Bright, buoyant, and continually innovative, ‘Electricity’ is a project dominated by colour, vitality, and – crucially – a ruthless pop instinct.

An effortless blending and renewed celebration of genres like punk, new wave, techno and hip-hop is all made possible with the inclusion of long time Trainspotting favourites Iggy Pop, Blondie and Underworld and extra additions in Queen, The Clash, Run DMC and Frankie Goes To Hollywood.

Simple, unaffected songwriting with a direct emotional pull, Falling Faster Than You Can Run is swarming with undercurrents, with nuances that only become more marked over time.

It’s not a full-bore masterwork: the first half of the record packs a stronger punch than the latter. But it’s a more cohesive, complete listen as a result of tighter sequencing. The Ungodly Hour is a soothing salve for a world on fire.

Forceful and atmopsheric, ‘From A King To A God’ punches through the glass ceiling, its purposeful swagger leering out of the speakers. His third full length project in 2020, ‘Conway The Machine has hit escape velocity.

It’s a beautiful album, and it’s the sound of a band realising they can finally do anything they want with sound.

Shields is an engrossing, beautiful work which could only come from Grizzly Bear, and only at this point in their career.

Although ‘Modus Vivendi’ has oodles of instant appeal, the minute the rule book is thrown out the window, Shake is at the top her game.

A glittering project that underlines Offset’s status as one of American rap’s MVPs, ‘SET IT OFF’ doubles as an emotional mirror, as a form of autobiography. All that glitters isn’t gold – and very often the finest moments on this album are its most humble.

Garcia allows these songs to ebb and flow without a clear end point in mind, allowing the interplay between her band-members to become this album’s primary draw. She has proven herself to be just as formidable a composer as she is a performer.

The record swells and retreats at will as the group flex their musical dexterity.

Broadly eclectic throughout, it's a buoyant return.

CALM is a refreshing evolution from the days of their self-titled debut. Their latest effort is by no means perfect, but the album is a testament to their growth.

Less reliant on theory or process, Love Streams is a testament to Hecker’s innate musical sense of direction.

It may not be original, but in a time where bands prefer to gaze wistfully at their shoes or navels, Leeds’ Eagulls are like a necessary breath of fresh air.

This record is an exploration into the synergy of reengineering technology and humanity. Let yourself be taken on the journey.

Criminally under exposed.

Lyrically, the album represents one of Shana Cleveland’s most daring and open song cycles.

Melancholy remains the primary colour in Robyn’s work, though it continues to sparkle.

Kehlani can still be thorny and tempestuous but they’ve also never been more holistic and soulful than on ‘Blue Water Road’.

It is the sound of a band working out what they are good at and turning the quality control up to eleven.

Fifth effort Depression Cherry is no different, and whilst haters could accuse the duo of being a one trick pony, you must ask yourself if you truly care when the pony is so damn gorgeous.

It brings the friendly, familiar sound of a bygone time without begging for the clocks to veer into reverse, and clings to ‘90s noise-pop with the gentlest possible grip. It’s a show of strength too, proving the resilience of the band.

There’s more than enough life in his work to shock, provoke thought, and inspire for another two decades.

A fluid, effortless and absorbing listen, King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard aren’t just one the industry’s most prolific bands, they are also one of the world’s best.

Ashnikko uses cogent and wisecracking lyrics thrown in to a vat of saccharine pop, punk, rap and trap as her weapon of choice. She promotes her sex positive ideals with genuine laugh out loud humour as she explores the movement throughout the mixtape.

The absence of any high-profile pop vocal collaborations--save for Snoop Dogg on 'I'll House You', which playfully (and successfully) pays tribute to house music circa Dance Energy--and greater focus on the French house and techno that formed him, present Boys Noize at his most venerably accomplished.

[His albums] are normally produced to the hilt, but here Neil Young sounds more vulnerable than he normally does, and this makes the songs more immediate and personal.

’Ignatius’ is the album the hip-hop scene didn’t know it needed, the raw voice and understanding Jadakiss delivers here offers much-needed respite from the shallow music we seem to be swamped in at the moment. What a way to make a comeback.

Some may find 'Visions' consistently eschews the same ground of super slick, layered vocals over chrome digital structures but this reductive palette of sonics hears the album fly towards its peak of 'Nightmusic' - a collaboration with Majical Cloudz that is camouflaged electro pop that'll keep you muttering for months.

It takes something to stay true to the original ‘Who-ish’ sound after 50 years in the game, but unlike so many others, this time they’ve managed to do so with impeccable form.

'Homesick' is defined by its anthemic vulnerability, truly capturing a sense of coming of age excellence. Much like the outfit’s previous releases, there is this sense of familiarity stitched into every track, making the nostalgia shine even brighter.

PJ Geissinger boosts his refinement, despite not being a slave to technicality, with no surrendering of dancefloor rawness.

