Strike A Match feels like it is racing against itself, a gentle, playful intensity that feels wholly inviting.

‘Man Alive!’ is an absorbing consolidation of Marshall’s inimitable sound.

Righton paints the perfect picture of his inner thoughts as he embarks on a cinematic journey with poignant lyricism, exquisite production and charismatically seductive soundscapes reminiscent of Roxy Music.

Drift see’s songwriters Mark Perro and Nick Chiericozzi reflect on a decade of relentless experimentation to produce an album that truly showcases both their versatility as musicians and the many dimensions of The Men’s musical canon.

In 13 tracks ‘The Waves pt. 1’ is an elegant accumulating of Kele Okereke’s work. It encapsulates so much depth and takes you on joyous rides that you can never anticipate the direction of.

Arca rides a steady stream of minimalist melancholia, juxtaposed against Ghersi’s intense, operatic vocals--the effect is one of ceremonial transcendence.

Forest Swords was already becoming quickly respected for his deftness of touch when dealing with both musical and emotional tone. Compassion demonstrates he is very capable of weaving them together until they are intrinsically entwined.

New fans will not be won, but the initiated will be delighted.

Konradsen's warm intimacy both strangely familiar but uniquely their own is one which will stay with you in the months and years to come. Welcome to their world.

Bombay Bicycle Club’s time away has propelled the band to a new plane of compelling sophistication, where musically and thematically they have evolved to create a beautifully profound and stunning soundscape full of promise and self-examination.

Framed by ‘THE LIGHT’, the record is cohesive, punchy, and succinct.

Intended settings aside, Song For Alpha demands repeated listening, finding its place oscillating between the ecstasy and dejection of experience.

Kevin Abstract’s newest studio album continues to assert him as one of the greatest talents of this generation, an individual who eliminates conformity and remains earnest and candid, regardless of the sonic environment he visits.

Arresting, yet often unexpected, ‘Fairweather Friend’ pilfers from the indie pop lineage, while daring to stamp out a unique identity of its own.

Wise’s third record is a glossy-smooth addition to a stellar discography, oozing with infectious melodies, tempered production and lashes of sex appeal.

Thoughtful, innovative, and reflective, ‘Songs Of An Unknown Tongue’ is a special record, one that offers up questions and revelations in equal measure.

Slimmed down to forty minutes split between ten tracks, Apple has the feel of one cohesive whole when compared to 7G’s daunting monolith.

The record feels slick and polished, yet natural and unnatural. Like Grimes’ previous music, it’s a scary, ambient, and muddlingly beautiful mess.

This is a beautifully blissed-out record, coloured by minimal rhythms and Lewis Rainsbury’s isolated vocals.

Featuring savage and often heartfelt, diary-like ruminations, CTRL pushes against the borders of convention lyrically and sonically, placing it on the upper echelons of potential ‘Best Of ’17’ lists.

For My Crimes is a glorious album that demands to repeat listens to try and work out the hidden meanings of its songs and stories. As the nights are drawing in, pull the curtains, dim the lights and give yourself to its country gothic charm.

Yazmin Lacey’s curatorial skill sits alongside her painterly-like vocals, resulting in a bold, and emphatic album project.

‘Learning How To Live And Let Go’ is a beautiful culmination in the XCERTS’ career.

The Union is a mutual display of affection from both sides - Elton and Bernie's nostalgic tales are infused with gospel, rollicking country and rock 'n' roll, while Leon's croaky voice adds southern authenticity.

Designer is a striking return, pursuing solitary aesthetic goals in a fashion both unrelenting and admirable. It perhaps lacks a little of the indefinable magic that made 2017’s ‘Party’ such a gripping experience, but in its ability to conjure bold, riveting songwriting it underlines Aldous Harding’s position as a truly remarkable artist.

At times, ‘Only Built For Infinity Links’ leans too heavily on the past, and comes close to being simply Migos without Offset – as opposed to a project with its own taste and flavours. At its best, though, the record more than justifies the excitement – the post-Migos landscape is looking very inviting indeed.

‘Fulton’ and ‘Morning River’ are early highlights, while ‘Circuit Rider’ seems to exude the characteristics of the album’s Los Angeles setting. Closing with the reflective ‘Ever Feel That Way’, Steve Gunn marvels with the lightest of touches.

For the most part, the record warrants its own expansiveness as themes of self-doubt, isolation and faith slowly supernova among dazzling ambient instrumentals, careening string sections and Sufjan’s warped vocals that bring harmony, hope and futurism to the cold, dense expanse of space.

Ripe with subtle nuance, Fading Lines is an exquisite debut. Seemingly simple yet running far deeper than cursory listens reveal, it’s a record that sticks with you long after the closing notes of the aptly titled ‘White Fuzz’ fade out.

