Even the mildly satirical skits, which don’t quite work, prove her desire to create a proper album, rewarding repeated listening.

Almond is at his best on the compelling torch songs that have long been his stock in trade. Winter Sun reflects on dwindling romance; The Pain of Never is swooningly melancholic. More, please.

As if to underline his status as one of indie rock’s great eccentrics, Malkmus makes a decent fist of orchestral pop on the frisky, staccato-like Brethren, and severs all ties with conventional songwriting, revealing an aptitude for space rock (Difficulties/Let Them Eat Vowels).

A strangely cogent album for wildly unstable times.

The result is a clear-headed amalgamation of their two eras, veering from stomping emo (opener Hold My Breath Until I Die; I’ll Be Back Someday’s Avril-isms) to sleek, synth-led pop (the pogoing You Go Away and I Don’t Mind).

Those allergic to smooth pop-rock may find Days Are Gone hard going. Paradoxically, given this is an album of clever mash-ups, Haim's one straight-up R&B tune might actually be their best.

There is only one misstep--the clumsy, Whitesnake-worthy lyrics to Dirty to the Bone are rooted a little too firmly in the 70s--but otherwise this is an excellent return.

Once again the songs are all traditional, while Lee has skilfully intercut some and “rewilded” them with the odd flourish – the “Old Wow” of the title is his name for an awestruck sense of nature.

Only at two or three points in the album does it feel like Ocean is actively courting heavy radio play.... The rest of the album, however, feels too offbeat and diffuse to trouble the top end of the charts. Is this a bad thing? Not at all.

Bad As Me's 13 tracks fairly rip along, alerting a new generation that there are few as fine as Waits.

It’s not always the easiest of listens, but the boldness of her vision is compelling, especially on Discovery and the title track, where beauty and raw power interact.

Electronics are very much to the fore. This feels like an analogue record, each note having a furry aura.

This third solo album--“nine feminist bangers”, Thorn has quipped, with an immaculately raised eyebrow--finds the singer up against electronic backings, drilling down into complex emotions. And some simpler ones.

With charged production that flits between old-school hip-hop, futuristic pop and even Latin, at 15 tracks it can feel diluted, but there’s no doubt cupcakKe is a potent MC on the rise.

This is not a dark record, but one whose interstitial found sounds and international guest list celebrate Crossan’s adopted London.

Tugging profoundly on bittersweet 60s soul and Motown, Heaven is a fine album.

It’s a sprightly, restless set, with Segal’s plucked cello providing a thrumming heartbeat to what is a communal, improvisational approach. ... This is truly fusion music.

If Disc 1 has more room for unreleased fun – a terrifically roiling live take on the sprawling Last Trip to Tulsa, a standout from Young’s self-titled debut album - Disc 6 doubles down on introspection.

It’s the warmth and personality of her voice that rings particularly true.

Serfs Up! feels like a giant leap forward.

Though these tracks are largely elegiac in tone, they still seek out the consolations of the dancefloor, delivering pulsing beats and warm surges of melody.

Business as usual, in this case, is no bad thing.

A raft of obscure synths has given A Deeper Understanding a glitzy, gilded aura that makes Granduciel’s trademark lyrical tussle between comfort and the possibility of change more pronounced. They contrast beautifully with his weathered voice.

As a whole, it’s a confident imagining of her infectious future funk sound.

The 50-something from Brooklyn is her own diva and sounds at once wounded, defiant and exuberant. Producer-bassist Bosco Mann runs a tight band with its own tricks and which purrs along so joyously the influences fade to leave a core of unadulterated soul.

Policy is twitchy and endearingly ramshackle, channelling the can-do spirit of early-80s indie and the affability of Jonathan Richman.

The textures change constantly without sounding cluttered, the rhythms are compelling but unfailingly light and airy, and the tunes are, well, tuneful.

His most assured record to date, this is also the Philadelphia rocker's most purely pleasurable.