‘Last Night In The Bittersweet’ transports you from the hard-hitting indie rock chaos to gentle soul; his vocals being just as strong and as captivating as he moves from one end of the spectrum to another.

While Loop The Loop isn’t a retro record, neither is it futuristic; it’s not a singer-songwriter album, nor is it an electronic beats record. One thing it does qualify as though, is a hugely enjoyable debut album.

United States Of Horror is wired on a different kind of anger--these tracks seethe with violence and disgust, raging at dark political orders, economic inequality, racial tension and fractured society.

A record that refuses to compromise, ‘BLUE LIPS’ presents ScHoolboy Q in unfiltered form. A creative accelerator, its commitment to the individual voice makes this the LA rapper’s definitive statement.

Wonderfully engaging from the first line of opener ‘Our Girl’, this cracking debut mirrors the nuanced nature of modern life with equal parts noise and softness.

'Algiers' is a Calexico album unlike any other. More forceful, immediate and polished, whilst still possessing the bewitching musical interplays of old.

Although not necessarily pushing boundaries lyrically, Octavian’s appeal lies in the whole package rather than a complex narrative. The raspy flows and melodic groans are at home over the ethereal, bass heavy instrumentals, giving each track a consistent vibe that absorbs multiple elements into a gripping end product.

Works of art like these elevate us beyond the material world, if only for an afternoon, and for that Holter remains worth her weight in gold.

It’s a follow-up that interlocks with the debut perfectly, building on its foundation both lavish and coy, doing pop music that’s both bang on target and way too wise for the charts. A dot of light in the darkness that will dazzle you should you look too long.

On ‘Sunburn’, the American songwriter sounds the most comfortable he ever has, and as a result this sophomore record carves out his own space in the music world.

Reaching greater and greater heights, ‘Magic 3’ could well be Nas and Hit-Boy’s finest hour together – the closure of this chapter allows us to analysis their relationship, but you’re still left yearning for more.

The sonics are strange and hard to recreate: they are forward thinking but in some ways ageless, a natural fit for Tirzah’s magnetic voice.

Despite the density of the music, Obsidian is a wholly immersive experience, setting Baths back on course.

Cry is pure from beginning to end and is a pleasant second instalment from the Texas three-piece.

‘What To Look For In Summer’ is an enchanting compendium of the bands live work and is an ideal accompaniment to spirit you away to those carefree summer days of enjoying live music.

It may be a lighthearted exercise in updating old pop bangers to suit a new style, Lovato’s career-spanning retelling is also an unexpectedly touching retrospective by the time it gets to the explosive rendition of ‘Don’t Forget’ that serve as a joyful end-credits.

While the singles may be his most commercially appealing to date, he never once loses integrity or his aural signature as an artist.

In no way throwaway, this is a trip.

Simply a superb collection of beautifully captured moments and suggests that Mystery Jets are going to be making great music for a very long time.

Turn Blue is pure searing sexiness, hotter than a Nashville afternoon. Their best yet.

This is a career high from an artist about to reach his creative zenith.

A searing, soul-searching jewel.

‘Assembly’ is so much more than a generic ‘best of’, it is a celebration of Joe’s musical genius.

With Love Keeps Kicking Martha have delivered 11 brilliant sketches on modern life and all the bullshit that comes with it. Sure, some days are hard, but there's still plenty to celebrate. Like an old mate lending a sympathetic ear, it's a record that helps remind you we're all in this together.

It is so easy to reach in blindly and pull out a well-produced track with a decent guest appearance and Smoke at his lyrical best. However, the album doesn’t stray too far from the genre, it isn’t by any means innovative.

The production is crisp and varied; Roots' warm vocal typically hits with soul without being too forcefully firebrand and constant changes in style and tempo gives 4Everevolution the energy to see it through.

Across its 14 tracks, the record is an honest and striking body of work.

She questions, she purges, she excavates and embraces the thorny contradictions of her life. Smith continues to shirk commercial viability, stripping away sheen and artifice, presenting herself as dimensional; flawed, bruised, exposed, at times disbelieving, but ultimately worthy of love.

Fans of Father John Misty, First Aid Kit and Sharon Van Etten are likely to be enamoured.

Anna Burch fills ‘If You’re Dreaming’ with deft allusions, enhancing her voice with jazz-tinged chords, soft rock blemishes, and singer-songwriter tropes. It’s all handled with her customary grace, however, resulting in a subtle record that gently overwhelms.

Dedicated is a joyride of anthemic melodies and fist-pumping bangers that see Jepsen at the top of her game. Revolving in a shimmering cloud of ‘80s synth, bouncy bass and progressive percussion, she has certified herself as a serious contender in the pop arena.

