Harsh electronic soundscapes are matched with more ambient pieces, and Anamesis Part 1 is a much gentler proposition creating the illusion of calming wind chimes, with Part 2 adding pastoral flourishes. Whereas Annotation pairs club beats with gentle electronic inflections, and Kundalini recalls the thrilling experimentalism of her last record in its use of exotic sounds.

There is enough control behind all the madness to ensure that the result remains just the right side of uncompromising.

Senjutsu is Iron Maiden’s strongest offering in some time, looking forward whilst occasionally peering back over its shoulder. In tone it’s the band’s darkest album, but the sheer coherence and confidence of the playing, writing and production makes it feel filled with light and positivity. There’s conflict all over the album, but this is the sound of a band firing on all cylinders.

The message of the record is as faultless and as invigorating as the field recordings of raindrops and tributaries that gush over it. Ana Roxanne won’t be hampered by other people’s definition of her; her musical genius will encapsulate multiplicities and blossom of its own accord.

The Tipping Point manages to straddle the band’s past (the very early days aside) and stride on into present times, and that in itself should be enough to please more than one generation of Tears For Fears fans.

If nothing on Everything Was Beautiful feels truly essential to anyone with the Spiritualized back catalogue, it’s also a glowing example of their aesthetic.

FLOTUS is most successful when it marries the influences from hip-hop productions with the pop-rock template that has essentially underpinned most of Lambchop’s previous work.

Seventeen Going Under is powerful, essential stuff, a coming of age album that speaks to the human experience in the here and now. Its creator is absolutely the real deal.

Holter is arguably at her best when exploring texture.

A truly superb comeback.

Utterly everyday yet utterly recognisable and distinctive, Celebration Rock is pounding, lithe and youthful.

It’s better than some actual Sonic Youth albums, and that alone makes it an essential listen. A thriller from the first second to the last.

Furling is a collection that rewards repeat listens to allow it to fully embed into the consciousness but once it does its soft, rarefied treasure has much to offer.

Badu remains a singular, refreshingly unpolished talent.

Athena announces a major talent in Sudan Archives. It’s original, exhilarating and unafraid to defy genre.

At times it relies too heavily on retro stylings, with a resulting sometimes rather one-dimensional sheen, meaning that the more serious messages the band are expressing can get lost in the mix. But as far as ’70s tailored rousing rock in 2017 goes, Sheer Mag’s work is best in class.

Aviary is not a great album--it’s too much of an ordeal for that accolade, requiring multiple listens to even start to engage with meaningfully. But it is, in its own idiosyncratic way, a towering artistic accomplishment. Just be prepared for a hard slog scaling the summit.

There’s no sudden rush or instantaneous hit, but that’s not the point. Its hazy, dreamlike and enveloping charms unfold anew with further layers of melancholic woozy, summery beauty each time, as you contemplate about contemplation. As it all forms into focus, and the dots connect, you’ll find that I’ve Been Trying To Tell You is yet another fine addition to Saint Etienne’s soundworld.

Patch The Sky is certainly a difficult listen but it’s not without a odd kind of sweetness--it’s full of grief and bleakness to be sure, but there’s also an exhilarating sense of catharsis to be had.

The Bible, like a lot of Lambchop albums, probably won’t be to everyone’s taste – some may find the constant electronic treatment of Wagner’s perfectly decent singing voice to be a bit grating, for example. Yet it’s the sound of a man ploughing his own furrow, and producing yet another unvarnished gem of a record.

It’s not a pretty world to live in all the time, but for a while the twilight tones are the perfect place to rest a broken or bruised heart, or just take some comfort from Marissa Nadler’s exquisite craft.

Despite the heavy topics, Gwenno brings a lightness of touch to everything on the album--her vocals are both light and breezy, and sometimes sound full of wonder, as if she can’t wait to explore this weird dysoptian future that she’s singing about.

The results as diverse as one would expect from such a multi-faceted pairing: chaotic, withdrawn, subtle, bombastic, promising and ominous all at the same time.

Whilst this may be its chief difficulty, and one that will undoubtedly deter and daunt some listeners, it is nevertheless good to have a band and an artist with this darkly poetic a vision back recording and performing once again.

Campbell’s ideals are distilled into a tight nine-track album in which influences are evoked, grafted onto fresh numbers and cut loose to scratch insistently at the listener’s ear.

Fast forward to 2011, and third album Looping State Of Mind is a markedly more complex development of his sound.

Harry’s House is a heavyweight pop release that feels understated and lightweight. It threatens to give everything about Styles away and strip back his starkest emotions, but leaves it still ever so slightly cloaked in mystery. We’re closer than ever before to truly understanding Styles the person, but he still keeps us ever so slightly at arm’s length. Styles, the artist, the pop auteur, though is far more clear.

Fucked Up have created a masterpiece that pushes boundaries, takes risks and delivers huge rewards.