Any decent music? We review the reviews. You get the final word

Courting  Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story

An album full of ideas and creativity adds its makers to Liverpool’s rich musical heritage musicOMH

Courting  Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story

The British guitar outfit’s third – another ambitious, alternative project – sandwiches classic indie-pop between gutsy art-rock experimentalism NME

Courting  Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story

Maybe if they gave themselves a bit longer before putting it out, they would have come up with the genre-smashing classic that is undoubtedly somewhere within them God Is In The TV

Courting  Lust for Life, Or: ‘How To Thread The Needle And Come Out The Other Side To Tell The Story

Indie, electronica, pop-rock, pop-punk – it doesn’t matter what you call it; ‘Lust for Life’ is Courting’s best album yet, and they’re only just getting started Dork

clipping.  Dead Channel Sky

‘Dead Channel Sky’ isn’t just pushing boundaries – it’s rewriting the entire operating system of what hip-hop can be Dork

clipping.  Dead Channel Sky

A masterful example of how the textural map of the digital past can easily be overlaid onto the present — and how that age's promise is being paid in full, or rather in empty, right now Exclaim

clipping.  Dead Channel Sky

It really is an epic masterpiece. DIY

Divorce  Drive To Goldenhammer

With a lot of bands, a debut can often feel like watching a weathervane settle in a direction; but with Divorce, it feels like they could go anywhere they want to go Sputnik Music (staff)

Hamilton Leithauser  This Side of the Island

This Side of the Island isn’t close to Leithauser’s best work with flaws that are hard to overlook—but not so hard that you can’t love the album for what it is Spectrum Culture

SASAMI  Blood On the Silver Screen

These 13 songs deal with the quintessential themes explored in pop—self-destruction, emotional insecurity, and hopeless romanticism, all under the great big banner of love Under The Radar

Lady Gaga  Mayhem

Lady Gaga’s Mayhem shines a glaring spotlight on a wildly creative artist who finds herself behind the times, following trends instead of setting them and seeming out of step PopMatters

Hamilton Leithauser  This Side of the Island

The Walkmen frontman’s third solo album is scattershot and charming, full of beachside vignettes about doomed lovers and aimless wanderers Pitchfork

Edwyn Collins  Nation Shall Speak Unto Nation

Instantly likeable songs that touch on communication issues, growing old and lessons of life, to be promoted by the Orange Juice lynchpin’s final UK tour musicOMH

Lady Gaga  Mayhem

MAYHEM is a little too slick at points, but it's hard to deny how happy Lady Gaga sounds A.V. Club

Ichiko Aoba  Luminescent Creatures

Ichiko Aoba reaches a natural artistic peak by exploring the sea’s depths, seeking glowing signs of universal life and creating her finest work yet Spectrum Culture