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Discovery Zone: Quantum Web review – expertly rendered synth fantasias

While at times it brings to mind the hold music for a healing-crystal company, there is plenty of brilliantly retro songwriting

Ben Frost: Scope Neglect review – grim grandeur with gnarly tongue-out riffs

The avant garde musician’s first album in seven years features cinematic ambience, pummelling sound design and whinnying metal guitar

Simple Things festival review – trance, slow jams and toilet-rattling rock

Various venues, BristolIt’s overambitious, but this festival remains a welcome alternative to generic lineups and corporate sponsorships – and there are stellar sets from L’Rain, Evian Christ and more

The Body and Dis Fig: Orchards of a Futile Heaven review – awe-inspiring music for heavy times

A collaboration between the alt-metal duo and Berlin-based shapeshifter Felicia Chen creates a dark but nourishing LP of hellish depth

Enter Shikari review – sensory overload by a British band hitting the big leagues

Twenty years into their career and on their first arena tour, Enter Shikari push the massive sound system to the limit with gleeful and vibrant cross-genre rock

Kali Malone: All Life Long review – music to blot out the world’s clamour

Returning to the organ-playing that made her name and adding brass and vocals, the Thom Yorke-approved composer revels in the possibilities of her instruments

Future Islands: People Who Aren’t There Anymore review – back to melancholy banger mode

Some perfectly constructed pop offsets dark musings on a record elevated by Samuel T Herring’s ever richer vocals

Love Minus Zero: L’Ecstasy review – Tiga and Hudson Mohawke unite on a high

The Canadian and Scottish producers’ on-off partnership comes to fruition on this aptly titled, category-defying clubland set

Harp: Albion review – former Midlake frontman traipses through twilight

Tim Smith’s first album with Kathi Zung takes inspiration from William Blake and the Cure to create a landscape of 80s reverb and ghostly vocals

Vince Clarke: Songs of Silence review – Covid anxiety fills synthpop star’s debut solo album

Stuck in his studio during lockdown, Clarke recorded this portentous album of wordless, minimalist intrumentals – a soundtrack of dread

Celia Hollander: 2nd Draft review – turns a piano into a new sound world

Hollander’s works sound simple but are incredibly detailed and multi-layered, her treated piano solos evoking wind, rain and air

Flying Lotus review – electronic music legend flexes his jawdropping skills

Despite being a heavily garlanded and in-demand collaborator, composer, label owner and soon to be sci-fi director, the musician seems happiest simply making people dance

Sofia Kourtesis: Madres review – a hymn to dance music’s healing powers

Dedicated to her parents, the Berlin-based Peruvian’s joyous debut album is a masterclass in emotive electronic production

The Chemical Brothers review – mesmerising barrage of thunder and lighting

Sound is turned into spectacle in a theatrical two-hour performance mixing bold visuals and rapturous tunes into meticulously choreographed awe

Overmono review – sparkling shards of rave culture tear up the dancefloor

The Russell brothers bring the party to a damp weeknight, using ecstatic production and crowd-pleasing samples to inspire mass dancing even from those seated

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  • St Vincent review – majestic orchestral transformations of jagged art-pop
  • BBCNOW/Bancroft review – conductor takes final bow in imaginative programme of vivid colours and emotions
  • Krishna review – the mystery of John Tavener’s ‘mystic pantomime’ is why it has been staged
  • Taylor Swift: I Knew It, I Knew You review – giddy up! Song for Toy Story cowgirl Jessie is Swift’s best in years
  • Zoh Amba: Eyes Full review – raw, rugged country rock also has real tenderness
  • Gintė Preisaitė: Instruments of Forgetting and the Singing Bone review – atmospheric, unsettling ambience
  • Hourglass album review – Simone Dinnerstein gives Glass room to breathe
  • Lizzo: Bitch review – a spirited star who just can’t rediscover her groove
  • Beethoven: The Violin Sonatas Vol 1 album review – fresh-as-a-daisy performances from a duo with a gift for storytelling
  • Mike D review – ex-Beastie Boy’s first UK gig in two decades, in a Tyneside bingo hall, is uproarious fun
  • Saint Levant review – Palestinian pop star makes Australian debut to an ecstatic, sold-out crowd
  • Vespers review – haunting clash of cultures conjures Vivaldi’s Venice
  • Jack White review – former White Stripe’s art is like a 12-year-old visiting Tate Modern for the first time
  • Lise Davidsen and James Baillieu review – superstar soprano unleashes her inner Valkyrie
  • Orlando review – a confident romp through Handel’s flimsily plotted opera
  • Take That review – stadium redux of Circus tour has maximal razzle-dazzle
  • Hampson and Sidorova review – style over substance with a whiff of the cruise ship
  • Matías Aguayo: Anenoa review – the funkiest, freest singer in the business hits the dancefloor
  • Violet Grohl: Be Sweet to Me review – alt-rock arriviste aces the part
  • Dvořák: Symphony No 9 album review – Shani brings a natural freshness to a familiar work
  • La Traviata review – gripping and genuinely moving staging opens Garsington’s summer season
  • Colin Matthews: Seascapes album review – the songs teem with detail
  • Iceage: For Love of Grace & the Hereafter review – Danish punks ace sixth stellar album on the trot
  • La Fanciulla del West review – insightful staging reveals the power of Puccini’s maverick masterpiece
  • 125th anniversary gala concert review – back to 1901 as Wigmore celebrates birthday playing to its strengths
  • Sugar review – Bob Mould’s reunited band still in a sweet spot between noise and melody
  • Paul McCartney: The Boys of Dungeon Lane review – at 83, his gift for melody still astounds
  • Boards of Canada: Inferno review – after 13 years away, their prodigal return is a big disappointment
  • Tosca review – Puccini’s high-octane bloodbath bonanza makes for a shocking festival kick-off
  • Dido and Aeneas review – close your eyes and this was a tremendous performance

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