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

Enjoyable, but some’ll always believe in it more than others.

Pity Sex may have taken few risks to make a breakthrough album and they’re hardly re-inventing the wheel, but White Hot Moon is a solid effort and a worthy follow-up to debut ‘Feast Of Love’.

O’Connell colours firmly between the lines. His ideas do not stray beyond the conventions you’d expect for each singer-songwriter outfit he puts on from song to song.

The only problem here is that the genre is taken to the extreme, and can blend together to the point where the album seems like one massive track.

While there’s nothing that will diminish their legacy or standing in rock music, there’s very little material that pushes the band forward either.

Sleigh Bells must be applauded for their experimentation on Jessica Rabbit, and it has provided riches, but as with earlier releases, the main weakness is a lack of emotional scope and pace over a course of an entire album.

First Serve holds no fear for newcomers, consolidates their legacy, and deserves at least one encore.

The Godfather of cool retains his title!

The ’80s sci-fi pastiche meets early-’00s girl power wears thin over 11 tracks, but there are still moments for the dancefloor.

Get some eggnog inside you and give this enduring pair a little respect.

It’s one that sees TOY testing the water for the future blueprint of their music, which seems only to be building on its successes.

This is an absolute treat for fans of rootsy vintage soul and a remarkable statement of intent for a debut release.

It's a captivating mix of material, yet hangs together well and has a surprisingly easy flow.

This album is going to seriously divide opinions across the spectrum, from the trvest of metal sugariest of pop stans. But Poppy remains a daring and divisive artist making daring and divisive art, and ‘I Disagree’ is the perfect shot of adrenaline to kick start a new decade with.

One of the best things about ‘Time Bend And Break The Bower’ is how every song feels new.

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.

In terms of consistency, ‘Venus’ doesn’t quite match her previous work. Sure, it’s heaps of fun at times and packed with plenty of euro pop bangers to satisfy the faithful, but this time around, otherworldly, celestial highs compensate for moments when Larsson surrenders to commercial viability during its unfortunately frequent lows.

No real surprises spring out, but tracks like ‘Dye The Water Green’ and ‘You’ demonstrate an impeccable creative beauty that his juniors will struggle to match.

Unfortunately, other than aiding nostalgia, there's not much else nice to say about The National Health.

They've escaped the dirge and have now come up for air--and we're all the better for it.

Shorn of that album’s [Forever Blue] voluminous post-rock textures, Williams’ deft playing provides a delicate yet ornate framework for her voice to soar, lending new tenderness to erstwhile grandiose rockers by Deftones and Smashing Pumpkins, while squeezing even more pathos from The Cure’s mighty ‘Lovesong’.

A pleasing work of subtle evolution that taps into the group’s core values while teasing out fresh ideas.

The album seamlessly transitions through genres of music that will be influencing the next decade of sound. To achieve such fluidity is unbelievable, and Skrillex continues to be the Godfather of EDM.

A work of impish maturity, ‘Extreme Witchcraft’ is Eels at their most playful, with the band’s carefree wizardry still delivering thrills, even after all these years. While not ranking with their absolute best work, in terms of breakneck guitar-led songwriting it more than delivers.

Never one to hide his emotions previously, Rufus Wainwright offers a sparse but staggeringly heartfelt collection of songs for voice and piano, influenced, at least in part, by the long-term illness and recent passing of his mother.

The focus from all concerned makes the convincingly grisly fiction a lot of fun.

Nostalgic, melancholic, worrisome and finally joyful, Doom Days is a production that leaves you with optimism for a better tomorrow.

Drenched in trademark rosy glow, it’s all tender and consolatory.

‘The King’s Disease’ finds Nas grappling with a raft of contradictions, contrasting the opulence of his lifestyle with the need for vitality in his message. It’s not perfect, but it’s less an end product, and more the search for creative process – by the end, you become convinced the Queens rapper has found his throne.

Back To Land won’t immediately blow you away, but that warm, overdriven sound makes the latest LP from this San Francisco quartet another compelling one.

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.

Forever rushing forwards, Saturday Night isn’t content to sit still. It’s illuminating and infuriating, but never easy to ignore.

