A record dense with anxieties it may be but Lowly have improved on their debut with a more consistent and varied record that never loses sight of the band's capacity for sheer beauty.

Dust breathes so easy at times, its beats are almost loose. ... Highly recommended; this time around there’s nothing to fear.

Blake’s sonic ecosystem thrives in fusing seemingly discordant sounds. In striking electronic karate chops and pouring into careening chords, he makes the man-made appear organic.

Sanguivore is a love letter to the 80s, whether it’s punk, pop, hard-rock or heavy metal, and it’s bursting with great songs that are sure to please long-term and new fans alike.

Complex and vibrant, What a Boost is an invigorating and engaging ride.

Jepsen’s knack for lyrics that hit on the mostly-fun but often-fraught world of romantic relationships is also still in full effect.

Its exceptional use of Radio Serial-like synth wobbles and pulses paint a vivid vision of mind-bending power and the destruction left in its wake; amplified by gorgeously dramatic bursts of symphony and chorus. A real gem.

As an exploration of a incredibly specific emotional space, and attempts to leave it, Look Up Sharp works tremendously. But it’s dal Forno’s compositional poise and skill with restraint that sets her apart as a creator of works of truly unnerving grace.

In a still monochromatic genre, Mother of My Children presents a vital, bold debut and, hopefully, a sign of further change to come.

Nobody Loves You More has both the versatility and reflective quality of a ‘best of’ compilation, but one that simultaneously hints at there being plenty more highlights to come.

Sweetly haunting, melodic and defiant, Santigold has created the perfect album to guide listeners from hazy summer nights into the cold light of new days ahead.

The Art of Loving proves to be both a continuation and a step forward from Messy, with Dean bringing a new level of maturity and authenticity that brings depth and complexity to the album.

Name Your Sorrow sees band-wide experimentation, instrument swapping, and post-production revision, resulting in a colourful, varied record.

With Stunning Luxury, Snapped Ankles have achieved that rarest feat, a stridently political album that loses neither its sense of humour nor its capacity for bangers.

We understand if the phrase 'breaking the album format' makes you eye-roll, but this collection of un-songs, half-rhythms and sound snapshots really questions the point in breaking a record into individual tracks.

A soulful and bewitching brew, and a superlative demonstration of how to prod at your aesthetic without selling your soul.

On A Kiss For The Whole World, you can genuinely feel the life pouring out of the record. It’s eccentric, erratic and just the sui generis of what Enter Shikari stand for.

Mid Air is a must-listen for anyone looking for a sentimental electronic dance anthem or for a song to say the words we are sometimes afraid to say.

Though she’s on the edge of slipping into Adele-esque poperatics, this is a bold and confident first LP from a producer--and singer--with great potential.

With Dirt interlude pt. 1 and pt. 2, Rodgers structures the record to complement her narrative--leaving us with these three acts against misogyny, and again evidence of the sheer intricacies of talent that dance through the record.

Hotel Last Resort is a collection of music that is poised and deliberate, provoked and provoking. Not a record to be taken at face value, it begs for a conscious listen, start to finish. It affirms Violent Femmes’ place as one of the greatest contributors to both the punk and the American musical canon.

It’s no surprise though to people familiar with Coates’ work that his input is sublime, expertly judged, particularly on Gown where he churns down into desperation and reaches for salvation simultaneously.

It may lack a real ‘big’ moment (akin to fan favourite track Big Dipper), but Warmduscher’s latest album oozes with variety, talented musicianship and their inimitably endearing weirdness.

The Penguins’ music always defied easy definition and Arthur’s determination to keep the band’s trademark sound keep careering its way from traditional folk and pop styles to minimalism and South American music is admirable in the extreme. What’s even better is that the music is now matching the sentiment.

She has made the excavation of her feelings around freedom, identity and channeled anger into a record that embraces fun and surprising musical juxtapositions.

Interview Music contains a sense of maturity and introspection, infusing the record with a quality that can only come from artists with a defined sense of who they are at their core.

Certainly a contender for the most electronic of their canon, Boy King is perhaps also their most compact and claustrophobic release since 2011’s Smother.

Paradise may be titled ironically, but it refuses to wallow in cynicism, ending with concern about the state of the world, but hoping that unity will guide us through difficult times.

Mise En Abyme is a lot to unravel, but that disentanglement is its own reward. Cousin has plundered his experiences to create a yearning LP that nevertheless feels welcoming (and, more importantly, honest) every step of the way.

Unmistakably human touches are the key to the album’s balanced sound – still ominous and complex, but with less of an underground bunker feel than previous outings.

More than simply aging gracefully, A Bit of Previous suggests Belle and Sebastian still have enough hooks for several lifetimes.

'Eclectic' is the word you want to use to describe the sounds on Where the Action Is, but it feels lazy to put a label on an album that moves the listener in every way a person can be moved. But, if you insist, let's file The Waterboys' 13th record in the box marked 'their best for years'. It really is.

