A consistent second album of big choruses from the New Yorkers.

Soothsayer lyricism atop sinister guitars and eldritch electronics.

Spencer should be vaulting over these songs in an attempt to make them connect more directly, but she seems content for them to be merely pretty for the time being.

Thoughtful rap that deserves mainstream attention.

While the technical prowess on display throughout this set is truly awe-inspiring--Mastodon might turn everything up to 11, but they never compromise the finer facets of their sound, and everything's captured here in crystal-clear clarity.

The result, invariably, is that they hold the attention like a movie that keeps tantalising you with strands of plot then flashing back and switching the viewpoint. Some may find it irritating, but many more, you suspect, intoxicating.

If there is a fault with this record however, it isn't Faithfull's but her band's, as the playing is perhaps just too polite and polished.

With so much good here, it's foolish to dwell upon a few relative missteps.

Their most coherent, alive and plain best album yet.

This 17-track set is a worthy document of Soundgarden's glory days. There's certainly nothing here which hints at a group on the road to self-destruction.

So, while he fails to reward those fans who are everything to him with a great collection of pop-RnB, Brown at least gives them reason to believe.

Not one for the casual fans, but more than enough to remember the good times.

This album, Mark Ronson's "imaginary follow up to Rio that never was", is their best for 18 years.

On its own terms, it's a lean, mean success – and questions about longevity can probably wait until the follow-up.

You could justify that over-emphasis as evidence of a broad-ranging band flexing their options and chafing at their limits. But, in songs and career alike, you could also say The Naked and Famous might benefit from a sense of pacing.

FFAF have produced another pop-punk special with Welcome Home Armageddon--and, thankfully, they don't look like stopping any time soon.

It's this ability to pare back extraneous matter and to stare unflinchingly into the very soul of a song that makes Last such a spellbinding, if at times unsettling, experience.

Prepare to be smitten all over again, as the NYC outfit release a brilliant fourth album.

Once you strip away all this nonsense, The Chapman Family's music is thunderous and well produced.

It's one of the best things you'll hear all year. Bring on the next two.

Nineteen years later the band are in robust health, and Skins makes for an impressive, graceful addition to their catalogue.

Reanimated glam-punk pioneers get dafter as they get older.

Steel strings slick with gumbo grease and sweet gospel inflections.

A zingy fusion of disparate styles.

Full-tilt, power-pop catharsis and ecstatic blaze-of-glory euphoria – catchier than H1N1.

Immersion takes Pendulum further still from their roots. It offers more rock and more dance, but most importantly more fun. And when it's good, it's very good indeed.

The Gate is an impeccably stylish album that coaxes jazz from unusual sources.

On the first few listens, the album is less immediate than the debut, but patience reveals it to be richer, more eclectic and far more satisfying.