Moody, atmospheric but actually pretty accessible as far as Tim Hecker records go. This is Hecker's first album for 4AD, a label that seems well suited for this particular release. The music is icy and laced with tonnes of synth resulting in not just droning soundscapes, but also neat little isolated melodies.

The gist Sprawling synth drenched schizo pop from recent press provocateur. The music Following the relatively disappointing Mature Themes, Mr Pink returns with a double set encompassing genres of varying merit including goth (the pastiche of “Not Enough Violence”, the self-explanatory “Goth Bomb”), funk (the lo-fi “Black Ballerina”) and oft-descents into sheer silliness (“Dinosaur Carebears” anyone?).

The gist Ever wondered what an avant-metal band fronted by Scott Walker would sound like? Wonder no more... The music Originally asked to guest on 2009’s Monoliths & Dimensions by the avant-garde/doom/drone/metal (delete where appropriate) concern Sunn O))), the ever adventurous Walker decided instead to collaborate on a full album of which Soused is the result.

The gist Woman-machine Meryll Garbus' knocks out some more DIY treats The music It seems like ages since the wonderful Whokill came out (it was in fact 3 years ago) so what's changed in the crazy world of Tune-yards? Well, all of their trademark positivity and playfulness is here in droves - Nikki Nack opens with a jingle that sounds like the start of a NES adventure - but it takes Garbus' DIY ethic to new, more accomplished heights. The keyboards and beats are cleaner and more precise making for a more danceable record, and one which distances itself from what came before.

Piramida is the fourth studio album by Copenhagen’s Efterklang and continues along similar lines to those explored in their previous releases, Tripper, Parades and Magic Chairs – a combination really of the haunting, icy, sparseness and mechanics of Tripper with a little of Magic Chairs friendlier, warmer outlook added in. It’s a beautiful album, at times glacial, at others ethereal, maybe even celestial.

LA-based oddball (which is seemingly necessary to say in every review of him) Ariel Pink’s latest Mature Themes sees it opening with the playful, cheesy organ-led “Kinski Assassin”, a highly arch opener oddly reminiscent of the Divine Comedy (the Neil Hannon fronted band, not Dante’s epic poem) and sets the tone for the rest of the album with its references to “Blow jobs of death” and all. Sharing an almost psychotically obsessed preoccupation with sex like its namesake Klaus Kinski, its jaunty tune masks a grubby underbelly which is prevalent throughout the album.

2010 has seen a continuation of bands emulating specific genres of 1980s music, most notably perhaps in the Gothic and Shoegaze inspired acts such as A Sunny Day In Glasgow and Warpaint and the ever-present mass of New Wave (or New New Wave). This album on the other hand, brings something new to the table...an accurate recreation of yet another genre; that slightly unfashionable late-80s crisply produced pop.

With a debut album which would be the envy of most artists, Badly Drawn Boy has never really lived up to his early promise. However, a raft of quality singles have helped keep the machine ticking along and the media are billing this record as something of a comeback. Whilst a "comeback" might seem quite a harsh description for an artist who has consistently release new material over the past ten years (including last years shockingly overlooked soundtrack Is There Nothing We Could Do?) the album does feel like a fresh start.