Congreave, has selected with more ambition than his curatorial Tapes predecessors.

Welcome To Sideways sits comfortably amongst older material, but is more regressive than revolutionary.

Moose’s accompaniment soars, and subsidies, ensuring that this release doesn’t feel like a mere afterthought late in the release calendar. At a slight 12 minutes, it’s a brief coda to a strange year for the artist, but one fans will no doubt lap up.

The opening three tracks are almost an EP in their own right, before a quick reset. Semi title track ‘The Art Of Starting Over’ begins anew, a straight forward bop that gets to the root of Demi’s recovery – her natural talent, her ear for pop magic, affording room for personal renewal.

A blockbuster that lives up to the hype, ‘american dream’ is 21 Savage at his most luminescent. In staying true to himself, he’s been able to build something unique – now he’s taking it to the world.

An intense, ingenious and utterly insane listen, Murder Of The Universe is another brilliant addition to King Gizzard's already stellar and ever-expanding discography.

Money, manipulation and vaguely unhappy mediums haunt the album's lyrics, though indistinct phrasing and a blearily subdued vocal mix make these themes feel like peripheral, subconscious murmurings.

With 'Broken Equipment' BODEGA has transformed from a band to watch to something truly exciting indeed. Any early album of the year contender for those who like their music as sharp as a knife.

In its entirety Marble Skies is a mixed bag that showcases the multitude of genres Django Django can draw upon, but it lacks cohesion.

In classic Alex Cameron form, ‘Oxy Music’ is full of true lyrical artistry in the most to-the-point way possible.

Raw but refined, familiar but resolutely strange, Marauder seizes that fine balance of retaining the old while introducing the new; the sound of a band at ease with themselves, it could well be Interpol’s finest album in a decade.

Lyrics like “I’ll stay young to be saved” (‘Be A Kid’) come across as self-indulgent and frontman Sam McTrusty’s reedy vocals get lost in menacing tracks like ‘I Am An Animal’.

Fletcher and Parkin have released an album that doesn’t fit into the confines of what an ‘alternative’ album should be in 2018. Instead they’ve crafted 11 songs that show off their love of retro sounds, an infectious joy for life, a good melody and a catchy chorus.

It's a joy.

The Race For Space has its mis-steps, but most importantly it shows that Public Service Broadcasting aren't a one-off novelty act, and that there's mileage in their approach.

Rich, detailed, and poetic, Blurry Blue Mountain explores human emotion and the meaning of life like the great writers of old. Gelb has been around a long time, and on the basis of this he will be for a long time to come.

Despite the album’s missteps, Coldplay manage to find themselves pockets of beauty in the midst of the chaos that they themselves have ironically created, to craft something melodically unique that whisks us back to 2008’s watermark 'Viva La Vida' era.

For the most part, regrettably, Geography only showcases a producer out of his depth behind the mic.

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.

Think ‘Step Up’ from ‘Blue Songs’, developed full-length.

It makes for a focused, solid offering.

Had it been trimmed down to ten or eleven tracks, then maybe we’d be talking about one of Green Day’s strongest releases. As it stands, ‘Saviors’ turns out to be a somewhat confident return to form, but one that also fails to build upon the records that inspired it.

Their subtle blend of kraut-funk, atmospherics and hushed vocals works, but at points several tracks pass by and you realise you haven't noticed anything.

With clean production and virtuoisitic precision, imagine a Latin, metal, jazz inspired mellow mele, on acoustic instruments.

It’s the balance of maturity and melody that will keep you going back to this album. They’ve grown up, but then so have their fans. Let's just see where they go from here.

She’s opening out her sound, and finessing her approach. The results are immaculate – and she’s only just getting started.

Funky, frenetic and fast, Zipper Down is not for the pretentious listener.

The radical variation on this album speaks volumes--this casting respect to yesteryear twisted with the juices of his modern imagination--and if ‘The English Riviera’ was Mount at his most accessible, then Love Letters finds him at his most inventive.

One thing is for certain: they've produced a much more pop orientated album. Clash isn't anti-pop, but we are anticheese.

Often lifted by angular, bug-eyed guitars, Mush can’t help but approach matters with considerable levity. Hyndman revels in the irony of American patriotism being the product of KGB-controlled algorithms on ‘Bots!’. His cutting and sarcastic remarks are telling of one nation’s innate habit of being easily led.

Delicacies proves that this aging duo still have the fire in the belly of their hard drive.

Overall, ‘Makes Me Sick, Makes Me Smile’ is beautiful, explosive, and honest – and a stunning debut for Pretty Sick.

