Though Compass initially seems like the least interesting song on the album, that’s the beauty of the surprises in store.

Within Spoon's astute use of sunny structure, a brooding heart of murky frustration lurks. A deceptive, addictive album, revelling in hidden depths.

It’s a neo-soul record. A very good one, because that’s what she does, her passionate voice bringing abundant personality.

Childs and Blake have created a record of outstanding songcraft, which salutes rock's past with a carefree spirit and its head in the clouds. Go Jonny, go, go go.

Perfect Darkness is rather special.

Hugely impressive debut LP from the Liverpool trio.

It sounds so much more raw and harsh, more real and vulnerable.

A nebulous set of hyper-stoned musings on bass tethered together in the hard drive of one man's mind.

A long time coming it may have been, but Some Cold Rock Stuf is a disc worth spending plenty of time with after waiting more than a while for.

Sneering like the New York Dolls transplanted to a nighthawk-populated diner after exchanging their shiny skin-tight trousers for leather jackets and Elvis LPs, this is a rock'n'roll record and no mistake....fantastique in anyone's language.

A very successful collection which commendably fuses a series of contemporary "dance" music structures into an easily accessible whole.

Despite being a guitarist down (Bill Ryder-Jones departed after Roots and Echoes), they've regrouped admirably and made a comeback record that strives for, and indeed almost reaches, the dizzying heights of 2002's self-titled debut.

Tears, Lies, and Alibis is an album worth buying mainly for two reasons. Firstly the opening track, Rains Came. It sits in what sounds like a familiar bed, but doesn't quite go where you expect it to, and is, this time, lyrically opaque. Secondly, you can drown in her voice. It is fabulous; not an in-your-face "listen to how many octaves I can leap" sort of way, but it effortlessly convinces you she's lived this stuff, and means every word.

Clear Heart Full Eyes [is] a work of understated beauty.

Nine songs and 47 minutes long, their album debut feels like wandering through desert plains and darkened streets, tumbleweed at your feet and in your brain.

Because in constantly mutating just when you begin to pin it down, drawing everything around in before rearranging atoms before your very eyes, Cosmogramma proves itself time and time again as mind-meltingly boundless as a black hole.

Terrifying yet magnificent horror from a group getting doom metal so very right.

There is, unquestionably, a mass of fortitude at work from the creator throughout.

They're relatively simple things to be sure, but they've been crafted with love and authority before being chiselled in stone so that they may yet last certain discerning metallers a lifetime.

Never ones for stating the obvious, Singing Adams have constructed an album that is as thought-provoking as it is entertaining.

It may not be a Tindersticks classic, in the same vein as 1997's sublime Curtains, but The Something Rain is a record full of mystery and intrigue that will keep you listening--and discovering new things each time--for a good while.

Talent burns through old-skool rap bangers, ferocious electro body-poppers and teary teen anthems – never a dull moment, never an irritating frat-girl with a “bottle of Jack”.

This latest collection offers a tantalising glimpse of how Hendrix's genius might have progressed.

This is an album of surprising tenderness, of intricate (and, importantly, memorable) melodies and deep emotions, and everyman ruminations on love and life that will surely connect with long-standing fans and newcomers alike.

Whatever the treatment of his songs, Holly's knack of pairing of simplistic, catchy melodies with understated--almost flippant--melancholy always shines through. As such, over 50 years since his death, this is a wonderful testament to his songwriting prowess, longevity and legacy.

Submit fully to Centipede Hz and it will infect you, quite deliciously, for the foreseeable.

Eli's irrepressible personality shines through this varied and very appealing collection of songs, and tunes abound.

Harlem River Blues, though, sounds like the work of a man who can handle pressure. It more than matches--it far exceeds--what had gone before.