This latest set sees Clark back in domineering form. There’s not a second wasted on the album’s taut track list, the songwriter managing to balance her teenage inspirations simultaneously, go back to basics, and break new ground all at once.

Daring, experimental, and hugely addiction, Blue Lab Beats may just have delivered your summer soundtrack.

Towards the end of the album, tracks threaten to meld into each other, making for one big visceral haze of love-lamenting. But beat seekers should find their bag on dynamic tracks like ‘Florida!!!’, a thumping, bewitching collaboration with Florence + The Machine, ‘Who’s Afraid of Little Old Me?,’ and triumphantly-erupting, more optimistic ‘I Can Do It With A Broken Heart.’

It didn’t matter where it was, this writer and many other listeners have been able to get away from their troubles, even if just for a moment, and take a moment to breathe, and listen to this beautiful album.

‘Silence Is Loud’ is unafraid to look beyond this hyper-focussed lens. As such, you’ll encounter jazz and neo-soul vibes, alongside bass-bin rattlers galore.

For all their recent productivity and renaissance, A Certain Ratio are no closer to their zeitgeist moment. But with output as strong as this sitting alongside their back catalogue, they are all the stronger for it.

A fast-paced, immediate selection ‘Dark Matter’ easily ranks amongst Pearl Jam’s most straight-forwardly enjoyable releases.

More in keeping with the spirit of indie rock iconoclasts bar italia, say, than Autechre, it nonetheless feels wholly deserving of its place in the Warp Records catalogue – questing, free, and dissonant, it’s the work of a group who remain steadfast in their ability to challenge themselves.

Each track will find its moment to shine, granting the ability to grow and evolve over the seasons. Skimming just under the forty-minute mark, Khruangbin conclude with a focused and consistent body of work, making their long-awaited homecoming.

It’s METZ’s most confident record so far and a deafening reminder that art wasn’t designed to adhere to paint-by-numbers standards – it’s meant to bend until it breaks into something new.

Where Bodega do succeed is in serving up an entertaining, intellectual and heartfelt riposte to the broken systems that have engulfed our culture, albeit in a slightly less successful fashion than before.

Hard to say when each track on this album is ridiculously strong in its own right. Much like the artist behind them.

It’s evident that with ‘Yummy’ that the band’s appetite for creating music remains unsated and it sees the band at their most creative and progressive, delivering an impressive and thought-provoking body of work that can easily be ranked as one of their best.

Each note feels necessary, each word feels heartfelt – in chipping away at the excess to reveal these personal snapshots, Maggie Rogers has unlocked something very special indeed.

A step beyond 2022’s ‘Superache’, ‘Found Heaven’ stretches Conan Gray’s pop template once more. Often emotive, it lingers on his truth while relishing synth-pop immediacy.

‘Only God Is Above Us’ is an elegant summation of the band’s journey and strengths – of joy, sincerity and a feeling of believing in and offering calm amongst the chaos.

As with all their output, ‘Ohio Players’ is a few tracks longer than necessary (the cover of William Bell’s ‘I Forgot To Be Your Lover’ is superfluous) but otherwise finds the duo in spirited form.

The resulting record leaves the listener feeling power alongside their anger, and brings a fresh and compelling blend of punk, rock, grime and rap together in an experimental way.

As both a treatise and a sonic testament, ‘COWBOY CARTER’ is its own triumph; unmoored in form, space and time, it’s the work of a preternatural talent painstakingly poring over every word, stratified vocal, sample and stylistic flourish.

Whilst we aren’t handed the next chapter of The Libertines story on a platter, the beauty and tumult of the band is in the subtext. It’s in John Hassall and Gary Powell joining Barat and Doherty’s mythic duo on vocals for the first time on ‘Man With The Melody’. It’s in the closer, ‘Songs They Never Played On The Radio’, which was born in 2006 and finished for ‘All Quiet…’, one of the most beautiful Libertines songs of all time.

The album is Kelly Moran’s finest work to date and really shows why she is in a league of her own. She is moving in her own field.

Long in gestation, ‘Mother’ feels finessed, her technical skills as a producer aligned to a gut instinct for what works in a club environment. Deftly pieced together, this feels like one of 2024’s most assured and enjoyable electronic records.

Ride seem to be embrace and move past their illustrious past, resulting in one of the most finessed, intriguing albums of their career to date.

With ‘Evolution’ it feels like this has been an album she has been itching to make and she has done so with wisdom, purpose and candour. Truly compelling, her artistry and perspective will make us all open our eyes a little bit wider whilst continuing to hanker after the beautiful human experience.

It’s an accomplished record that leans into the familiar with flourishes of exciting new textures that make it a constantly engaging listen with plenty to unpack.

It’s evocative and like much of Empress Of’s entire discography, it’s a reconfiguration of laptop material and pop expectations. It subverts heartbreak, makes it sexy, and silhouettes a continuous desire to distort dancefloor traditions with experimental come-ons.

An endlessly engrossing record.

A stunning set of songs, this is an album that whispers its impact long after the last note has finished.