A modern classic, from a band who’ve made a career off the back of modern classics.

It is an overall cohesive and grand statement of an album which opens with familiar sounds, and explores jutting, pointed off-shoots, before crescendoing with “Thick Skull”’s cataclysmic pop, all the while holding a relative level of self-involvement and privilege.

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

This is a near-faultless EP, and one that’s so incredibly moreish.

While Finding Shore certainly isn’t the most accessible of albums, it’s one that’s likely to stay with its listeners long after the dull rumble of its closing moments have faded in to nothing.

Reflection is a product for everyone; not just the music lover. Yes, the music alone can be easily appreciated for its virtuosity; however, the whole package assists people with their day-to-day lives and provokes mindfulness and interaction with the wider world.

Arkhon is filled to the brim with so many eclectic ideas that, with a different writer or vocalist, could end up too cluttered. Album opener “Lost” and the closer “Do That Anymore” are so wildly different, but instead of being confusing, you’re thankful to Danilova for somehow piecing the two together.

A. A. Williams has allowed her listeners to exorcise difficult emotions on this record. She provides an aural tonic through her idiosyncratic, beautifully executed sounds.

No matter how disorganised Olivia Dean proclaims this album to be, she doesn’t miss a beat – and instead generates a record with just about everything to deem itself ‘perfect’.

She has a unique capacity to include all the world’s issues in the album just by slipping in an occasional nugget of truth that punches the listener in the gut.

KID A MNESIA (including Kid A and Amnesiac in full, alongside a disc of rarities and off-cuts, which includes many pleasant discoveries, such as an uncomplicatedly majestic alternative version of “Like Spinning Plates”) suggests that Radiohead got there first, most boldly (in the context of the music that had built their ‘brand’), and arguably with the most significant creative gain.

Go to School is an artistic statement on a grand scale, and it cements their reputation as world-class songwriters. It’s a once-in-a-generation epic.

Where Shall We Begin is a must listen. It takes your hand from the offset, guiding you over each obstacle found on the album and gently lifts you down onto a bed of understanding at its end. Truly beautiful stuff.

It is a vital addition to an impressive catalogue from a group who deserve your attention.

In its bone-chilling, earnest spirit, we witness Swans maintaining a power they never lost – we see them exceeding expectations, branding themselves as a seismic force in experimental rock, and here, they continue to touch on that greatness.

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.

Throughout Hopelessness, Anohni reveals multiple layers to the stories within her songs, and that the deeper you dig beyond the headlines and easily digestible sound bites, the more pain and deception you are likely to find.

Masculin Féminin offers a fascinating trip down memory lane for a band which has quietly--or rather more loudly, in the case of these songs from 1994 and 1995--made their mark on modern music.

CMAT succeeds in making each track individually compelling, while simultaneously excelling in exploring her more abstract side. Crazymad, For Me shows CMAT to be in a world of her own, one that’s way ahead of the pack.

While the cosy acoustic folk of Sling is indebted to her influences — Joni Mitchell, Carole King, the Carpenters — Cottrill makes it wholly her own. ... While it’s a shift from the lovesick alt-pop of Immunity, it’s bound to be a transformative moment in her career. Whether she releases music for years or retires tomorrow, Cottrill can take solace in knowing she’s created something timeless.

Resonating like a joyful shout in the distance, Four of Arrows draws you towards it, and you’d be a fool not to follow.

If you want to find a remaster that’s worth your time and money, then Suede is the gem to look into at this very moment.

Ellis-Bextor's decorated back catalog has always split a complementary difference between a good groove and inventive intrigue. Even when she turns the dial ever so slightly in one direction, Perimenopop is no exception. Turn it up and enjoy.

Toeing the line between infectious and abrasive, it's this swinging energy under which Lady For Sale thrives. Indeed, this isn’t an album created to lay low, it begs for attention, and once you’re in its sights, it’s impossible not to do so.

There Will Be No Intermission is a work of art. It’s as political a record as it is personal.