With Johnny Marr-Esque riffs, life-affirming lyrics that have a sincerity, depth, and wisdom beyond their years, the Lathums are cementing themselves as one of the UK’s top bands.

Truly, an album to savour.

‘Aporia’ certainly asks a degree of patience from its listener – the kind often reserved for previously-existing fans of Stevens – to realise its full potential, but over the last few decades the number of listeners able to give this patience has grown exponentially, just in time for Stevens to push boundaries that bit further once again.

The LA foursome’s second LP, Warpaint, is as devastatingly brooding as ever.

While the music loses nothing in its thrilling Afro-electro rhythms and horn flecked grooves, this time it’s delivered with an increased universality as Ibibio Sound System broaden out their lyrical approach to be more direct and questioning, addressing their own community as well as the world at large.

What’s remarkable about this seven track mixtape is the sheer consistency of pop ideas on offer.

“The power of conceptualising who you are has really informed this album,” Owens states about Inner Song‘s essence, and her second album executes it perfectly. This album is an eye-opening discovery of self, laid bare for all to see.

It’s METZ’s most confident record so far and a deafening reminder that art wasn’t designed to adhere to paint-by-numbers standards – it’s meant to bend until it breaks into something new.

An ever present Gang of Four musical demeanor, and the untiring pace of Fugazi makes 'The Chaos' quite aptly relentless.

The sound of a band resurgent, ‘Night Network’ will have you falling in love with The Cribs all over again. Tapping into their core sounds and core values, it finds the band emerging from their legal troubles triumphant, relishing the vitality of being able to make music together, in the same room, at the same time.

‘Give Me The Future’ achieves everything a pop album should and stands out as Bastille’s best and most expansive work. The narrative is compelling and successfully paints the picture of a universally relatable topic.

The familiar sparse, shrugging guitar touches return, sounding no less beguiling than they did three years ago, but the craft has improved. Where 'xx' traded on a certain naïve charm, 'Coexist' is a meticulously controlled aural environment.

Imperfect, but still as absolutely bloody essential as the best of Fugazi always was.

In forty minutes, the band not only reminds listeners why they became scene heroes but also why they’re one of the UK’s most thrilling exports. For our money, it’s another home-run of a record.

What we needed to decipher from this album was whether Miles Kane was capable of anything audacious, anything unexpected, complex and constructed. Colour Of The Trap displays this on numerous occasions, unrelenting in its boasts of adventurous and candid variation.

Both essential and influential, get these tracks loaded into your spastic dance moves.

Delivered in a soft whisper, with the most minimal of supporting musical infrastructure compared to its studio counterpart, ['Distant Sky'] is immediately tender and transcendent, but devoid of all hope, the addition of Danish soprano singer Else Torp's stirring vocal enough to render even the hardest-hearted individual a bawling mess.

Throughout a collection of moving gems that have the potential to evoke heartbreak, ‘Nobody’s Home’ also houses contagious jams that speak to Bakar’s take on the infectious nature of indie rock.

As with any Harvey project, the musicianship is of the highest, yet understated, order.

A record packed with solitary voices, the New Yorkers seem to amplify their ability to capture the beauty in melancholy, stripping back the paint of the everyday to reveal the extraordinary underneath.

A project that outstrips most of his peers, ‘Intruder’ offers a stark and impassioned vision of our society – one that could well rank as his most complete project to date.

A quality accompaniment and memorial.

Yes, there are 'Did she really do that?' moments... But'MDNA' is mostly filled with moments when listening to Madonna still feels like the most thrilling thing any pop fan could possibly hope to experience.

The sound of bliss.

A helter-skelter ride through extra-dimensional sonics, ‘Wilds’ is an exhilarating return, The Soundcarriers’ lengthy absence simply making their return all the more potent.

Riot Boi is a trailblazing record very much in the now. It's bombastic, and transgressive.

This isn't a record to dip into, but an absorbing, cerebral and often funky trip.

Singers aside, we have those subtle harmonies drenching every song, sparkles of synth, strings and flute, and those sunrise drums lifting everything. It’s utterly gorgeous and the best bits of Midlake still shine through.

Raw, real and humorous, ‘All That Glue’ is an important event delivering a conclusive overview of the duo’s achievements and successes at a time when there’s a real thirst for it.

The album has immense scale, wonderfully indulgent soundscapes and limitless sing-alongs.

It's a gorgeous example of an album bursting with huge, dreamy songs.

At times it's testing, but there are flashes of phenomenal creative genius here that are destined to manifest further.

This offers an unparalleled listening experience. Each quality – the gorgeous vocals, the radiant tones, the graceful guitar – manifests enlightened bliss. The expertly blended transitions between each track transform them into puzzle pieces that fit smoothly together.

A dizzyingly ferocious support slot on the recent Gold Panda tour proved that London-based producer/remixer Alessio Natalizia's one-time bedroom project is now fully-formed.