Trimmed of a couple of tracks and with more than a single change of pace offered, the record could have been an excellent one. As it is, Velocifero stands as a fine piece of work that proves there’s a lot of life left in these synthetic machines.

While there's plenty to admire from a distance here, those who get in close will find little to cling onto.

As a a slice of accomplished, sophisticated urban pop you'll find none finer this summer.

The third album by Glasgow’s Chvrches, Love is Dead, is the sound of your heart as it falls back in love.

[The title track] may not be very Bonobo, but it is very beautiful, and--like much else on his latest long play--begs to be listened to.

Sounding big may be a pretty good way to get a support slot with the biggest bands in the country and, in time, the world, but after a point you need more to say.

Nonetheless, if you sense that Preoccupations have yet to nail a defining sound, then it’s part of their appeal that they may in fact never be defined by a sound. New Material hits the spot more often than not.

Harvey Milk has been referred to as The Bob Weston Sessions for some time; the remaster given to its ten songs serves to emphasise, rather than undermine, Weston’s keen ear for the dramatically heavy.

For once, he can consider the game well and truly played.

Born in the Echoes isn’t the sound of stagnation, nor the grim realisation of irrelevance, and there are numerous flourishes that can only come from a knowing skill set, but in the end, it’s only just good enough.

While perhaps not as immediate or instantly accessible as Eagulls, it represents a marked progression for a band seemingly intent on developing themselves at every possible juncture.

This is an agreeable record, but it comes from a man who we know is capable of something sublime.

Part pep rally, part school-time innocence, In Case We Die is nothing if not full of life and enthusiasm.

The current trend of Nineties-leaning music shows little signs of abating, and Heydays is yet another gloriously messy, scratchy string to its bow.

With 2019 fresh upon us, hopefully the splendour of Outer Peace is an eclectic foreshadowing of a thrilling year in music.

Highway Songs feels both like an underwhelming experiment with moments of greatness, as well as a highly personal piece which is almost impossible to penetrate.

It’s not often that a side-project produces an album that deserves anything more than a footnote mention. Loose Fur deserves its own cult.

Over 13 tracks Transcontinental Hustle casts its spells, a record that fairly howls at the moon.

Hitch is a startling achievement of creativity. It doesn’t reinvent The Joy Formidable wheel but it refines everything they’ve done until this point and presents their most complete package yet.

Hearing rappers coming from this musical sphere is a refreshing novelty however, and the record is definitely one of the most interesting, if not exceptional things to emerge this year.

Its quickness to reach the climax leaves it a bit devoid of resolutions and making it feel like a bit of an empty statement. It's a shame because, Love is Love, for what it is, is such a well-composed album, that it feels like it's close to being a band-defining statement given its all too real context in which it exists.

At times Kidsticks feels a little uneven. Tempos and timbres shift regularly, never allowing the listener to truly settle into one mode, or gain a true sense of what is the coherent sonic voice at the heart of the album. That is, apart from Orton's voice itself, which has never sounded better or more in control.

If any criticism is to be levelled here, it would be that the album could so easily have been a double-disc effort, but this is a minor gripe on an otherwise flawless live document of a band striving for--and arguably achieving--greatness.

Some of the radio-friendly oompa of ‘The Last Broadcast’ has been cut back, and the new record bears more resemblance to their debut ‘Lost Souls’ in its ashen-faced detachment and bloodied-yet-unbowed pride.

It’s full of the minute anxieties of life that keep you awake in the early hours, but set to some of the most life-affirming sounds you’ll have heard for a long time.

It’s this seamless motion and playful interplay that makes Polar Bear such a thrill; they seem to know exactly what to do and when – when to surprise, when to comfort, when to excite, when to calm.

This is a surprisingly engaging record that highlights Ian Brown as an underrated songwriter and arranger, and underscores the point that while his enthusiasm for creativity is as infectious as ever, Spike Island and its ilk are unlikely to be revisited in the forseeable future.

New Clouds is as good a record as any to soundtrack disconnection from deep thought.