Boy King punches more like Nine Inch Nails when Trent Reznor was still sexy, synths strafing and drums pounding like the outro to “Closer” teased out for forty minutes.

What it evidently lacks in ideas and concepts, it makes up for in well-channeled cathartic energy.

There’s an exuberance to the entire record that feels genuine and fresh, like it was captured unexpectedly.

By virtue of its accessibility, Black Bubblegum presents itself as the most singular album Copeland has produced to date and who knows, maybe some pop bangers will be coming our way after all.

An orchestral score for a remembered expanse, it casts vivid shadows but avoids rigid form.

Very few albums are worth such a long wait, though, but blackSUMMERS’night is one of them--it’s an album that should live forever, purely because it sounds so detached from time.

Give A Glimpse Of What Yer Not is more than just a routine 8/10 Dinosaur Jr album, it’s their most satisfying and realized post-reunion album yet.

Throughout, the unifying characteristic is the richness and warmth of the sound, a million miles from the lo-fi of old; this is the prettiest Owen record to date, and there’s no shortage of strong contenders for that particular title.

Q is as distinct and powerful a voice in hip-hop as Kendrick, and he manages to bring the likes of Kanye West, Swizz Beatz, Anderson .Paak, and Vince Staples to Figg St. on one of the year’s best rap albums thus far. The only real dissonance here comes on Miguel collaboration “Overtime.”

For All We Know is among the most impressive debut albums we’ve heard in 2016, and heralds the arrival of Nao as a unique and fascinating figure on the R&B landscape.

Pulling out the stitching from vintage rock sounds, they liberate its cloth from the need to fit over preset shapes.

There is promise, with the gorgeous choral addition in both “It Ain’t Wrong Loving You” and “Good Together” adding some much needed depth, but the new tracks don’t really show us a side of HONNE we haven’t seen before.

This is experimental music at its very finest, and rarest: unashamedly cerebral, but also unrelenting in its dedication to powerful dynamics and--crucial point, this--melodic hooks.

Even though Frahm shines on Oddments of the Gamble though his exquisite use of the Rhodes, the real stars of this record come through the application of percussion, as performed by Gmeiner and Andrea Belfi.

There are a lot of underwhelming moments that come in tracks that don’t quite find the perfect marriage between conflicting styles. But Red Earth and Pouring Fire is an admirably ambitious album and presents Bear’s Den as a far more diverse, capable band that many would have previously thought.

There’s a richness to IV which was not present on their last record, and it revolutionises their appeal.

Ultimately, their third record doesn't show MSTRKRFT to be master craftsmen.

32 Levels sees Clams Casino step up a level and make a hugely positive and lasting impression.

It’s not derivative, it’s devotional.

Standing alone, this a warming set of tastefully executed covers. But see the album in its context and you’ll find its beauty--a record of music repairing a once strained relationship.

There is far more variety on Hit Reset than you suspect the casual ear is going to give it credit for. The biggest talking point on Hit Reset, though, is that it finds Hanna on the lyrical form of her life--and that’s saying something.

This sound suits TTNG, and always had really, but it feels all the more comfortable and at home with Dissapointment Island, and jokes aside, proves the title really is a misnomer.

Dream World is fine, but save for one or two tracks there's little on it that couldn't be called dispensible.

On Autodrama the Kaplans stick with one sound. But it’s a confident one, strutting RnB that oozes beach house cool.

It’s sludge but impeccably clean; and it’s all frighteningly good.

Whilst there aren’t as many obvious hits on this record as 2009’s chart-bothering Only Revolutions, Ellipsis is an album that will undoubtedly keep Biffy Clyro right at the top of British rock’s hierarchy.

Take Her Up to Monto continues Murphy’s reemergence as one of the most interesting and chameleonic electro artists of the moment.

As both a candid portrait of introspection and an exciting step forward with his musical talent, Michael Kiwanuka's Love and Hate beautifully captures the artistic power of vulnerability.