Richard Ashcroft review – uplifting epics and rocket-boosted confidence reminiscent of 90s Verve heyday

The perma-sunglassed singer tries to transport himself and the audience to a higher plane, culminating in a cathartic sing-along like a gigantic Last Night of the Proms

The Mountain Goats: Through This Fire Across from Peter Balkan review – shipwreck songs from a master storyteller

The latest themed album from John Darnielle’s band – with some help from Lin-Manuel Miranda – takes them on a sumptuously crafted and surprisingly upbeat voyage to a desert island

Paul Kelly: Seventy review – reflections on ageing from a musician bigger than ever

After five decades, the songs are still memorable, warm and a little sex-mad. It’s classic Kelly – and Joe’s back, too

Hatchie: Liquorice review – dizzying dreampop with welcome flashes of depravity

Eschewing the fairyfloss hooks of her earlier work, the Australian’s third album is both more mature and less immediately palatable

Radiohead review – bards of the apocalypse return for a brutal bacchanal

Powered by a pounding rhythm section, the crowd dance to even the tricksiest drum patterns at Radiohead’s first gig in seven years – one that demonstrates the pure joy this band can bring

Rosalía: Lux review – a demanding, distinctive clash of classical and chaos that couldn’t be by anyone else

The Catalan star’s monumental fourth LP features lyrics in 13 languages, references to female saints, the London Symphony Orchestra – and Björk on ‘divine intervention’

Snocaps: Snocaps review – Katie and Allison Crutchfield reunite with a little help from MJ Lenderman

Waxahatchee and her twin sister are joined by Lenderman and Brad Cook for an album of headstrong, tender Americana about chasing integrity and conviction

Florence + the Machine: Everybody Scream review – alt-rock survivor surveys her kingdom with swagger

On her self-deprecating, viscera-flecked sixth record, Florence Welch picks apart the compulsions and contradictions of fame

Anna von Hausswolff: Iconoclasts review – exhilarating, euphoric goth songcraft

The Swedish experimental musician pivots from drones to spectacular pop melodies, with guest spots from Iggy Pop and Ethel Cain

Sananda Maitreya review – the former Terence Trent D’Arby returns in astonishing vocal form

Pop’s lost prodigy returns for the first time in 23 years with a dazzling, genre-hopping show – and a falsetto that still floors the crowd

Jennifer Walton: Daughters review – a stylish and painful debut

Fiction, folk and a devastating diagnosis feature in the producer and DJ’s literary penmanship, her gentle, gothic vocals thick with morbid, magical thinking

Lily Allen: West End Girl – a gobsmacking autopsy of marital betrayal

Allen’s first album in seven years traces the fallout from an open relationship, but as well as being cathartic and candid, these stylistically varied songs have melodies that sparkle

Fridayz Live Sydney review – Mariah Carey is impeccable but Pitbull steals the show

Dual headliners capped a R&B festival with fever-dream energy, including self-help sermons and Pitbull cosplayers everywhere you looked

Tame Impala: Deadbeat review – ‘bush doof’ bangers can’t hide how downbeat Kevin Parker seems to be

The producer combines an uneasy marriage of four-four beats with catchy hooks and candid lyrics suggesting his rise to pop’s upper echelons may have come at a cost

The Last Dinner Party: From the Pyre review – baroque’n’roll band’s speedily released second album is overheated

The London five-piece throw the kitchen sink at these dizzyingly dense songs, often crushing their melodic pleasures in the process