It’s rare that an album is ten years in the making, and honing that much emotion and experience into roughly 41 minutes is a monumental task. Chloe Foy accomplished it.

Sonically and lyrically, Shura is at her most urgent and incisive.

This is electronic music both messy and menacing. Listen if you dare.

‘So Much (For) Stardust’s main takeaway is that the five-year wait was more than worth it and Fall Out Boy are finally back, bigger and better than ever.

This music really doesn't need any window dressing because it's as good a collection of songs as she has put her name to in ten years.

Alternative Light Source is a worthy successor to 'Rhythm & Stealth', not as sparse or hard hitting but brimming with energy, ideas and familiar Leftfield diaphragm-rattling bass.

The first few tracks revel in the heady days of a budding relationship, all stolen kisses and duvet-cloaked promises. But as the seasons flutter by the untenability of their situation gradually dawns on our two lovebirds.

Martha are everything you want a great pop band to be: students of their trade, people with something to say and the vocabulary to do it, a distinctively joyous sound and a grand sense of humour.

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

Lighting Matches isn’t a bad album, but sadly it doesn't excel either.

‘Renaissance’ sees Aluna cementing herself as one of the most exciting artists around with this iconic offering that will inspire dance records for years to come.

Whilst the Spacebomb country-psych-soul style was an unexpected move away from the pop- infused sounds that lingered in ‘Sweet Disarray’ and ‘Emerging Adulthood’, and not all fans will be best pleased by such a sound progression, the heartfelt and at times pitiful lyrics of his ‘Grand Plan’ is a humbling nod at the inevitability of growing up and branching out.

'Chansons d’Ennui Tip-Top' might be the strongest album Cocker has released since his 2006 debut, but that does the dirty on ‘Beyond the Pale’ and ‘Further Complications’. This is an album made with love. Love for the culture of his adopted home, but mostly a love of music in all its forms and styles.

'Ugly Season' is best digested as a whole concept. It demands focus, and if the listener isn't too careful, they'll miss the nuance found in muttered lyrics and a flicker of synth.

‘Sorry I Haven’t Called’, brings out the best dance music has to offer because although Vagabon’s music is soft-indie-pop at its core, she has somehow captured an intrinsically heavenly sphere throughout the twelve tracks, making it the best record to keep a tiny bit of summer inside of us as the autumnal air is taking over the outside world.

It’s an accomplished record that leans into the familiar with flourishes of exciting new textures that make it a constantly engaging listen with plenty to unpack.

Whatever your feelings around the words, and they are certainly a little clunky at times, this is a musically rich collection that is partly a logical step on from the rattle of 2011’s beautiful ‘Let England Shake’ and also as melodic a rock record as Harvey has released in some time.

With Polar Bear being fully paid-up jazzers, there's more of an understanding and utilisation of dynamics, which add to the pervading mood, yet the overall feeling is one of ennui.

Just bask in The Unseen in Between enigmatic glory.

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.

While it wouldn’t be unfair to say that the best moments generally belong to Barnett, the combined force of the duo produces a piece of work that certainly doesn’t seem like too much a step down from the superb ‘Sometimes I Sit And Think…’ and ‘b’lieve i’m goin down…’ that had us all so captivated back in 2015.

Considering the lucid, poignant albums to come to fruition from cabin writing retreats (Bon Iver’s ‘For Emma, Forever Ago’, Bruce Springsteen’s ‘Nebraska’ etc.)--Standards is an album that is almost completely devoid of such clarity and space.

Vivid, compelling and unafraid of delving into new territory, Mogwai have found the ideal combination of progression and familiarity.

Whilst the lyrics are direct and, in your face, the production is just as precise and thought out. It flows with Kano’s quick pace and ability to turn on the heat so quickly. The album offers 10 tracks of quality and meaning over the meaningless repackaged corporate sound that is found more often than not in this day and age.

This is enduring evidence that the purest, most interesting music inevitably comes without hefty production or marketing budgets.

Woolford fends off critics of unoriginality by contributing to/completing bass music’s circle of life. Good tidings of Thunder and Joy.

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

There is so much right about this album that it’s hard to criticise: Swindle’s vision to blend different worlds of underground music, together with his choice of features--as well as intriguing changes in pace--are what makes this album great.

This is an album that shows a progression, but instead of delving deeper into harsh sounds, they have gone the other way, delivering something that feels light and fluffy but has the same lyrical hit as their debut.

It’s less of a ‘Burden…’ expansion pack and more of a statement in its own right, one that underlines Benny The Butcher’s ascension as one of the most vital voices in rap today.

It’s surprising, but oddly delightful.

