Pulse

Third and best from Paris-based Swedes

Bowie's 26th studio album is heavy in many ways

Featuring the first new material from former My Bloody Valentine fulcrum Kevin Shields in 12 years, this is a bit special. Air's soundtrack to Sofia Coppola's 1999 directorial debut The Virgin Suicides proved to be one of the most durable of recent years (and it's been simultaneously reissued by the same label), and this—for her new film—comfortably matches that for understated, dreamy grandeur.

Debut album from French graphic designer and film-maker

Ex-Barefoot Contessa's solo debut

Uncompromising tale of crime and punishment

Jason's Pierce's post-Spacemen 3 spacemen. Features early singles unavailable on albums

Format-busting electro jamboree spans 20 years of machine music

A sax supreme

Idiosyncratic Liverpudlian's third LP reveals pop direction