DNA Feelings has moments of brilliance, but its dark mood and single-minded vision become oppressive over the course of its runtime. Those fleeting rave touches combine so well with her extraordinary voice, you can only wish there were more of them.

Rinse Presents: Royal-T is a solid full-length debut for the budding producer, and radiates a certain charm through its sincere portrayal of new grime as a versatile genre that's able to cater to a variety of listeners.

With Dedication, Zomby's first release for the legendary indie label 4AD, he's turned increasingly inward-and it's an entirely welcome trajectory.

Truly, there's nothing outrightly offensive about There's More to Life Than This, but there's little to hold on to either.

The unifying factor? It's Para's evocative beauty, a underlying glimmer that flows from the album's sumptuous opening chords to its final spectral fade.

Pink is a triumph and the new high-water mark for one of this generation's finest producers.

What he's given listeners may be imperfect, but it's also freakishly musical, completely synthetic, and utterly human.

Despite (or maybe because of) the absence of Braxton, Battles has soldiered on into new musical territory, and discovered a place that is simultaneously confrontational and inviting, esoteric and playful, technical and infectious-and very, very good.

An ambitious and eclectic album that packs tons of ideas into its runtime and manages to pull them all off with a great deal of style.

These are their beloved records, guzzled up, internalized, and regurgitated in new unrecognizable forms; music of the past as perceived by modern minds; an even balance between tight live instrumentation and charming studio nous. Give this record a few spins, and you’ll succumb to their peculiar, but beguiling world too.

For Paris has an avant-gardist taste, and the homemade artwork and written statements ring sincere.

Raw Money Raps is fascinating and inventive, though not the game-changer many were hoping for.

Under The Sun is Mark Pritchard’s most consistent piece of work in some time, one that is beautifully conceived and produced with restraint and an overall vision that, most of the time, only an artist of considerable experience can muster.

Whether it's the muffled, unsettling synths that peer out from underneath the groove, the mannered and highly potent collision of seemingly incongruous drum patterns, or simply the masterful arrangement, it all adds up to make a record that's difficult to second-guess and lots of fun to unpack.

In lesser hands, Abyss may have collapsed under the weight of its self-seriousness. Instead, Wolfe steps into the cavernous space of her ambition and fills it with an assured collection of songs that are unsettling in their commitment to sorrow.

There's arguably nothing groundbreaking about Pull My Hair Back, but its artful combination of influences, subtle production, and the ambiguous emotional terrain it covers makes it one of the strongest debuts of the year.

The album may be architectural in its deliberateness, but it's not overly academic; during its best moments, Music for Objects could even be described as fun.

Take Off Mode doesn’t forge any new paths so much as it retreads old ones. ... That said, Take Off Mode’s most retro moment is also its best.

Whether as background music for one's day-to-day or as a receiver of one's full attention, it is truly an enjoyable record that is prepared to fill whatever space is asked of it.

After eight-plus years of releasing music, Junior Boys demonstrate handily with It's All True that they remain fresh, luminous, and highly relevant.

Minor complaints aside, Hardcourage is an excellent effort, and, if the crossover attempts prove successful, it just might be the album that gets a wider audience talking about FaltyDL.

Needless to say, for the legions pining for another immersion in the aesthetic, Fabric 69 is a worthy companion to the crew's 2010 full-length opus, Feed-Forward.

Minor complaints aside, Beams is a solid record, and a pretty good Dear album is nothing to be upset about.

hat’s most striking is that the album really does tell a story. Its glorious conclusion arrives a little too soon, but it’s good enough to have you hitting rewind. Listen in a dark room, on headphones, and you’re likely to experience a few hairs-on-end moments. It’s ugly, yes, and sometimes contrived. But it’s beautiful too.

As a record, Con Todo El Mundo won’t change the world, but it will make your day brighter. Once you’ve maxed out playing records by The Budos Band and Bonobo, then Khruangbin should be next in your selection.

Sisterworld maintains Liars' sonic trappings but apparently deals with subcultural scenes as a means of maintaining identity in a city like LA.

Saginaw's clarity of vision permeates his new record, even during the brief lulls when the music seems to be taking a break to catch its breath, and makes it a resounding statement in his musical career.

Ghetto Madness is an expertly constructed effort showcasing one of the most energetic and recognizable outputs in dance music.