What she does do is elegantly weave different worlds together while staying true to herself throughout. It’s a follow-up that seals her as a new icon for outsiders, in whatever shape she takes.

Remembering, reinventing and emerging with a record as joyful as it is tear-stained, Twin Shadow has crafted something that's understatedly, subtly, almost perfect.

Awesome.

Not all of these experiments quite come off: the industrial clang of ‘It’s Dark Inside’, on which she drawls, “they don’t teach clit in school / Like do Lit”, veers close to ‘Yeezus’ parody. It’s notable, though, how contemporary her distorted art-punk sounds.

It's a collection of ludicrously fresh-sounding, short and sharp material (the majority of tracks are under two-and a-half minutes) that confirms he's in the midst of a seriously impressive rebirth.

The weird edges of Freedom’s Goblin are where your attention should be drawn to. Like the freeform jazz interlude ‘Talkin 3’ and ‘Prison’, which sounds like the frantic last squeals of a dying bee. It’s captivating stuff, honestly.

ESG remain a no-wave New York group unlike any other.

By any criteria an astonishing work.

This stunning second album... exudes brash, chaotic energy from every pore. [12 Jun 2004, p.48]

A mix album of sheer quality.... This should be the soundtrack to every party this summer.

Every so often a record pops up that seems to exist in some alien world, unscathed by hipster fads and driven forward only by its own gorgeous mindset. With 'The Violet Hour', The Clientele have made a beautifully haunting album of music to take drugs to make music to take drugs to.

A demented, disjointed, delicious-as-human-rump-steak modern classic. [23 Oct 2004, p.49]

Route One... is an enlightening joy because it trips all over the place, from darkness to bright to fast to slow to synthetic to organic and back again, and that's not because of any one person's influence.

Early Fragments is exactly that--a bit fragmented, given that none of the songs were written to sit alongside each other. But as ‘Seer’ suggests, there could be quite a future for Fear Of Men, and this release could start it all.

Highly ambitious and original stuff, created in aid of the Scottish Love In Action charity.

An essential emotional pummelling as well as an aural one.

Whether dabbling in light or dark, the Nottingham trio are never anything short of exhilarating.

Never Enough is laser-focused on doing the simple things to perfection: guitar, bass and drums in service of verse-chorus-verse hooks that will rattle around your head for days with rakish, disreputable charm in spades.

The production values on You Are We are perfection--too many metalcore records overproduce until notes feel clinical. But ‘Feel’ builds and drops like an avalanche of brilliance, Taylor’s voice firing off a round of vocal ammo with ease.

This peek into FEET’s trippy world is a often confounding, but on the whole this album is a giddy ride from a British band not afraid to push the boundaries of their own sanity – and, quite possibly, your own.

These two rap entrepreneurs have proven that it was worth the wait for another studio album. The years between ‘Revenge Is Sweet’ and their debut ‘Long Way Home’ have been fruitful for the duo, but – for all their dabbling – this is a welcome return to their roots.

The collection ebbs and flows steadily, and it’s undeniably sleek in its vintage Americana-style production. Some songs leave the listener gagging for more, as Savior flexes masterful lyrics, effortless style and poise. This is a timeless collection.

The music develops, gradually growing in its elegance, until further down the path Yorkston takes over, singing the baleful words of the great Scottish poet Robert Burns. The song finds a path across the globe from one visionary figure to another, the peak of a record that is somewhat visionary itself.

Whilst jazz and dance are at the forefront of this album’s heart, you can trace a multitude of other genres under its surface, from grime to rock and funk to pop. It’s an ambitious work full of scope, where Boyd continues to innovate and impress.

Here The Magic Gang have acted on pure instinct and feeling. This is an album that, despite its recognition of the downside of things, ends up as a more reassuring – and more real – listen than their debut. With its collage of genres and refusal to co-opt modern trends, album two finds the band moving towards something timeless.

20 tracks long, ‘Couldn’t Wait To Tell You’ is sleeker than the artist’s previous releases, but just as challenging and expectation-defying.

Although not every track is a total slam dunk, AJ has here crafted another successful project whose streaming numbers, singles and infectious melodies will live on in memory – just like Michael Jordan’s infamous match.

It could do with an edit in places (its 16-song tracklist loses momentum on the likes of ‘River Song’ and ‘Little Blue’), but for the most part it’s a record of great beauty; one to cling to when you’re going through it and revel in when you too have made it to the other side.