On an album centring around concepts of storytelling and reflection, Iggy Pop’s voice remains phenomenal. It always will. However, an underwhelming feeling lingers throughout 'Free', one which is hard to ignore.

Tha Carter V was never going to be flawlessly executed--the odds were too stacked against it--but it certainly gives the audience the thrill we were hoping for. It’s a return to form, and a triumphant return for one of the greatest of all time.

However you approach it, Take It, It’s Yours is an enjoyable, quietly seductive collection.

It’s a theatrical 10-piece song cycle that neatly extends their work, while nodding to what came before. At its best – opener and lead single ‘I Still Have Faith In You’ for example – it comes close to reaching the transformative peaks ABBA scaled all those years ago. Yet for a piece of fan service ‘Voyage’ remains confusingly slight.

Sounding fifty years out of time and traversing genres without concern, it is unlike anything else you will hear this summer. And you really must hear it.

It’s definitely too short, but it’s worth every penny, ‘The Third Chimpanzee’ is a work of innovation and instinct.

Trap Lord is an impressive outing for Ferg and another win for A$AP Mob.

If you are looking for a deliciously dark soundtrack of horror and funk, then ‘Danse Macabre’ should be on your Halloween playlist. The big question is – is ‘Danse Macabre’ for life or just for Halloween? Either way, for the majority of Duran Duran’s sixteenth studio album, in true Halloween style, it will be love at first bite!

Double Roses takes what worked the first time round, namely Elson’s gentle vocals and passion for the pastoral and forlorn, and amplifies the whole package with greater musicianship and composition.

It’s a sad record, but one that envelops you in a warm hug, wipes your eyes and plays with your hair.

Despite the lack of progression from the first album to the second Take Control is a perfectly listen-able album--and perhaps album three will be where they shine.

While some of the more Top 40-driven tracks risk getting lost in the mammoth-like production value of his imaginative, left-field hyper pop tracks, the sum of the album is beautiful, intended to be enjoyed by both faithful Flume stans and new listeners drawn to the beauty of a cacophonous, glitched-out style popularised by super-producers like SOPHIE, Danny Harle, and more.

Independently released, ‘shame’ is raw and expressive, the result of infinite creative freedom after leaving their label.

A record that refuses to divulge its secrets immediately, ‘Life Of A Don’ is packed with immaculate sonic detail while also relishing a certain directness.

Long in gestation, ‘Mother’ feels finessed, her technical skills as a producer aligned to a gut instinct for what works in a club environment. Deftly pieced together, this feels like one of 2024’s most assured and enjoyable electronic records.

The sonic palette may be familiar, but the strength of songwriting indicates that September Girls might, just might, be capable of pushing past this.

Returning from a six-year long wilderness of soundtrack work and greatest hits, ‘Heligoland’ sees the duo back at the top of their game.

‘EBM’ is full of stadium-ready anthems and is a riveting, celebratory and bold musical odyssey that is both glorious and gritty in equal measure.

There are plenty of hooks and the pace rarely relents, but it’s hard to ever imagine Colors ever being in anyone’s top five favourite Beck albums.

Recorded in Reykjavík with Sigur Rós collaborator Alex Somers and Múm’s Samuli Kosminen, the frosty twinkles and skittery beats complement Rhode Island-based Thibadeau’s alt-folk leanings.

It’s rich in intricately layered synths, blending swathes of influences into a more distinctive sound.

With many tipping these Birmingham indie sorts for success, a debut album as accomplished and hit-laden as this makes it hard to see the band faltering.

This is an album made by musical artisans, who know exactly how to translate the sound in their heads on to record.

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.

‘Sell Sole II’ isn’t quite the breakout moment fans hoped for, but it is most definitely her strongest, most in-depth project to date.

Whilst ‘Night Gnomes’ embraces a plethora of new sounds and concepts that make it distinct from the aforementioned album, it still maintains an overarching complexity and sonic ambition that listeners of old and new can revel in.

'The Courage Of Others' is a suitable album for today’s perma-frost Britain, what we’ll make of it when the Sun comes out I’m not sure.

‘Euphoric’ sits as a colourful sideways step from a talent we’ve long since learned to cherish.

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.

It's far from perfect - 'Ghost Note' sounds horribly like Skrillex in places - but there [are] enough interesting sonic detours to suggest that these agitators of sound are more than just another over-hyped gimmick band.