Through this combination of the ethereal and the eccentric, Halo has curated a mix that twists neatly around her musical influences whilst lending an intimate sense of her own direction as a producer and DJ. It is a seamless collection rooted firmly in the contemporary which hints at a musician in complete artistic control.

Stumpwork is an essential album, and one of the very best of 2022.

HEALTH have diligently crafted an astounding pop record...one which could be enjoyed for the next six years, if necessary.

This is undoubtedly Pinegrove’s best record yet, and isn’t without its learnings for those that decide to spend some time with it. The band, and Hall, manage to retain their contemplative and overtly confessional style, and deliver something intensely moving and beautifully constructed.

There is a vitality and clarity of spirit present here that is at once immediate, intimate and irresistible.

The richness of the source material and the deftness of interplay of each member of the band ensures that Your Queen is a Reptile leaves you with a sense of having been a part of something truly special.

It’s a record of successful explorations of musical avenues. The sparingly-used vocals enhance the instrumentation that, itself, moves between the minimal and the more full-blooded. A first rate illustration of growing musical ambition and inventiveness.

It's simply stunning.

Running parallel with Aster’s allegorical fetishism of interpersonal decay, Krlic's music - even at its most choking and hopeless - feels luminous, making for a perfectly-poised accompaniment to one of the most challenging genre films in recent years.

Imaginal Disk is a testament to good old-fashioned artistry – it’s the product of a band intensely honing what they want to sound like and ending up with a style so unique that it’s barely possible to describe. It’s dorky and strange and dramatic, like the duo themselves. And it sounds like nothing I’ve ever heard.

PARANOÏA isn’t without flaw; some tracks work more as spoken poems than as songs due to their slack, unmoving instrumentation. But at almost 100 minutes, Chris’ most astounding work yet expands his craftsmanship to territories surprisingly well-suited for him.

In the end, And After That We Didn’t Talk is as impressive of a rap debut as there has been in 2015. Once GoldLink’s reputation catches up with the quality of his music we may just have a new superstar on our hands.

Ultimately, this deftly intelligent record takes personal and musical themes, and presents them in a way that doesn’t feel like it’s ever been done before. Rina Sawayama is one-of-a-kind, and her debut album certainly isn’t going to be quiet about that.

Kveikur is a record you play for the sheer catharsis of it--a work of art to plug into when grey buildings and greyer skies tower too densely around you, and you wish for nothing more than to close your eyes and feel the terrible greatness of nature swallow you up.

Days of the Bagnold Summer encapsulates the best of Belle and Sebastian whist simultaneously narrating the key themes of the film. The gentle approach of the album and the complementary nature of the band’s rerecording’s and the new tracks are hard to fault. Belle and Sebastian have truly found a beautiful sweet spot on Days of the Bagnold Summer between a film soundtrack and a signature sounding album.

It stands as both a fascinating new direction, and a heartbreaking memoir of a period now sinking into the past.

Her trademark confidence is now tinged with a newfound self-awareness, as if evolving through her experience of the joys and pitfalls of celebrity. ... Surprisingly, the standout track from the record, “Crying in the Car”, is a diorama of nostalgia, melancholy and faith, counterbalancing Megan’s overall ethos of optimistic self-empowerment. ... For listeners, it makes a strong case for the rapper’s longevity within the increasingly fickle world of music.

It’s a huge, sprawling Britpop epic that evokes The Verve, Oasis and even U2 in its scope and power. There are walls of guitars, layers of backing vocals, thunderous percussive blasts.

Delicate and crystalline in sound & execution, what we have here is brave, innovative, unexpected, and brilliant.

It is easily El Perro del Mar's most impressive work to date. In lesser hands, such difficult topics might have been rendered in a cliché, one-sided way. But Assbring manages to deliver a heart rending, honest, multifaceted meditation on grief in a tightly-penned ten track album that demands nothing less than our full attention.

Uplifting, powerful and sincere, Pip Blom deliver a rich, ocean-inspired debut that is instantly captivating. This is the opening chapter to something very exciting.

