[A] fantastic sophomore effort.

For the second time this year, Hey Colossus have succeeded in outsmarting just about everyone.

Obviously seven CDs need a major investment of time, but the investment is certainly rewarded.

Putting more ambition also means more risk taken, yet Monet and her collaborators go through it with confidence.

Although refreshing, the many influences of the second half are quite a hard contrast to the first ten tracks, whose productions are meditative and intuitively balanced. Although there are constantly new elements appearing, the crisp tracks never get overcrowded, giving the project a luxurious finish.

IDLES aren’t being macho or destructive in suggesting that we might have to tear it all down and start again if we’re going to truly come together. This is the jarring sound of sensitivity in a new age of chaos.

On Art Angels, we hear that high art experimentation fall into mainstream territory with only fleeting moments of brilliance.

What better balm for the start of another troubled year than our biggest star making music as good as this?

Somehow these seemingly disparate parts hang together as a thematically logical and coherent whole: there’s still some of the year left, but it’s pretty unlikely that there will be a more compelling and inspired guitar album than Acadia emerging in 2024.

The LP steps away from their usual repertoire, offering a softer, more stripped-back approach to their musings, teetering on the edge of almost folk-rock.

It’s a unique record, for sure, and one that deserves at least some of your time.

I Loved You At Your Darkest dips in and out of musical splendour, changing course and reference, and while not necessarily black metal in a full labeling sense, nor rock-heavy alone, it’s a rather accessible hybrid.

With its attention to detail and exceptional vocal delivery, The Hardest Part is a debut for the ages. An album that is both culturally relevant and sonically refined to the point of timelessness.

By leaning into powerful dynamics and their natural propensity for climactic moments, Foxing has crafted a remarkably emotional statement about feeling emotionless.

If Cosmogramma signalled Stephen Ellison's ambition to be more than a beatmaker, then this record is the accomplishment of that ambition. You're Dead! might be the most immortal Flying Lotus album to date.

It's one of the rock albums of the year, and if it is the case--as is rumoured--that it's their last, then it's also a perfect swan song.

Shepherd in a Sheepskin Vest isn't perfect. Its sprawl lacks the tight focus of Dream River, and a few of the tracks drift in and out of focus. Give it enough time to cohere, however, and this largely successful attempt at rebooting Callahan's songwriting soon acquires a hypnotic pull.

Whereas White Denim’s output has occasionally in the past brought to mind a musical polymath trying on different outfits to see which one will fit, 12 feels like White Denim’s most direct, emotionally honest and cohesive (not to mention unabashedly catchy) album.

The Past Is Still Alive is a remarkable album, one which achieves the impossible trick of capturing the mood of a nation and a vivid portrait of a single fascinating person – all within one gorgeous stew.

With Filthy Underneath, Shah doesn’t necessarily reinvent herself, though she certainly recommits to honesty, vulnerability, and stepping out of comfort zones, all the while documenting an important self-initiation.

The instrumentation on My Back is gentle, self-conscious, and loose in structure while that on her earlier works is poised and intricate. This rawness doesn’t make it any less powerful; it intensifies the despondency haze that hangs in the air of each song like a yet-to-rain nimbus.

While the first third of the LP shows a band more focused than ever, the lack of playfulness proves a detriment going into the middle chunk of Everything Harmony. ... The third to last track, “Ghost Run Free”, offers hope for fans.

No matter who it is, we know who Sampha is: a generational talent who has once again delivered a rich, emotional work for us to process. Lahai is phenomenal.

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.

What held together the sounds from her previous records for me were the classical segments, the overarching concepts, the storytelling and the interludes between songs (admittedly these aren’t enormously popular or easily translatable to a live show), which are completely removed here. Given the switch in tone, it feels like Monae is more comfortable in her skin and her sound, but is this a good thing for the music?

Despite occasional lyrical obtuseness, it’s a joy to hear Callahan back over thick, syrupy instrumentation, and there’s an abundance of riches here.

And while some songs on this album get drowned out by the grandiosity of its goals, the project – and the man behind it – are as strong as ever. GNX is the blueprint for a new rap zeitgeist, and all we can do is hope that everyone gets the cue.

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.