The strained clarity of Zauner’s voice is what makes this album so beautiful, particularly during the contemplative balladry of This House. Moving and inspired, Soft Sounds From Another Planet is yet another lesson in guitar pop perfection.

BadBadNotGood have packed more than a dozen little viruses into this disk, and once you hear it, you’ll be spreading the ill, too. Beyond the voices, the music is rich, textured, melodic, and always groovy.

A varied and highly enjoyable record.

Each instrument is put to use across multiple genres, experimenting with a collection of new sounds. The result is a moment of exciting expansion.

While Deafheaven's change in direction isn't an unwelcome one, there isn't quite the same rush as their previous best efforts, as they adapt to their new surroundings. Minor gripes aside, Infinite Granite proves Deafheaven's mettle and shows you don't always have to shout loud to hit hard.

Nothing’s Real, the finished product in question, is imbued with the type of honesty that lends credence to the former [effacing, tongue-in-cheek hubris].

Opener Belly of the Whale envelops us into a trance, setting the tone for an album gripping at dark corners.

The titular track shines a light up to the album as a whole – fun, endearingly cringeworthy, luxury pop music.

The juncture of influences and styles found across Sampa the Great's new album, As Above, So Below, is tripping and magic and Sampa’s immense ability to play hard and soft is the driving core of the album.

The results are magnificent.

Bird Machine is a worthwhile coda to Linkous’s legacy.

Exhausting, ridiculous and full of life, De La Soul still do it like no-one else.

A Better Life is total fire from the get-go, offering great melody and pop lifts that you’ll be singing for days. Buck-wild and vicious songwriting, not for the light-hearted.

Enjoy this singular album, this moment, while you can--Clementine won’t be holding his breath.

Their control is immaculate, their romanticism timeless.

Boy from Michigan is an unhurried, loping listen; sprawling over 75 minutes with sumptuous synth and a ten-minute tirade on Trump’s America (The Only Baby). Sometimes the laconic style feels repetitive, but there are plenty of perfectly formed moments to bring the album back into focus.

Home Video is intimate, occasionally discomfiting, and, most of all, brave – the sound of an artist choosing to be at her most vulnerable, in front of a bigger following than she’s ever had before.

On Hive Mind, the positive impact of their time apart is quickly apparent. The opener, Come Together is mature and quietly devastating in spite of its perky rhythm, an emblem of solidarity in the face of senseless violence. There’s little else here in the way of political statements, though, to the album’s benefit.

First Taste is the first record of new material in his name this year, and while it doesn’t fully offer the uncharted sounds suggested by its title, it tastes delicious nonetheless.

The madcap experience of Warmduscher is still probably best on the stage, but this album goes some way to proving that given a little time to let their ideas gestate, they can actually produce something that sounds good on the stereo, as well as the back room of a pub.

Her most honest and reflective work to date.

Jumping between instrumentation and production styles, Flora Fauna feels a little disjointed at times, but overall this only serves to add to the feeling of rebirth.

Smith has taken his time, and made mistakes, in comprehending what he’s been through. And Deceiver is all the more honest for it. Impressively, that doesn’t shine through intricate detailing but as something more abstract. Deceiver sounds like that experience, more than it describes it. And there’s hope at the end too.

Elegant and focused, the album was written, recorded and produced in the same bedroom as his first LP--with the same supersonic attention to detail. It's only his ambitions that have changed.

There are hints of the band's more dynamic past on Eucalyptus, Tropic Morning News and Grease In Your Hair. But on the whole, First Two Pages of Frankenstein is an excellent exploration into recovery from depression, passion and addiction and is one of the finest records The National have released in quite some time.

Laus bravely embraces her imagined world through not only sonic exploration but its successful discovery too. She soars through a variety of tones, including lullaby-like ballads, jittery jazz-infused pop, moving midwest emo and, of course, prickly post-rock.

Like most LSD songs we’ve come to love since the band’s rise in popularity around 2011, Side Pony is packed with tunes you’ll want to sing along to before you know any of the words. But there’s also more sonic muscle here.

There are so many layers to get lost in, and over time Stains on Silence reveals itself to be a gorgeously wrought piece of modern post-punk and synth-pop.

Phantogram's fix and mend methods, and above average song craft, are admirable and compelling. An unexpected treat.

These songs are strong enough to be recorded with minimal accompaniment and that instantly recognisible, hushed voice--but the best moments are when his love of electronica shines through.

Gargoyle kicks massive ass; here are ten songs you won’t be able to hear enough. Just about essential.

After a long time away, Do Make Say Think are still able to captivate as much as ever.

Chinouriri siphons every good idea from her previous EPs and evolves them into great ones; hits we saw in the prophecy fulfilled in the present. It also contains what should be referred to as ‘good-ole-fashioned-pacing’: front-load with hits, dip for a few ballads, repeat with an uproarious middle section, and coast off with acoustics.

