With crisp cymbals, heavy guitars and gritty rock ‘n’ roll vocals, this album was meant for a pre-party party.

A strong, engaging return to form, Mechanical Bull is made to ride. Strap in and enjoy.

Sweet Baboo’s gloriously eccentric back catalogue has nevertheless often hinted at the capacity to deliver a truly special record: a glorious, emphatic collection of songs showcasing his truly affecting vocal and knack for ridiculously insistent hooks. No further hints are required for, with The Boombox Ballads, Black has got there.

Utilizing much fuller and considerably more electronic arrangements this time around, the album is uplifting and hopeful, though no less poignant; the tender self-evaluation of "What I Have To Offer" providing one of many particularly sweet moments.

It’s a fun record, and as adventurous as we’ve come to expect from Planningtorock.

Take both albums as separate entities and you'll be fine, and if alienation is the upshot, what a way to go about it.

The songwriting and hyper-futurism made easy are a case of Smart by name.

At the centre of Panic At The Disco’s best album yet is Urie himself. The charisma and eccentricity of the front man, matched by his jaw-dropping vocal acrobatics sees Urie finally become the ringmaster of his own circus.

The band's fondness for over-long outros means that it occasionally drifts, where a tighter edit would have made it soar. But for the most part this is an entrancing album of spectral lullabies.

Although littered with incandescent beams of hyper-melody--extending a hand to the youth of 2013’s ‘Days Are Gone’, Something To Tell You is patient and moves at its own, night-unending pace, where Californian sister act Este, Danielle, and Alana surf some kind of strange paradise between love and loss.

Whilst adhering to a pretty well-worn formula with the usual rousing emotion ebbs and flows, Gibbard’s ability to paint such vivid imagery with his carefully considered approach to lyricism does warrant revisiting, despite some moments proving patchy than others.

While not overly original, this album more than compensates for compositional complacency with its energetic delivery.

Featuring a host of Daptone Records talent (Lee Fields & The Expressions, Menahan Street Band) the album’s eleven numbers are a confident walk through the finest examples of soul instrumentals and stands a great homage to the best releases of Cadet, Stax or Hi.

Notably shorter than its predecessor, MU.ZZ.LE is just as rich and arresting, cataloguing Sumach's echoes, mumbles and stumbles through an album of lethargic trip hop and uneasy paranoia.

Few albums this year will match up to the level of proficiency and commitment here and yet it remains a distinct probability that the world still won't listen. An album that will shadow most others.

Full Circle might not break any new ground, but with their simple yet thought-provoking approach to songwriting, HÆLOS have crafted one of the best debut albums in 2016 thus far.

Nubiyan Twist’s latest project offers this joyful escape. ‘Freedom Fables’ is a blissful mix of latin, soul, jazz and highlife – a fusion of musical styles that provides a timely reminder for us all to unify.

While it’s not an unqualified success, ‘An Orchestrated Songbook’ is still an intriguing, at times fascinating exercise.

If anything, the album is held back by his ambition--imprudent testing falls short of his usual standards. There are lessons to be learned here, and as a document of Tyler's growth, this may well be looked back upon as a watershed moment.

‘Rockmaker’ is an experience of the addictive kind, a fitting reminder of what’s terrific about the Portland band, and it offers something novel, something blistering.

It's hard to resist.

It feels unanchored and tremulous, without EITS’s signature drums--but it’s still beautiful.

Perhaps not one for the casual fan, but there’s plenty to unpack for the long-time admirer.

The Past, The Present, The Future has rebooted more of the bad tropes from that era than the good.

In 13 tracks ‘The Waves pt. 1’ is an elegant accumulating of Kele Okereke’s work. It encapsulates so much depth and takes you on joyous rides that you can never anticipate the direction of.

Infinite Arms is their strongest album yet, perfecting their instantly recognisable sound with Bridwell in fine voice throughout.

What could be an unholy mess is held together by tight production, hypnotic grooves and some undeniably catchy tunes.

For the first time, it's Bleeker's most mature output yet and solid terra firma for fully realizing the group as a band in its own right rather than a mere side hobby.

Commendably still opting for spontaneity after all these years, the lads have whittled down some dance-tinged jams into workable songs and the result is an LP that, while unfocused, still has plenty of drive and energy.

A bold, contained statement nonetheless, doubling down on her niche style with a few twists and turns brings us some truly great moments to cherish.

Views packs much less of a political punch than Bey’s must-hear epic, and at 20 tracks, Aubrey for the most part provides a rather overweight and lethargic waltz through his musical comfort zone.

With powerful juxtapositions of connection and disconnection, hope and despair, life and death, possession and loss throughout, Life After Defo is an absolute thesis on pop experimentalism.

A dry and devilishly powerful psych rock collection, hard-nosed and sinister in all the right ways.

