Like a good new party drug, Lesser Evil finds a sweet spot more often than not if you let it.

Where the songs are slow, the fruity Bontempi keyboards are gruelling and the singing comes on like Jimmy Somerville weeping over a dead pet in a marbled mausoleum. But get past the Bronski Beat animal trauma vibes and Savage's other life is rich and full.

Cold Spring Fault Less Youth is not entirely faultless, then--but it comes close.

Once I Was An Eagle sets a high bar.

Whether she's actually poverty-stricken or just pretending, the 29-year-old has put together a set of songs so delicate it has all the impact of a flutter of nymph wings.

It’s a well-crafted debut from a worthy new artist, but it’s competent rather than compelling.

Bye Bye 17 ditches raunch and irony for old-fashioned songwriting and something approaching sincerity, and the results are kind of amazing.

While it's interesting to hear Grace pour his heart out on 'All Of The Future (All Of The Past)' in a pained fashion, it makes for a record that doesn't really demand repeated listens.

Majical Cloudz may be dark, but there's light poking through.

This album compares favourably to Smog, or PJ Harvey at her most skeletal--not least in the confessional lyrical sexuality.

There are magic moments, but the overall effect might make you drift off rather than have you on the edge of your seat.

They have pulled off another album for the modern age, and its stories live in all of us.

By assembling a cast of their favourite musicians and delving into their adolescent memories, Daft Punk have created something as emotionally honest as any singer-songwriter confessional--and a lot more fun to dance to.

Pure melodic thrills for a while, but those with low twee tolerance should steer clear.

It’ll be under your skin in no time.

Otherworldly pop that’s sweetly gripping.

Not since The Cure’s ‘Faith’ has a group pulled off such a feat of heavy, heady melancholy.

With every step this challenging record shows how grime can respond to and inform other genres while always remaining a force unto itself.

Ultimately the one thing truly lacking on Dungeonesse is the bright spark that makes pop stars so entertaining to obsess over.

Far from being terrifying, it sounds like Smith is actually having fun.

This is a gorgeous album, but sacrifices had to be made. They’ve undeniably lost something that made them special in the first place.

A strange record, but an intriguing planet to get sucked into.

With the core ‘XTRMNTR’ team--the Scream, Shields, producer David Holmes--More Light, the Scream’s 10th album and first in five years, lives up to its bilious billing.

The album could do with being at least half of its 70 minutes, to cut out the self-indulgent meandering.

Album two features some catchy and classy electronic dance music.... Unfortunately though, ‘Broken Record’ sounds like a Eurovision-endorsed soundtrack to Cassack dancing and ‘Satellites’ is a limp version of Madonna’s ‘Ray Of Light.’

As with some modern art, you may find Silence Yourself leaves you whispering, “I appreciated it, but I didn’t love it.”

This time around Tessa Murray and Greg Hughes give the same tricks a more professional finish.

The Child Of Lov may have started off as a shadowy enigma, but now is when Cole Williams lays his cards on the table. Turns out he was hiding a royal flush.