Sparks produced by Giorgio Moroder.

Do you realize how lucky we are to live in a world where that is a thing?

The lyrics are hit and miss, sure. Sometimes the banality of Gordon's descriptions of the 2020s zeitgeist works in combination with the immensely out-there music, sometimes it is a tad cringey. But sonically, oh boy, what a success. She could cite Seinfeld scripts over this and it would still sound terrifying.

This is my pick for the best cover song of all time. They took a somewhat naive, reluctant gay anthem and turned it into a euphorically sad elegy both on the victims of the AIDS epidemic and on the shattered gay utopia so many people had seen in the Village People's original.

The fact that this deeply emotional piece of and on gay subculture became so madly successful that it ended up as a football/soccer anthem is a triumph of irony the Boys couldn't have planned better themselves.

This is simultaneously one of the greatest synth pop and one of the greatest country records of all time. And if that isn't enough to tell you how brilliant it is: It also has gay vampires and a deep baritone voice singing the line "I'm not that kind of girl".

I know Shygirl loves teasing (ahem) but releasing a whole EP of tracks that feel like previews pushes the concept a bit far. This is very enjoyable but let down by the fact that it's too bare bones, with the exception of - fittingly enough - "thicc". I think my main problem is that there isn't really a point in producing club music that feels like 5 seconds in ecstasy time - even if they are great 5 seconds.

An ode to love by Warpaint. What's not to like?

The metal influences are more ill-conceived than the farting tbh. "Days Are Blood" is a chore to sit through. And it's almost eight minutes instead of just two.

That being said, this also has two of the greatest pop punk songs ever and a brilliant cover of a Beach Boys song so there is that.

Some of the sounds may feel dated but that doesn't change the fact that this is inventive and fun, or in other words: how electronic dance music should be.

They're trying so hard to come off as smart but that is a really hard task if you have nothing to say. It's like they made this album just to prove Jason Williamson right.

The first sentence of that Consequence of Sound review may be the saddest thing you will read on this site.

The main problem I have with Future Islands is that they are heralded as this synth pop revelation when they are actually an indie rock group playing synthesizers instead of guitars. That being said, they are a good indie rock group playing synthesizers instead of guitars, and once you have warmed to the vocals chances are you will realize that they are what makes this band special.

Better industry plant than The Strokes.

I love the concept and the songs are great as well. It's songs written by two angsty teenagers during the 1990s recorded by those same two teenagers two decades later when they had become successful pop stars. It's like they are communicating with their younger selves – who already had a talent for writing some serious killer hooks by the way.

I love how there's this polite French-speaking guy in the beginning explaining how there's gonna be a ska evening and then the band enters the stage and nonchalantly tears the place down. Great live LP with an incredible amount of energy.

The key track on this short LP teaches us to count to three but that isn't even remotely close to the number of times "Crosshairs" has melted my heart.

Doesn't feel like a singles collection (as one critic's review claims) but rather like a single because everything after the first track is so instantly forgettable.

I know some of the harmonies are pretty but let's face it: This is the sound of 1960s folk rock drained of everything that might have made it exciting or subversive once and at points the band seems to be as bored with that as I am.

My favorite collection of coming-of-age short stories.

Ballad bangers, the LP.

One of the traits of a well-written pop song is that it is imaginative yet you can't believe it hasn't existed before. This timelessness is central to the songs of the Tin Pan Alley era Laufey refers to so heavily in her work and if she didn't have it her revivalism would end up a clichéd shtick. Fortunately, she has it.