As far as compilations and rarities sets go, this is no cynical cash-in, but neither is it absolutely essential, even for fans of the band. There’s a lot of cool material here that is definitely worth exploring, but nothing that will demand a second listen for anyone other than the most hardcore of fans.

Given the number and variety of artists appearing on EGOLI it could have been easy for it to feel uneven, but it flows brilliantly and should be hailed as a significant achievement.

This is a tremendous album that provides a new favourite each time you listen.

The rousing music shows The Black Keys have plenty of rock’n’roll fire left in their bellies. ‘Let’s Rock’ certainly proves the electricity’s still there.

There are far more high points than low, all of which indicates that Pixx’s third album could well be something very special.

Leading The Raconteurs, the restlessly inventive maverick White and the sunnier, more straightforward tunesmith Benson really do complement each other well, mixing thrilling aggression with focused sweetness. White may have a much higher profile, but Benson brings a positive, restraining influence to some of his partner’s self-indulgent tendencies.

Mostly this is just a bit Bastille by numbers. If you’re looking for a photocopy of their previous albums, faded and off-colour, Doom Days will satisfy.

It’s an intriguing album with few dips (only Kanye’s verse on Puppet sounds rather phoned in and lacklustre), and it adds up to Tyler, The Creator’s best work to date. He may not be threatening Western civilization anymore, but he is creating something far more interesting.

Most of these tracks would probably count as mid-tempo throbbers, and this aesthetic cloys a bit by the end of the record. In the same interview he also joked that this release exists because he “owes the label an album”, and this is evident in the filler that pads out an EP’s worth of good tracks.

Another six-minute effort closes the album, Ducter, and like all the album’s best tracks it manages to navigate all the band’s best checkpoints of note, showcasing those spellbinding vocals and extraordinary percussion as they tread a truly staggering path. Schlagenheim will open up a whole new bottle of weird, if you let it in. It’s Troutmask Replica for a new generation, or perhaps it’s Can attempting to recreate the madness that Captain Beefheart’s enigmatic classic contained.

Whilst Psychedelic Porn Crumpets remain an attractive proposition, this outing would perhaps suggest that they’re starting to cool off a little after the hot, toasting stage they enjoyed with their first two releases.

A Bath Full Of Ecstasy might be a somewhat eccentric name, but it ultimately does sum the album up rather well (assuming it means the abstract emotion rather than literal pills stacked up in a bathtub): a lush, adventurous experience, immersive and refreshing.

More restless than Solan Goose, Sule Skerry is always on the move, constantly changing but all the more exciting and compelling for it.

There could be an argument that a couple of edits to make the track listing shorter would have resulted in an even more effective album. However, this is easily one of the best pop albums of the year as it is: one that’s unlikely to be bettered unless a certain Ms Swift really pulls it out of the bag.

At over an hour long, this isn’t an album to dip in and out of--it’s that rare album that you have to commit to, and let it wash over you.

Western Stars is, annoyingly, another fantastic album to add to your rotation. But then it is a Bruce Springsteen album. Of course it’s superb.

This new, untitled beast is another step to Rammstein finally being acknowledged as being the best heavy metal band in the world, and one of the best hard rock acts of all time.

Overall The Book Of Traps And Lessons is best with a healthy dose of thoughtfulness and nuance, and while it falters on the occasions when these are disregarded, this album is another example of why Tempest’s spoken-word works now routinely amplify well beyond her poetic beginnings.

Bold, bizarre, brazen and beguiling, Madame X is Madonna living her Latin American Life. Brilliant.

Fans of either Calexico or Iron And Wine should be pleased with this full-length collaboration, which feels very much like a joining of two halves to make a larger, rather special whole.

The songs effortlessly speak to all classes, to all walks of life, from a songwriter who never sings down to his audience. As always, Richard Hawley is one of us.

It is pop music for the future – unpredictable, forceful, winsome and primal in equal measure. As long as Aurora is allowed to keep her eyes wide open, the sky really is the limit for this powerful creative force.

Renegade is lots of fun, even if it’sa few tracks short of its true potential.

Office Politics is, as with most Divine Comedy releases, a record with its finger firmly on the pulse of this zeitgeist.

While the aesthetic of Lust For Youth’s music may be dated on a surface level, good pop songcraft tends to become timeless once people have got used to it. And this self-titled album of theirs is full of this, tunes that work their way into the listener’s head and successfully strike a balance of being nostalgic without being derivative.

Plaid’s contemporaries from the early ’90s are in very different places now, with Aphex Twin incorporating styles footwork in his new releases and Autechre progressing further and further into uncharted terrain. This album, however, is from a duo mostly content to amble down memory lane.

An artist at the top of his game, with the newfound artistic freedom that Konnichiwa granted him but the energy of still having something to prove. It also confirms the 2010s grime revival as being more than a passing trend, and on this basis it’s stronger than ever.

This is a very carefully thought out new page to Hayden Thorpe’s career, yet the page has freshly written calligraphy on it. There is much to admire and much to relate to, in what is surely just the start of this particular Wild Beast’s solo migration.