This might be a transient flash in the pan for some, but it’ll find a special, permanent home in the hearts of others.

This album was a joy to listen to, without a doubt.

For all its dense silliness, Music For Insomniacs really is quite a genuinely discomfiting experience.

Cool Planet sits perfectly in the balance of effortless craftsmanship and half-arsed laziness. Just where it should be.

There is no question that this is a work of devotion, even a work of love, but as a document of raw emotion, it is lacking, it feels overly considered.

At its best, Process is an album that makes a virtue of its own patterns of gray art-punk surfaces slashed with caterwauling bursts, like a roller coaster you’ve ridden enough times to feel the ups and downs in your muscle memory. In both cases, the thrill remains, adrenal peaks and false-calm valleys.

It’s certainly one of his best, and like numerous tracks on the LP, it plays with a glossy melancholia; a dark edge to the lush, string augmented tracks can be found in the lyrics, in these tales of downtrodden souls in pursuit of an elusive salvation.

Tobacco has done a fine job of crafting tracks which are different enough so as to not all blend together.

It’s light years ahead of anything Goodman turned out with Vivian Girls; she’ll never be the world’s most original songwriter, but the opportunity to let both her vocals and her guitar breathe is one that’s already paying dividends.

Days of Abandon, like everything before it in the Pains catalogue, will win precisely zero prizes for originality, but there’s a vivaciousness permeating every aspect of the record that breathes so much new life into its well-worn touchpoints. Indie pop at its most sparkling.

It might be the most accessible Swans album yet. The long stretches of abstract noise are draped over some surprisingly catchy hooks. A few moments might even qualify as singalong road trip anthems.

Toumani & Sidiki feels like an freshly unearthed artefact, steeped in the influence of centuries.

Seventy-five percent of the tracklisting consists of lovingly bastardised fan-favourite versions of demo tracks that have been online for up to eleven years.

Whereas the sound of Skying suffered at times due to a muggy recording, Luminous is given a full pop sheen, an approach that’s resulted in a much wider sound.

A total package of pop hooks, instrumental genius and gorgeous rhythms, Mulvey presents us with an intelligent record that demonstrates his passion for sounds outside of insular scenes.

Whelm is a Herculean debut.

It’s such an confrontational piece of work that you need to mentally prepare prior to the needle hitting the groove. Once it does though, you are dragged into Bo Ningen’s world, a place where the fusion of rhythm fighting against musical aggression has never sounded so thrilling.

This is yet another different side we’re seeing, but it’s no less special.

This album does do something to placate their critics on this issue. Kind of.

UZU is an ambitious piece of work to say the least, and whilst some of the metallic textures and tones may seem somewhat unfashionable these days, the purpose behind this record couldn’t be more forward-thinking and determined.

Emmanuel and Malay spend so much time creating a sense of space that most of the music is consumed by the vacuum; floating with nowhere to resonate.

Different techniques are used throughout the album to create drama, allows a variety of emotive narratives to be explored.

Krai will never be for everyone, but then it was never intended as so; instead it gives forgotten stretches of Russian land a name for themselves, and in that regard this inventive and progressive release from an exceptionally talented young musician is a success.

It’s tempting to think of Brightly Painted One as a “grower” of an album, and much of that depends on where you stand on the music/lyrics side of things. The problem is, for all of its evident beauty, it’s difficult to get inside – frustratingly so.

The ambition is staggering and for Fatima Al Qadiri to have made Asiatisch both a coherent listen and a sensible comment on western perception it means we’ve not only got a talented musician on our hands but also an extremely wise cultural commentator.

That Seven Dials is always on the move, though, doesn’t hint at finality, more at the further possibility of great things to come. This, for any lover of the cracked ballad, the pop hit, the smart word or the perfectly chosen chord, is essential.

It’s good that Data Panik Etcetera knows exactly what it wants to do instead. Unfortunately, it does this with none of the edge, none of the drive, none of the sheer urgency that made them as great as they were in their prime.

Nikki Nack frantically succeeds on so many levels. Garbus ticks every box with aplomb and swagger, making a record that’s confrontational, boundary-bending, enigmatic, topical and sheer fun outside the usual channels.