It’s The Avalanches’ efforts that make this album, although the deeper forays into hip-hop on "Because I’m Me", "The Noisy Eater" and even the poorly-received comeback "Frankie Sinatra"--much stronger in context--lend a nice variety and harder edge.

He demonstrates an effortless knack for crafting intricate and loveable pop gems, while shamelessly embracing heart-on-sleeve lyricism about love, dreams and shooting stars. ... He has managed to produce one of the year's most interesting indie records.

It’s ambitious, even expansive, in scope, despite the introspection his lyrics communicate, and even if it wasn’t the intention, he provides an incredible snapshot of urban life through the lens of love and brittle electro-soul.

This is a debut album that cements Fender’s place at the golden table: the perfect first attempt.

Over the course of the record, MØ finds her own identity again. And although Forever Neverland features Diplo, Charli XCX and Empress Of (two of which for whom she’s returning the favour), they never overshadow her; a refreshing angle considering she’s been the featured one for the past few years.

These more polished but less straight-forward songs makes for their least instantly gratifying collection, but leaves a strong feeling that in the long-term it might become the most rewarding yet.

It’s hard not to lavish Owens with praise here, but atop Inner Song’s exceptional track list and an underlying message based around acceptance and healing, Owens uses those experiences to expand into a wider array of exploration and storytelling.

Sukierae’s the kind of a record where almost every listen provides different favourite moments. That has to be a very good indicator of its overall merits.

It’s not an exaggeration to claim that it is one the most honest, soulful and inspiring debut British rap albums since Roots Manuva’s Brand New Second Hand from 1999.

A Sunny Day have just about mastered the pleasure principle of a certain kind of agreeably arty pop music.

The Beths have managed to create another overwhelmingly thrilling record. One in stunning communion with their debut but also distinctly its own creature.

On the surface this band is whimsical and experimental but delve into the depths of their lyrics and the inner darkness becomes apparent. Adventurous and often enchanting, Burrows is one of the more intriguing debuts of the year.

This is a powerful, brave and endlessly rewarding album made by a band who have risked it all to make a giant leap towards fulfilling their potential.

C’est La Vie once again finds Houck creating sumptuous soundscapes of scorched Americana that range from slow burning laments to tipsy waltzes, but this time around with a renewed flow and finesse.

Garratt’s latest offering is a triumphant return. It is an album that does not ask you to relate to his pain, nor tells you to dance over your problems. It is an album that tells a story and ultimately, holds no fear.

Pure Luxury’s strengths issue from the way it commits wholeheartedly to a brash sonic blueprint, the unremittingly sleek surface polish sharpening its underlying social commentary - Lovett’s songwriting at its most multi-layered.

Mental Wounds is a spectacular display of two bands continuing to push expectations and who’re willing to be the flagbearers for revision.

The cleverly engineered structure makes you feel like you once again understand why the album is a thing of beauty. It makes sense. It flows. And Joakim just makes it look so easy…

It’s an ambitious enterprise--and one that Stewart tackles in a number of remarkable ways.

As the album plays, even now, it’s clear why so many people got involved, it may not be something you head towards when putting a record on these days but as a long player, like all the best albums, it plays like a greatest hits collection.

The White Album is, hands down, the best Weezer album since... well, since it became so hard to agree on what the last great Weezer album was.

There's an outlaw spirit to this record: when shit happens you just gotta get back on the saddle.

Strauss is going to continue heating up as an artist and Cheap Queen will add a whole lot of fuel to that fire.

Beyondless largely speaks for itself. It does what Iceage have always done best: it challenges everything you thought you knew about them. It could be viewed as their most accessible album yet (it features guest vocals from Sky Ferreira, after all), but it’s not as simple as that.

Their execution is highly impressive, Bedroom may be retro in its thinking, but on this debut bdrmm have proved to be forward thinking in execution. An assured and brilliant debut.

Twenty one years since his Mercury Prize nominated debut solo album Maxinquaye emerged, Tricky may have finally delivered one that can stand proudly equal alongside it.

We have 13 tracks to wander through and empathise with. Amber Bain has created a record of complete honesty, offering us a first-hand account of the highs and lows she has experienced whilst traversing modern relationships.

It's not often you heard a near seven minute pop song that leaves you wanting more, but Mr. Twin Sister manage to pull it off several times over in just under half an hour.

The album is an unguarded, autobiographical account of Visser’s most precious and challenging moments. The music doesn’t just shine, it reveals the individual struggle of “growing up, moving on, and everything that happens in between,” says Visser.

The best album of their career thus far.

