Friends is White Lies’ least inspiring record both musically and thematically; they appear to be back in identity crisis mode, and it might not be recoverable this time around.

The tone and the simplicity and the subtle melancholy of these eighteen miniature pieces make EUSA the most charming Tiersen release in some time.

Smash the System isn’t too forthcoming with answers, but it is a fully engaged conversation with pop’s past and present.

She forges a mighty hammer and her album has a thunderous resonance for our times.

Ultimately, the only possible problem with Heart Like A Levee is that some of the cuts fade out too soon.

Too much of Stay Together sounds like it could be an ill-conceived Ricky Wilson solo record.

Phantogram have always been able to craft sleek, cerebral tunes, but it hasn't always been clear that they were having a blast doing it--until now.

The Altar is BANKS at her most confident and most empowered; tough and willing to accept her imperfections without a care for who’s listening.

Take Control colourfully, and often cartoonishly, blazes with a refusal to accept the monotonies of everyday life.

They’re pushing the boundaries and reinterpreting music in an exciting way within the digital age, making us pause to rethink and reminisce what was special about a specific age of music and the amazing technology that has come before.

Though Mount Ninji and Da Nice Time Kid is a far from perfect record, it proves that Die Antwoord have still got life in them yet, despite the recent hyperbole.

They never really embrace as much lyrical darkness as they did on their debut album, though, and they don’t exactly reach for the occasional glimpse of light either. As a result, All Your Happy Life is a lightswitch that keeps awkwardly flickering, intentionally making the mise-en-scène as unsettling as possible.

It all results in their strongest album for over two decades.

There is a feeling of higher power, an all encompassing truth or consciousness that pervades the album, and provides the thread to link their myriad sounds. Rather than an end, this feels like a reincarnation.

Rich, deep, full of wit, rapid fire lyrics and fantastically unusual production, it’s Danny Brown proving yet again that he is one of the most exciting rappers working right now.

There’s no denying that Head Carrier generally veers between sounding like an exhausted tribute to their former configuration to feeling something akin to a disposable Frank Black solo effort via a few conciliatory tracks.

Her style is still niche, but Remember Us to Life is an important album for anyone invested in Spektor’s growth as a musician and, perhaps more importantly, a storyteller.

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

He’s still capable of moments of absolute beauty.

Jenny Hval remains one of the most powerful, honest and funny performers working in music today, and this dissection of her self and her work is fascinating to the point of obsession.

Minor refinements are enough for a group so fully formed from the start, and Dusk is Ultimate Painting’s fullest record yet.

A Corpse Wired for Sound is still distinctively a Merchandise album, even though it’s a relative departure from their previous work. It definitely sounds a lot lonelier than its predecessors, though, as if Merchandise have become isolated by their own intelligence.

Pretty Years is one of the best guitar albums of the year.

Lyrically, Ape is among his best records, even with a few missteps on tracks like “Fancy Man”.

Care is as close to a perfect example of modern music as you're likely to find--it’s self-reliant, self-assured and packed with more hooks than a cloakroom.

They’ve consolidated on the progression made between their first two albums and in turn produced their finest effort to date.

It’s a journey through their journey, and of influences and styles we’ve all known and loved. But it has all the joy of something completely new, pulled together at the seams lovingly and beautifully into a patchwork that, at first, may feel like clash or confusion but in time feels full of strength.

This is earnest, albeit loud, songwriting. And that sincerity carries this these (already great) songs further than you'd expect.

Death and loss have always been topics mined by Cave, but this may be the most visceral and powerful portrait of those feelings he’s ever painted.

Leithauser and Rostam have clearly tapped into the long, illustrious history of the great American pop standard for inspiration on these dynamic new songs, offering up their own inventive twists on the art form to keep the expressive dialogue going for a whole new generation.

If You See Me... has the potential to mark the beginning of something very special.

I Remember isn’t a masterpiece, but it’s an all round strong record where both Reid and Francis solidify their complimentary strengths.

All in all, Stage Four is an exercise in catharsis and self examination of what it means to lose someone close to you, but instead of being dragged down into a spiralling bleakness, it's is an album that ultimately feels resolutely life-affirming.

There’s nothing in the way of a bold step forward on Unseen, which is the wooziest collection of songs they’ve put out in quite a while; this is very much an album for the wee small hours.

Shine A Light is by turns sombre and playful.

He nails some sassy jazzy tunes mixed with poetic melancholia. There are still some lines that sound initially amusing in their absurdity.

The vast bulk--and on an album as thick with ideas as this, vast is the operative word--of Furfour is a masterclass in modern psychedelia, experimental enough to satiate the genre’s connoisseurs yet fluid and welcoming enough to be accessed by audiences from across the popular music spectrum.

