Both albums [Quazarz: Born On A Gangsta Star and Quazarz vs. The Jealous Machines] deliver uneasy commentary on modern times, and the music that supports it is as equally challenging.

Whilst at times DISCO::4 Part II might feel morbid, its urgent, vital sounds provide a much needed antidote to the anxieties of the world we currently live in. It’s also further proof that HEALTH’s talent and appetite for collaboration is as potent as ever.

Djo yet again proves an adaptable vehicle for such madcap energy and chameleonic shifts in style, an earnest and well-finished delve into another sphere of Keery’s artistic voice.

Most reformed bands are creatively barren, hawking around twenty five year old songs, so for Medicine to break this cliché is a great, great thing--it’s just a shame that some of the interesting sounds they create here couldn’t have incubated for a bit longer.

Breathtaking debut album. ... Basic Volume is one of the most cohesive and meticulously thought-through albums of the year.

In Search of the Miraculous finds Desperate Journalist striving and challenging themselves, happily searching for that sense of the sublime in a world that will outlive us all.

Garratt’s latest offering is a triumphant return. It is an album that does not ask you to relate to his pain, nor tells you to dance over your problems. It is an album that tells a story and ultimately, holds no fear.

The muted “Eat You Like A Pill” and FKA-Twigs-esque “Bad Habit” find their home in the warm comfort of swirling, breezy electronics and echoey vocal performances – offering a balanced, well-rounded edge to the record.

Invite The Light stays true to the hallmarks of Dam Funk's sound; winning formulas never need much adjustment.

Uniform Distortion may be the most straightforward sounding a set of Jim James songs has ever released, but they’ve somehow absorbed the distortion of today’s world and turned it into something we can all make sense of, and in which we can seek some solace.

Quantum Baby is relaxed and a little uncomplicated but continues her dependable streak as an athlete, sex icon, visionary, and artist rolled into one. The best part is she’s never satisfied staying still.

Much like their self-titled EP, ...Does It Again has ear-worm songwriting paired with fuzzed out production, making for an overall engaging, if one-track, listen.

Tempest is an epic talent, definitely, but this doesn’t quite nail it down.

This really is just a trio of mates having a bloody good time celebrating their heroes while making something dazzlingly new.

With its less harsh sounding vocals, it [Winter Weather] is the perfect closer, further demonstrating Khan’s desire for a more mature sound on his solo debut.

The record’s strongest moments originate in its audacity rather than precision: Desert Window opens up the ambient ideas she’s perfected in the past into riskier, roomier territory.

Songs is the sound of a talented man with a little too much focus on trends and on a too-wide cache of influences, to the point where even he sounds unconvinced by his own music.

Minor setbacks aside, it’s another beautiful, consumable collection of music from Bibio that no other artist could make sound so inherently theirs, and one that leaves Wilkinson's future musical trajectory as wide open as it’s ever been.

There’s nary a misstep to note here. Schreifels, drummer Alan Cage, bassist Sergio Vega and guitarist Tom Capone resist taking a victory lap and come out ahead, still sounding like themselves.

Though it’s clearly crafted with a visual accompaniment in mind, it does just about work as its own album; albeit one of their strangest, and most inventive.

FREE SPIRITS brilliantly represents the pairs growth into themselves and into the reality around them. It’s as playful as you’d expect – the features all doing their part to add to the dizzying hold on to actuality – but beneath the smirk lies something more deliberate.

Future Islands seem to communicate certain fundamental truths about the travails and triumphs of themselves and their compatriots with an eloquence that is unparalleled by virtually any of their current peers; moreover, they have obtained access a significant international audience for their ideas without compromising their artistic approach.

It is an album as confident as its predecessor and just as able to deliver upon it. It is Aksnes’ finest release to date and guarantees the essentiality of her artistic duologue.

In short, it’s a bit of a misfire.

Yes, it’s an unashamedly ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’ record – but who really cares when the results are so enjoyably convincing?

Sure, it’s chorus-driven and a touch too slick, lacking the density and the ambition and the sheer bloody nihilism of NIN’s 90’s heyday, but Reznor’s not that guy anymore--that guy died with the heroin overdose. But there are more than enough moments here to suggest a maker not--whatever the protestations of one of its tracks--yet at peace.

This is an album that lacks the fun and hooks of their earlier outings.

Far from showing signs of slowing down, Nadler sounds more focussed here than ever, continuing to challenge herself and evolve, with her eyes fixed firmly on the horizon.