Their tracks are short and sharp bursts for the most part, rarely cracking three minutes and crammed with ideas (sometimes to the point of disorientation) but it does mean nothing stagnates and keeping up with the stylistic shifts is an exhilarating task.

Self-mastering some of the tracks was a practical as well as a creative choice for the Brooklyn front man.... By doing this his output is becoming increasingly self-reflexive of his sound, his motivation and his vision--it unifies his music, making it stronger and Deezier.

While there’s nothing in anyway groundbreaking here, what makes it so interesting is the fact that TOPS don’t just recycle familiar pop tropes, but somehow manage to re-articulate the musical landscape of one decade and revitalise sounds that feel all too familiar. And that makes it an album worth talking about.

Iceage are therefore seemingly unafraid of experimentation and to play with sounds and instrumentation they discover in the process of creation. And Plowing Into The Field Of Love, acts as an extraordinary documentation of this process, where influence and intuition have come together in perfect union, allowing Iceage to expand without losing their core. In turn, they have matured to find catharsis in texture, dynamics and control rather than fast-paced adolescent aggression.

Seems Unfair manages exceed its predecessor in every way whilst never shedding any of the DIY charm that made their debut so endearing to begin with.

He’s woven a stunning debut which is as scattershot as it is coherent, and his homeland is certainly right to be heralding him as the next big thing.

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

Shearwater strikes a proper balance between anxiety and artistry on this new record, a tenuous equilibrium that the world desperately needs to find on its own at the moment.

Brien and Geeneus have turned in a finessed and involving convergence between dance and pop that mixes timeless songwriting with an energized and gutsy production.

Reservoir maintains mostly a mellow and melancholic vibe throughout, but its charm is undeniable.

Age and time haven’t withered the power of Thee Silver Mt. Zion; if anything, this five-piece incarnation of the band has distilled all that free-jazz/post-rock/orchestral/folk/punk/metal influence into a record that’s the best work the Canadians have produced to date.

While The Inheritors isn’t the pinnacle avant-garde electronic music it’s hailed as, it’s a damn fine collection of songs.

Wilderness is scholarly but not overly-calculated, ornate but not lavish. In a career that has been nothing short of innovative, this arguably marks a creative peak.

Rest assured, young worrier, Chiaroscuro is triumphant.

Listening to Anicca is like watching the sunlight burst through a stained glass window: everything you hear is bathed in light; warm, soft-focused notes swirl together in a wash of colour – the perfect soundtrack to brighten any setting.

2018 is barely halfway through, but Harlan & Alondra will have to be crowbarred out of end-of-year lists come December. An absolute triumph.

You might not speak Spanish, but great music is universal and this, is unequivocally that.

There's evolution with purpose in every fibre of 1989, and far from jettisoning her integrity in this drastic lunge, she's proved in her bold, risky decision that she's got courage in her convictions to pull it off and faith in her fans to accept the new direction.

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

It’s Chairlift at their most vulnerable, but also at their most jubilant, documenting their burning passions with their most confident sound to date. Most importantly, it’s Chairlift at their most fun.

They’re not ceasing their distinct punk-rap, but they’re offering a new portion of the spectrum. If you found it had to stomach their previous material, CLPPNG will provide you a rope, from which you can drag yourself into their miscreant lair. Fair warning: they may not let you leave.

Be warned: a full appreciation of this album requires numerous listens - it offers little at first glance, but the moment you surrender yourself to this fate, all becomes clear.

There are one or two slightly lacklustre moments, such as "Hold On Me", which doesn’t feel like it belongs, but they are far outnumbered and outshined by the groove of songs like "Old Flame" and the smart, questioning lyrics of "Validation". It’s a record that challenges complacency

Taylor and co-producer Brad Cook (Bon Iver producer and collaborator, formerly of Megafaun) use the space and details of the performances to emphasise the mood of the songs more effectively than ever before.

With their third album, Twin Peaks have become not just one of the most exciting young bands in the Chicago music scene, but in the entire rock landscape.

GINGER yields a sound that is more emotionally evolved than any album thus far. ... The result is BROCKHAMPTON have finally come of age.

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.

While Taylor definite seems to prefer to approach his themes and ideas with a sombre touch, he’s not afraid to whack up the pace a notch or two, and it appears he actively enjoys getting stuck into dissembling standard percussive forces.

Gist Is shows a lightness of touch that’s few and far between on debut records.

Prisoner is an album filled with Adams reconciling his doubts and fears about life and love with his faith in music and the power of song. And ultimately--thankfully--music wins out over heartbreak in the end.

This album opens up the treasure chest and allows you to marvel. His disposable notions turn out to be consistently worthy of such regard.

