This is Squarepusher with the best equipment money can buy, pumping his tracks mercilessly until they're all surface and no substance.

Unfortunately, whichever way you try and dress it up, frippery and kitsch alone isn’t enough to carry this album.

Transistor Rhythm is a well-made but forgettable album by someone who, given past form, I'd expected more from.

An incredibly interesting debut album that's nearly as clever as its creators intended.

Rich Forever is a supremely confident mixtape, which is probably why it is extremely entertaining in small chunks, but can be witheringly boring listened to in its entirety.

In patten’s world the fizz of intellect is an end in itself, rather than a means to some sort of insight. Which is enjoyable in moderation, but mostly just frustrating.

As a pop-object, Interiors is far more convincing than its predecessor; as a musical experience it is still, regrettably, thin.

Leila's awkwardness doesn't pay off here: this time round, it's almost like a disguise for lack of inspiration rather than greater depths.

The Pinkprint is ultimately Nicki’s most cohesive project.

More of a step sideways, then, but one which keeps us very much interested in what comes next.

Black Bananas manage that ridiculously difficult feat of changing your sound up pretty massively without the whole thing feeling like a jarring shift in aesthetic.

Nguzunguzu have always had something that stood them apart from imitators, but with Warm Pulse they are coming into their own as a reference in their own right.

With Wolf, Tyler, the Creator is exciting again: maybe not as the ringleader of the Odd Future empire, but as a producer who just turned 22.

Acousmatic Sorcery's imperfections are unapologetic and unconcerned, largely stamping all over any chances of bringing the overall experience down.

Varying in density, direction and style, albeit with some less consistent territory, it’s a modest but powerful score, even when independent from its original setting.

Bundick never quite detaches from the sound here, and if he languishes there any longer he’s liable to go down with the ship.

The combination of pop and EDM is nothing new, but rarely has it felt quite so enjoyable as it does here.

Pretty Ugly is occasionally tender, sometimes facetious; thrillingly mechanical, let down by human voices; frequently adventurous, often injudicious.

Alicia Keys is a singer-songwriter in the purest sense, and Girl On Fire is at its best when Keys (and her collaborators) remember that.

MU.ZZ.LE isn't the perfect album either, but it is another bizarre step in the unfolding vision of a very unique voice, a tantalizing and far too brief hint at something magnificent to come.

Raw Solutions is spirited, fiercely effective club music with nothing to hide.

Witchhouse appears unable to develop far beyond its basic origins, but Dexter instead hones, and in the process has produced something of a genre zenith--making slow-moving, essentially eventless music persistently compelling. No mean feat.

The Narcissist II is so compelling because it is conceptually so much more rigorous and consistent, so much richer with internal resonances than its duo-created cousins.

News From Nowhere marks a far more dramatic turn for them than North did in 2010.

It’s solid, proficient, fun--not quite transcendent, but, the sort of left turn that feels natural and uncontrived.

As an artistic step forward, Les Sins certainly registers.

Krell’s most complete album to date: not because it exactly answers the question of where his position is in relation to pop--nor the question of the title, nor any questions at all--but because it perfectly captures that oscillation that has always been at the centre of his work.

Untogether is a well executed record, but not a stunning one.