Nubiyan Twist and their cast of collaborators are so adept at what they do. Bouncing off each other, and melding genres while still always feeling like a Nubiyan Twist record. Creating an album that’s satisfying in it’s playful and oh so funky breadth, if not it’s depth.

This certainly isn’t one for Mumford & Sons fans. There’s no big, foot-stomping, sing-along moments here; instead, the song arrangements are sumptuously layered, built on many little, delicate, moving parts, masterfully put together by producer Blake Mills.

If David Gordon Green can get performances this good out of Prince Avalanche stars Paul Rudd and Emile Hirsch then he’s on to an absolute winner--Explosions In The Sky and David Wingo are already there.

The record is an amazing first stride for Amateur Best, one that’s both full of pop sensibilities and avant-garde experimenting.

The songs are beautifully crafted, shimmering with an alluring magic and aura, existing in their own time and space.

Filled with high-octane rock-infused instrumentation, demanding lyrics and strong vocal performances, Garageband Superstar is a truly impressive debut from the Isle of Wight's own brightly burgeoning scuzz-pop superstar.

Views, like Take Care and Nothing Was the Same before it, is brilliant in places and thoroughly bloated in others.

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

Though longtime fans of Porches--or any of Maine’s work--will never get another Pool, The House makes for a fulfilling, if not occasionally excellent listen and addition to Maine’s discography.

There’s plenty to admire of Swift – her voice, her curiosity, her ability to mine emotional nuance – but that’s been true of every Swift era. What’s missing here is the glue. Similar to Red, some tracks just don’t mesh.

It’s a foot-tappingly bundle of disco-pop that is not ashamed of its influences and refuses to bore for even the shortest of moments.

While there are certainly times on Without Your Love where Greenspan’s over-application of eerie temperaments and lofty layers of sampling can start to drag--the found sound, musique concrète of ‘Misunderstood’ or ‘Crossed Wires’’ uninteresting non-sequitur coming immediately to mind--these rarely detract from what is, at its core, a fascinating, contemplative and forward-thinking collection.

Cutting Up The Present Leaks The Future is a refreshing listen. Its lo-fi aesthetic, invigorating guitar approach, nuanced throwbacks, heartfelt lyrics and general quality (among many other fascinating titbits) all make for a lovely record.

Baio’s third and latest doesn’t drastically divert from type as such but presents his songwriting at its most concrete in pace, malleability and variety.

Taken as a whole, this is a perfectly enjoyable album if you want your music to be nostalgic, friendly and accessible. If you’re a jaded rock fan looking for a newish band and a reliable sound, Starcrawler are for you. For everybody else, proceed with caution.

On their debut, MM@TA have cemented themselves as champions of olden days pop punk, repackaged and remodelled for the new generation.

On balance, Music For Dogs kind of ends up resembling a bag of chocolate misshapes: weird-looking and questionable, but still somehow oddly loveable.

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.

Pray For Rain sees Pure Bathing Culture taking a step towards an elevated form of the type of leftfield pop the band produced during their first outing, and in doing so, they’ve created an album wrought with subtle nuances and big ideas.

The mystery of Alex Cameron continues to be unsolved, but after Forced Witness, his identity and place in the indie world seems to be much clearer, and at times, all the more impressive.

They’re Zayn’s stories but they’re shared in such an honest, straightforward yet compelling manner that they feel like your own.

It’s uplifting, motivating and unashamedly simple (which, frankly, is it’s major charm).

Smilewound’s gleeful, weird-pop eclecticism builds up the goodwill to cover any lull.

At 40 minutes, this is an easily digestible, at times highly enjoyable and always playfully inventive listen.

Dry The River have here proven that they hold their own distinct niche in our record collections, and are settling in to it nicely.

By letting their political frustration run away with them, they’ve carved out their own identity and worn it on their sleeves; the results are engrossing.

It falls into a very similar trap to the band’s last album, which started with a track that sounded promisingly fresh (“The Singer Addresses His Audience”) before immediately lapsing into Decemberists-by-numbers (“Cavalry Captain”).

Sadly, so much of Somewhere Else exists in such a haze that it’s difficult to really find anything to sink one’s teeth in to.