Clocking in at less than 33 minutes to ensure your left gagging for more, Sweet Heart Rodeo is a near faultless blend of Landes’ country roots and the urban savvy of her Brooklyn base.

While Indigo is no groundbreaker, it’s exciting for an album with so much nostalgia to sound as fresh and pristine as this.

With its mixture of wonky psych, fiery funk, and jazzy jams, this may stand as the label's most eclectic and enjoyable compilation of the year. If you love to groove, look no further than this set of scorching songs to keep you moving during the dark, cold nights.

Shorn of its visuals, ‘Shadow Kingdom’ remains a fascinating listen. .... Facing down his past, he comes close to eclipsing it, and offers magnificent proof of his continued vitality as a performing artist.

A marvellous new set, then, that only develops its makers’ already enviable reputation.

The beautiful performances captured here, touching on all five studio albums, are more than enough of a reason to seek this out.

Maya Hawke plays with vulnerability and honesty throughout ‘MOSS’, creating a compelling, delicate and melancholic listen.

It is an album that demands repeat listens, but this is fine, as with each listen we learn a little more of its secrets, but once they have been cracked Bon Voyage becomes something greater than its parts.

‘Dawn’ is the product of years of curation, brimming with emotion and beautifully articulated lyrics.

The Wild Hunt, the second release from Swedish guitar-twanging folksy master The Tallest Man On Earth, is a graceful and beautiful advancement of form, and matures just the way a second album really ought to.

The Bride is a stellar soundtrack to the complexities of womanhood within the institution of marriage, a triumph of raw intensity.

Serene yet disturbed, this is album that progresses the band well.

He also writes with a newfound lens, new experience, with his fascination of the space between cities coming through in technicolour on this record. The also never-ending sonic exploration is continually excellent, ‘Space Heavy’ being just as eclectic as it is cohesive.

‘A Written Testimony’ is a biblical album for biblical times, with enough human flaws to make it imperfect.

A time-bridging release that stands as an essential and timely reminder of just how rock ‘n’ roll ought to be played.

At times grainy and abrasive it's also mischievous, melodic and, ultimately, absolutely adorable.

Expect to be challenged, provoked, and amazed by this near-heavenly debut.

Loaded with fan-focused extras, this three-disc box set comes with all the extra demos, b-sides and alternate versions you could ever need. If anything, it’s a timely reminder of just how many tunes Oasis had at their disposal. A salute, then, to great times gone by.

With ‘23’ Cench truly puts his name at the top of the leaderboard. The ear for production, vulnerability, braggadocio, and likability make him one of the UK’s premier artists, not just in drill or rap but UK music as a whole.

Interiors is an expansive, fiercely intelligent investigative work.

A revealing, continually powerful set of songs, ‘Here Is Everything’ is a fantastically engaging experience, arguably the strongest set The Big Moon have placed their name against.

This band has succeeded at writing an exceptional album that’s both intimate and full of pop-hook goodness, all without using over-the-top production techniques.

It duly delivers, comprising a first-rate electro set rich with the imagination of songwriter Katie Stelmani.

Bold, speculative and profound Impressions is a vital reminder that although we may keep moving forward and putting the negatives behind us, they should never be forgotten.

On Your Own Love Again is a timeless record by a remarkable talent only just starting to show what she can do.

Tastefully pieced together, ‘Jungle’ concludes In A Galaxy with chopped and screwed sound productions and juddering beats, a wholesome way to complete an emphatically creative album.

Sudan Archives is proving that she is an artist who knows no bounds, and projects like this one are what is going to propel her further into acclaim and stardom.

‘Shadow Offering,’ is beautiful and heartwrenching, pulling on listeners’ heartstrings. The album offers a sanctuary by easing anxiety and fueling hope, acting as a sort of security blanket for these unnerving times.

Never once is Jean Dawson restricted by any instruments or styles. Instead he crafts a nostalgic, and sometimes aggressive, world, matched beautifully by the well-thought-out visuals. It took everything that made ‘Pixel Bath’ so incredible and just elevates it. 8/10

A rich, rewarding experience, this isn’t an album to be understood easily – uneasy listening, it could be their most enlightening record yet.

As dense as it is bare, the aural fog and disorientation of alt-techno he has made his own across four albums has Actress throwing himself headfirst into a heap of wires and making sure every choice earns their right to the tracklist.

Ape in Pink Marble doesn’t do anything innovative because it doesn’t really have to. So go ahead, Devendra, celebrate.

Although the sound of the album is wide-ranging, it holds continuity through its lyrics and general sentiment. K-Pop after all is an inherently genre-blending style of music, so it’s no surprise.

With Qualm, Helena Hauff has created the record we both wanted and needed. It’s a statement of romantic infatuation amongst an otherwise hash, twisted and raw landscape. A glance into the past and a look to the future. There is nothing apologetic about this record, and that’s what makes it so great.

