The lyrics aren't the only thing holding EFUNK back: Soul Clap's chugging pace drags on the heels of their most anthemic numbers.

His carefree attitude skips through the different styles and beats here with a sense of fun and adventure.

This might not be the most forward-thinking LP you'll hear this year. But the emotion and honesty on display are qualities that will never go out of style.

A cipher for good songs rather than the reasons those songs are good she may be, but there are few that do it better.

Loma Vista is a fine album of songs of love, longing and celebration that would sound at its best when cruising along a B road in a soft-top, or stumbled across while wandering around a free festival while a bit tipsy.

Apart from the odd soulful moment and some clever production, there is nothing here that sets them apart from their obvious influences.

It's tastefully done, and possesses many hidden textures and contours; the more you get of it, the more you like it.

Strange, hypnotic and utterly transcendental.... Om's teachings have always been less about finding a goal than the overwhelming richness of the journey, and, with Advaitic Songs that journey is more glorious and all-consuming than ever before.

Purity Ring have pulled off the feat of producing one of the year's most arresting debuts – a Grimm Tales for the 2010s, shrouded in the illusory threads of contemporary club music – while sounding like no-one else but themselves.

With The Killer, Shed hasn't reinvented the wheel, but he has captivated us with his sonic mottle, daubed onto the classic edifice of techno's irresistible structures.

This is grown-up, frequently gorgeous music that epitomises the very best in neo-soul.

While Major plays up to the strengths of its predecessor, it also showcases vocal development and keeps the familiar listener guessing.

Whatever expectations a solo album by a saxophonist conjures up, Saltash Bells is likely to belie them.

Another Country is an album that radiates warmth. Not just the warmth of southern seas and skies, but the human warmth that beams directly out of Ms. Wilson's heaving heart.

Sadier pulls this off 11 more times, crafting music that makes politics sound like the sexiest thing in the world.

This is a glorious summation of Blur's career, placing them firmly amongst the very best bands of all time.

Lyrically deep and musically adventurous, Michaelson has it all.

An impressive and varied second album, but one underpinned by noticeable troubles.

This greatest hits comp (selected by BalkanBeats' DJ Robert Soko) showcases their party tunes such as the breakneck signature romp through Hava Naguila and the blistering flugelhorn ska of Khelipe E Cheasa... as well as their successful ventures further afield.

What remains is a solid collection of pop-soul renderings through which Ocean tries to find himself.

There's nothing vague or routine about this elegant, charming and quietly profound record.

With its hurtling, remorselessly breakneck pace this isn't an album you listen to as such; rather, you grapple with it.

An hour in the company of Tom Paley and his revue is an hour well spent.

Whether or not Never is a record you'll want to revisit that often is a moot point, but its ability to hit like a spring-mounted boxing glove to your peripheral vision is hardly in doubt.

It is, as you'd expect, expertly played – but there's a vividness to Look Around the Corner that reaches some way beyond mere chops. It's an exceptional collaboration that proves there's life in the old soul yet.

Pop Tune finds the Japanese three-piece in fine form, exhibiting a wide-eyed freshness all the more remarkable when you consider that they have been a going concern since 1981.

A very successful collection which commendably fuses a series of contemporary "dance" music structures into an easily accessible whole.

Here, he exorcises the turmoil with a focused set of sustained brilliance.