So yes, it's a cracking release from DTP, but it's not without fault. You certainly get your money's worth though and only a fool would hesitate before recommending it.

Crucially, New Misery never sinks--it’s lightweight enough to ensure it never gets weighed down.

If this it to be M.I.A.’s final release, it’s a fittingly confrontational, vibrant and invigorating piece of work.

Femejism may not have quite the same impact [as their debut Sistronix], but their second album has enough to it to suggest that Lindsey Troy and Julie Edwards will be able to maintain interest our vested interest.

The truth is, it is both cultured Tibetan Singing Bowls and DIY damp finger on wine glass and all the richer for it.

The essence of these songs is exactly what the essence of The Divine Comedy has always been. Expanded, with more intricately woven textures, Foreverland is an ode to everything that lasts: from historical characters to our own enduring emotions, the record celebrates the importance of importance on every level.

This release is not a cliched, sulky attempt to do something new fuelled by the frustrating necessity for a narrative to complement their art. Instead, Sunlit Youth sounds like music Local Natives want to make.

While the album may have been crafted during a two-year tsunami of struggle, Isaiah Rashad still manages to sound as calm as an ocean’s gentle waves; sounding so effortless has never taken so much effort.

A series of vulnerable, tender numbers that highlight how talented a songwriter White truly is--a trait that gets lost amidst the critical commotion surrounding his increasingly eccentric creative pursuits.

At 17 tracks, A Moment of Madness could be more taut and, frankly, have a bit more madness in the mix. Bizu is such a gifted vocalist that it would’ve been a treat to get a few less polished cuts.

While the first three songs here are all Rock 'n' Roll ebullience, on the final three Furman explores a more plaintive side to his writing.

Twin Atlantic deserves credit for doing more than just leaning into the sound that earned them airplay on Great Divide, and while GLA isn't perfect it points to an exciting direction for the Glasgow outfit.

Calico Review refers to a type of pattern in which a range of colours merge into one; as much as it may frustrate Allah-Las, the palette of their Calico Review remains a similar hue, but their ability to paint brilliant art with it remains intact.

Frankly, a rap space opera shouldn't work this well, and it's a testament to the trio's vision that it does, even if Splendor & Misery can be a pretty turbulent voyage.

It’s a classic KC album. His Scottish brogue, the bagpipes, accordion and harp all reappear for his now expected impish magic.

Even as another merely good Wilco album, however, Schmilco does pay plentiful dividends for listeners patient enough to discover its gradually revealed riches.

The core components of their sound have remained intact, and it's only the delivery--which has naturally slowed down in pace--that has changed.

It may take some time for casual fans to fully embrace the record’s shifting sound, but anybody who has ever dealt with loss can get something out of Away.

It’s The Wedding Present as we’ve known/loved them since 1991’s tour de force Seamonsters--opening squalls of feedback, a deceptively sweet melody, and Gedge’s lyrics fluctuating between self-lacerating and acrimonious in the midst of ferocious guitars. We’re on far less familiar ground with a number of the other 19 tracks, though.

For every time the record’s constituent parts unite into something engaging, one has to sit through extended periods of meandering, directionless twilight, which frequently hints at an interesting diversion but rarely delivers upon such promises.

A record [that] gleefully skips through genres without ever missing a beat, Jamie T’s fourth effort is a genuinely magnificent album that surpasses anything else in his discography with consummate ease. He simply hasn’t missed a trick.

Real’s stew of unabashed honesty, townie bar arena rock muscle, and uncomplicated discussion of life’s and love’s complications feels just like home. It doesn’t get any realer than that.

Blonde is a work of art that will stick with us all for way longer than four short years.

The last memory of How To Be A Human Being is pure brilliance, and you're forced to revisit the record every chance you get. Each listen reveals more, scrapes back another layer. You'll get more and feel more each time you hit play.

The Veils are specialists in a songcraft where the traditional is aided by the current in order to explore new sonic realms. The album, which took nearly two years to take shape, is delicately spun rather than cobbled together, and makes for treasured listening.

This incarnation of The Album Leaf asserts the resilience that has always held up their sentimental exterior.

Removed from the narrative of the series itself, every emotion is given the space to take its own form – and the result is as mysteriously powerful as the world that it hails from.

Mangy Love is a terrific, bizarre album made up of familiar parts rearranged into something new, unfamiliar, and offbeat.

High Anxiety could have been reduced to its 12 most essential tracks and been a bit better suited for more invested listening, but perhaps Green's goal was to give himself as much room as possible to experiment, and he certainly does so here.

There are real signs of musical development on Sremmurd 2 that point to longevity for the duo.

Ultimately, it may not dramatically change their fortunes, but it remaina an album that’ll help further cement Cold Pumas as being one of the UK’s most underrated bands.