Engrossing, dark and irresistible, ‘Stray’ is a grandiose effort from an adventurous group, who just keep getting better all the time. Bambara remain a genuine force.

A quiet, understated triumph.

It retains the witticism and humble poetry that saw him crowned the beloved laureate of Fife, but there’s just a little bit of magic missing.

Iggy Pop is what it says on the tin and Iggy Pop is what every aspect the music revolves around.

There is more than enough emotional sensitivity available between the duo without resorting to being just like everyone else, and for that reason (amongst many others) this fragile, coming-of-age album should be celebrated.

The album definitely picks up where the previous effort left off, but delves even deeper into the left-field and draws from an ever-growing well of influences and ideas. It is this stylistic exploration that makes Man Vs Sofa all the more intriguing and unpredictable, but simultaneously renders it slightly less accessible than the duo’s debut.

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.

At best, it serves as a reminder that Wiley is one of the best to ever do it, but it often feels unfocussed, and uneven.

‘Cooler Returns’ displays a keen eye for observation – both grand and quaint – as its myriad of tracks cohere together through a bond of musical influences old and new to form an album that’s invitingly optimistic, while also displaying intricacy and craftiness in abundance.

The production may be a little smoother but Pedestrian Verse just seems to prove how lasting, how devastating Frightened Rabbit can be.

‘Hellfire’ is at once goofy and high brow. A volcanic eruption of serious silliness.

Bonkers in parts it may be, but Take Me proves hugely enjoyable.

It's bonkers and wild.

While this experimentation might falter in places, it is a necessary and important addition to the growing Teklife catalogue of releases, prompting future collaborations, discussion, and the honing of that coveted vibe.

This record is about living, even as it is shaped by loss. They make the tiny changes, as the grieving do. Re-frame what is left, and keep him alive within.

‘The Family’ is the perfect BROCKHAMPTON album. It has a flawless balance on energy fuelled moments with more melancholic ones, and the departure in sound from previous efforts makes for a compelling full listen.

An audacious, adventurous, unclassifiable fourth album from the newly expanded Austin natives: this is a seriously self-assured sonic experience.

By considering themes such as love, social injustice and all round perseverance, it is both mature and engaging. The Big Moon are constantly breathing new life into a genre which sometimes runs stale. For that we should be eternally grateful.

On ‘Nothing Lasts’, the final song on the album, Schleicher seems to find peace after what’s been a fascinating but intense journey.

While Jurado’s music has, on occasion, seemed a little slight, this is an endearingly ambitious, somewhat unexpected folk-rock triumph.

It’s been said that every era gets the monster they deserve. If this is the case then ‘Visions of Bodies Being Burned’ is everything wrong, and right, with the world distilled into 52- minutes of absurdist hip-hop. We’ve never had it so good!

While subtle, this album captures the evolution of a band in their element once more.

‘Late Developers’ is a fine piece of pop whimsy, delivered with self-deprecating panache.

The LP’s home stretch is up there with Blake’s best, not just in the tense penultimate title track and wet-cheeked closer ‘If I’m Insecure’, but on the lead single. ‘Say What You Will’ shows off the magic trick Blake’s perfected by now. Vocally, he’s unsettlingly beautiful.

Inji is a good album. It's one of the best albums to have been released this year, which says a lot about Dust's ability as a composer.

The beautiful blends of genres and crisp production make ‘As Above, So Below’ an enthralling listen, and has Sampa raising the bar for herself once again.

It's one young man's proper opening salvo cast as an entire genre's dying breaths. But for a last gasp, it sure sounds vital.

This isn’t a linear narrative, with our author bending the fabric of time to suck us deeper into the emotional life of the characters in his story. As devices go, it’s a sharp one.

More than two decades on, the group’s era-defining work projects the same spellbinding urgency, continually taking guitar music to new places with imagination, force and creativity.

‘Rabbit Rabbit’ is a joyful listen. Its refusal to follow the norms is an inspiration, and an attempt at an act of defiance in an age when it is becoming harder and harder to go against the grain.

This is a very strong album about love, written by two people who aren’t in love.

Their carefully crafted, layered arrangements, and surreal lyric create a bit of a wonderland feel which is more than welcome as the day slowly grows brighter.

Fabulously varied, at times unashamedly extravagant and with a consistently joyous urgency, 2013 may be a historical document but it points to a very bright future.

Perhaps his strongest solo collection in some time, ‘I Love The New Sky’ holds true to an innate but rarely explicit sense of optimism. Softly uplifting in a very English way, it feels like a slow exhalation, a record that gently tugs at your sleeve. A low-key marvel.

