Desire Lines is undoubtedly a Camera Obscura album, but it might be their first that is more suited to quiet winter nights inside, rather than the sunny side of things that dominated their sound on their previous albums.

The pure power and energy that’s imbued in each of these songs is perfect for a live environment and there’s a sincere hope that Dehd get the opportunity to tour this album. The band’s crisp, no-nonsense approach filters into every aspect of Flower of Devotion and it makes for a heady, light-hearted escape from the complications of the world today.

Some bits here are the starkest and most direct compositions of the producer’s career to date, and that’s more than saying something. Suffice to say, as corny as it may be to declare, the project is perfectly named, Magic, because it provides just that.

For a genre replete with posturing, it’s beyond refreshing to receive an album that so readily wears its heart on its sleeve, especially from a band so esteemed: with so much to potentially lose. Modest Mouse have made gains simply by being themselves. This is comfort food for the well-worn soul.

Crystal Stilts find a way to make you care, though, and that goes along way with music this raw and rapturous.

Without a dull moment in sight, Reep has succeeded in creating something of an ethereal masterpiece.

More often than not, this album is deeply enthralling, providing interesting textures, head-swaying grooves, tight rhythms, and an awesome display of synchronicity amongst the bandmates at almost any turn.

While Ship has a few compelling moments, it's mostly lethargic and sinks into its own monotonous haze.

Even if Hard Light is more homogenous than Delaware, it retains the group’s interest in always finding a different tonality, skipping from one genre or influence to another and conceiving genuine hit material.

It's just a Hot Chip side project that sounds like a Hot Chip side project, and there's nothing wrong with that, but nothing terribly exciting either.

Free Humans rewards the time investment, even if it does take a few unnecessary detours. It possesses so much pop ingenuity and sonic diversity that it has the potential to appeal to all sorts of people previously unfamiliar with the band.

At times it feels maybe a little too familiar sonically or compositionally, but all in all, The Land, The Water, The Sky is a potent portrait of a musician who only gets more impressive with each release.

This isn't yet Tucker's masterpiece. But it's surely a step in that direction.

It pushes and pulls the listener into its warm underbelly whilst being contradictory in nature from one minute to the next. The more jarring elements of the album are counterpointed with soothing cascades of sound that envelope the listener before being jettisoned off again before too long.

Their new album, Mercurial World, is a careful collection of pop tracks that threaten, but never quite, reach a boil.

The hook-heavy Haunted Painting is prime for tweens looking to break into indie rock sectors – it’s quirky, it’s light, it’s fun, and it’s Dupuis at her most earnest.

Beatopia lacks the edge and drive of its predecessor, yet several inspired moments are enough to maintain Kristi’s reputation as one of the nation’s most exciting young artists.

After 11 tracks, this return feels well-earned, but it’s equally refreshing to know the next song we hear from Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever might not be so predictable.

Pretty, moody, and even transcendently beautiful in places, Breakers' small-scale take on dream pop is a tempestuous and emotionally unhinged listen.

When a flower blooms, it changes shape and appearance but not its biological essence; similarly, for all its subtle differences, Bloom avoids shedding the bittersweet swells that have become the duo's stock-and-trade.

There are enough moments here to suggest that the band can find a comfortable middle ground between the two sounds that will suit both their aspirations and the desire of the listeners, let's just hope that next time around they find it.

An inveterate realist, J Mascis isn't one for romanticism, and there's not a wealth of it to be found on Several Shades of Why.

Without striving to be as overtly melodramatic as some of her contemporaries, Murray harnesses that desperation which Portishead's Beth Gibbons manages to pull off so well but by containing and internalising it, manages to offer a refreshingly navel-gazing approach to the pysche of the modern lover.

With Indian Yard, there’s a feeling we might not yet know the full identity of Ya Tseen, but a future release without such reliance on partnerships will surely enlighten. There’s enough thoughtful layering and earnest emotion (“At Tugáni” is where he shows this most, notably in a song named after his son) in Indian Yard to merit further exploration.

