There’s nothing essentially wrong with Evolution, but it just sounds like it’s mostly been written on auto-pilot. It’s always nice to have a musician of Crow’s calibre still active, but Evolution feels more like an inessential addition to her canon, rather than the glorious comeback it was no doubt intended to be.

As the mainstream of club music continues to seek out bigger and more energetic sounds, Logic1000’s relatively mellow approach is intriguing, and Mother certainly shows potential – it just needs some fine-tuning to become the full package.

It’s a remarkable, joyous and life-affirming record, a testament to remaining musically open-minded and progressive, and very much confirms O’Hagan’s under-appreciated genius.

An album which sounds like the beginning of a new chapter for the duo.

Big Anonymous is a deliberately paced album that some may find a bit too bleak to visit often. It’s beautifully crafted, as you’d expect from Sarah Assbring, but at times that darkness can become a bit all-consuming. If you’re in the right frame of mind though, El Perro Del Mar’s world is one that’s well worth stepping into.

It’s certainly a confident step-up from Garageband Superstar and if more of Hibberd’s musical personality is allowed to shine through next time around, she could produce an even better album.

It’s their best album in years – maybe since The Seldom Seen Kid – and one of those records that will throw up new little surprises on each listen many months from now. Not only one of our most consistent bands, but also one of our most surprising – the national treasure status is well earned.

Tiger Blood is the sound of an artist improving on her already high standards.

Bright Future consolidates the view that Lenker is now one of the most distinctive and powerful voices of her generation and these new songs will only deepen the intensity with which her music is received.

By the time we reach closing track Who Brings Me the journey through the cloudscape is complete, sealing an experience that is equal parts head and heart music. It’s an absorbing, cohesive listen that casts fresh light on familiar structures and melds them into new and appealing shapes.

The album does seem to tail off a bit towards the end – as nice as Light It Up and Tough are, they both seem disappointingly sedate ways to bring the album to a close compared to the succession of instantly engaging anthems that preceded them. Other than that, though, there’s enough evidence on Real Love that the fire that inspired Gossip is still burning as bright as ever.

Songdreaming is a big musical event. It is a great place to start if you are less familiar with folk music, opening its arms to ambient and electronic influences while simultaneously celebrating traditional instruments and old melodic forms. It is also a great place to visit if you’ve lived with these forms of music for decades.

While it inevitably doesn’t have the shattering impact of Psychocandy, it does confirm their unlikely status as elder statesmen that a whole new generation can look up to.

While there are no big surprises on Rockmaker, most of the tracks on the album are as instantly addictive as in their heyday.

Deeper Well is an album to wallow in, one for those rainy days inside where you just want to sit and find comfort in music. For anybody undergoing some large life changes, this is an album that will be able to gently guide you through those times.

It’s another long album – if there’s one conclusion to be drawn from this record, it’s that Justin Timberlake desperately needs an editor – but it’s a return to the slinky RnB pop that made his name. The problem is that there’s not much of the sparkle that was evident about 20 years ago.

eternal sunshine also represents a triumphant return to form, sophisticated pop music complementing her distinctive voice beautifully.

While it doesn’t quite have the instantly addictive quality that Pupul’s work with Charlotte Adigéry does, this is still a rich, multi-layered work that serves as both a fine tribute to Pupul’s mother and a compelling journey of grief, loss and the effects of ancestry.

It’s a brilliant record, even without the weight of history behind it, and a classic, true heavy metal album from the same band that practically invented much of the genre. Essential for fans of any of the forms of metal. Obviously.

This is an astonishing album.

If Antonoff can add more of his own personality into songs as beautifully crafted and well produced as these, they could unleash something special.

Sadly, too much of the Easy Eighth Album sounds a bit hollow and empty, the sound of a band wanting to move on, but without the energy to properly capture the old glory days.

This is thrillingly visceral music that could bring Mannequin Pussy ever closer to crossover success.

This is an adrenaline rush of an album, an electric shock in a world of flabby gas. Proof, if any were needed, that it’s possible to reinvent the wheel if you’re committed enough to the spin.

It’s another intriguing step in the evolution of Everything Everything – it ultimately doesn’t matter whether you buy into the overarching concept of the record when the songs are as good as they are on Mountainhead.

The more that you listen to this album, the more affecting it becomes.

On this one, they’ve become a great band. It’s harder to take them seriously here, but perhaps that’s something they’ve never wanted. They’re more than content with being the class clowns, and we’re more than happy to have them.

The main problem with Gallagher-Squire is that it all sounds a bit lazy and predictable. You get the impression that they know this too.