The main problem is that the songs too often feel like sketches. The punchline is sold too quickly, the finish too abrupt.

It’s a delicate, naked offering that flits between mournful vocals, processed backward synths and serrated edges of what sounds like guitar distortion.

Skating along on smooth sounds that seem almost effortless, these outer-galaxy footwork songs-along with the energy and aura they display--are Ital Tek's strong suit.

When a dance album cannot contain a grander narrative, the next best result is certainly a selection of floor-primed productions, and on this front, Orbiting delivers.

II may actually prove itself to be the group's most accomplished record, and one Moderat fans will come back to more often down the line.

Chorus is not quite clinical, but it's getting there.

Although his political ideas may be rough hewn, Doom's latest effort stands out from some of the major releases in his discography.

These songs, as subtle and delicate as they are, are vivid and transporting. It’s a fully-formed album, whatever its intent, and full of quiet passion.

Planet High School is obviously not perfect, nor should it be, but it is a step upwards and onwards for Mux Mool.

Mi Ami continues to explore its loose-groove, jam-band tendencies on the epic "Dreamers" and album closer "Slow," but in far more reserved quantities than Watersports, making for a much more exciting and immediately lovable listen.

Bass Clef may have created a solid album, but, in the end, this lovely exercise leaves a sense that it was all a bit too easy for him.

One of Paper Tiger's finest qualities is its ability to include a diverse list of contributors who provide just the right formula of loops, dub beats, and samples to the album without making it seem bloated.

Clearly, Rathbun is a talented producer, and his debut full-length appears to imply that he's nowhere near to running out of ideas.

From a distance, Paradise continues to connect the dots of Hood's career, but up close, it's completely absorbing.

The LP's 11 tracks play like a string of variations on two or three ideas, but most of Murray's and Smith's experimenting is strong enough that Syndrome Syndrome sounds more like a collection of singles written by a veteran outfit dedicated to perfecting one beloved sound.

It's a different, and more unique effort [than Rooms(s)]. Moreover, the LP doesn't look outside of itself to the same extent that its predecessor did.

One of the best editions of Total to come along in a while.

Though Miami displays a jazzier, looser, and often darker side of Brandt Brauer Frick, it doesn't overshadow the classical techno-ensemble sound the trio first introduced on You Make Me Real.

Salton Sea is good, but ultimately doesn't leave as strong an impression as it intends.

You can definitely hear her thinking her way through each track, treating each as packets of sound, to be observed and experienced in a loop.

Enthusiast is a solid, eclectic offering, and, if it truly is Siriusmo's last, it's not a bad way to end a long career.

Some lo-fi purists will undoubtedly cry foul when they hear "The Longest Shadows" or "When It Comes," which bookend the album with slightly glossier production and an '80s goth-disco vibe that recalls Siouxsie and The Banshees or The Church. These tracks, along with "On Giving Up" and "Constant Winter," undeniably signal High Places' shift toward a more accessible sound, but they also happen to be some of the brightest spots on the album.

One of the album's strong points is the balance it confidently finds between active and passive, as if it's encouraging listeners to be aware of their attention drifting between their thoughts and the spacious terrain provided by the music.

Despite scattered flashes of brilliance, too often it's an album that feels unambitious, as though it's content to dwell in the middle ground where the two producers' back catalogs intersect rather than forge something new.

Desecration of Desire is still built on everything that Dave Clarke has created to date, but the hardness is gone; and if you look close enough, you might be able to find the soft exterior he’s trying to show.

The project as a whole is impressive, but it's a testament to Gonzales that his music holds up to the grand scope of his endeavor.

A bleak and beautiful ambient record that occasionally reaches beyond its self-imposed confines.

Ultimately, Dutch is less vibrant and, well, relevant than dance deconstructions by Actress or Oneohtrix, but it's also a lot harder to pin down, and there's a rogue-ish appeal to that.