Given that the various members of Hot Chip have various side-hustles and secondary creative outlets, it’s a little surprising how much of ‘Freakout / Release’ sounds quite this forced.

It's good--but not great.

Ruminations feels like a comedown as such. His first solo album since 2014 ‘Upside Down Mountain’ features only Oberst, a piano, an acoustic guitar and the occasional flash of harmonica. It’s possibly his most reflective, nostalgic work yet.

[The album] is essentially a standard Mark Lanegan Band release.

They do truly make a beautiful noise together. That said, vocals can't account for everything and, in an album so marked by its makers' laryngeal input, it seems as though the rest got a little neglected.

For every track that falls short, there is another where they hit a sweet spot.

Powell’s music is for sweaty, unconcerned nights of utter debauchery--the kind of whirlwind Saturday night where there’s no way you’re getting home until at least midday. This makes listening to the album as a whole a frankly exhausting experience.

Put it all together, and listening to Savoy Motel’s debut in its entirety can leave you struggling, wondering if you’ve accidentally left the album on loop and yearning for something--anything9--that doesn’t begin with a bassline boogie.

Something’s Changing isn’t without flaws--‘Soak It Up’’s shuffling tempo jars, whilst the orchestral leanings of closer ‘I Can’t Change It All’ are at odds with the rest of the record--but it sees Lucy Rose easing into the next stage of her career.

While unpredictability is certainly part of Deerhoof’s charm, and the aim of The Magic was to take listeners out of their comfort zone, the erratics can feel contrived and its off-kilter aesthetics too disparate for it to ever really take hold.

Voices is more than an uppercut of an album, it’s a finishing move.

While it’s about as colourful as the phantasmagoric cover art suggests, it might have sounded a bit more grounded if the band weren’t given the keys to so many synthesisers and effects pedals - and Kevin Parker’s heady production only makes it even woozier. Beneath all the superfluous sonic meddling, though, it’s still a voyage worth beholding.

There are fleeting moments to enjoy. But while aiming for something epic in scope, the five-piece have again delivered an album that will keep wheels turning for another few years.

At Best Cuckold is so highly polished that it feels a little lacking in the kind of blindsided naivety that comes hand in hand with romance.

This balance between a sweet, butter wouldn’t melt surface and a resolutely ballsy undercurrent means that, over the course of eleven tracks, the album is never predictable.

It’s a feel good album, not through cynical design, but just through making whoever is listening feel good.

Inevitably, in this bursting collection of high energy rock, the album loses its bite towards the end.

Joshua James' second release of 2012 is a thoughtful and pleasantly warm collection of songs that are steeped in the sound of Americana.

The record surprises far more frequently than his previous material, despite never straying too far from his initial sound.

Despite hiding behind the veil of electronic experimentation, Thom Sonny Green has taken a brave step forwards.

Whilst a fun record, there’s only one issue remains, the fact that it’s often hard to connect with something so unabashedly honest.

La Femme toss so many weird and interesting ideas against the wall, that for every gorgeous moment that sticks, there’s an awkward miss.

The real charm of this record comes in its additional moments of character; the spoken-word interruptions (‘Do Something’) or soundbite introductions (‘She Wants Me Now’) which somehow tie the album together even more tightly.

This second album shows that there is more to their schtick than barely tamed chaos.

The record spans from spoken word to ‘70s funk and ‘80s glam rock, dabbling in balladry and power pop. It may not be the most polished or serious piece of art to emerge from the pandemic, but it’s impossible to deny the sheer amount of personality and unashamed frivolity bubbling out of ‘Transparency’.

It’s comfortable, casual and--as is Iggy--a little bit weird at times. It’s catchy and has some great stories nestling in there--Post Pop Depression gets its hooks into you gradually with each listen.

Ultimately, this is the strongest Bird has sounded in some time, but it’s not quite the monumental breakthrough that’s going to find him new fans.

Echo Lake have managed to take a slew of barely-original touch points and make something genuinely intriguing about them.