What it shows is that if you're going to do the hits, the thing to do is pin them down, fuck them up and HURT THEM. [average of scores of 90 for Disc 1 and 70 for Disc 2; 16 Oct 2004, p.48]

The London trio's second full-length is a breakneck, open-eared, positivist post-punk canter.

This is a record that wipes the board clean. It's a record that will invigorate and re-energise.

Recounting the happier memories of her relationship often results in the album’s lightest moments: it’s here where synths soar and possibilities seem endless. Elsewhere, Scott employs some of her most evocative lyrics yet.

Stuffed with fizzing hooks and brilliantly frank lyrics, Almost Free could be FIDLAR’s best record yet. A blistering collection of eclectic tunes threaded together by punks’ fearless riffs and unguarded admissions, which add even more weight to their sound, it’s a reminder of how much we’ve missed them. Welcome back, lads.

Album three is CHAI’s smoothest record to date.

O’Brien’s personality shines through, and it’s a pleasure to get to know him. It’s tempting to conclude he’s Radiohead’s secret weapon.

‘Amends’ is a powerful record that offers comfort, motivation and a sense of belonging.

‘American Head’ is a soft, reflective moment of taking in and appreciating the vista once the trip has worn off – when king’s heads and evil pink robots have melted away – and the dust has settled.

There’s a lot to love about music that’s as head over heels in love with youth as Soft Will is.

After pouring her darkest moments into ‘Magdalene’, this varied and playful mixtape represents a moment of release, though it remains to be seen whether Barnett will head further into this direction, or enter a new album era recharged.

Recall[s] dance music's pre-superclub adventures in electronica and bleepy house. [19 Mar 2005, p.59]

As the new face of drill music, “from Bush to Beverley Hills”, ‘23’ shows that Cench repeatedly proves his worth and as his talent continues to blossom.

A masterclass in why Galaxie were such a great band. [18 Feb 2006, p.36]

Sounds like a man freed from the shackles of history. [22 Jul 2006, p.31]

Come the closing ‘Nocturne’, Bradford is wailing into a malfunctioning microphone like the late, great Mark Linkous of Sparklehorse phoning a wasted lullaby home with one unreliable bar of phone coverage, and ‘…Disappeared?’ becomes less Cox’s ‘High Violet’, more his ‘Low’. This is how you turn pop into art.

From their pen through to their sound, ‘Here Is Everything’ is emotive and glossy; one that gives space to breathe in this busy world.

Another gem in First Aid Kit’s consistently good arsenal of timeless, harmony-rich roots music.

As ever, The Hold Steady achieve their best work when their playing is loose. When the songs are filtered through the bottom of a shot glass. When they sound like the best bar band in the best bar you didn’t know about until the moment that you found yourself in it at 3am in the morning. On the basis of ‘Thrashing Thru The Passion’, that band are back.

Here, on their fifth album, the Brooklyn trio sound emboldened, finding room for horn sections and plaintive piano lines amid the murk.

Like all the great British pop records of the past five years, Devotion combines the present and the past to make a record that sounds both contemporary and timeless.

Saturn is full of beautiful, intricately unique songs that could never be imitated.

But, bar the turgid swamp blues of ‘Be Careful What You Wish For’, it’s Noel’s freewheeling solo freedom and return-to-mega-form song-writing that makes this amongst the albums of the year.

He keeps growing musically, challenging what drill music can be. On ‘Noughty By Nature’, he confirms he’s a genre juggernaut, but in wearing his heart a little more on his sleeve, he’s also evolving right in front of us.

An album full of big ideas, strong conviction and unguarded emotion, it’s more than worth the wait.

The abrasion and urgency of their sound remains, but magnified, as they explore new territory.

A stern but playful combination of caustic menace and bright hooks.

The second album from this perky Philadelphia quartet delivers big on drama and emotion with Frances Quinlan’s voice taking turns between an abrasive snarl and a smooth croon.