House Of Woo is one of the sparkier dance albums of the year so far, and a gem amidst all the buncombe.

Welcome To Mikrosector-50 is that rare thing--an electronic full-length that demands to be consumed as album, and reveals more with each return visit.

A record that pushes a catholic range of sounds through filter after filter, and turns out something at once smudgy and beautiful.

Despite its patchier moments, fIN's effective command of light and shade make for an involving listen, and it's a sound that's pretty much Talabot's own.

Though the songs on Swisher are occasionally a little too long--even the shortest is more than five minutes, and ‘Andrew’ nearly 10--they’re mostly dynamic and varied enough that boredom never really has the chance to set in.

Overall, Jamie Lidell errs on the side of caution with its inherent love affair with Prince but remains playful and original in almost every other respect, which is what makes it such a cohesive and enjoyable listen.

Five songs coming in just under 18 minutes of superior darkly-stranded pop music.

By and large, the songs on Why Do the Heathen Rage? are brilliantly executed hybrids that manage to subvert received ideas even once you’ve processed the album’s premise, thanks to superb transposing and Daniel’s knack for lashing together motifs from utterly different styles.

Hesitation Marks follows the musical lineage that began with The Fragile, but it surpasses recent NIN albums thanks to a deeply personal thematic core and a willingness to push the songwriting into territory that is often dancier and poppier than listeners have come to expect from the band.

Nun is easily the most focussed and incisive record Teengirl have released to date.

Run the Jewels is savage and witty, rich in gritty truths and genuinely affecting wisdom. It may not be the best thing either artist has done, but fans of both will still find plenty to love.

Its complex web of emotion and sound make for one of the most confounding yet gripping albums made in 2014; while it isn’t without its flaws, it captures the zeitgeist in a way that few other albums have managed this year, and has both revelers and detractors speaking passionately.

Though a marginally lesser album than predecessor MAYA, Matangi is nevertheless dynamite.

Rap Album One breaks away from rap conventions in an effortless manner.

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.

Patience (After Sebald) is an unnervingly quiet album.

An album that is both powerful in its execution of an idea, but also quite sure of its own modest signature.

Punish, Honey intrigues, but it’s the prospect of where Seb Gainsborough goes next that’s really fascinating.

It's really working out for him.

Future’s lyrical sensitivity wouldn’t work without the album’s pitch-perfect production.

Ital has finally found a place to call home, and it suits him very well indeed.

Skillfully and bewitchingly arranged, its neatest trick is in the way it enfolds so many distinct personalities into Glasper's own vision, his music always complementing their voices without ever being dominated by them.

Production-wise, the album sounds as if it could have easily slipped from any number of top tier rap labels, yet with Gates at the helm, the journey is deeper, darker and far more invigorating than anything from the last couple of years with a Rozay, Em or Hov co-sign.

By the end, you only want more: you find yourself wishing that Neneh Cherry and The Thing would just go ahead and cover every song in the world in this inimitable manner.

Herndon is quite unique, using her instrument to engage in a constant dialogue with her immediate environment in such a way that makes conventional divisions --between the natural and the synthetic, or between the everyday and the extraordinary--seem dated.

This album is not just exciting for its sound, but for what it promises too.

Rather than limiting this EP's scope, restricting it to the use of only one synthesizer allows Terje's innate quirkiness and sense of humour even more room to maneuver.

Whereas 2009′s Missing Chairs carried a prissy frivolity in its floridness, Piramida is a noble, self-possessed creation; a masterclass in considered arrangement.