Album: Sonic Youth, The Eternal, (Matador)

You really have to hand it to Sonic Youth: album number 15, with the band's mainstays all in their fifties really is some time for a band to hit their peak.

But here they are on The Eternal, ripping their way through as thrilling a slice of life-affirming rock'n'roll as we are likely to hear all year. Dirty, sexy, discordant, arty, clever but catchy – this is, perhaps, the first Sonic Youth release that distils all of the band's strengths as the past and the present collide in a glorious cacophony of sonic thrills. Awesome.