While this is a challenging, compelling record from a singular producer, it is a less exploratory effort than we've come to expect from her.

As a series, Pop Ambient may gradually be losing its vitality, but its musical perspective does not have to. Moving forward, an adjustment to the delivery platform would do much to make Pop Ambient's sound more relevant.

Though his misses may make Ghettoville appear lopsided and drab, every on-point production buried in the heap makes mucking through Cunningham's warped ideas rewarding work.

Fabriclive 73 has a formidable sense of both style and consistency--qualities that don't necessarily ooze glamor, but are slowly and steadily carving out new territory in the interstices of rapidly collapsing genres.

With over 30 releases this year alone, L.I.E.S. isn't always an easy label to keep up with, but the embarrassment of riches contained within Music for Shut-Ins suggests that the effort may well be worth it.

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.

In the end, his attempt to tackle the alienating, intense feelings related to this subject turns out to not only be insightful and emotional, but oddly graceful as well.

More so than any of his other releases, Burial seems to have something to say throughout Rival Dealer, and that message helps tie together the record's diverse 28 minutes and give its three tracks the impact of a full-length album.

At a time when dance music's past is often treated with elegiac reverence, the fact that Re-Engineering takes a clever, witty, and irreverent approach to its influences feels bracing rather than tired.

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.

Van Hoesen does leave some room for improv, but it's a bit too low-key to feel like anything's at stake.

Psutka's production on A/B Till Infinity is evocative and daring, and combines a future-oriented polish with an austere sense of simplicity, solidifying Egyptrixx's distinctiveness amongst a new crop of surface-obsessed underground producers.

Despite clocking in at under 15 minutes, the plethora of ideas Teengirl Fantasy displays on Nun shows that the pair is unwilling to rest on its laurels and ultimately represents a bold step forward.

Spaces is still a wonderful document of the powerful force that Nils Frahm is as a performer. At the same time, the album in some ways seems like a missed opportunity--no one has questioned the man's ability as a live act (quite the opposite, actually), so the record can't help coming off like a bit of a "gimme."

As much as Livity Sound has something for everyone, there's no denying how carefully defined a sound these three have honed.

Talabot's DJ-Kicks proves to be an essential listen, not only because it is an immaculate mix in its own right--one which moves swiftly through a graceful arc--but also because there is just so much vital music to take in over the course of its 70-plus minutes.

The EP is an exhausting listen, one that offers an experience of immersion, not itemization. Autechre hasn't lost a step, and this EP is certainly memorable.

Chance of Rain will likely prove less controversial than Quarantine, but by no means is it a less challenging record.

Wenu Wenu's success lies in its ability to cleave memorable passages from homogenized surroundings.

Restless Idylls is Lobo's most polished statement yet.

Seams' sonic details are most potent when allowed to sink in undisturbed.

Spurred by excellent, challenging production, the record maintains an adequate sonic distance from its inspirations, and the bonus disc's excellent selection of remixes fosters a dialogue between jungle, house, and techno's past and present.

In the end, Virgins only adds to the artist's growing legacy; it's another triumph for Hecker that once again strikes a resounding chord that not many ambient records can.

Thankfully, he's enough of a careful, diligent, and experienced artist to make even the lackluster experiments feel vital and significant in the larger scope of his oeuvre.

Drone Logic is a fastidious and memorable debut, though the middle suffers from a significant lull in energy.

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.

For all of its turbulence and dislocations, R Plus Seven is an astounding thing to behold, a perfectly imperfect and downright breathtaking masterpiece.

It's a work of and inspired by ritualized labor, haunted by the irretrievable loss of a culture.