While Carry Fire showcases some of Plant’s best and most confessional lyricism, there’s no denying that this is an album that stands out most for its lusciously complex musical structures and influences, allowing for it to purvey an other-worldly quality.

This album won’t please the fans who wanted ‘Malibu’ again because, simply put, it isn’t. But for those who are excited by an artist unafraid to reinvent and experiment, then look no further.

Amid the glitz, the hype, the online intrusion, Don Toliver still locates a space to call his own – and that’s what makes ‘Love Sick’ so thrilling.

‘All Her Plans’ is a triumph, a record that will certainly send these Aussie rockers to soaring new heights.

It’s the Gaviscon after the turkey dinner; the strategic nap to escape the family. Like the best sort of present, I didn’t know I needed it until it arrived.

It’s a perverse and challenging listen that makes very few compromises. But the album is also both intensely lyrical and supremely musical--and it plays out in a way that is designed to be perversely uncomfortable for the ears.

‘Blue Rev’ is a magical, twisty excursion to a crossroads where the band simultaneously reflects on yesteryear and explores the turbulence of divergent realities.

Accept no imitators; SALEM are back and are still capable of giving us the ultimate soundtrack to the end of the world as we know it.

McCartney produces his most real, immersive, and innovative work, and roles a mellotron in for good measure.

Ultimately, ‘Introducing...’ thrives because of how natural it feels – a record as authentic as the dust on Dan Auerbach’s control booth, it places Aaron Frazer as a golden-voiced embodiment of this modern soul age.

Cloud Control's debut is making an early play for the feel-good record of 2011. There are more hooks in Bliss Control's thirty-nine minutes than in Captain Birdseye's entire fleet.

It’s a record that makes incisions into the staid, one that knocks over the steadfast; it’s a bold, thrilling construction, one that pushes her history to one side in order to build anew.

It’s not all perfect - no pop record that takes as much chances as this could ever hope to hit 10/10 home runs - but it’s certainly entertaining. Direct, up-front, and completely unabashed, ‘Poster Girl’ finds Zara Larsson living up to the fame that has surrounded her for more than a decade.

Categorically not your ordinary Christmas album, and one to check out now if you missed it the first time.

‘Notes On A Conditional Form’ is lyrically playful and musically a step away from being confused for a compilation album of the best tracks this group has ever released. But that confusion is warranted. This is The 1975’s quarantine Megazord.

Earl Sweatshirt is telling truths rather than forging fantasy, and Doris is a disturbed and penetrating journey into the mind of the boy that came back from Samoa.

An album that’s both heartfelt and sincere and utterly irresistible in the process.

Emotion and passion are apparent in every word, key and chord throughout this project, boldly asserting Jamila’s second offering as a brilliant new addition to her own legacy, rather than a mere follow up to 2016’s ‘HEAVN’.

The album’s snappy 10 track run-list positively invites further plays, perpetuating this desire to keep the cycle going.

This body of work is as meticulous as it is melancholy, which is what makes it so profoundly personal and universal at the same time.

‘Portrait Of A Dog’ offers up a compelling glimpse into Yano’s chimerical interior world, deftly and sincerely, unfurling memory after memory without devolving into, and getting lost in, syrupy sentimentality.

Her balladry is simple, sparse, unfeigned and unpretentious, and her torch songs smoulder like burning embers.

Though they sometimes still miss, Twentytwo In Blue stakes out the loss of innocence that comes with growing up, and it does it beautifully.

A gorgeous, triumphant return.

Representing the sum of all the label's split personalities--including the rousing microhouse of closer 'Good Times'--it should be listened to more as a celebratory catalogue than a seamless concept LP; a worthy precursor to next year's 'Twenty Years Of...'

‘Honey’ pivots between lyrical complexity and spartan, but endlessly pretty arrangements.

Songs on ‘Reflection’ transcend the boundaries of radio-ready pop music, are a reflection (no pun intended) of the larger shift of pop music to something entirely digital in every sense, a shift that seems to mirror that of the music industry in the past decade.

This collection’s predecessor, 2013’s ‘True Romance’, showcased an artist willing to take on the pop world. Sucker finds that same, singular performer rewriting the rules entirely, never mind breaking any, and beating pop at its own game.

A record that fits neatly in to the Maxïmo Park canon, while seeking to distance itself from it subtly.

It's an album in the true sense, each song a building block on an overall journey.

Again, like their previous work, 'Champ' is a short and sweet affair - but not one to miss or forget.

One for the long drive ahead as you watch the white lines get consumed by the night.

If you could see sounds as colours, a la synathaesia, this entire album would be a kaleidoscope of audio-visual, acid-trip imagery.

It’s another marvellous addition to the Father John Misty catalogue, delivered from a songwriter that surely now deserves to be recognised as one of, if not the greatest, of this decade.

A must-listen for those who like their metal with depth and mystery.