In true Simz fashion, conscious reflections unfold over the producer’s sprawling arrangements. NO THANK YOU makes certain that every gap is filled tastefully: bellowed vocal ad-libs and melodies (“X”); tasteful guitar tinkles (“Who Even Cares”); or sampled vocal interjections (“Heart On Fire” or “Sideways”).

Turning it up to eleven, PUP’s second album is a tongue-in-cheek rampage through everything that matters. The dream might not be what they thought it would be, but when they’re capable of a record as unrelenting as this one, then it’s certainly not over.

In anyone else’s hands, 30 tracks might feel bloated and indulgent, but Swift tempers length with careful curation, sequencing and a respect for what made the original Red such a superb pop record.

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.

If Cape God felt like Hughes beginning to create her own universe, Girl with No Face marks her apotheosis as her deity. Still sleeping on Allie X? It’s time to wake up: her spaceship has truly landed.

Slater is adept at wrenching every available feeling from a short stint of words, a talent that's gestated wonderfully as the band have found their feet.

Every single edition of this release is great value for money, and long-term and new fans alike will find hours of listening pleasure to be had no matter their budget.

Uncut Gems is a triumph. The Oneohtrix Point Never albums occupy almost every different mood the human body is capable of expressing and now Lopatin’s soundtrack work is starting to do the same. We’ve had the moody, anxious Lopatin on Good Time and now Uncut Gems has allowed him to show his more thoughtful and emotional side.

The collective's return gleams with ambition. Packing the same ferocity and awe of a firework display with ebullient lighter moments shaded with synth flourishes, and rapturously prototypical loud darker ones which apprehend and shake you to the core.

In other words, Moderat have stepped up to the plate and then some.

This album is fun to listen to. The songs breeze by. It’s a 20 track album which feels half the length and the Dirty Projectors are now resolutely a band, and a band reborn.

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.

This record is intelligent, succinct in its ambitions, and more than anything, it’s pretty bloody cool.

Its stylistic diversity can be off-putting at first. But the more you listen, the more it all comes together.

A record that feels like one of 2017’s most exciting, fascinating and emotionally involving albums.

Zeros is a cross-generational demi masterpiece. It’s also wholly modern though, not simply relying on nostalgia. McKenna displays an incredibly mature understanding and absorption of his inspirations, rather than just referencing or rehashing them.

Tainted Lunch is an irresistible delight; once you taste it you know you can never go without it again. Seductive, inescapable, overpowering, and you might need to take a shower afterwards.

Much like Sloppy Jane’s Madison, this record is an addition to American surrealism that is made to challenge the now complacent temperament of what is acceptably ‘experimental.’

The Next Day is very, very good. Purposefully good--the work of someone who seemingly knew that if he was going to come back at all, it had to be with something blessed with brilliance.

Nielson and Unknown Mortal Orchestra have created a genuinely psychedelic pop gem in the sense that it has virtually zero on in common with what psych-pop is supposed to sound like. What's more, the results are easily infectious enough for us to join them without hesitation on this richly rewarding ride into the unknown.

Death Jokes is a complex chasm of fractured, intertwining ideas, songs that grasp for purpose, songs with drops of sorts.

Bloom is an exceptional pop album, but maybe more importantly it’s a beacon for queer people who struggle to reconcile our neuroses--societal and personal--with our potential for joy and love.

Magnificently composed, Weyes Blood reaches out to cast your loneliness away. Feeling like a timeless classic, this record is one that you can revisit whenever you want to hear the comforting sounds of another soul trying to figure it all out.

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.

As a whole, the album rejects traditional song structures, though the final three tracks (“Shy”, “Fade Away” and “Make Believe”) are arguably the most melodic on the record. Such a duality implies the sheer range of Diamond’s artistry, so much so that it would be criminal to label her a “new kind of popstar”. Simply put, she is a new kind of star, an artistic voice that stands out in the tumult of the modern musical world.

