Neon Icon is either the greatest social commentary on 21st century music, a moderately funny joke or a terrible hip-hop album. It is this conundrum which makes it such an endearing listen and one of this year's must hear albums.

Great art takes pain and turns it into something that can help us heal. Vulnicura does exactly that.

You don't have to be a strict devotee of the R&B underground genre to realise that this is a great album. The sound is her own, and she's capable of making an album work as an album rather than just a collection of songs.

As a project that's substantially left-field in good kid m.A.A.d city's wake, To Pimp A Butterfly will almost inevitably receive more acclaim from critics than fans. Kendrick clearly wasn't focused on retaining the considerably large audience he attracted with its predecessor, and the album's stronger for that. Proving that he'll keep us guessing for years to come, Kendrick has truly solidified his place in rap history with this album.

Carpenter here brings together the themes from 13 of his movies to remind us exactly how pervasive is his influence on modern culture.

It’s still a functionally and otherwise dazzling work, one that sits nicely among the band's compositions.

This is a lush, intellectual and brilliant collection, constantly teeming with sounds, innovations and ideas.

By turns distant and unknowable, fleeting and eerie, and even serenely gorgeous, Apollo found Eno continuing to toy with, and reach for the edges of, a sound he himself perfected. ... The album stands out of time, never ageing, forever seeming to beam in from a future just out of reach. Much like the event it memorializes, forever there may it stay.

Hadreas let a little light in, upped the production values and expanded his sonic repertoire, creating a near-masterpiece of hair-raising emotional evocation.

50 Song Memoir is as much the story of Stephin Merritt’s life as it is a love letter to song. It is a certifiable masterpiece and one that music lovers ‘round the world will not soon forget.

This is Kendrick Lamar playing the game, and making everything else look dangerously irrelevant while he's at it. Be afraid.

We've had countless albums predicating calls for mobilisation before, and they're generally provocative and valued but ultimately specious, but on RTJ3 there's a visceral directness that cuts to the aorta.

On The Dusk In Us, we have a handful of tracks that see Converge pushing at the boundaries of their sound, even escaping it entirely. This leads to some of the most accessible, catchy, and (uncoincidentally) most emotionally resonant work of their careers.

The sum of its parts adds up to Bon Iver’s most challenging work to date; 22, A Million is an album that rejects comfort and expectations in favor of provoking listeners to make new discoveries. If this challenge is taken, it is a rewarding experience that only grows in beauty with each listen.

They can sneak serious explorations of mental health, of the rise of ISIS, of the political machinations that erode the human connections between us, past their listeners because they have wrapped these high-minded concerns up in a package of eminently re-listenable, deliriously creative pop tunes.

Carrie & Lowell is just the latest in a long line of unimpeachable achievements.

With this album, The World is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid To Die has stepped up to the challenge of their name (as well as their previous lyrics riffing off the name), and show that they are willing to fight to make it a reality. While this battle may be a substantially uphill one, Always Foreign stands as an impeccable call to arms.

On their past albums Wild Beasts have shown us their savage and raw sides, which have been gloriously charming and exciting, but by opening up on Present Tense and revealing their true hearts, their music has ascended to new heights.

This record is a wholly singular work; not only does it defy expectations of what a Flying Lotus album should sound like, it totally obliterates any preconceptions about what can be released by a remotely popular contemporary musician.

Never does this album sound more genuine than when it's low-key, because it's then that Clipping. foregoes the satire--the very lifeblood that runs through CLPPNG's veins.

All Love's Legal is the kind of record that reaffirms your faith in the power of music.

Whether it be pushing past the anxieties of sitting still with no particular sense of home, both in a figurative and literal sense, or even the bittersweet memories of failed relationships, Peck’s desires are timeless and unveiled for all to cherish and cry to.

Aromanticism is an album that is heartfelt and heartbreaking, and, from the opening chorals to the closing moments of ‘Self Help Tape’, is an album like no other.

On Devotion, she cordons off her own corner of modern Rn’B with a statement destined to become a genre staple.

Moves the bar considerably higher from their brilliant debut album of 2017 Come Play the Trees.

This album is contemplative and, maybe more important than anything else, stirs you delve into your own mind and those demons we all have.

Burn Your Fire, through increased complexity of instrumentation, creates a new dynamic--the vocal is more understated and reserved, less elusive and divergent --it's autonomy partially tethered by the whole ensembles balanced interrelation.

Preoccupations is a tough, black and resilient modern rock album.