The Long Island five-piece show a greater willingness to vary their musical palette than many of their contemporaries

Each ["sides" of the double LP] is so good, it’s a toss up between which incarnation you'll end up liking most.

Rarely has an artist’s death been so vivid. R.I.P. Actress; your dystopian electronic visions have widened our nocturnal vision. We now await your reincarnation.

Trans-Love Energies is a master-class of pulsating euphoric electronica from one of the dance fraternity's true pioneers.

This is a powerful reminder of the pair's quite brilliant lunacy.

Utterly lovely.

Things move from melodic ambience to galloping sci-fi workouts and back again, the highlight being the sublime 'Emerald And Stone'.

For a band consisting of four members, Born Under Saturn is both remarkably adventurous and eclectic.

Fans may miss Wolf's habitual genre-hopping and eccentricity, but this is mature and compelling stuff. His best so far.

At times it’s sketchy and frail, at others decidedly defiant.

Dragged down by a excess of melodrama, with some cutting and a dash of pop sensibilities The Jezabels would have a stone cold classic.

Interestingly, the album itself isn't “too true”--rather, it’s just true enough.

His use of simile and metaphor is questionable but with an irrepressible energy and guest vocal spots from Kelly Rowland (Invincible) and Ellie Goulding (Wonderman) on top of three top five hits, this Peckham born rapper might just have made the most fun pop album of the year.

False Idols comes close to vanquishing the spectre of ‘Maxinquaye’, comprising a fleshy and nasally return to form.

When you see Jungle live, it takes very little provocation for them to extend their songs into euphoric, funk-laden, instrumental prang-outs that mesmerise your mind’s eye. Unfortunately, the album lacks a little of that psychedelic deviation, and instead chooses to quite politely proffer 11 great and concise songs, with a whistling instrumental mid-point.

A quirky best-of entertaining the inner child with tongue-in-cheek lyrics and psychedelic funky pop.

Although the material demonstrates Vek’s undoubted talent, Luck can’t quite match our hopes--or, indeed, the quality of its predecessors.

EX will neither enliven classicists nor win new fans. We need challenged by this artist, who normally thrives on doing exactly that.

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.

‘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.

Some decent-enough songs on an overly long album mostly containing sub-par tracks from an artist capable of much more.

Playful and melodic, Clash suggests that you take this on a Norfolk country ramble ASAP.

Every Now And Then takes the form of a transcendental equivalent of the longest summer. Wavelengths stretch leaving you feeling worked over, fatigued and ready for a taste of something new.

This is a band, ten years into their career, still at the height of their powers, rejuvenated and ready to show the world that you still can’t second-guess them.

Imitations comes at the right time of year: like autumn, it has a decayed feel. Yet, this is more triumphant than simply bleak.

BBF Hosted By DJ Escrow may be the most sarcastic record Blunt has put out, but there's real emotion here amidst the baby cries and union jack hover boards.

When it all comes together, In Rolling Waves is a thrilling, melodramatic ride through the regions where pop, electro and alternative rock crossover, and finally meet.

Hard to say when each track on this album is ridiculously strong in its own right. Much like the artist behind them.

While not breaking new sonic ground, the broad brush strokes of nostalgia rarely wilt.

This is music that stretches from the decaying rain-lashed estates of their home to the stars.

There is no doubting the power Roddick and James are wielding on ‘Womb’. The talent of Purity Ring as songwriters, instrumentalists and visionaries is clear to see – it will be interesting to see where the band can take their sound in years to come.

For all of John Kowalski and Rian Trench’s accomplished textures and impressive ’80s sci-fi sheen, it’s these [songs "Happiness Is A Warm Spacestation" and "A Sky Darkly"] simmering, slow burning heavyweights that give Supermigration the thunder it needs.

While the album is pretty much removed from her usual major pop moments, it’s more refreshing that way, and there’s more of a connective-unit feel to Positions than much of her previous work. After all, Grande has always been an album artist, and this one is yet another to whistle home about.

Unapologetically angsty and beautifully chaotic, Pale Waves have created a safe space for fans with ‘Unwanted’. A place of pride.

Although there's nothing exactly groundbreaking here, Policy packs plenty of personality and attitude.