‘Find Me’ and ‘Anymore’ channel the danceable charm of ‘Pool’, while the powerful swell of ‘Now The Water’ proves as immersive as its title suggests. By and large, though, The House is marked by a hands-off recording style that dials back on the fine-tuned production of its predecessor.

The attraction of this LP is the thought that’s gone into it – every sound that you hear has been meticulously planned and recorded using, possibly, something that the Stasi might have once used.

The results here feel somewhat less spirited.

The folk troubadour's sixth studio release has been presented as his "defining statement" and it's true, the Wessex boy has delivered something truly wonderful.

The over-riding impression is that this is a tired, conservative and weirdly insular album.

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

Forged at the intersection between positive and negative, romances and crumbling relationships, ‘Vices’ is a celebratory collection of a real-life instances represented in song - and it is as perfectly imperfect as real life itself.

The act of combining musical stylings that range from African tribal beats through to Talking Heads inspired synth pop, with lyrics that seek to overcome a divisive social culture is an intention nothing short of universal. It’s just in the execution where he falls short, leaving little to the imagination of the listeners on an album that strikes a rather predictable tone.

Courtesy of the blandly produced, overly-compressed vocal deliveries and guitar riffs from Jonas Brothers’ producer John Fields, the act all too easily fall into the inevitable trap of highly-structured song progressions backed by half-baked guitar solos on ‘Same Language’ and underwhelming chorus chants on ‘Kool’.

In taking this stripped-back approach, recognisable across the majority of the record, ZAYN lets his audience in more than ever before.

Lyrically, there are interesting ruminations on the trappings of fame ('(I Wanna Live In A Dream In My) Record Machine') and his troubled mind ('Broken Arrow'), while the album is all the better for losing some of the bravado Noel hid behind while writing for Liam--but there are admittedly some clunkers.

This body of work is as meticulous as it is melancholy, which is what makes it so profoundly personal and universal at the same time.

The second Telekinesis album suggests that Michael Lerner's gift for hooky, college-radio friendly indie-pop shows no signs of abating.

The Sun seems to have come out over The Album Leaf’s glacial landscape with some songs here edging towards a kind of elegant, and very pretty, pop.

‘Cometa’ is Hakim’s strongest, and most personal, album to date.

Smilewound is delicate, crunchy and as beautiful as the fountainhead of music whence it came.

Their newest newscast is a record that simultaneously could take you anywhere, yet doesn’t really go anywhere at all; its strength is just being there.

CYHSY have created an album that is both jubilant and disarmingly vulnerable.

The production is minimal throughout, often foregrounding Ono’s one take vocals against naive sounding guitar and piano backdrops. Side Two showcases Ono’s childlike side and is much more fun.

You can skip the cinematic intro and the uncharacteristically dour ‘Late Night Final’, but for the most part, Inform - Educate - Entertain is fresh and fun.

The band promised that they weren’t going to play it safe with this record, and it seems to have paid off.

Whilst production and rhythms are excellent, the hooks (barring the album’s final lyric: “There’s so much bullshit comin’ out of your mouth”) often fall short.

Despite the pristine production and supercharged atmosphere, this feels like his most personal set and where the music falls into more predictable territory, it's kept buoyant by Hammond's emotional warmth and his wistful, contemplative lyrics.

The music on 'Wax And Glue' shows potential, but the overall idea of the record is just too cluttered.

A stirring accomplishment.

Nouvelle Vague have created an album telling tales weaving in and out of the beautifully spoken French word and the English. Regardless of whether you understand what is being sung, easy on the ear and quirky sounds are enough to entice any listener.

At times Letherette overreach and their ambition to contort every trend of the last decade into a singular structure feels forced. The album flourishes where the beats are fortified by accompanying charisma.

Darkness Rains exemplifies a modern tap on fun house, whilst dabbling in punk-rock alternatives, with the militant beats and chaotic lyrics, making for a spiritually-driven listen.

‘It Won’t Always Be Like This’ distills an optimism we can just about taste, but can’t quite feel. The sound of a band coming into their own, it finds INHALER taking a deep breath, and making the most important step forwards of their career.

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

An interesting experiment.

‘Notes On A Conditional Form’ is lyrically playful and musically a step away from being confused for a compilation album of the best tracks this group has ever released. But that confusion is warranted. This is The 1975’s quarantine Megazord.

Far from a departure, it's more the continuation of a recurring theme--but one that isn't half bad at all.

Kaleide works best when all of its individual fragments twist into vision as one.

You can’t tell that Bella Union founder Simon Raymonde and Wisconsin-raised vocalist Stephanie Dosen didn’t even make it into the same room for this beautiful collaborative record as Snowbird, such are its dreamy, enlightening and angelic qualities.

The blistering debut is a collection of delightfully pungent tracks, delivered in all their unashamed, reckless glory.