Reid’s soundtrack is vibrant, but it can’t save the album from its own tedium.

Ultimately ‘Fighting Demons’ works almost as a tribute record, gathering fragments of his undoubted genius. Whether it’s a true Juice WRLD album, though, is another matter.

Wallowing, dreary vocals are effectively juxtaposed with electronic twinkles on the likes of ‘You Are’. But other tracks, like ‘The 5%’, seem too chaotic and narrowly miss their targets, resulting in an album just falling short of top marks.

He’s deftly left himself room to manoeuvre, but at this rate, there’s a hyperpop throne with his name on it.

Heavily weighty with fiery doom and gloom, Lauren Mayberry masters the art of colourfully abstract lyrics.

While she might play it safe as far as messages are concerned--generally exploring relationships--her metaphoric representation of them somehow manage to keep the oft-played theme quite fresh.

It’s compact, elegant and striking.

By the end of it, it’s very clear that this is a deadly serious record--not a parody, not even an homage, but a largely enjoyable marriage of the stodge with the airy and the old with the new which manages to retain an impressive sense of cohesiveness and consistency.

The Chemical Brothers continue to buck any notions of a creative burn-out with their strongest release in a decade.

There's still a level of discontent that quietly rumbles along beneath the bass, but every cloud has a silver lining and it seems that Eagulls might have found theirs.

With a voice that creaks like well-loved furniture and lyrics telling tales of the lives and losses of others, this album represents a career highpoint.

The moments of nu-disco are superb, yet are weighed down by the sometimes-cringey segments of auto-crooning.

‘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 best thing about the album, and there are a lot of good things to it, is just how simple it is. Nothing feels overthought, calculated, or insincere. The songs come across like gentle gusts of warming wind when you are out late without a coat.

Beneath its whimsical summery palette, lurks a repetitive sound that dulls the vibrant texture the lineup promises. In short, it’s an album that’s halfway there.

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.

A well-timed treat delivered by one of music's most beloved eccentrics. Go explore.

It's upbeat, unusual and accomplished, an Asian rock 'n' roll space odyssey indeed.

A fluorescent, gently psychedelic record with a fat vein of Eighties pop running through it.

Flowers is easily the Icelandic singer’s most accessible, prettiest record to date.

It’s exceptional stuff.

Interjected with dusty dubplate samples, gun-finger shots and clashing MCs throughout, what Jungle Revolution lacks in variation it makes up with genuine spirit.

There are moments of schmaltz, but these Little Green Cars exude a lorry-load of charm.

Beautifully crafted, eccentric and disturbing, but essential pop all the same.

Dear River is an interesting collection but, while pretty, these songs sometimes sound a little too slick or obvious.

With an energy and ambience that ebbs and flows in waves rather than exploding in peaks and crescendos, this is edgy, kaleidoscopic lounge music for the Digital Age.

Solid if unspectacular then, yet you’ll find that, much like when in high school, it’s always worth checking out the Art Department.

Breezy but not without substance, if Resort reveals anything about Tuff Love’s trajectory, it’s that they’ve become more contemplative over time, while refusing to forgo their shambling melodic impulses in the process.

A tense but rewarding debut--one that fits in nicely with the Clinic canon, while also giving Sherwood a starring role.

Unmistakably catchy piano riffs and heart wrenchingly honest lyrics form the basis of the record much like Odell’s debut, however by amplifying the intensity on the new tracks proves that maybe, just maybe, more is more.

The whole set is neatly balanced and a joyous listen.

A few listens, however, will peel back a casing and find that every track has its own M.O and spans the curvature of the emotional kinsey scale.

Though the record as a whole is weaker than its predecessor, there’s enough flashes of career-high brilliance to keep The Wharves on the right path of progression.

As a musique concrète or experimental electronica album, Burials In Several Earths is an above average attempt that contains myriad intricacies and points of interest. As something to carry on a peerless lineage, however, it feels like an unnecessary move.

The final result is a debut album brimming with confidence, confidence not only in Lipa’s own voice and her eye for a chorus, but in the emotive quality of her lyrics.

A solid album that despite getting into a more forward stride, does slow burner as patience tester.

Rationale is a project which highlights Fazakerley’s vocal and songwriting dexterity, and is delivered with an impressive style and confidence.

Rather than a coherent and recognisable new sound, it seems as though all manner of ideas are being thrown at the wall to see what sticks.

It feels like a career-straddling greatest hits collection in which all the ‘hits’ are brand new.

