While White Denim have a tendency to enthusiastically overcook things, ultimately it's their sheer audacity--allied to some strong tunes--that makes D hard to resist.

Aesop Rock shows an accomplished ability to join the unflinchingly candid with the unfalteringly compelling.

Nostalchic has a certain airiness, a focus on floaty atmospherics, that aligns it with the work of other washed-out boudoir crooners such as The Weeknd and How to Dress Well.

Oregon rock alchemists create soundworlds that one can be effortlessly immersed in.

It may not be a Tindersticks classic, in the same vein as 1997's sublime Curtains, but The Something Rain is a record full of mystery and intrigue that will keep you listening--and discovering new things each time--for a good while.

Don Was produced this. He must have loved it as much as the musicians did, and he obviously got it as nothing in the production interferes with the songs.

This isn't a conventional album by the ordinary standards of today, but it's fantastic. Crazy Horse are the perfect band for this sort of wistful noise, carrying both Young's simple melodies and his love of stretching out with equal ease.

More than a holding operation while Thomson tours with Ian F. Svenonius as two-man funk caravan Publicist, this is travelling music for swinging around asteroids or hurtling down a ravine.

You Stand Uncertain isn't quite legendary, but it is exceptional in today's hurried dance scene.

Hebden is right to think that presenting a distinct musical vision is more valuable than getting the listener from start to finish with as few bumps as possible. It's a decision that pretty much pays off, the result more a collage than a traditional mix.

Be Strong, in short, is superb: a joyous amalgam of disco textures and dancefloor stylings which never fail to bring a big grin to your face.

He Is #1 has a refreshingly unencumbered sound, a lack of technological interference allowing the honesty and authenticity of the music to shine through.

What remains is a nocturnal set of refined resonance.

Downtown Church is full of astonishing songs.

While it's no Costello classic, this repays patience.

A shimmering, lovely thing, this debut is also full of adventurous spirit.

This gem of a long-player – both sleepy and steely, mystical yet rooted in very real and universal themes – deserves all the plaudits that will hopefully meet its release.

The Wild Hunt is a heady and enthralling work, its impressionistic nature bolstered by levels of charm and confidence found all too rarely in these modern times.

These 12 tracks have an irrepressible energy that is all Collins' own, reflecting his twin loves of punk and northern soul; while his lyrics, always wryly self-regarding, have an urgency and bluntness that would make them seem inconsequential were there not so much at stake.

There are songs here that comprise bite-size fragments of multifarious melodies, drawing on myriad influences. But there are also tracks that sustain one tune and tempo over the duration, where previously only three or four would do.

It's a marvellous, spine-tingling journey around some not-so-obvious American songs, and also a stunning tutorial in different American music styles, strung together by LaVette's sensuous singing... Possibly the best set of songs she's ever recorded.

Tribal contains 16 deeply detailed, fidgety tracks--but it's never hard work. It's a warm, gently funny album.

Mainly, though, if Caitlin Rose is the future of Nashville and American country music, then it would seem that its future is in safe, appealing and mellifluous hands.

That the album is a minor triumph is testament to both the durability of the songs, and the astonishing gifts of the singers.

Credit to this fine record that, when you actually listen to it, the need for explanation feels like the last thing on your mind.

Louisville/Seattle trio has delivered an album that every fan of extreme music should own. Bravo.

It's a consistently intriguing album and, in the long run, may even prove more enduring than its predecessor.

There is gospel organ (Be That Easy) and a mid-tempo reggae-ish gait on Babyfather, but mostly Soldier of Love is as mournfully one-paced as previous Sade albums, with the same attention to texture and surface lustre but, alas, not to melody or moving autobiography.