‘The Don Of Diamond Dreams’ is a glorious album that yields more and more with each listen. And listen you need to, because if you don’t you might miss something.

Little Red should rightly see Katy B cement her ascent to the stratosphere, joining the rest of dance music’s glitterati.

Earworm guitar licks and choir-like harmonies sprout unexpectedly from Goat Girl’s skeletal, unpredictable songs like wildflowers in landfill.

As a collection, Father of the Bride holds together remarkably well. This is not some grand tome where these indie vets try and break new sonic territory every track for better or worse. Here we see a bunch of thirty-somethings letting go of some past anxieties and leaning into newfound securities. It's a relaxed record happily borrowing from the modern American songbook, a little Fleetwood Mac here, a little Paul Simon there.

A testament to vehement artistry, ‘On Sunset’ finds Paul Weller refusing to let his fire dim.

A band whose early commercial ubiquity shouldn’t obscure the continued creative vitality of their work, Maximo Park open a fresh era with some of their finest work in a decade.

The music is bright and unconfined, making it the perfect album for catharsis.

'Big Time' is a focused record that contains stunning examples of vulnerability, almost too exposed to watch. Her ability to shed layers artistically and emotionally, over and over, leaves you excited to see where her next destination may be.

With ‘Layover’, V’s intentions were clear. He obviously had a distinct sound that he wanted to stick to, his vision clear inhabiting by his sense of self. The influence of jazz and R&B is evident and the execution is slick.

It’s when EOB dares to experiment that 'Earth' really lifts off. The erratic, rumbling distortion of 'Mass' is as eerie as the thought of space itself, where his sounds tell a greater story than words ever could.

‘Broken Algorithms’ is a sizeable misfire from its title onwards, thundering about with the ham-fisted bluster of much of their debut, ‘Generation Terrorists’. Its digital focus is at odds with an album besotted with faded analogue beauty.

The result is an album soaked in nostalgia and melancholy but retains the razor-sharp edge that make shame so brilliant.

A work of subtle evolution, it’s a record that rewards repeated listens, with patience allowing these fresh elements to rise to the surface on an album that underlines Bonobo’s role as one of UK electronic music’s most consistent, and pervasive voices.

Just like all the very best albums, I Tell A Fly is by turns thought provoking, musically challenging and genre defying but perhaps more importantly, it imbues a sense of uniqueness that suggests you can’t imagine anyone else making it.

Lovely tunes and scrupulous attention to detail make Resolve Poppy’s best album to date, equally suitable for quiet relaxation as well as a more conscious enjoyment.

‘2000’ is a distinctly Joey Bada$$ project, although it doesn’t necessarily tread entirely new conceptual grounds, the spaces it does occupy are well thought out and exceptional for a reason. This album is another brilliant example of why Joey Bada$$ is such a powerhouse in hip-hop.

Kali has created a lucid dreamscape where you can be whatever you want to be, self-venerated and free. Isolation is an escapist escapade of the highest order.

Future Islands’ fans will find plenty to love with this album, with some of the songs here already instant favourites and others feeling like some of the best, most fully realised of their career thus far.

After the cheap--but definitely magical--thrills of her debut, this is a slow-burning triumph.

A record that spirits the listener along at quite a pace, its already relatively concise thirty-five minutes stirring a melodic whirlwind.

It is a very enjoyable, incomparable album, with moments of extraordinary depth.

Both bold and filled with bravado, yet layered and emotional, YBN Cordae is able to convey his desires, hopes, and fears in an ambitious and well-thought out format. A strong debut from an artist who knows that he is capable of long-term success.

It succeeds in bringing a 90s aesthetic kicking and screaming in to the 21st century, shedding the nostalgia in favour of contemporary pop pomp, all delivered with Jim Adkins’ trademark optimism and heart-on-sleeve lyricism.

With Face Your Fear, Harding has given us a captivatingly concise project brimming with soulful and pensive reflection.

After a few listens you get the feeling Art Brut are generally excited to be recording together again. The time apart has done them the world of good, as the enthusiasm they exude is infectious. Argos’ vocals have aged well and now have a warming tone, but the snarky bite still remains.

‘Serpentina’ speaks to her craft, elevating her talents as a musician as she sheds through her layers and births a new and transformed performer.

This feels like an important record, one that opens up a conversation that has largely been excluded from the mainstream for much too long. Above all this, though, is the sheer marvel of the musicianship, the endless innovation, the continual improvisation that makes My East Is Your West such a surprising, and truly enjoyable listen.

Every Baroness album before this has featured huge shifts in style, this being the one where they take the best of each to create a propulsive, thrilling whole.

For the most part, too, it’s an absolute joy, an urbane, witty, extremely catchy selection of three minute ditties, superbly well-written and expertly arranged.

Emerging from the murk and into the new-found quiet of middle age, Feist’s Pleasure is a document of stark beauty that’s entirely and unequivocally her own.

While Lost & Found doesn’t feel like Jorja Smith’s magnum opus, it’s a brilliant first draft.