While this ‘everything but the kitchen sink’ ethos doesn’t always hit, No Sounds Are Out Of Bounds’s jovial attitude towards its own self-existence makes for an endearing listen that’ll no doubt flourish over time.

A Better Life is an entirely different beast, expanding on their debut’s vigorous garage-pop sound to create something darker, meatier and much heavier on all fronts.

Sule Skerry is a hymn to the sea, and it certainly feels that way in places: there’s a gentle ebb and flow to its ambient pieces which rarely threaten storm’s break, save perhaps the more urgent arpeggios of ‘Lump O’ Sea’.

It’s a worthy project, one that demonstrates to the listener just how much METZ crushed from day one before reminding them that they haven’t stopped crushing it since.

'ENERGY' sees the duo step out of their comfort zone, engaging with an array of previously unexplored artists, genres and themes. They have wholeheartedly refined their vision and approach as artists.

As an ode to the pleasures of the dancefloor, Kylie has delivered her most unashamedly fun record in almost a decade.

‘BUMMER’ is a record made to be played hard and loud, heard blaring out of car windows and making cavalcades in faceless crowds.

The album’s 14-tracks takes the listener on a mystical journey of hope, realism, racism and, eventually, the bright stars above. Unfortunately, with every shot of adrenaline and excitement that comes through tracks such as 'Obrigado', 'Mirrors' (featuring SnoH Aalegra and Cam O’bi) and 'Skip To My Lou', there are other that slam on the brakes just as forcefully, just as momentum and energy were building.

When it punches hard, ‘Jose’ doesn’t miss. ... Yet ‘Jose’ – like Drake and Kanye’s efforts, previously – is led down by quality control. The creativity is undiminished, but it struggles under the weight of its 24 track span – clocking in at more than hour, the record at times tries the patience.

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.

‘Now or Whenever’ is more of a grow-er than a show-er but has much to show for itself.

Perhaps it’s their captivating storytelling taking a psychological turn, or maybe it’s the way they’ve incorporated cutting edge electronica, pop and R&B elements into the melodic energies of classic new wave, alt-rock and indietronica, but, ‘Fix Yourself, Not The World’ is a record that will appeal. It is arguably their best work yet.

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.

'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.

It’s not expressly about anything. This is music that performs confidence, that uses confidence as a genre rather than embodying it in any convincing sense.

‘SUCKERPUNCH’ sees Chloe Moriondo at their most daring and most confident on what is by far their most creatively impressive album to date.

NLE Choppa has his sights on the prize, and he’s armed with some career-best material. Without doubt his finest project yet, ‘Cottonwood 2’ pushes NLE Choppa into the upper echelons of Stateside rap. Next stop? The world.

The project does retain a level of focus and direction, despite the chameleon-like nature of Crosses, making for a thoroughly enjoyable and dynamic listening experience.

If you like filagree synths and dimorphous melodies, then this is the album for you. The songs are immaculately crafted. The melodies catchy. Lyrics memorable.

There’s an unpredictable feeling to the way a lot of the songs unfurl and from a purely musical standpoint, they’ve never sounded more confident or finely tuned as a unit.

Whilst we aren’t handed the next chapter of The Libertines story on a platter, the beauty and tumult of the band is in the subtext. It’s in John Hassall and Gary Powell joining Barat and Doherty’s mythic duo on vocals for the first time on ‘Man With The Melody’. It’s in the closer, ‘Songs They Never Played On The Radio’, which was born in 2006 and finished for ‘All Quiet…’, one of the most beautiful Libertines songs of all time.

Rave horns echo like WW2 sirens being played on a fucked-up ghetto blaster while the cast of House Of 1000 Corpses do their best Gucci Mane impressions--an interesting, if perhaps slightly contrived, oddity.

A collection of pulsing synths, bouncing beats and empowering vocals, X-Communicate may have seen Kristin Kontrol strip away her former image, but it’s left the singer’s sonic presence stronger than ever.

Tthese songs are as focussed, refined and honed as anything Spencer has ever done, yielding some of his most infectious guitar lines and arguably some of the finest tracks of his lengthy career.

An energetic and vibrant project, that is exactly what the music scene needed in such an uncertain time. One of J Balvin’s strongest projects to date.

Undeniably beautiful. Aloof, abstract and elegant, it melds ambient expanse with pop form to idyllic, if unassuming effect.

Polished production all around allows the band to really bring a twist to their previous music. Simple bass lines and drum beats are easily forgotten about, but the band use this to their advantage throughout the seven track production.