Seabed is a luscious album that implores you to dive into the gorgeous depths of its sound and atmosphere.

The whole is not as majestic as its parts, including the often very evocative lyrics. But on the record there is little left of those initial spiritual ideas itself, and the creative drive of the opening salvo won’t carry onto the second half. And that is a shame, as the album’s individual highs suggest greatness.

This is a mini-album that does exactly what it’s meant to, in exactly the time that it takes to do so.

The album is a widening and a deepening of the style we've come to expect of Walker – but it's also got elements of a brightening of that sound as well.

It's comfortably K.R.I.T., neither venturing beyond the most basic facets of his developing sound, nor sinking below the standard he's set.

With Ritual Union, the band forges their own path and does not take the easy way out.

Just Once is certainly a singular release and not a direction for HTDW's future (though more of this stuff wouldn't be unwelcome), but it's still moving in a way that is completely individual.

Tana Talk 4 shows Benny the Butcher’s improving his rhymes, but doesn’t offer any more profound insight into the man behind the microphone – even as we return to where it all started.

Maybe Constant Future is the record to finally thrust this deserving outfit over the edge. Even if it isn't, it's still another damn good addition to a wickedly unheralded, but highly effective, library.

Interplay is space rock as solid as it comes, but also deeply indebted to a millennial era about 20 years ago, which both shoegaze and alternative rock have left behind. A different kind of nostalgia, perhaps.

None of it is forgetful and all of it is more than enjoyable.

Overall, Frontera retains the qualities that fans of Fly Pan Am always appreciated about the collective, but this time around they feel disconnected. That is not to say the album is bad, it simply appears that it cannot be properly appreciated without the aid of the dance performance by Animals Of Distinction.

Rather than a cohesive structured debut effort that was the product of a cooperative band, you have a Frankenstein-ian melding of cast off parts.

Isles is a headphones record as colourful as its artwork, and should be enjoyed to the fullest on its own terms, the work of an act in constant flux who refuse to rest on their laurels.

With “Get Up! Come Walk with Me/Composition 7” – as with Broken Mirror: A Selfie Reflection in its entirety – White, Holley, and a cast of energized musicians question the post-human age while celebrating the creative process.

As one of the most polarizing records in their extensive discography, this release is sure to divide certain fans, especially those who were disillusioned by the relative inaccessibility of Embryonic. For listeners looking for a noisy and thoroughly experimental album, though, The Terror is just what the doctor ordered.

It certainly has a more present percussive beat than Eucalyptus, however its compositions are allowed to stretch out, with five out of seven tracks here passing the five-minute mark (only two of Cows’ 10 tracks did such). This approach lends 7s‘ centerpiece “Hey Bog” an epic effect, building slowly in tempo.

Even if this is her most ‘focused’ release yet, the lingering thought after the snappy 24 minutes of Lily We Need To Talk Now is the abundance of upside she still has left to explore. Though, to her credit, Lily Konigsberg has been doing that every time.

Prophet is both eclectic and balanced, and the powerful imagination behind it makes it easier to forgive the occasional overindulgence.

This is life At the Down-turned Jagged Rim of the Sky, which isn't a devastatingly beautiful one, but it's still engaging in its own deep, personal way.

Order Of Noise is one of the most worthwhile genre-defying oddities of the year.

Fans will be glad to accept this triplet and know that the creation of this style of music in his plans.

Lone doesn't reinvent himself on Galaxy Garden like he did with Emerald Fantasy Tracks, but the jump from one record to the next is made even more revelatory by the English producer's refinement and assuredness.

The album, with all of its imperfections and warmly textured moments, feels well-worn and comfortable-despite its often acerbic lyrical habits.

Pharoahe Monch crafts an LP that not only serves as a protest to the United States' handling of the conflicts in the Middle East, but stands alone as a more than competent hip-hop record.