There are certainly more strong points than weak points to be concentrated on here. All the tracks that centre around Posdnuos, Trugoy and Maseo see De La Soul at full strength with their rhymes as sharp and playful but seemingly wiser than ever before.

One of the most infectious collections of pop songs written on an electric guitar this year.

None of the tracks are bad per se. But they lack something that the first tastes promised, and so pieced together it feels like the debut is not worth more than the sum of its parts.

At best, it suggests that Crystal Castles are entering a more mellow and accessible phase in their career, potentially welcoming new fans, and at worst, it suggests that Crystal Castles have lost the bite that made them so exhilarating in the first place.

This is a lovely record, prettily arranged and carried off with assurance, but it’s ultimately very difficult to escape the feeling that the real aim here was to deliver something of slow-cooked profundity.

Capturing the sound of a fearsome live reputation on record can be daunting for band making their debut record, but here the Madrid trio sound truly fearless.

Jumping the Shark, with its clear central premise and limited musical palate, is inherently niche, but if you find yourself intrigued by his storytelling Cameron won’t need any gimmicks to keep you invested.

The poppier efforts here don’t quite puncture the atmosphere that the band have worked so hard to cultivate elsewhere, but they’re hardly necessary either.

Scott Walker is more interested in moving forward than looking back and with the soundtrack to The Childhood of a Leader his music is as unique as ever.

Coomes wouldn't have the length career he's had if he wasn't a gifted songwriter, and hopefully if he puts out another solo album he can find a better balance between good weird and gratuitous weird.

In Moon Saloon, Arc Iris have served us an album entirely unconcerned with nascent fads and just as heavy on challenge as it is reward.

Golden Sings That Have Been Sung manages to catch the restlessly churning, improvisatory lightning of Walker's live shows in the studio, whilst wisely cutting out any idling that could grate in home listening.

It’s not a massive reinvention and it does generally lack the constant flow of melody that makes their previous work so irresistible. Having said that, they sit on the proverbial psychedelic throne for a reason; they’re trendsetters not copycats.

With nary a crack across the entire album, Bonar’s weaving of multiple indie rock subgenres--alt-country, dream pop, punk--is tight as it gets, yet she and her band consistently retain an air of restlessness across the album.

Though the album isn’t an entreaty for mass acceptance, Tobacco’s music does sound increasingly comfortable in its stitched-up skin.

Despite Hypercaffium Spazzinate feeling as referential as it does, it's surprising that there's nothing obviously referencing ALL, the attitude and mantra that populated some of their earlier records. The sentiment is there however, it's rooted in the record, its sheer energy, and the attention which has gone in to making it.

25 25 slithers through the auditory canal, hypnotising and beguiling the listener, before finally ensnaring those who choose to listen.

Their fifth album is one that doesn’t deviate away from their usual template. At the heart of the songs lies the same exuberant energy and youthful abandon found at the core of their debut Waited Up Til It Was Light.

They haven’t let the game dictate what they can and can’t do and, in the end, have produced an album that can proudly sit alongside the rest of their discography. Not just as an unusual curio, but as a solid piece of work of that will leave any budding space-explorer wide-eyed with wonder.

Boy King punches more like Nine Inch Nails when Trent Reznor was still sexy, synths strafing and drums pounding like the outro to “Closer” teased out for forty minutes.

What it evidently lacks in ideas and concepts, it makes up for in well-channeled cathartic energy.

There’s an exuberance to the entire record that feels genuine and fresh, like it was captured unexpectedly.

By virtue of its accessibility, Black Bubblegum presents itself as the most singular album Copeland has produced to date and who knows, maybe some pop bangers will be coming our way after all.

An orchestral score for a remembered expanse, it casts vivid shadows but avoids rigid form.

Very few albums are worth such a long wait, though, but blackSUMMERS’night is one of them--it’s an album that should live forever, purely because it sounds so detached from time.

Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not is more than just a routine 8/10 Dinosaur Jr album, it’s their most satisfying and realized post-reunion album yet.

Throughout, the unifying characteristic is the richness and warmth of the sound, a million miles from the lo-fi of old; this is the prettiest Owen record to date, and there’s no shortage of strong contenders for that particular title.

Q is as distinct and powerful a voice in hip-hop as Kendrick, and he manages to bring the likes of Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Anderson .Paak, and Vince Staples to Figg St. on one of the year’s best rap albums thus far. The only real dissonance here comes on Miguel collaboration “Overtime.”

For All We Know is among the most impressive debut albums we’ve heard in 2016, and heralds the arrival of Nao as a unique and fascinating figure on the R&B landscape.

Pulling out the stitching from vintage rock sounds, they liberate its cloth from the need to fit over preset shapes.