Rockstar is, at heart, a well meaning, fun spirited album. It just pushes the joke just too far. There’s still time for her to make a great rock record, but this isn’t it.

Formentera II is an album that can easily work as a stand-alone record, but it makes an equal amount of sense when paired with i

Hadsel finds Condon reinvigorated and replenished, confirming his status as a talented conveyor and instigator of emotions able to deliver consistently beautiful music regardless of the source.

For a debut album, Quarter Life Crisis is a remarkably confident, assured record, even if it does feel a bit front-loaded by putting most of the more immediate pop bangers in the first half of the album.

This was undoubtably an excellent night out if you were lucky enough to be in the audience, but as an album it’s a mild diversion at best, which will probably end up directing you back to the Dylan original.

The overall take out from I DES however is of an artist continuing to play to his strengths, delivering another slowburning set of songs full of delicate beauty and affecting warmth.

What she does best is create that sense of urgent euphoria, and that is all still present and correct on The Comeback Kid.

Even at 54 minutes, Los Angeles never seems to run out of steam, and there more than enough excellent moments to hope that a second volume may be in the offering. Although hopefully with a less cumbersome band name next time around.

She’s adept at building a vibe with subtle unfurling layers but the songwriting is sometimes less of a priority, especially in the second half – this stops the album being as dynamic as it could be. Nonetheless we have sparks of inspiration, an appealing vocal register and more infectious rhythm sections than one can shake a stick at, which surely portends a warm reception in the club scene.

They may not define the zeitgeist as they did 20 years ago, but God Games proves they can still hit those old heights more often than not.

They still have plenty to give, plenty to say – and Bauhaus Staircase stands up there with the cream of their electronically harvested crop.

Danse Macabre becomes a career retrospective of sorts, earning credit by not going down the obvious ‘best of’ route. However, to work it needs the different elements to complement each other, and on that score its success is extremely limited.

The upshot is an album that is one of the year’s most significant and polished pop performances. There’s not a wasted moment on Something To Give Each Other.

Mainstream R&B fans may be baffled at various points, but there will be few more engrossing albums this year.

As well as the unexpected guest stars – Damon Albarn! Chaka Khan! – there’s also songs about arcade games, an instrumental, and experimental tracks based on vocal repetition. It’s a far cry from the band’s usual breezy guitar pop, but it works beautifully well.

Too often on The Darker The Shadow The Brighter The Light you find yourself reaching for the earlier albums to listen to instead. While Skinner’s hardcore fans will be pleased to see him back, much of the time this feels a lot like The Streets on autopilot.

It may not quite be the equal of records like Exile On Main Street or Let It Bleed (very few are, to be fair), but if Hackney Diamonds really is to be the final Rolling Stones album, it’s one incredible swansong.

Having produced one of the albums of the year with just her second effort, it’s incredibly exciting to ponder where she’ll go from here.

It’s a debut album that’s been well worth the wait.

Set It Off is the work of a talented rapper with an interesting taste in production. Offset just needs a bit more consistency to stick the landing.

The jittery electronics of closing track New Year’s UnResolution close the album, confirming L’Rain’s special ability to expertly splice sounds and styles to create something distinctive and original.

All of these tracks are elevated considerably by Lattimore’s production chops, as the skilled performances are turned into vast ambient soundscapes and she proves herself to be her best accompanist. If anyone in the alternative electronic world has been unaware of Mary Lattimore up until now, this album is a perfect insight into her creative abilities.

At first listen, it’s musically not such a close cousin of First Two Pages, but more its identical twin – the same brooding atmosphere, that bottled up tension that seems to have become Matt Berninger’s vocal trademark – yet over a few plays, it seems to slowly take a life of its own.

This is a magical, magnificent album – one of the best of Sufjan Stevens’ career.

If not all of this debut lands too firmly at times, there’s still enough evidence on Sorry I’m Late that people will soon remember Mae Muller for more than that Eurovision disappointment.

She’s been able to defy expectations time and time again due to a combination of good taste, charm and a deceptively versatile voice, and Tension has its fair share of all three.

Isn’t It Now may well be a typical Animal Collective album, but it’s full of creativity and invention that not many bands could pull off after 25 years of recording together.

There are 14 tracks all in all, together with a couple of skits. Yet Smith refuses to fall into this trap, by some smart sequencing of the tracks: with the ballads mostly gathered towards the end of the record, Falling Or Flying feels like a coherent album rather than a collection of tracks stringed together.