Bar a few tracks that outstay their welcome, there is a lot to love about this album.

The "point," if there is such a thing with this kind of music, is that even during its most trepidatious or lonely nadirs, there is a beauty to experiencing love that overwhelms the heart. Windy & Carl seem to aim to replicate that overwhelming sensation through their music.

New Decade comes across as bleak, but it’s deliberately restrained; its meditations cut through the real sentiments of our confusing years with the sincerity of a haiku. Especially amidst isolation and the uncertainties of modernity, we are reminded of the power of self-expression.

Ákadóttir has made her own museum here, and each of the songs on the album are monochrome statues that we the listener get to walk around and view, but we leave the building indifferent to any real history and experience they represent. It’s like Night at the Museum, but without any of the magic.

Based loosely around a theme of karma and betrayal, it’s possible that the attempt to tie everything together lyrically came at expense elsewhere. The sequencing doesn’t help: following the Lykke Li-ish opener “Love And Other Drugs” and nuclear trap of “WUACV” (which stands for “woke up and chose violence”) comes a Barbie pink, seven-song sampler of other peoples’ sounds. We don’t get to see Maidza again until the three bangers crammed into the back half, which is very late.

This is obviously a band that, on some level, is trying to switch things up. But for next time, instead of testing the water, Explosions need to take the plunge.

Mark Reign of Terror down as a fairly successful, but ultimately transitional work.

Deerhoof vs. Evil is predictably unpredictable and a fun little experiment from a band seemingly incapable of recording a bad album, but it's hard to imagine returning to this years from now as often as their better work.

Both fluid and ornate, this is a densely produced, subtly assured introduction to an artist who has the tools to grow into something more.

The limits of Vernon’s imagination and drive have yet to be truly tested, and based on the size of the sounds that he’s summoning here, the ceiling isn’t even in his sights yet.

Clark and Byrne are never fully on the same page. Instead they ricochet of each other, flying off on miniaturized tangents that never stray far from home.

The King is Dead is a few layers of vocal harmony away from being a Fleet Foxes record, which is fine, but the Decemberists are at their best when they sound like themselves.

A shining example of what hip-hop should always strive to be, at least to a devoted segment of rap nationalists untroubled by the anachronism of rejecting the clean synth lines of this century’s rap in favor of its dusty aesthetics of the early to mid ‘90s.

All Eternals Deck is as obvious in its quality as Darnielle is obvious in his earnestness.

It’s a surprising record, and another good example of what makes Mann such an indispensable songwriter, but it’s hard for most of these songs to stand alone – we’re left wondering what’s really going on between these melancholy ruminations.

Show Me How You Disappear may not hit the highs of her previous work as far as aesthetically pleasing noise, but it is a clear step-up for Medford’s songwriting talents. This may not suit everyone’s fancy, but for Medford it seems she’s finally found her footing.

Quite simply, Plumb is how pop music should sound.

Brilliantly sequenced and realised though it is, the album only just manages to keep the attention for its 54 minutes, meaning first-time listeners could be put off by the sparse arrangements and slow pace.

Though it may not be treated as an important album in the broader scope of music, it is an important album for Man Man, and one that is likely to age gracefully, just as Man Man appear to be doing.

Two Saviors is quiet and understated, yet thoroughly enjoyable despite rarely moving out of second gear. It doesn’t need to.

While The Year of Hibernation doesn't rocket into the stratosphere so much, it's still an exemplary debut.

if i could make it go quiet does a pretty great job of playing to Ulven’s strengths while also branching out. Her newer territory might take a moment to adjust to, and may not always entirely suit her, but so long as she keeps singing about the experiences and feelings that are her own, she will remain captivating and exciting.

With patience, Hummingbird's panorama comes into full view, and it is one full of arrestingly arranged set pieces and an impressive sense of economy.

