It ["Too Many Rivals"] is one of the most beautiful and upsetting moments of an album filled with beautiful and upsetting moments.

Compared to the low-key and at times melancholic Nocturne, Life Of Pause is a rich and expansive step up that balances the old and the new perfectly to create Wild Nothing’s best album yet.

A good first try for an album, but it's just not quite there yet.

It's an LP wrought for enjoyment, and whichever peers it name-checks, whichever influences it acknowledges, it meets its remit with flair.

There’s the requisite lack of variety that ambient records beget, but no lack of depth in the sonic department.

The band’s second coming arrives with some added grit, mostly to the guitar and bass sounds, with more distortion in evidence than previously, even if it stops well short of out and out rock. Present once again are their appealing syncopated rhythms and riffs, above which the slight husk of Jack Steadman’s lead vocal offers shots of warmth and positivity.

The record dazzles with its detail, beguiles with its lyrical performances and leaves a lasting impression with powerful songwriting.

These songs, penned by such as Ennio Morricone, Mina and Fred Bongusto, have been treated with the utmost respect. Patton has ensured that they are as authentic as possible by employing a 15-strong band together with a 40-piece orchestra.

A beautiful, dramatic, idiosyncratic album from a beautiful, dramatic, idiosyncratic band.

Minor missteps aside, Further Complications is a bold, progressive step forward in the so far, so very good solo career of Jarvis Cocker.

Yet for all the individual moments of sleek electronic beauty, Goddess as a whole often sounds frustratingly unconvincing and almost fragmented in its production.

Valtari is a complex album and time is required for these songs to become truly effective. Once their beauty becomes apparent however, it becomes clear that Valtari is up there with Sigur Rós' best work.

There’s a fresh energy and swagger about the Jarmans now, helped in no small way by producer Ric Ocasek.

Admittedly, this is pretty much Bruce does karaoke, but when it’s done this well and with so much obvious love for the source material, it’s irresistible. Volume 2 can’t come quickly enough.

This is one of the most exciting debut albums for sometime.

It’s encouraging to find Kid Koala beginning to push the envelope and explore new territory, and these transmissions from the satellite heart are a fine starting point for future adventures.

Ultimately, this album will draw the attention of McCartney fans and of the artists involved, and will remain a curio for the rest. Yet it’s good to see rock’s ultimate ‘Elder Statesman’ reaching out to a younger generation and trusting them with his material. Not all of McCartney III Imagined works, but when it does it sounds genuinely exciting.

It’s a poised, carefully executed balance that captures Ikonika in an intriguing period of transition.

Stephen Malkmus’s career post Pavement has largely been hit or miss, but on Wig Out At Jagbags the hit quota is as high as it has ever been. This is the album that any Malkmus aficionado would hope for.

Much of the experimentation is on the surface, and there does not seem to be a great deal of further depth or sophistication. Often, it is all too bright and too relentlessly ecstatic to feel truly meaningful or substantial.

It’s that smoothing of Ditto’s edges that prevents Fake Sugar from moving from a good, perfectly serviceable pop album to something truly great.

Cookies is a fairly typical debut album, in that it sees a band define their style and stick to it. No doubt in time they'll develop their sound, but in the meantime if you're after a good soundtrack to a party grab this album, kick off your shoes and get your rocks off.

All You Need Is Now is unlikely to win over any new fans, but it might reignite or validate forgotten guilty pleasures and, for Duranies, it's an album to sit alongside its older relatives with pride.

It turns out to be much more than just the sum of its influences. It's evocative when it could just be shamelessly retro.

Nobody Knows should be the start of a brilliant career, not the conclusion of a merely promising one.

Ultimately, Vestiges & Claws is a solid return from González.... Though, as without a distinctive cover, his comforting, low-key style can at times become repetitive and forgettable.

Selling is an inspired project, and On Reflection utilises the best of both artists to produce a project that is fascinating, pretty and groovy all at once: required listening for fans of electronic music.

Luminous, all told, is a sure-fire summer soundtrack from a band who are far more cerebral than they’d have you believe.