Prone to playing one too many familiar games--the compressed vocals and the clunky convergence of beats ducking down--though as the sole Brit on Brainfeeder, you can’t knock him for being a team player.

Hozier is an authentic portrait of an artist--soulful, spiritual and seductive – and is a deeply impressive first step.

She’s now surpassed [her debut release] on its follow up Grim Town, which continues the themes of her debut, but with a new emotional growth.

An observing eye, everywhere the spirit of Chan Marshall lingers, on a textured, fascinating album, one that feels as though you have been let loose in an endless hall of mirrors.

An authentic and contemporary guitar sound, ‘925’ is a snappy and raw blend that bounces the listener into the more unexpected edges of the imagination.

A comforting return rather than anything revolutionary, it is nevertheless a welcome addition to his formidable catalogue.

He has fateful serenity tangling with rudebwoy pluck through crackly pirate radio reception, smuggling in head-scratching interludes - field recordings seemingly from the club's toilets/smoking section - and one '70s synthesizer pitstop.

Sounding like club music for grown-ups wanting a decadent summer of love return without wanting their troublesome kids tagging along... Likely to be a hit in the woods and beyond.

A work of typically broad imagination, not everything on American Interior fully clicks into place. Yet when it does, there’s more than enough to suggest that Rhys need not cease his eternal voyaging.

Hallways demonstrates great writing, clever concepts, varying flow patterns and a solid ear for organic production--all of which nudges the boundaries without straying too far away.

Garden Of Ashes is redolent of a muggy swamp and just as easy to sink into.

Less of a debut and more of a bookend, it listens like an aural autobiography of Greene’s influences and productions, a release that will satisfy old fans as well as find new ones without compromising the clarity of his vision.

Empress is that rare breed of album that is entertaining and says something worth saying. Once you get past the tight production and bass blips, what you are left with is a way to live your life.

The songwriting leged could easily be rehashing old songs and playing it safe, but instead he’s written an album full of catchy songs, searing riffs about hope for the future, rather than dwelling on the past.

A solar system held in place by its own revolutions, ‘The Slow Rush’ is testament to the patient productivity and unrelenting creativity of Kevin Parker.

The result is something genuinely startling. Raw, and often quite deliberately unfinished, the lyrics have a bullet point bluntness to them, with Simz aspiring to a level of direct communication other MCs can only marvel at.

A wonderful, absorbing listen by a truly special group.

There are layers upon layers of glorious melodies and hooks here; you just need to spend the time to find the ones that work for you.

Lyrically the album does what pop music does and creates a vibe but doesn’t necessarily encite any thought or, challenge the listener and the rest of the album from this point feels quite disconnected as we navigate out of the Afro-R&B with a feature from Rema on ‘Compromise’ to Nigerian highlife with lead single ‘Afro Highlife’ and reggae rhythms on ‘Having Fun’.

Nothing Was The Same offers the listener a lot of what they’ve come to love (or loathe, indeed) about its maker, with the occasional flash of something a little more daring than might’ve been anticipated.

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

This album is a black-belt in terms of song writing and instrumentation... but when McCombs’ lyrics can’t match up, Tip Of The Sphere sounds like it’s limping.

It’s not a perfect album, though. The vocals effects on ‘Kick You When You’re Down’ are more than a little grating, while ‘No Man’s Land’ feels stodgy, at times even like a chore. That being said, there is quite simply no other group on the planet who can match AC/DC at their best.

With Closer to Grey, the group have created a near-perfect piece of 21st century pop escapism. So, the next time world’s weighing you down, you know what to do. Reach for your turntable. Chromatics have got your back.

This is Hopkins’ strongest album to date. It is also his bravest. Which is saying something indeed.

Intimate and endearingly honest, This Old Dog is Mac DeMarco’s most essential chapter of slacker gospel yet.

If you love Kasabian you might think Velociraptor! is a 9/10 album, but for the rest of us it's a salt-seasoned, Spielberg-sponsored 7/10.

The album tails off after a strong start. Lyrically though, and as a view into Adams’ psychopathology, Prisoner is nothing short of fascinating.

Innovation isn’t on the album’s invite, but nonetheless fans will gobble this up.

A carefully sculpted project, a level of fluidity and richness stitched together with the highest calibre of performance, production and songwriting. Like Frankenstein and his monster, the commitment to the design and blueprint of this record is incredible; every minute detail, sound, glitch, has been selected with the utmost care by The National.

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 rapper fails to assert creative delineation over this sprawling mesh of music. That said, ‘Featuring’ is peppered with career highs.

Loud, hypnotic, vitriolic solos, mordant melodies with biting lyrics. It’s everything we’ve come to expect.