Occasionally, the band goes for the jugular but winds up succumbing to melodrama instead. Standell-Preston, Austin Tufts, and Taylor Smith are still fantastic musicians, and can be really strong songwriters with weird and interesting ideas, but perhaps they would fare better if they boiled it down to the essentials next time, bask in their specific brand of minimalist rock, and shake off the excess.

Oh Holy Molar isn't quite poetry in motion, but not all poetry needs to be in such a state to be enjoyed.

Overall, while the album certainly has some parts that stunningly wash over you, it has many others that simply wash away.

Cheater finds Pom Poko stretching and redefining their own unique blend of mangled aesthetics and creating a ruptured post-punk-pop world that’ll leave you staggered and anxious for just one more song.

This is a great pop-rock album because it doesn't feel the need to be anything else.

Mostly, the listener will leave Kiss Each Other Clean craving something lyrically to hold onto, to become affected beyond the immediate emotional stirs that the pure prettiness of songs like Godless Brother In Love.

Release definitely sees Pangaea staying ahead of the game, voyaging without hesitation into unchartered territories while keeping a foot in familiar UK bass strains.

While the warm emotionality and elegant melodicism of BREACH should earn her legions of fans, it’s the little snippets of hard-to-admit truth that are going to come to mean the most to people. It’s these moments that set her apart, and are as sure a sign as any that Fenne Lily is going to grow into an even more exciting and important artist in the years to come.

Taste of Love is one of TWICE’s most cohesive and dazzling albums thus far. It’s fun, mature and makes a great contribution to our current pop-sphere with its retro-sonic aesthetics and escapist feel.

No Taste basically checks all the boxes of what makes punk rock still a righteous, thrilling starting point for any young artist. It’s a record that frantically claws at the walls with concisely aimed fits of desperation, anger, scathing humor and gusto.

Public Storage might initially seem a bit oblique with its monochromatic, solemn moods, but like a faded family photograph, there’s a lot of subtle warmth to be found if you rummage through it long enough.

Another successful release from Khotin, an artist who, armed with just his laptop and a small home studio, has the ability to make you laugh, dance, reflect and space out all during the same album.

An aura of mystery and ambiguity hangs over Impersonator. The emotions and resulting thoughts are always present and felt, but their cause isn’t always clear.

The Shadow I Remember is a confusing exploration of Baldi’s hopes and dreams, which don’t materialize at all. There’s so much to unpack in his words, but he makes it hard to care about them.

Some of it drags (looking at you, “You’ve Won This War”), and the lyrics, melodies, and sounds don’t always land. At times you can practically feel him straining for it all to Mean Something, but Butler remains a powerful and important voice in music, even when a particular album doesn’t fully succeed.

While it's an album prime for some excellent live renditions, it's the tendency to brood too much or even approach tedium at some points leaves further room for the development of this sound.

Her ethereal, purposefully-sloppily-overdubbed vocals haven't changed, but now they have a much stronger rhythmic backing.

Everything that made their self-titled debut forgettable has been brought back and laboriously run into the ground.

Boris’ expansive approach acts as a foil to Uniform’s tense restrictions, and it really shouldn’t work as well as it does. And yet it does.

They deserve every bit of success this album brings them, simply because A Different Kind of Fix is one of the most accomplished albums of the year.

For the first time in awhile, however, the energies he has expended have converged into a proper piece of art.

It's worth giving Castlemania a few more chances, because beneath what feels like constant disharmony, is something quite refreshing.

Everything on 151a is mixed so that every sound is waiting to be heard. Every cherished moment is ready and waiting for you to hear it.

These 12 songs deal with death and loss – themes that have never felt so tangible for so many. Yet, Field Music pull off this balancing act for one simple reason: this was their very gift to begin with.

The height of popularity for this music may have come in the first half of the last decade when bands like fellow British trios Feeder and Muse were at their peak, but music this enjoyable never becomes unpopular, especially when it's done this well.

It's an album that ceaselessly overflows with love and a desire to reach out and relate, and it's this that makes such a heavy album so accessible and so resoundingly good.