Anyone hoping for another "Don’t Dream It’s Over" is going to find Time On Earth a disappointment.

The first new material from New York’s finest avant garde trio since last year’s superb Show Your Bones album, Is Is isn’t a new album, unfortunately.

Session musicians removes salt from the sea!

Good, not great, comeback from epic Mancs.

Trees Outside The Academy is a masterclass of prog drugginess, brimming with sweet melodies and lullaby choruses.

If the last 10 years have taught us anything, it's that Super Furry Animals march resolutely to their own quixotic beat.

A sparkling return to form for a band regarded by many as the great lost hope of the early ‘90s.

The Calling will test your emotions, making you feel glowing and comfortable, then useless and helpless.

Emo pin-ups milk last moments of glory

In a surprise move, Alex Turner goes back to 1966

The beautiful skeleton of a shoe-gazing album.

Nothing Bjork does is ever less than provocative... Just don’t expect to it to force you out of your seat.

Shine is over-ripe with hokey Casio drum machines, soprano sax, and other things that nudge the tone towards easy listening.

For just under two decades, brothers Bubba and Matt Kadane have spent the majority of their time together crafting as near perfect slices of sonic Americana as they could.

Nutty Boys regain former glories in full.

Lo-fi freakster doffs cap to minimalism & screaming chipmunks.

Ultimately, this is less a fully-formed debut than the tentative first few steps of a promising artist still finding her way.

Maybe I've become too familiar with what they’re trying to achieve--but right now there’s nothing here to make me instantly love this record.

Sublime companion to kiddies’ book adaption from Yeah Yeah Yeahs frontwoman.

Although there are numerous pointers as to what might have been, had Mary retained greater creative focus, there is precious little to savour here.

Think a more ragged Belle & Sebastian, and you’re not far off.

Most of the record is--sonically-speaking, rather than in terms of quality--classic Ghostface, but only a couple of these familiar tracks match the standard set on previous records.

A mesmerising, love-lorn, tear-soaked magical mystery-Jet tour.

This slight, shrill and, ultimately, underwhelming debut album has its moments.

Sigur Ros frontman goes it alone to exhilarating effect.

A definite sense of fun permeates Conor Oberst, with the singer allowing himself to indulge a few whimsical idea's.

A&E isn’t a reinvention for Spiritualized, but while that might be a disappointment for some, the comforting embrace of familiarity shouldn’t be underrated.

Grand old dame delivers stunning Hal Willner-produced extravaganza.

Heartbroken or not, she’s conceived her finest work in years with Watershed--an album that rewards with every soothing listen.

Quality electro from Canadian groove mechanics.

Third time's still a charm with Philadelphian prog-folk contingent.

Welcome to the (haunted) house of fun.

It’s a little long at 17 tracks, and hard to take in one sitting, but these songs present Americana in such an oddly compelling way that it’s almost impossible to ignore.

Chao is at best when merging his Latin/salsa influences with squealing, screeching garage-rock.

Young Knives gamble away the ending to a solid album.

A number of tracks here follow a similar, frustrating formula. For three minutes they showcase Reznor’s worst tendencies; the boorish plod of the choruses, the hoarse moan of the vocals. On the remainder of each of these songs Reznor does what he’s good at – i.e. creating delicious layers of chaotic industrial noise.

Thrilling indie jinks from Arcade Fire wannabes.

Scots veterans turn up the orchestra knob and rock.

Unlike his recent output, there’s no overarching preoccupation here, there is only a bunch of good tunes.

Surprisingly laidback new dispatch from uptight country rockers.

Ghostly pop transmissions from buzzy Brooklynites.

Strangely moving robo-pop from hyped duo.

Dazzling sophomore effort from New York singer-songwriter.

Zany jinks anew from Hip-hop’s Awkward Squad.

A record to cool the blood and quicken the pulse.

Berlin based electro crooner ratchets up the goo factor.

Songs like ‘Sentimental Heart’, a concerto for piano, strings and Pet Sounds haberdashery, suggest this pair are as natural a songwriting team as Karen and Richard.

Oracular Spectacular is an arresting introduction to the illogical world of MGMT, and is the kind of album that’s a guilty pleasure without the guilt.

From the grim and gritty depths of east Glasgow, Glasvegas tout a sure-to-be-huge mix of ragged emotion and vintage vibrations straight out of the Phil Spector playbook.

Nuptial celebrations yield surreal pleasures from Odd-ball Americana Folkies.

