One of the best rock albums of the past twenty-five years.

Barnes seems to draw from a bottomless well of creativity, and is capable of the most sublimely unexpected melodic phrasing. At the same time, he can come off as a little too intellectual for his own good.

It shows off a fantastic songwriting talent, if not conveying the live magic.

British Sea Power are not only the best band around, they’re also the best songwriters.

There's such an embarrassment of riches in Lost and Safe.

An absolute beauty of an album.

These are essentially songs of innocence and experience tinctured by world-weariness simultaneously infused with an earnest lack of guile. A brief criticism would be: a little more sound and a little less fury, please Will.

Guero is a record with lots of great ideas and some very good songs... but I can't help thinking that there's just something missing from this release.

What makes M.I.A. so good is her simplicity. Not quite electro-clash, not quite hip-hop, not quite grime, she's a world onto herself with little more than a groovebox and her voice to sustain her.

Sensitive enough to charm you, yet with songs hard enough and strong enough to keep you from getting bored, Silent Alarm is already a strong contender for debut album of the year.

Their best full length yet.

Inexplicably, predictably, Daft Punk have become the first band to produce a retro post-parody of their own work.

Wind in the Wires is a beautifully executed album that has everything: pace, panache, and clean sentiment.

If you’ve enjoyed what you’ve heard before, you won’t be disappointed – all the darkness, grime and perversion is here or implied.... But if you’re looking for variation, innovation, or thematic depth, it’s unlikely you’ll find it here.

Dignity and Shame is just another day in the world-weary lovelorn characters that Bachmann has so vividly brought to life for the past five years with his Crooked Fingers entourage.

If you have everything by the Scottish gang of five, this is good excuse to remind yourself of their genius in different circumstances. If you are new to them, then it is a fine introduction to a band whose importance and integrity over the years is unquestionable.

This is the year’s first great summer album.

Intellectual without being snotty, encyclopaedic yet accessible, it takes the seemingly stalled electro model and kick-starts it into outer space.

Outside Closer weaves an oddly distinctive set of roundelays between the Air-like poppiness and cheery melancholia of the negatives and the Massive Attack jams with The Clash in Reykjavik melancholia of winter 72, concluding with two of the most depressing songs I’ve ever heard.

This will surely be counted as one of the most remarkable, individual, and adorable albums of the year.

Those in search of classic Barlow would do far better to dig out their battered old copies of Bakesale.

This is the best album of the year so far.

Stunningly good.

Like 2003’s Dead Cities, Red Seas & Lost Ghosts, Before the Dawn is commendable for its almost obsessive attention to detail that has produced a collection of gorgeously layered and dense songs without ever sounding laboured.

Granted, this is no masterpiece, but it’s quite good and very often it is even compelling.

Contains some of his most memorable moments to date.

A bold, brave, and beautiful record.

The reason The Futureheads is so good is because, quite simply, the music is simply stunning.