This is invigorating, wilful and wildly exuberant--and one senses an invitation to collaboration with David Byrne might be in the post.

A beguilingly atmospheric record, this new album from Red River Dialect seems to be in perpetual transition, coming close to but never quite achieving that sense of return.

The cartoon-ish vocals are still there, but Iglooghost isn’t trying to show off, or impress us, with his skills. Instead, he has created his most inventive, personal, and tender album to date.

A Humdrum Star feels like a step beyond the precious experiments of their opening records, a concise and complete statement that defies categorisation and reinforces the vitality of UK jazz at this moment.

It's as personal an album as he's ever written--more than just an amalgamation of the band's previous work, it is perhaps the purest distillation yet of everything that makes them who and what they are: rewarding, confusing, joyous, heartbreaking, immediate and profound, all in one.

It's hard-edged, it's proficient and most certainly smarter than the average band.

Refusing to take the easy route, ‘Sundial’ can at times be daunting, and the task of following the profound success of her earlier work isn’t an easy one. On repeated listens, however, the project breaks open as a singular work of Black American artistry.

If you’re looking for an album to brighten your day, come enter the world of CHAI.

Never subtle but always entertaining, ‘KHALED KHALED’ is a wild ride, a rollercoaster that clicks into gear just as the world begins to re-open.

A bold, tremulous feat, Sucker Punch will leave you floored.

Shea Butter Baby manages to meld contemporary R&B with other sounds like soul, funk, and blues, all while introducing us to the Ari Lennox of today – and the inspirations that guide her every move.

On ‘Brothers And Sisters’ he sounds like he feels comfortable being in his skin and writing uplifting music that doesn’t have a massive political message, though one is there. It doesn’t have a massively personal message, though it is there. Instead, he’s written an album for everyone.

If you like your music heavy with feels, story and a tangible sense of nostalgia, this is for you. Oberst and Bridgers have created one of those rare collaborative albums that rank with the best efforts of the respective artists.

With Little Dark Age, the group have perfected the balancing act between the two, and have delivered a project that should please fans on both sides.

From the lyrical outpouring of questions and realisations, to the emotions encapsulated by these instrumental vignettes and thoughtful production, you get the sense that Maggie is at home here in this state of experimentation and consideration.

At times brilliantly cold and clinical, it feels like an album created for a man-made future but with Lovett's soulful croon adding the humanity, you'll feel every heartbeat.

The joyfully raucous Forth Wanderers bears testament to just how well the distance formula is working.

Ultimately The Impossible Kid is an album that will reinforce whatever preconceptions about Aesop Rock you already hold. However, it’s also worth noting that this is most probably the least cryptic and most honest of all his records.

It’s evident that with ‘Yummy’ that the band’s appetite for creating music remains unsated and it sees the band at their most creative and progressive, delivering an impressive and thought-provoking body of work that can easily be ranked as one of their best.

Sure, there’s a few lyrical clunkers on show, but taken as whole ‘E3 AF’ finds Dizzee Rascal navigating the perilous landscape of 2020 with remarkable assurance. Few other UK rappers can genuinely say they’re making some of their best work 20 years in the game.

'W' sees Boris fully exploring the lighter side of their sound. ... But the delicate beauty of these moments is magnified when Boris push themselves to the other extreme.

Before its release, Fetti had the potential to be one of the strongest hip-hop albums of the year due to the skilled people involved and it has no doubt fulfilled that promise.

A bold, impressive debut offering, it finds the songwriter’s perfectionist streak paying off.

Their sound hasn’t evolved but simply bettered itself, and as per usual, finds its way around an extensive (and slightly absurd) range of instruments.

Overall, aside from a lack of sonic variety from song to song, ‘Velvet’ is a strong showcase of a soundscape that is – pun intended – smooth as velvet.

It is an unequivocal triumph, standing boldly as their most diverse, beguiling and impressive release to date.

A sorrowful, yet captivating collection of songs, ensuring that Ms. Mitchell continues to snap at the heels of PJ Harvey in the female singer songwriter stakes.

An artist who continually confronts his own emotions, ‘Permanent Damage’ finds Joesef heightening his intentions, and magnifying his aspirations. He’s manifesting pop greatness, and few would bet against him.

‘Prize’ fully submerges the artist into a unique, eccentric, psychedelic style – allowing her to fully embrace various influences and detach her art from confinements that previous albums may have established.

This impressive collection is a touching tribute to Petty’s enduring legacy and demonstrates his candour, artistry, and emotive storytelling. This is a real must have for any Tom Petty fan and paints an even more colourful picture of what has always been a masterpiece as well as unveiling an exciting treasure trove of musical gems which will inevitably become long-lasting Petty classics.

No less inviting than their debut, while asserting its own identity at every corner, ‘O Monolith’ is a fine second album.

This record comes on like the voice of a friend, confessional and familiar-- full of small, important reassurances.

At just under and hour the album isn’t notably long nor short, but there are no parts that drag or feel out of place. This isn’t a hip-hop album, a jazz album, an electronica album...but something that will speak to fans of those genres who’ll take this as their album.

