The fact that he can produce an album like Bad As Me, with more energy, invention and sheer excitement that artists half his age stands as testimony that Tom Waits remains one of the true giants of music.

This is as compelling and coherent a collection as they have ever made. It’s a record that you can delve deep into and really inhabit; everything’s in its right place.

MASSEDUCTION is nothing less than an absolutely towering achievement.

As its title suggests, Accelerando provides plenty of speed and also a very real adrenaline rush.

With barely a weak track to be heard, it all adds up to an album that sees Waxahatchee move up to another level. It’s the sound of a woman at peace with herself, and Crutchfield’s newfound serenity makes for a wonderful listen.

Deep Science should enhance TVOTR's reputation as one of the finest, forward-thinking bands around, along with fellow Brooklyn acts Animal Collective and Liars.

While far from immaculate, Cookie Mountain is the logical progression from Desperate Youth, with its conception fruit enough for those who appreciate musical innovation.

Optimisme is more Garageland than Graceland in its approach.

It all means that Sometimes I Sit… is a likeable, enjoyable album rather than a great one. Barnett has written half a masterpiece: let’s hope that, next time round, she can complete the job.

For body and mind, then, this is a powerfully affecting release, one that cements Rival Consoles as one of the brightest jewels in the heavily studded Erased Tapes crown.

It is just one of the many avenues Bowie could have gone down, but the effect of what he has done is fascinating and wholly satisfying.

It’s a record that’s testament to going through hell and coming out the other side. It’s also an album that confirms Angel Olsen as one of the foremost singer-songwriters of her generation.

With The World Only Ends When You Die, Skyway Man has come up with a boldly visionary record that is bursting with ideas and provides unexpected twists and turns at every corner.

What Now is sometimes not an easy listen, but it’s certainly a thrilling and restless journey. Looking at how Howard has evolved from her early days with Alabama Shakes, a more appropriate title for this collection could have been What Next – as whatever does come next is likely to be intriguing.

After just a few listens, it cements itself as the best Vampire Weekend album to date and, much like the New York City to which much of this album is an ode to, there are layers and layers to this record which are a delight to unpack and discover.

Magdalene is an album that, like FKA twigs herself, defies both genre and classification. Yet it’s a late contender for album of the year, with songs that will live you for months to come.

Letter To You provides both a moving thematic adjunct to Springsteen On Broadway and a timely and welcome burst of the sheer euphoria that only the E Street Band can inject. It also, importantly, demonstrates the band’s unacknowledged flexibility.

This album certainly is a rush, and it’s also the best Japanese Breakfast album to date.

The music is consistently either thrilling, evocative or moving.

By turns danceable, blissed out romantic, familiar and new, it's technologically and musically fascinating. Its juxtaposition of orga and mecha is one of its many well executed contradictions. Packed but sparse, thrilling, complex, innovative, simple. Without even a dud bar never mind a filler track, In Rainbows is more than any fan could hope for.

An album of the year contender.

Nas is not a perfect rapper in 2022 but the chemistry on King’s Disease III works well enough to paper over the shortcomings, leaving a focused, well-executed release.

Culled from various single B sides, radio edits and with two unreleased tracks bolted onto the rear, the band’s musical cauldron appears to be simmering over with malevolent goodness.

No Selfish Heart is something to cherish all year round, no matter what’s in or out of fashion musically; something to keep coming back to when you’re unimpressed by everything else.

Foundations showcases the development in the band’s songwriting skills.

Songdreaming is a big musical event. It is a great place to start if you are less familiar with folk music, opening its arms to ambient and electronic influences while simultaneously celebrating traditional instruments and old melodic forms. It is also a great place to visit if you’ve lived with these forms of music for decades.

Idles offer so much more than mere spit and bile. The nuance of what’s on offer on this record contributes to the rich contemporary loosely threaded punk scene that has produced bands like Protomartyr, Priests and Algiers.

Boucher’s pleasingly scattergun approach means that it doesn’t hold together as a fully coherent album. Yet after a couple of plays, the weird and wonderful world of Grimes soon starts to seep into you, and soon you won’t be able to imagine an ‘albums of the year’ article without this being on it--no matter what the sleeve looks like.