Olsen is a unique songwriter of incredible complexity and fearlessness, and despite her ostensibly considerable inner sorrow, she manages to deliver an album that is as equally exultant as it is despondent.

What follows is a highlight in an album of standouts.

Is it worth the time, passion and investment of the listener? To those unfamiliar with XCX, or who only know her in passing, the answer is irrevocably yes; for others, it depends upon the value they place on a well-crafted retrospective.

Nothing Was the Same is different because Drake has stopped worrying so much about who he’s become and figured out who he is.

Future Islands seem to communicate certain fundamental truths about the travails and triumphs of themselves and their compatriots with an eloquence that is unparalleled by virtually any of their current peers; moreover, they have obtained access a significant international audience for their ideas without compromising their artistic approach.

Overall, though, this is a satisfyingly substantial listen.

That’s why it's a remarkable debut, it doesn’t sound like anyone else, it sounds like Lowly, who on Heba are a band completely on top of their own game.

Hinson’s yarn-spinning ability that was so beautifully displayed in previous albums has not mellowed--it’s here, and rawer than ever.

If a whole album could sum up my juvenile years of prepubescent chanting along to anthems in the kitchen at house parties, it would be this.

Me is both a fabulous anthology of boisterous pop songs, and a timely, revelatory album for a lot of people to live vicariously through.

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.

Honeymoon reaffirms her ability to make important, masterful pop music that doesn’t pay a blind bit of notice to fashion and it's all the better for it.

Show Me The Body make music that isn't easy either; what's so important about them is their ability to drag your gaze in those uncomfortable directions.

It’s a record full of brilliant playing, solid gold songs and most importantly it feels like an honest assessment of where The Men are right now as a band and as individuals.

Startisha, as such, finds Juwan transcending genre without qualm, a path crossed by many, but delivered here with a precision and confessional centre that feels innate, organic and without lull.

As a collection of tracks Holiday descends into a humid nostalgic reflection, yet each individual song is its own small pocket of joy.

While still creating boundless, exceptional fringe-pop, on Platform Herndon is finding countless new ways to hold our attention: deploying a greater sense of narrative, an emboldened melodic arsenal and enough enthusiasm to remind us why she remains a vital voice in peripheral pop.

Sometimes you have to look back to move forward, and by doing that, Underworld have made their best album in almost twenty years.

It’d be easy for Tracing Back to follow down the paths of say, GAS, or the somber mirk of Kyle Bobby Dunn, but thoughtfully, Cantu-Ledesma never verges over that line even though he may hint at it. Instead, by staying in line, Tracing Back serves as one of this year’s most angelically-bright collections of ambient music.

The record is an absolute trip: a movable feast pressed to 12 inches of microgroove.

As a coherent album, it’s an affecting listen. The samples of dialogue that occasionally flicker behind the dense aural foliage, Burial-like, provide a human counterpoint to this austere, automated music, organic glows that briefly distract from Lopatin’s caustic waves of electronica.

At its best, the album is all at once loud, ethereal, and haunting--as if being violently jolted awake from a lucid dream you can’t quite remember.

Thin Mind speaks to the concerns of an age fraught with ennui and commodification; much-needed social commentary scored with the understated, melodic, often allusive edge that is the outfit’s creative stamp.

Faulty Superheroes, simply put, is faultless.

While Forever… stands as a cohesive work, its last three songs stand out, containing some of Whitney’s most powerful writing to date.

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.

An experience that's exhilarating, frenetic and gratifying.

Young Fathers had nothing to prove in 2015, which makes White Men Are Black Men Too such a start to finish joy to listen to. Even the tail end of the record is packed with surprises.

The Shakes is a record with raw energy.

In Personal Record, Eleanor Friedberger has delivered on every promise she’s ever made with her music, and come up with an ever-unfolding, fully-realised gem.

Amongst the album’s subtler shades, some might miss Lone’s trademark fireworks, but while Reality Testing might not bear the genre-defining feel of its predecessor, its personality and refreshing humanity provide ample compensation.

Almost inevitably, the result is something that makes most commercial music look like a palid, indistinct, homogenous mass.

Her love of hip hop is imbued in the very core of Compliments Please, shirking much of the folkish arrangements of Slow Club for a sound far bolder, and at 16 tracks strong it is clear that Taylor is not short of ideas.

Life After Defo is a truly captivating debut, with a poignancy that lasts far beyond the first listen.

There’s a richness to IV which was not present on their last record, and it revolutionises their appeal.

For those that do connect with the concept of this album as a whole and allow themselves to become immersed in Abbott’s analogue world, Wysing is as beguiling and intriguing as any record released this year.

It’s pop music of the highest calibre, music for the head, heart, feet and everywhere in between.