Album: Yello - Point

The venerable Swiss duo still ploughing the same furrow decades on

Some of the greatest acts of all time are the ones which find a sound and never need to alter it. Motörhead, Dinosaur Jr, Status Quo... and in the electronic world, Switzerland’s finest, Yello.

Album: Moscoman - Time Slips Away

The producer leans full-tilt into synth-pop with an enviable commitment to quality

After 2016’s A Shot in the Light, DJ, producer and Disco Halal labelrunner Chen Moscovici has leaned full-tilt into synth-pop and, with Time Slips Away, has created a collection that’s both carefully placed and cleverly paced.

Album: Glass Animals - Dreamland

★★★★ GLASS ANIMALS - DREAMLAND A woozy and familiar trip into surreal pop

A woozy and familiar trip into surreal pop

It’s been a hell of a four years for Glass Animals since their last album How to Be a Human Being, from a well-deserved Mercury nomination to drummer Joe Seaward requiring neurosurgery after a near-fatal bicycle accident. But while Human Being was leap forward in writing and production, new release Dreamland is a more subtle development. This is music designed to float on a sunlit pool to, though given lockdown restrictions, you may need to get creative with an air bed and your home lighting.

Album: Ellie Goulding - Brightest Blue

Stunning production craft rescues Ellie Goulding from the formulaic

Everything Ellie Goulding touches turns to pop gold: her first three albums were big hits. She is yet another of those miracles bred in the British provinces, in this case a Herefordshire village.

Album: Westerman - Your Hero is not Dead

★★★★ WESTERMAN - YOUR HERO IS NOT DEAD High-gloss Eighties sonics conceal chasmic emotional depths

High-gloss Eighties sonics conceal chasmic emotional depths

Will Westerman is not afraid of sounding retro. It's clear his influences are diverse, from jazz fusion to the bedroom proto-house experiments of Arthur Russell. But in their final form, his high gloss production, highly literate songs and fretless bass sound like something out of a creatively leftfield but megabucks studio-produced mid Eighties record: the likes of Talk Talk, Kate Bush, Roxy Music's Avalon and above all The Blue Nile loom large.

Album: Lady Gaga - Chromatica

★★ ALBUM: LADY GAGA - CHROMATICA A few treats sprinkled amongst stock club-pop

The latest from the pop superstar has a few treats sprinkled amongst stock club-pop

Lady Gaga proclaimed by Tweet that her sixth album represents her “absolute love of electronic music”. Chromatica features EDM names such as Axwell from Swedish House Mafia, French DJ-producers Tchami and Madeon, bro’step superstar Skillex, as well as a good few more.

theartsdesk on Vinyl 57: Gramme, Terry Edwards, The Orb, The Monochrome Set and much more

THE ARTS DESK ON VINYL 57 Gramme, Terry Edwards, The Orb and more

The most extensive monthly record reviews for lockdown times

After C19 delays theartsdesk on Vinyl is back. My initial policy, reckoning that new vinyl would dry up under COVID conditions, was to do regular lockdown mini-editions with the material already set aside here, until it ran out. That didn’t work out. The vinyl, to my surprise, kept on coming. Global crisis be damned! A backlog grew! Thus, theartsdesk on Vinyl 57 is a catch-up on the past couple of months. Due to these factors, a few more records I’d like to have covered were missed and a couple I should have covered this time are held back until June.

Album: Charli XCX - how i'm feeling now

★★★ CHARLI XCX - HOW I'M FEELING NOW Cutting edge electronics in lockdown album

Cutting edge electronics in lockdown album from the always exploratory pop star

This is an extremely impressive undertaking. how i'm feeling now was conceived, written and recorded in under two months, in isolation, with Charli XCX sourcing beats and artwork from a sprawling collective of regular collaborators and fans. The tracklist was finalised only in the last week or so, and even two days before release date, only “work in progress” promos were available, signalling that it was still in flux.