Throughout, the refreshed use of light and dark is notable and works. There is contrast and there is colour.

This is a wonderfully assured comeback record, but it’s also precisely more of the same.

Tricky’s struck gold once again with this.

Strong as the songs are, it’s the rich musical settings that really hit hard.

It’s personal--perhaps too much so--in that it can be inaccessible and/or devoid of meaning outside of the immediacy of her heart. But then it doesn’t feel like a self-indulgent collection; there’s a sincerity to her endeavours that endear you to the album despite it’s abundance of misgivings.

This is properly heavy fare, a sound utterly bereft of light yet still richly, intensely, rewardingly musical that makes the evil posturing of the extreme metal posse seem even more daft.

In all, Overyjoyed sees Half Japanese play it considerably safer than they used to, and there’s bundles of pop-rock glory to enjoy, but it’s still more than enough for loyal fans to breathe a sigh of relief.

While there’s nothing in anyway groundbreaking here, what makes it so interesting is the fact that TOPS don’t just recycle familiar pop tropes, but somehow manage to re-articulate the musical landscape of one decade and revitalise sounds that feel all too familiar. And that makes it an album worth talking about.

Where past ventures could tend to exude a mannered self-consciousness, Adams acquits himself here with an easy and infectious sincerity.

This is a Pere Ubu album. It is exactly what you expect and exactly what you don’t. The variety and subtlety and diversity and ferocity of this collection defies belief, much like their last, fantastic record.

The overall effect is still unpretentious and upbeat, albeit with a few more melancholic undertones.

This record is a masterpiece of aural and visual pandemonium.

Banks has a universal appeal that’ll see her soar to the tops of charts, into high-profile festival spots, and slide into awards season like she’s covered in butter.

This particular realm of music expands, and you need to expand with it, or remain interesting enough to survive as you are; Courteeners have unfortunately done neither.

Wicked Nature is certainly the start of a renaissance, if not quite the all-conquering return it could have been

Barragán‘s casual atmosphere sees Blonde Redhead at their most laid back.

Where some tracks edge towards lounge territory, on the most part, this is a an album that surely won’t sink.

Blood serves as evidence that the band’s decision to take their time has paid serious dividends; there’s real intelligence in the restraint that they’ve shown on the likes of “Medium Rare”, and by the time you reach closer “Golden Monument”, you realise that the entire album’s been planned with that level of conscientiousness.

No, the record doesn’t represent a quantum leap in progression between 2011 and today. Yes, it’s another lovely listen.

Dry The River have here proven that they hold their own distinct niche in our record collections, and are settling in to it nicely.

It’s to [Kevin Martin's] credit, then, that Angels & Devils does such a stellar job of blending the old and the new, and has the stones to shove Martin’s sinuous new ideas to the forefront. It’s that courage and singularity of vision that makes The Bug stand triumphantly apart.

There are certainly high points to be found here, but the feeling that vital cogs in the Rustie machinery are missing never quite subsides.

Royal Blood’s debut is an easily digestible, unfortunately thin-sounding, slightly disappointing rock record and an exciting, fresh, invigorating pop record both at the same time.

Everywhere the listener turns on this album there is something else to be found, another subtle motif, another dab or colour. When combined with the inescapably affecting vocal and accomplished songwriting style of Spx, this creates a record that manages to reveal its treasures over multiple listens without ever sacrificing immediate appeal.

Cymbals Eat Guitars certainly have done right with LOSE; it’s an impeccably beaten, teary-eyed but smiling document to a frighteningly exhilarating time of one’s life and beacon to march onward--momentous to anyone in their 20s, and even us still neurotic old guys.

Ably assisted by his Coastguard players, subtly fleshing out his songs with pedal steel, brass, strings and piano, Distance might well be Dan Michaelson’s finest collection of songs to date.

It sometimes feels as though the sun has risen and those attempting to keep the party alive are fighting a losing battle. And a carnival with fighting of any kind is surely missing the point.

Although this debut LP might have its weaknesses, it might also be a sign of greater things to come.