Cale’s ability to do so many things so well is what makes him a true artist amongst amateurs, but it's also a clear disregard of the need to encourage people to like him that feels refreshing in an age where there seems to be a desperate stampede in the opposite direction.

His voice, tremulous, always searching, always yearning, makes everything he plays sound like the aftershocks of a broken heart, his teasing humour assuring you that despite everything it’d probably be ok.

Through a dizzying blend of experimentation, innovation and stylistic idiosyncrasy Everything Everything have created another peerless record with Raw Data Feel, one which proves once more that the horizons the band chases are theirs and theirs alone.

Both his tone and skill compliment the instrumental arrangements on each track, often effortlessly switching between his head, the mix and chesty voice are inspiring.

The sleek and luxurious Through The Wall, doubles down and delivers the purest distillation of her vision so far, and on top of that, it’s one of the best pop albums of the year.

When you finally reach the level of brilliance you’ve been working toward for so long, The Window is exactly what it sounds like.

It could easily have fallen apart under the weight of the assembled egos, its car crash of dramatic themes or even just been doomed by the epic centrepiece of the album--the10-minute "Faustus"--but it doesn’t. The album works. And I daresay, it’s a damn sight more successful take on life, war, death and re-birth than Einsturzende Neubauten’s First World War-inspired album Lament.

Process is an impressive curtain-raiser to what is sure to be an equally impressive solo career.

On this record it is clear that Staples is making his own assertive artistic statement for these turbulent times, while also firmly establishing himself as one of the brash, singular voices that is going to be leading the music world into the chaotic, unpredictable future.

With no fillers in sight, Joesef’s musical talent is consistently reinforced with versatility that never sounds out of place.

The desire she sought to turn into on the title track is fully realised in these mesmerising and wholly unique soundscapes.

It's the beginning of the 2018 and talk of albums of the year right now is obviously churlish, but on Microshift we're hearing a band hitting their sweet spot with such an effortless swagger that we're sure this is a contender.

Despite Furman’s own insecurities and wanderlust, Perpetual Motion People sounds like home.

With every track a souvenir of good ideas taken up throughout an illustrious career, and every lyric a hard-earned proverb, Night Palace could easily be defined as Elverum’s wisest release. It contains the breadth of a career and of a life spent in dedication to compatible wavelengths, of sounds in the new.

From the descending, soulful lines on “Backwards” with its urgent pulse to the glassy textures of “Vera (Judah Speaks)" with a club energy always moments away from being revisited, refreshingly, Yesterday Is Heavy never lets you veer too far from the present tense.

The album could be one of the finest debuts of the decade, with every band member shining in their ability and craftsmanship.

Every Country’s Sun is an intent-drenched return to form from a band who, thank Christ, have never once abandoned it.

With this album, they’ve crafted something that is still powerful, vital and confrontational, but balanced between fury and finesse. Constant Noise is more enveloping, mesmeric and, at times, beautiful in its mannered rage.

There’s a self-assuredness that runs throughout the project. Crisp and crystalline, the cohesiveness alone make Diamond’s latest re-imagining of pop pretty much perfect, but it's her attention to detail that elevates it even higher. Lyrically she goes deeper than before, but that doesn’t necessarily mean the album takes a dark turn – in fact its sound is bright and bold.

The Dusk in Us continues to show the depth that Converge can hold below the abrasive sounds. They don’t create chunks of music to be instantly digested, they create art which is meant to take you prisoner in a darkness that will ultimately show you more than you ever realised.

It’s a very buoyant creation - perhaps her most levitous release since Debut - that concerns itself with ancestry and legacy.

An album that delivers on all fronts, from the ratatat of drill or the swinging hip-hop beats, EDNA explores as much as it uncovers more sides to its voice. Throughout, the littered guest posts each represent a facet of Headie’s journey perfectly.

Trip9Love…??? feels just as symbiotic in that way as previous cuts 2018's Devotion and 2021's Colourgrade did, but this time, they’re so emotionally vivid that it’s disquieting to feel like a fly on the wall. Once again, they leave the listener submerged.

Thanks to the fact that Car Seat Headrest is now a band rather than a solo recording project, there’s more spit and polish to the songs, a level of gloss that Twin Fantasy really benefits from.

While The Patience is less conceptually rounded, and instead, a directive of bottled emotion and frustrations inevitably concluding with an artistic clarity, Mick Jenkins proves his worth goes beyond a label deal. Even firing loose cannons he’s a lethal voice with plenty to say.

From the very outset, they exceed expectations, such is the quality and compositional depth of the material here.

It’s not just Album Time, it’s crazy psychedelic hoo-ha time, and it sounds pretty damn fine.

Death of a Cheerleader takes a step back to roam over the whole of a young person’s identity, but the songs still pack a heavy punch. ... But in running the full gamut of young identity, there is pure, unfettered joy to be found even in the depths of rage.