The music is plainly listenable, the progressions are often entertaining and the lyrics are intricate. For fans, the minor evolution and heavier sonic palette may whet their appetite, but for anyone in search of a new revolutionary energy in the realm of indie rock, steer clear of the throne room.

Taken on its own merits, this is life-enriching stuff.

Their best album to date.

A fine record.

Black To The Future is both musically and thematically bold and important. It is a major statement contextualising the present, aiming to better understand the past and, hopefully, providing a provocation for a better future.

The whole album is awash with reminders of not just how good The Breeders were, but how good The Breeders still are.

Yesterday’s Gone is one of the finest debuts you’ll hear for quite some time.

Contemplative and unstable, the record is a 12-track paean to the benevolent act of taking domestic solace in retreating. ... William Basinski is back within his element, and we should take all comfort in that.

Its cumulative impact is immense, the singer giving everything she has to the music. Limbs may not be an easy listen, but Keeley Forsyth makes it an essential one, singing from the depths of her very bones.

It’s probably the most accessible Soccer Mommy album to date.

It is neither their most immediate nor their warmest album, yet its provocations are effective, and become curious and complex in light of the melody and harmony that sits above them.

It’s a beautiful, fitting send off to one of music’s finest lyricists and an excellent postscript to an incredible career.

Its author remains a restless creative spirit, but Paul Simon’s music feels as relevant now as it ever has done, his work reaching the very depths of the human soul.

While Surrender was an album that immediately hit you, Don’t Forget Me takes a bit longer to work its magic. That does, though, bode well to her longevity as an artist. These songs have a timeless feel to them, and seem like ones we’ll be listening to for quite some time to come.

Young Fathers are exactly as their name suggests: firstly young, but more noteworthy, brutally honest father-figures who show the music world that, when you take musical and topical risks, you get noticed.

Early fans may mourn the lack of edge that this major label debut may have smoothed out, but everyone else best get their “Lizzo 2020” signs on the lawn.

It is a pleasure to report that the latest SFA opus is a joy from start to finish.

It’s a marvellously un-sobering boisterous beast of a record, and a sparkling début.

And such are the music's joyous highs, subtle thrills and rich and deep layers, they can undoubtedly be judged one of the most worthwhile and special bands currently at large.

Vince Staples is a worthy continuation of his oeuvre, and proof if it were needed that his paradox of youthful energy and world-weary cynicism remains as captivating as ever.

The whole of Entomology should open new ears and eyes to Josef K's thrilling, scraping, clattering greatness.

It’s a smart, attentive-demanding progression--within the song and throughout the album as a whole--that deftly captures various stages of love’s cycle. With added synths.

For those that are willing to kiss goodbye to the guitars and join Parker on his latest detour, you’re likely to get swept away by the dreaminess of Currents. It’s just a shame that the undeniable majesty of opener Let It Happen sees the album peak at a high it can never hope to reach for the remainder of its existence.

Liars have not only been reborn creatively, they’ve emerged with by far the most accessible album of the band’s illustrious career to date.

Hadestown may have gained her success through her successful harnessing of external inspiration but by turning attention inwards on this occasion she’s delivered one of the quietly outstanding albums of the year.

At best, it sounds like an honest re-fashioning of comfortable old sounds. At worst, it sounds like a forgotten Christine McVie solo album.

Yes, Heavy Ghost is weird, but Stith's melodies are simple and wonderful, making his experimentation easy to follow and, with his enchanting choral throughout, it's easy to get lost in every song--or even engulfed into a new fantastical land that you may never want to escape from.

Jacklin has an uncanny knack for documenting her generation’s anxieties and issues, and wrapping them up in songs you’ll be humming for weeks. She is quite the talent, and going by Pre Pleasure, she’ll be around for quite some time to come.