick Lamar album for new heights of self-flagellation, and glorious self affirmation; made all the more intense of course by that voice of Olsen’s, masculine and feminine at the same time, and frankly criminal wield with material this naked and bare.

Brutal in some places and heart-rending in others, Milk Teeth's debut resonates through compelling emotions and ever-changing stylings.

Hawk writes like a poet, and as such you often have to dig harder to find his meaning, or even better apply your own. But these are everyday tales dressed up in finery that will embed them into your mind.

There will be plenty of important political rap coming in the near future, but it is unlikely that much of it will match the cohesion and clarity of Common’s vision

Painful carries immense weight at all times, distorted or not. Cunningly titled Extra Painful, this reissue marks the 30th Anniversary of the band and offers futher insights into the Painfull sessions with acoutic, instrumental and unreleased gems on offer.

It is an unsparing, anguished release in which we see an artist laid bare and tapping into a more natural and resonant version of her sound and self. It is the fullest and most developed work from FKA Twigs to date.

Less obsessive (and deep-pocketed) fans will be absolutely fine with the 2-CD set, but repetition aside, the deluxe set certainly offers multiple delights.

Zauner is absolutely in her element here and it goes without question that while this is undeniably her year, she’s also just rebranded herself as one of today’s top-tier indie visionaries.

From Kinshasa is a distorted transmission of a sound of a city, but it's not the neatly paved, orderly and predominantly functioning type of town most of us are used to.

Lenderman has produced his clearest vision yet of what it looks like when the saddest & funniest people in the room are the same guy.

To a certain extent, Euro-Country distances itself from her previous releases, however, the material still remains distinctly, unmistakably CMAT. It possesses the same piercing humour and ambitious craft while offering her most personal collection of songs thus far.

To this extent Only God Was Above Us defines itself by a heady mix of retrospection and relinquishment to the future – a coming-of-age awareness writ large in previous phases of their career lent further prescience with the passing of each entry in their canon.

Some might find it a mixed bag due to its atypical diversity, but the songs aren’t too contrasting to be deemed incohesive. Her lyrics are still sharp and impactful, with a little sprinkle of playfulness to fit the dominant genres. The album’s a joyous journey outside the bounds of – and without alienating – the usual, a testament to her considerable, well-rounded talent.

Wednesday know what they want to say, and how: Pouring their hearts out with reckless riffage to illustrate the agony and ecstasy of smalltown life.

It is an exceptional modern hip-hop album unafraid of exploring the darker sides of the modern rap persona, all whilst creating a rich, textured sonic environment within which it can be best ingested.

[A] fantastic sophomore effort.

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

Obviously seven CDs need a major investment of time, but the investment is certainly rewarded.

Putting more ambition also means more risk taken, yet Monet and her collaborators go through it with confidence.

Although refreshing, the many influences of the second half are quite a hard contrast to the first ten tracks, whose productions are meditative and intuitively balanced. Although there are constantly new elements appearing, the crisp tracks never get overcrowded, giving the project a luxurious finish.

IDLES aren’t being macho or destructive in suggesting that we might have to tear it all down and start again if we’re going to truly come together. This is the jarring sound of sensitivity in a new age of chaos.

On Art Angels, we hear that high art experimentation fall into mainstream territory with only fleeting moments of brilliance.

What better balm for the start of another troubled year than our biggest star making music as good as this?

Somehow these seemingly disparate parts hang together as a thematically logical and coherent whole: there’s still some of the year left, but it’s pretty unlikely that there will be a more compelling and inspired guitar album than Acadia emerging in 2024.

The LP steps away from their usual repertoire, offering a softer, more stripped-back approach to their musings, teetering on the edge of almost folk-rock.

It’s a unique record, for sure, and one that deserves at least some of your time.

I Loved You At Your Darkest dips in and out of musical splendour, changing course and reference, and while not necessarily black metal in a full labeling sense, nor rock-heavy alone, it’s a rather accessible hybrid.

With its attention to detail and exceptional vocal delivery, The Hardest Part is a debut for the ages. An album that is both culturally relevant and sonically refined to the point of timelessness.

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

If Cosmogramma signalled Stephen Ellison's ambition to be more than a beatmaker, then this record is the accomplishment of that ambition. You're Dead! might be the most immortal Flying Lotus album to date.

It's one of the rock albums of the year, and if it is the case--as is rumoured--that it's their last, then it's also a perfect swan song.

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest isn't perfect. Its sprawl lacks the tight focus of Dream River, and a few of the tracks drift in and out of focus. Give it enough time to cohere, however, and this largely successful attempt at rebooting Callahan's songwriting soon acquires a hypnotic pull.

Whereas White Denim’s output has occasionally in the past brought to mind a musical polymath trying on different outfits to see which one will fit, 12 feels like White Denim’s most direct, emotionally honest and cohesive (not to mention unabashedly catchy) album.