Nova Twins’ sound remains 100% homegrown British beefiness. There are many people out there from across the rap-rock spectrum who will despise this album (for reasons both fair and foul), but there are many more who will appreciate the lack of compromise in this rollicking call to arms.

This is the strongest project Drake since 2013’s ‘Nothing Was The Same’, and one that owes itself to sounds across the globe.

Smart, soulful pop.

With the veteran experimentalists on a self-imposed hiatus--and now a drummer light--Not Music offers a stopgap if not a final full stop to a kaleidoscopic career.

Blood is a work that speaks for itself, an album that’s boundless, and restlessly pursues the ideas of its creator.

This record contains meticulous instrumental arrangements and clever storytelling. It is protest music without the cliché heavy rock sound and direct lyrics. Instead Maltese uses satire to place pity upon the world but mostly himself, all delivered with a wry grin and a sparkle in his eye.

Beautifully produced and blessed with Guy Garvey in fine voice, it's a small but perfectly formed step forward.

This third LP’s motley magic merits the coveted breakthrough that these Celtic chancers deserve.

It wraps you up like a sunny day in the middle of no where. But Lynch is never far from a party, and every moment of this record is glazed with fun and pop and excitement.

Overall, it's the record you wanted--and expected--AlunaGeorge to make three years ago. It'd be good to see them kick on, though; you still get the feeling they've an even better record in them.

‘Whatever The Weather is fortunately distinctly Loraine James; an unexpected new step of diverse experiments, and a perfect companion to a spring as of yet undecided on showing its face.

Its cleverness and humour burst like springs from an overstuffed rococo couch.

This album deserves your attention and is a perfect example of a group accomplishing and exceeding their full potential.

‘The WAEVE’ being a unique experience, bathed in a bold richness and brilliantly indulgent productions.

The songwriting is strong, representing Selway’s best – and must sustained – burst of solo work yet. His innate musicality shines through, and there’s an endearing honesty to the lyrics that filters across the music itself.

McMorrow loyalists may bemoan the polished sheen that characterises the tracks on We Move, but there is some genuine pop-soul mastery at display here, McMorrow’s sound more wholesome without renouncing the spectral quality that characterised his earlier material.

A dazzlingly creative effort, it might well be SHOPPING’s most complete, concise, and fascinating release yet.

Defying categorisation, 'Fire Doesn’t Grow On Trees' feels simultaneously well-situated in Brian Jonestown Massacre’s expansive discography, while continuing their core ethos of subverting the indie scene, always looking in the opposite direction of the mainstream.

The freshness comes through in the delivery, which is as loose as electronic music permits, delivered with the bluesy rawness that frontman Dave Gahan wanted from the album.

Flamagra reminds us just how good Flying Lotus sounds when soundtracking transcendence.

It’s a record that captures the anxious state of the world and shows a more fragile Gaz Coombes, far removed from the happy-go-lucky teenager who wrote ‘Caught By The Fuzz’ and ‘Alright’.

Food is a fabulous and immediate record, rich with muted brass and low-key electronics.

Opener ‘Shock Out’ illustrates a playful approach that floats on the periphery of danger while ‘Slay’ sees her really flex her lyricism complete with a wavy flow. As is to be expected, The Bug’s production floats in the oxymoronic universe of heavy and atmospheric that is both haunting and devastating.

‘Sea Change’ is as epic as anything that came later, Knights’ vocal supplemented by a rich seam of orchestration, but much of the material here could have been lifted from those early recordings, where skeletal fret work frames angelic vocals. A return to the source.

What ‘Fleuves de l'Âme’ shows are that some albums are worth the wait as ‘Fleuves de l'Âme’ shows a delicate balance of killer melodies, tradition playing and contemporary electronica.

The battle between melody and noise at the heart of 'DEATH MAGIC' is a fascinating one, and the twelve songs on which it plays out are damn near bulletproof. Welcome to the most terrifying pop album of 2015.

It’s contagious joy to hear players with such abandon and intuition, braiding their lines together.

Although fans are nostalgically pining for the innocent, youthful sound of her voice from her early albums, there’s no questioning that she has a more controlled and comfortable vocal ability now.

A beautiful vessel for messy emotions, 'Build A Problem' is a tour of the highs and lows of living and loving in your teens, twenties and probably beyond; raw, full of questions and yet celebratory as it revels in its big emotions.

It is the very definition of a grower, simply because there are so many little things going on in stark contrast to her elegantly sparse previous release.

Undeniably formulaic but just as captivatingly beautiful, solemn closer Let Me Back In is the track-stopping highlight, painstakingly building to a crescendo before the ghost voices drift out. Glorious.

‘GRRR Live!’ has further cemented The Rolling Stones’ reputation as one of the best live acts of all times as well as being one of the most memorable shows in the band’s history.

We Will Not Harm You operates much like a London Sunday market in its vibrant, assorted survey of the electronic melting pot

There is a heady optimism to the album. Instead of claustrophobic soundscapes, Lake has built elegant drones around pockets of space that allow the songs, and listener, to breathe.