It’s a tried and tested sound but Peck’s perspective feels utterly fresh, and suggests perhaps all of the glitz and camp are actually just Peck being true to himself.

With sumptuous harmonies and a live band locked in on every track, .Paak finds a sweet spot between throwback soul and the 21st Century dancefloor. He sounds like the best version of himself. ... An exceptional return to form.

The album ends suddenly and uncertainly. We’re left with plenty to mull over but, equally importantly, a great desire to hear those ginormous hooks all over again.

It shows a remarkable advancement in the band’s no-holds barred approach to making loud music. It may sound much more slick. And the mix is a lot less noisy and raw. But don’t be fooled – the tunes are just as brutal and punishing as ever, while that superior production allows the tunes to breathe in a novel way.

That such revelations can be borne out of isolation should be a comfort to us all right now, and Cenzias is a record expansive enough to open up even the smallest rooms.

You might miss the electric-burn intensity of the lead guitars from In a Poem Unlimited, or you might miss the Iggy’s The Idiot-meets-Marc Bolan-and-Madonna-on-a-Tarantino-soundtrack vibes, but ultimately, there’s just as much to enjoy here. Heavy Light is more subdued, more restrained, and certainly more beautiful than its big sister.

The album in question is worth the wait though, a collection of polished alt-pop tracks with the band's consistently sparkling production, this time helmed by JT Daly with considerable input from vocalist Lynn Gunn.

Maruja and their defiant debut record meet us at that starting point, helping us to make sense of a world gone numb, to turn numbness into feeling and fire.

It’s a heady, dazzling blend of pop, punk, dance, funk and electronica, moulded into a swirl of kaleidoscopic energy.

Breathtaking debut album. ... Basic Volume is one of the most cohesive and meticulously thought-through albums of the year.

Crash is nothing short of a victory lap. Every bit as effervescent as its pandemic-induced predecessor, how i’m feeling now. ... This is connected and organic; a celebration of hope, love and spontaneity as both her catalogue and the world at large inch closer to some semblance of their old ways.

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.

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.

Rashad’s gotten himself straight, and as a result he’s returned triumphantly from his 5-year absence with his best album yet.

It's due to the effortless nature of his rhythm and rhyme let the words float with direction, but it's not until you properly hone in on the syllables do you find the map unravelling, and the bigger picture coming to life that helps the poison sink in with the trap beats.

Vulnicura Strings sees Björk restructuring an already phenomenal work of art and creating an even more desolate mood than the phenomenal Vulnicura, where time is frozen but also somewhere to move on from. It’s not a place to visit every day, but whenever you need a reminder about what great art looks and feels like here’s where to go to.

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.

Here, we observe Celeste widening her scope by lessening it, capturing new forms of light as a nascent force – one who has quickly catapulted her name into the stratosphere of what it takes to rebrand and revolutionize the club.

Using music as an outlet for often irresolvable frustrations that we can all share in, Vera Sola establishes herself as a unique talent. On her debut, an album awash with tormenting demons, she emerges unfrightened, defiantly alone, from the shade.

Acting as both sultry invitation and empowered self-confession, the song is a clarion call for all those who deign to diminish the duo’s talents – talents that blaze through on Ungodly Hour with a full and unrelenting force.

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

It’s concise and straight-to-the-point, with no signs of over-indulgence. In short, it’s the album fans of the New York rapper always knew he was capable of making.

God only knows if Great Grandpa will ever top Patience, Moonbeam. For now, let's cherish it. After all, with this album, they've proven you can't rush greatness.

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.

Though Dust often feels like it’s dreaming, you’re nevertheless consistently reminded of its complexity and Halo’s deep cognisance of the musical language.

It is the sound of an artist finally getting to let loose and say the things that have stayed locked up inside for too long. In turn, Teitelbaum offers an exciting introduction to a talented songwriter and a thoroughly rewarding debut.

A luscious, intricate body of work, Shadow Offering recounts pain, heartbreak, anger, and everything else that nestles in the heart of humanity before lifting the trodden towards the light of hope.