This is a joyous, unique and tender album.

Ending with an attempt to find hope amid despair on ‘Darkest Hour’, ‘Faith’ is tailor-made to thrill their mass army of fans, balancing fresh ideas with that glamorous melancholy.

A record that has moments of brilliance but by virtue of trying to be a novelty record, actually comes closer to being a rehash of their previous work.

Music and performer as one, it's hard to know where I Break Horses begin and their walls of sound end. Vocalist and Swedish nephilim Maria Lindén is a calming apparition, yet indeterminate when overpowered by the huge celestial sheets of Fredrik Balck's new wave order.

While that constant jollity could become irritating, it manages instead to be endearing.

The most curious thing about RUFF is how its narrative seems to hint at a band running out of energy and inspiration, and yet the music itself would say otherwise.

The hallmarks of Simian Mobile Disco are present - huge beats and house loops take centre-stage - but many of the tracks just feel like they're missing a vital component.

Krell’s fragile innocence and tenderness remains as touching as ever, though, with a string of grand, sweeping numbers occupying the album’s heart that underline his power to galvanise the deepest depths of the soul.

I have seen the future of dreamy pop, and its name is The Maccabees.

This is an album that finds progress in small gradients. Subtle in its evolution, Kings Of Leon treat ‘When You See Yourself’ as a means to re-engage with their early bite, yet remain unwilling to cede their place at rock’s top table. As a result, it’s neither the complete break some yearn for, nor an attempt to re-capture the commercial power that emanated around ‘Only By The Night’.

There's clearly a lot of promise here, but drenching everything in reverb and letting blast on the arpeggios doesn't equal a fully realised record. The band's musicianship is certainly accomplished, but the listener occasionally needs a reprieve from its sheer wall of jangle.

At first listen the slower pace may not appeal to everybody, and that’s fine, but at a time where everything seems so unsettled, it works great as a listenable stress ball.

As debut offerings often go, there’s a fervent desire on Mind of Mine to stretch so far and wide that the cohesiveness of the record is lumbered as a result. The tracklist could have been refined to ten good tracks (most of which are on the bonus edition).

Khruangbin’s is extra special. It's not as reliant on electronics and is a treasure trove for those whose record collections happily travel the world and don't stick purely to English. Turn the lights down low, kick-back, and enjoy.

For all its crystallised pop production, ’Ricky Music’, can’t help but feel flat. More concerned with evoking a feeling and mood rather than say anything explicit about the sadness, confusion and joy that Maine has experienced in the creation of the record beyond broad stereotypes of sadness.

Although largely a strong body of work, the album’s borderline moments of geniune greatness--'Hate On', 'Dark Ear' and 'Mr. Mistake', the latter of which is surely the most sonically soothing track to reference a nuclear winter--aren’t replicated with any real consistency.

This one will grow and reward with every new listen, as you get to know the troubled character behind the barbed words.

For all its forward thinking, the combination of shoe-gaze and synthy electronica leads the record inevitably back to the 1980s, mirroring the haunting sound that M83 have perfected so well.

Each track possesses its own surge of mind movement propelled by the depth of eclectic sonics, psyche and contemporary wording.

It's as much math rock as it is noise rock, delightfully unpredictable in places ('Weasel Bastard', 'Power Ballad'; and yes, the latter is the furthest thing from a power ballad you could possibly imagine), precise and purposeful in others.

Never boring, never dull, this is a glowing, fire-breathin’, thunder-clappin’ ghost train of a record.

It’s not a bad record – the highs more than justify your entrance – but with a rumoured follow up on the way, perhaps it’s time for Future to break a few of his own rules once more.

After listening to ‘The Future Is Your Past’, and last year’s ‘Fire Doesn’t Grow on Trees’ they feel like the start of a golden age of The Brian Jonestown Massacre.

While tracks like 'Beautiful Wreck'--springy, satisfying and by no means a misfit within this gripping offering--seems quite bland in comparison to the rest which boasts a bold sound, the album remains fascinating, never misses a beat and keeps you listening through to the end.

While the album is as subtle as a brick to the face, there is an impressive mix of styles represented on the band’s third outing, making this their most versatile listen.

It’s enlivening, inspiring, frustrating and maddening in equal measure--and you always wonder what’s coming next.

What works on Woman truly does with aplomb, but it arguably stands as the group’s least unique effort, and with some of that old punk snarl now removed perhaps they’ve lost some of that addictive danger.

They’ve managed to meld together the grand themes of ‘The Soft Bulletin’ and ‘Yoshimi…’ with some of the experimentation of ‘Embryonic’ and ‘The Terror’, and it makes for a fascinating return.

Marr’s vocals are indistinctive, although his song-writing abilities are clear. What does stand out is how fine a guitarist he has become.