The Talkies is a superb return, with Girl Band building upon what they know they can do but without resting on their laurels. Still experimenting, still funny, still brilliant.

For all Season High’s exuberance, the record never pitches too hard. Little Dragon sense when to turn it down just as well as they know when to ramp it up, and tracks like Butterflies and Strobe Lights deal in emerald lights and moody ultraviolet.

While a little too knowing for some, Nerissimo stands as a fascinating example of two artists in full control, unashamed to lean towards the cerebral without turning the casual listener off.

A Corpse Wired For Sound meanders a little too much at times, with every track stretching beyond the four minute mark, but overall it feels a successful rebirth which won't fail to engage live audiences.

The Rat Road is a wondrous and playful musical sketchbook that takes the SBTRKT sonic blueprint and builds something lasting.

Florist already feels like an album to live and grow with. It's a warm hug which asks the listener to smell the flowers every now and then.

Aartfully collected set of recordings, one that never ceases to make you shift your weight, either into comfort or something more unsettled.

As a whole, Anak Ko is the type of project you listen to while allowing the rhythm of the singer to take you away.

It's an aimless wander through the uncanny valley, ideal for close-listening dissection or complete dissociation.

Even at its most heartbreaking, embraced for a second as we die reminds us to inhale life and that clarity and connection, however brief, can still be found.

Overall, the band have carefully crafted another winning record with just a few tweaks to their regular formula. Maybe not one to win over new fans, but a solid addition to a sparkling oeuvre.

At times (Pay Attention To Me, Rot In Hell), their chief inspiration point seems to be Nirvana’s seething grind through Devo’s Turnaround, but their gleeful dedication to deafening scree also calls to mind both No Age and TAD’s 8-Way Santa.

Within Temptation nourish symphonic metal yet again on Resist. Their music is always cohesive and passionate.

All in, it’s a diverse, bravura undertaking that sees Hubby not only moving on, but upwards as well.

All of the beats are familiar, perhaps to a fault, from the instrumental at the midpoint to the shyly epic closer, but Forever Turned Around represents nuanced progress from an admirably subtle band.

It is intentionally playful and mesmerising. It’s in these moments, when Giannascoli flaunts his ability to turn the bedroom pop moniker he once personified on its head with studio trickery and letting his most outré ideas play out, that the record then rewards you.

It's an album that oozes confidence, from the UK’s indie-rock standard-bearers.

Featuring contributions from Jody Stephens (Big Star) and Brian and Michael's father Ronnie D’Addario, Go To School is a true beauty and a classic in its own right.

Where EUSEXUA is immaculate in its design, EUSEXUA Afterglow is the glorious unravelling. It’s hedonistic and messy, somehow both more lithe and more maximalist than its predecessor.

Vocally and lyrically charged, Self Esteem’s debut is one that takes several paths in its journey, revealing Taylor as a remarkable vocalist and a powerful lyricist.

Lonely People With Power is their most sonically-rounded record, probably their heaviest and quite possibly their best.

In Limerence is a debut album that is at once confident and vulnerable.

Every song here is expertly assembled, with the threat that they may crack and falter at any moment, but the band's unity holds everything together in a very pleasing manner. If there's any justice in the world, Love Keeps Kicking will be the record that sends Martha into the big leagues that they are surely destined to enter.

There are more moments where the album feels driven by synths rather than drums. Perhaps unsurprisingly, the trio shine most brightly when this is reversed; the incessant drumming on the closer MYSTIK charges the entire track with the feeling of take-off.

Picton has led out of this gathered ensemble a record that lives and breathes, and can be lived and breathed in.

How to Be a Human Being is arguably yet more effervescent than its predecessor.

The results are certainly a departure for an artist who seems to relish the chance to collaborate and while each of these ten songs is a Roberts original, the lush song craft recalls the golden age of electric folksters like Fairport Convention and Trees, ensuring Roberts' ongoing connection with the past.

Occasional spoken word excerpts add nice intimate touches with themes of love, heartache and introspection at the forefront of Nutini’s endearing lyrics. It's not faultless, but Nutini still glimmers with magic on this magnetic new record.

Stay Close to Music is captivating. Unable just to play in a background, Mykki Blanco has created an album that needs your full attention. It constitutes a narrative that is not only guided through words, but also sounds.

It’s not just that Toro y Moi is becoming more sonically ambitious with each album. He’s getting better, too. With Boo Boo, even retreading old ground is somehow an exercise in innovation.

With its main influences taken from the distant past, Medieval Femme has an inherently Gothic feel; its mystical sounds transporting the listener through the rich, vibrant history of Arabic music and culture.

This is an acutely refined album fuelled by energy and agitation from a group way ahead of their age.

Drastic Measures is a firm step up from Primitives, and an album that continues to demonstrate the development of Sellers’ effervescent sonic world.