On his 11th album, that gloss is pared down, revealing just how well-crafted and intricate Bejar’s songs have become.

The whole is a little too tethered to the (partially incomprehensible) songs to drift off effectively, and is too morose to uplift, yet The Telescopes continue to own a certain core sensibility--and the capacity to surprise with how they express it.

You’d be hard pushed to find a more beguiling soundtrack for late summer evenings.

At the very heart of Elitism…, however, are The Modern Dance and Dub Housing: the two extraordinary slabs of wax upon which Ubu’s reputation largely rests. The result of a brief liaison with major label Chrysalis, Dub Housing arguably enjoys the better production, but it’s on The Modern Dance that Ubu thrillingly realised their self-styled avant-garage sound.

Despite scoring plenty of high moments, there is a sameness to this collection, which can become trying on repeat listens.

It’s a fabulous voyage that delights at every unexpected turn.

It’s an absorbing, plaintive record that gets under your skin.

Despite being classed as a mini-album running to eight tracks, this is DeMarco’s most fulfilling and cohesive release to date.

What’s significant about this box set is that it illustrates the major phases of Miles’ career in a live context, charting his journey from hard bop--via modal jazz and free bop--to jazz-rock and avant-funk.

Musically, the Virginians deliver a thrash/groove metal brew broadly similar to that of their previous albums, but that’s not to say there isn’t a wide range of textures, from all-out blasts to subtle acoustic tones.

Dalton gets her dues and other voices gain welcome exposure.

How Far Will You Go? is generally closer to The Rocky Horror Picture Show... and is accordingly tremendous fun.

They’re a classic singles band, but Jason Williamson’s pit of needle-sharp, evocative lyrics seems bottomless, so here comes another meaty full-length selection.

Some of the material threatens to drown in a mire of painfully bland songwriting and sleepwalking guest appearances.

Radial, a 17-minute symphony in three parts: first, a foreboding, dark-tinged awakening, replete with nonhuman sounds in the vocal register; after six minutes the band comes in with another trademark minor-key song; then a final, tense, otherworldly coda hinting at stranger worlds to come.

On paper, such an ambitious sonic reinvention could easily be dismissed as an overblown conceit, yet in reality this new Classic Quadrophenia soars.

What could have been an embarrassment is a quiet triumph.

A welcome return to form.

Despite the great weight of hype, Tame Impala have evolved into a satisfyingly altered form, both alien and humming.

With nary a filler in sight, it’s an exquisite, richly evocative listen infused with the very smoke and steamy atmosphere of its natural nightclub habitat.

Though clearly indebted to Joy Division and Metal Box-era PiL, the band’s two official 45s, Final Achievement and the IV Songs EP, remain compellingly bleak post-punk snapshots, while their lone John Peel session (posthumously released as the Fin EP, and featuring the intense, 11-minute The Fatal Day) reveals just how formidable a unit In Camera were developing into on their own terms.

What it has is a mood, a continuing tone; and it’s a shimmering thing with pastoral chimes that fervently calls the faithful.

The album’s momentum admittedly falters on less essential tracks such as the dub-infused, 10-minute sprawl of In The Graveyard, but it’s soon regained on Do The Supernova and the defiant 21st Century Man.

True, goofy lyrics are littered about, and the questionable Babble On seems a misfiring pot-shot at global religion/terrorism, but Subculture is a surprisingly potent cocktail: far more insightful and balanced than it might first get mistaken for.

Rising above the occasion, Rickie is still getting up close and personal with the listener.

Sadly, Wyman can neither sing nor write a decent song.

Walk Dance Talk Sing documents something that may work best in the live arena.

Rewarding, yet keep it familiar at the same time.