Stranger, is a fully formed welcome to the staying power of Lean, and this third chapter is unlike anything he’s done before, while simultaneously being everything he’s done before.

While it’s likely to be the most enthusiastic record you hear all year, Yes, It’s True is probably the band’s weakest album yet.

While it’s a shame Radiohead and Bowie in the flesh couldn’t make it to the sessions, Gabriel’s concept fulfills its original intention: to show everyone a little appreciation and respect, even if the end result comes out a butcher shop’s tribute to a man whose melodic craftsmanship is beyond approximation.

The Nextwave Sessions is five tracks from a band who’ve etched their mark on the UK music scene, stretching their sound whilst still occasionally snapping back to what made them so appealing eight years ago.

It’s an unsettling, incomparable racket of The Fall at their wonderful, frightening best.

Whilst there are fragmented glimpses of influence peppered throughout, the record remains very true to And So I Watch You From Afar’s sound; too much at the beginning, but brilliantly later on.

Someday, Buddy doesn’t shy away from its own big moments, but it does have a way of deflecting attention from them.

Though the easy-to-follow lyrics and even easier-to-follow melodies throughout Great Big Blue make it ripe for every summer playlist under the sun, the result is of genuine collaboration and friendship, giving it a charm beyond its obvious summery sheen.

There are no question marks next to ambition here but rather a general air of confusion in the artistic make-up of the songs that makes Mosaic a slightly frustrating listen.

The Ark Work pays tribute to Hunt-Hendrix’s dogged desire to push listeners’ buttons. Sure, this could all be a massive wind-up, but to these ears Liturgy seem to have melted down the traditional ingredients of black metal and crafted it into something unyielding, unique and ultimately engrossing.

The lyrics are tighter, more poetic and speak volumes of a band that have something quite specific to express.

Greene dials down, as was the case with the preceding LP, Notes from Quiet Life serving as a comedown equivalent to the sonic swelter of the former.

If you want audio gastronomy, go elsewhere. If, however, you just want some good ol’ dirty pop, pull up a chair and get stuck in.

Living Fields achieves that rare feat of giving electronic music a beating heart, and is without a doubt one of the best records of its class this year.... And although Portico as musicians are still pushing themselves to new places, they’re not quite pushing the listener as far as they used to.

Elegant and artful to its core, Where Wildness Grows is an impressive step forward from a band who seemingly have more to prove to themselves than anyone else.

Kamikaze is the sound of Eminem with his back against the wall, and this has led to some of his most invigorated writing in years--albeit with some troubling lyrical results. Whether he'll be able to maintain this level of energy into his next project is up for debate; for now though, any inspiration is promising.

There are a few duds in there where the dynamism and the delicacy clash ineffectively, but they are outnumbered by the surprising number of triumphs.

Dense, uneasy psychedelia dominates, and although this isn’t a product of wilfully inaccessible experimentation, neither does it contain much in the way of instant melodies and conventional song structures.

Who Am I? may be a sidestep on their journey to individuality — distancing themselves from comparisons to The 1975 by emulating Avril Lavigne isn’t exactly a foolproof plan — but for a band still early in their career, it’s another definite confirmation of their potential until they eventually carve out a niche of their own.

Though impressive and vaguely explorative, the record falls slightly short of the mark for an outfit aiming to reinvent themselves.

The second half passes with little to no note, leaving a yearning for perhaps a bit more adventure in the future.

Dapperton, by inviting listeners so openly into his feelings and experiences is where Dapperton will find his footing for the next step up. It really is hard to predict just where Gus Dapperton will go after this.

It certainly sounds very much like the record he wanted to make, and nothing like anything he's done previously.

The Liverpool five-piece let the album form organically and in doing so have released a sharp, shimmering and versatile album.

Even if dented in places by swings of irony (this is, after all, a band that named their first album Nirvana), there’s an undeniable positivity underlying 10000 that rises above the din.

This album is a far cry from the 90’s American college-radio rock of their Blumberg-indebted debut, but, for a seemingly make or break record, Stranger Things just doesn’t really take enough risks.

It’s perfectly passable, but everything that marked The Head and the Heart out as potentially exceptional has been buried.

It can be straightforward, but more often than not on Too Much Information it’s actually quite clever.