Here is an album that embraces every fibre of your being; generous in its awe-inspiring and beautiful moments. It’ll keep you guessing every minute of its hour long run. It’s uniquely Pumarosa and there’s nothing else quite like it.

Despite the eclectic genre-hopping, all of Résistance ends up sounding unmistakably and thrillingly like Songhoy Blues.

If the album’s mind is fixed on a future world, it is an open-ended one. The tendency at this point might be to assume that all imagined futures are dystopian, but the spirit of Don’t Look Away and the sum of the pictures and story fragments Tucker has strung together in the record are reflected in its title: the good, the bad, the beauty, the fear...don’t look away from any of it.

The violence and sheer horror of Deaths is not only immensely enjoyable, but utterly necessary.

This is intelligent, knowingly silly music that should have no place in 2019. It’s anachronistic, beholden to its influences, and just a bit lightweight to be anything but a bit of a laugh. But, as this is 2019, and the real world is anything but a bit of a laugh, thank God for records like this. The world is in a dire condition, and International Teachers of Pop have given us a beautiful distraction.

Whether in Harare, Rotterdam or Peckham, Mushonga feels those most-human of emotions: heartache, isolation, pressure to conform, but refuses to be shackled by them. Instead, we are invited on her geographical and psychological journey, and encouraged to embrace the turbulence.

If you’re looking for an album with a coherent, tangible theme then perhaps this isn’t the one for you. Instead it’s a coagulation of the weird and the wonderful, and just a snapshot of the immense power of FEET. Complete madness, but so much fun.

Each featured artist brings their best game and does what they do best. And in return, K&K thrive, bouncing off the energy of their fellow artists.

This album is not a timeless classic, it is a du jour album that showcases a drummer and producer’s talent at capturing the sound of the times. It should be enjoyed as such: a testament to young musicians blending tradition and modernity in exciting new ways.

Deceptively simple, yet holding a world of complexity within it, Yeo-Neun is airy abandon in parts and heavy sensitivity in others. Remarkably honest and creatively challenging, the album projects into a constant companion, whether with its unflinchingly beautiful musicality or its daring noisiness.

This follow-up to 2018’s Might As Well With My Soul, in some sense, serves to highlight the band’s underrated ability to deviate from well-worn norms.

On Death Of The Party the four-piece adds a dash of Northern Soul to the mix, and it’s a perfect complement to their Beach Boys harmonies.

Young Heart is consistent from start to finish. While it won’t necessarily ruffle many feathers, it’s a coherent addition to an already charming catalogue from Birdy.

It’s a rich tapestry of sounds that comes straight from the heart. That might be Marten’s secret ingredient: no matter how left-field the compositions are, whether warming or breaking, there’s always a lot of heart in the music.

The subtleties written into the album's DNA make all the difference (with the mention of the album's title in so many of the lyrics acting as unifying sentiment), almost to a faultless degree.

You Signed Up For This is candidly aware of the simple fact that you just don’t have everything right just yet. Combining this with Peters' constantly evolving and sharp song writing, and a braver, more mature sound, the singer-songwriter proves she’s one tough act to follow.

Lovesick, woozy, and somewhat optimistic, Are U Down? demonstrates an inherent musicality and dextrous ability that is likely to become magical in due course.

Modern Fiction rarely devolves into out-and-out dourness, but it has a consistent, latent sense of melancholy, something Ducks Ltd. manage with impressive expertise, and which adds a welcome and affecting weight to their sound.

The more deeply you dig in, the more compelling depths Fleuves De l’Ame reveals.

A record that belies its debut status, Unlearning bares the strength and complexity of a later career offering, with Walt Disco deftly updating their precursors’ flair from a twenty-first century vantage point, championing the illustrious Scottish post-punk tradition in the process.

The Regrettes already seem pretty at home in their new soundscape, roaming between stripped-back guitars and fully-fledged pop.

Short though this may be, it’s nothing if not meticulous.

Alpha Zulu confronts reality with a dreamy neon-lit elegance pulsing with playful vitality, it runs on its nerves but has its feet on the dance floor.

While her vocals ground her in a country vein, her sonic contexts borrow from and integrate blues-rock, classic-rock, and pop sounds. The result is her most freewheeling sequence to date.

It is a record that embraces recovery and revels in the joy of reclaiming what you love and wanting to go further with it. Gregory’s debut is an album that tells a painful story, with a renewed sense of optimism.

Last Man Dancing is a party to escape to when life gets a little bit too much, and it delivers on its mission statement with abundance.

Essentially, HELLMODE all but confirms the sincerity electrifying the voice of our charming punk hero. With little hope to hold onto, he's still angry, urgent, and prescient as ever.

All told, Accompany provides compelling testimonial for the case that Michael Nau is one of the most underrated singer-songwriters currently in circulation: an album you’re guaranteed to want to, er, accompany you for months to come.