This is a great entry point into the catalogue of one of Britain’s most inventive, iconic bands--but the shallowness of the record makes it largely unnecessary for anyone that owns the Original Sound compilations, or indeed the albums themselves. ​

It’s not quite as appealing generally speaking, but does feature music for those moments when a soundtrack to a subtle atmosphere is needed-- whether on screen or in imaginations--with hints of more life slipping in between.

At its best, the album is all at once loud, ethereal, and haunting--as if being violently jolted awake from a lucid dream you can’t quite remember.

Forgetting The Present is the latest and most perfect union of Remember Remember’s distinctive blend of styles. Expect that record to stand for as long as it takes for their next album to appear.

If this is the end of whatever this is, they’ve recorded a superlative piece of work which leaves us on one hell of a high, despite it sounding anything but high itself.

Strand of Oaks’ particular synthesis of modern sounds with retro feels is as entertaining as it is uplifting. Just don’t expect it to stir you like the Boss can.

Lazerbeak’s imaginative, propulsive beats continually push things to the next level, with Olson’s refined recording and edits (along with hypeman Cliff Rhymes lyrical flourishes) giving these tracks an inspired pulse. But Lizzo still has more than enough room to eloquently and intensely express herself.

RTXIV was a superb, full-throttle rock ‘n’ roll record, but Electric Brick Wall is a next-level release.

There’s a communal ambience on show here; using three vocalists gives it a mixtape aesthetic, the music feeling like a bulging bag of pick and mix.

A Sunny Day have just about mastered the pleasure principle of a certain kind of agreeably arty pop music.

For those that do connect with the concept of this album as a whole and allow themselves to become immersed in Abbott’s analogue world, Wysing is as beguiling and intriguing as any record released this year.

The cleverly engineered structure makes you feel like you once again understand why the album is a thing of beauty. It makes sense. It flows. And Joakim just makes it look so easy…

What makes Jaded & Faded great is the fact that you can still be stuck humming the buzzsaw riffs or cooing a vocal line to yourself hours or days later.

As heavy, hard rock records go, Once More ‘Round the Sun isn’t necessarily a bad one; it’s just that it seems, like The Hunter before it, to be nudging Mastodon further and further away from what made them stand out in the first place.

Krell’s voice could never get tiresome, but the album seems unclear as to what it wants to be--too restless for heartbreak, too downbeat for the dancefloor, like a candle that’s trying to illuminate a club.

Love Frequency isn’t a terrible album, but at times it does feel terribly unimaginative.

Whilst Heartstrings is unlikely to break new ground in the way they have before, it’s a return to brooding form from a band many thought had rung out.

Perhaps that great crossover will now never happen, but they’ve made a refreshing, bold record here, that, a few trips aside, leaps the barriers of genre with ease and satisfies throughout.

Their eponymous EP was pretty great--and are showing on Weird Little Birthday that that’s not all hot air.

The uneven narrative is often jarring, but as an attempt to put a modern spin on old-time rock and roll, Liberation! hits more than it misses.

Ultimately, Seek Warmer Climes subsists on mood and atmosphere, seemingly hoping that the listener will too. At its best, it’s an engagingly stylish record, an agreeably abstract work of oblique angles and wintery spaces.

Pink still remains Boris’ best record, and the best entry-point into their staggering catalogue. But Noise is the best album since that, a staggering, cathartic masterpiece that won’t have much competition in terms of quality in 2014.

As great as the album’s opening four songs might be, they hardly break new ground for the Felices.

Rage is, by turns, ridiculous, overly-serious, and self-satisfying. It’s also one helluva EDM record and an intelligent send-up of an otherwise difficult-to-work-with (and work in) music genre.

Colfax, then, resembles best of Richmond Fontaine’s work: unassuming, deceptively simple songs that gradually gain the resonance of a great short story that happens to be accompanied by great music.

The album’s great triumph--The Antlers’ great triumph--is the intelligence with which Silberman’s masterful lyricism is matched to its backdrops.

Ride The Black Wave is both a joy to listen to and a pain to consider critically: The type of music they’re playing could realistically be called superfluous or superb, depending on your level of engagement with it; the tunes could be called plagiaristic or panoptic depending on your state of mind when you’re listening to them.

One of the best albums of the year so far.