The worst thing you can say about anything on this record is that they’re solidly crafted, faultless songs.

As a rule the lackadaisical New Order and the greatest hits-centric set they tour with aren’t the stuff of live album legend, and matters aren’t really helped by the fact large chunks of the set have been lopped out in order to make it into a single CD, with the likes of ‘Ceremony’ and ‘Crystal’ receiving the heave.

It’s little over 20 minutes long, and has incredibly sparse, softly organic arrangements, but Hard Rubbish succeeds in achieving a density which makes the LP feel twice its length, conveying the slowness of time spent in sorrowful solitude perfectly, and--most amazingly of all--succeeding in turning the absence of feeling into something intensely affecting.

In its totality, Back on the Planet works as a decent upgrade from Spacebase, despite its weird results.

The naysayers may have a point, this might not seem like an aural paradigm shift to some, but Paracosm is still a vital progression for Washed Out.

A band's influences should whisper in your ear, not smack you round the face. That's not to say that there isn't anything new or really of themselves in there, it just takes a little while to figure out what it is.

Ultimately though, what saves Big TV from mediocrity isn’t its ambition, but its hooks.

What makes the record a success is the way Pinkunoizu harness their varied ideas and refine them into something accessible and engaging.

‘Ratchet’ sets a fairly hedonistic tone, only for things to immediately lock down.... It all makes for an intriguing opening, two sides of Bloc Party on display in addition to their strengths and weaknesses. How curious, then, that the Nextwave Sessions immediately switches the focus to that Sessions bit, ushering in a strangely repetitive run of glorified demos.

This is the exquisite album we were promised, and perhaps an important one.

To The Happy Few is precise and calculated. It lacks the irrationality and selfishness that gives a record its soul.

Moore is a collage artist of the highest, silliest, most joyful degree--and as he pulls together strands of strange, whisps of weird, odours of otherness you’ll be compelled to dig, dig deeper into the man’s psyche and back catalogue. And be rightly, wrongly rewarded.

The music wisely remains sombre; eschewing the cheesy crescendo you kinda fear is coming at the chorus only for it to stick to gloom as the vocals reach to be optimistic.

On record Yes, It's True feels insubstantial, which is disappointing because when they don't go overboard they can still craft interesting music.

The album's brevity is its strength here: much longer, and you risk burning out or blunting the intensity of the riffage. Any shorter, and it risks leaving you unsated. As it is, The Blind Hole is just right.

A great example of someone following their musical instincts into new areas and finding success, Bloodlines is also a highlight of the year so far.

As with many dance LPs, Swisher is slightly on the long side--65 minutes is more than enough time to get your groove on. But the album never ends up sounding repetitive, the emotions behind the beats don’t allow it to.

With the likes of 'European Super State' and 'In Cythera' emitting a clubbier vibe amidst their industrialized beats to bring The Singles Collection... up to the present, it serves as a timely reminder why Killing Joke continue to be held in such high esteem.

As it meanders towards its conclusion, the LP melds into a uniform mesh of pleasantly forgettable ditties.

More considered than the debut, more quietly patient and yet somehow more addictive.

This is a limping, bloodless version of The Civil Wars, and if the band is to have a future they need to fix their issues, or else learn to channel the damage better.

None of this is original, nor particularly appealing for anybody disinterested in a by-gone era of music production--still it's enjoyable on a level that no amount of cerebral analysis will ruin.

Sleep Of Reason is darker, deeper and more daring than either Coexist or Overgrown and more emotional and soulful than The xx or James Blake. Ninja Tune won't release a better record this year.

It probably is all going to sound a little more raucous and electrifying in the flesh, but this will definitely keep you sated in between those doses delivered in person.

What’s not so easy however is appraising something so overwhelmingly awful and so lacking in merit as BE without sounding like one of the smug, condescending middle class intelligentsia.

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

As such, this is largely Southern Rock-lite: it is not brash or brazen--it is uninteresting and tedious.

Patricia Hall and Ian Hicks have found the perfect balance between the moody and the danceable, making the whole home clubbing experience all the more realistic.