An album as vital and as edgy as anything they’ve ever done.

Dance-punk act up the ante and make play for music's top table.

Even listeners previously resistant to The Kills' studied cool may have to concede that Midnight Boom is a record of considerable energy and excitement.

The end result doesn’t vary that much from his usual dense, dark, cinematic ramblings but it’s good to see he’s keeping busy.

Charming debut from flirtatious Scandinavian popette.

Jack White’s bit on the side return with an accomplished and musically diverse second album.

Former 10,000 Maniacs frontwoman channels Alice In Wonderland with tingle-inducing results.

There’s quite a supporting cast on Jenny Lewis’s second LP. Elvis Costello makes an appearance, Zooey Deschanel, Jonathan Rice and M Ward all pop by.

21-year-old future-dystopian grime DJ breaks new ground.

Here’s Johnny! Marr forces Jarman brothers out of their Crib.

So once you get over the fact it’s farcically emo, this album turns out to be a decent enough record to get you in the mood for the Saturday night indie disco.

If you're in the mood for something weird, check out this album that fuses psychedelic rock with Cambodian lyrics.

Messianic rapper Kanye West has survived grief and heartbreak to expands pop parameters on his new release.

Youngbloods triumph with unpretentious pop.

Jakob Dylan's debut effort, Seeing Things, is a bare bones acoustic record showcasing the talent of the son of Bob.

Grime champ steps up to the mark with career-best record.

It’s not as nebulous as their last album--and it doesn’t deliver the melodic thrills of Last Splash--but Mountain Battles has personality, spirit, warmth and tenderness in abundance.

If Lullabies To Paralyze was a strange forest fairytale dusted with desert blues courtesy of Billy Gibbons, Era Vulgaris finds the band holed up in an abandoned funkhouse in the centre of a shady copse, waiting for some strange sexually-contracted fever to pass.

All-star collective make unholy hot-and-sweaty psycho-blues racket.

Pittsburgh gene-splicers manage to overcome three minute attention deficit barrier.

Dark things stir beneath the surface as alt.country figurehead Bonnie ‘Prince’ Billy releases umpteenth solo record.

Brit pop aesthete goes Rawk--sort of.

House-arrested rapper defends his realm.

It will probably go down as their 'sell-out' record, in that it's their first for a major label.

These are early days, of course, but some worrying lapses into blustery Editors’ territory aside, Foals prove to be a tricksy, livewire prospect.

California dreaming, diminishing returns.

Upbeat comeback from the kings of coffee-table electro.

Sigur Ros’ songs have a tendency to go on way too long, but the group’s peaks are such that we must cherish them, flaws and all.

Never in 24 years have The Black Crowes either changed their tune or sounded contrived, and they’re getting better all the time in their dependably unfashionable way.

This is a brilliantly buoyant and wonderfully charming record that’ll suit almost every mood.

Howe’s duet with Neko Case on ‘Without A Word’ is the star of the show though, boasting a gorgeous melody that owes a lot to Gelb’s Tuscon roots.

R&B concept album about binmen turned superheroes. Yup.

Not much has changed in the futureheads world as, post their major-label career, they bounce-back with independently released third album.

Surprisingly radio-friendly System Of A Down spin-off.

Emo kids kick up a riot on surprisingly edgy third outing.

Bluefinger is probably the sprightliest solo collection of songs Frank Black has recorded to date.

Easy listening princess goes indie-goth.

Kweli's collaborative work has set the bar so high that his solo efforts routinely fail to meet these exalted expectations.

Triumphant sophomore offering from butch Vig-produced punk-pop outfit.

Think The Cramps crossed with the B52s, with a fair dose of Smog and Cat Power thrown in, and you’ll be in the Sons & Daughters picture

It’s a bold, ambitious statement from a techno producer keen to expand his range watch this space.

Classy Copenhagen act unveil penchant for pop.

Couples is by no means a terrible record, I just preferred The Long Blondes when they were young, free and single.

It’s just too ‘nice’.

Shine remains a terribly average r'n'b album that occasionally flickers with possibility, but never burns brightly enough to matter.

The Wu-Tang Clan are undoubtedly in decline, but given the musical peaks they have scaled in the past, there remains plenty of sublime scenery to observe on the way down.

Hotly tipped Canadian electro duo Crystal Castles deliver the goods on their debut album.

Inoffensively bland offering from US indie pop outfit.