The Belfast cowboy keeps on making quality records

A few decent songs can't outshine this record's over-produced stadium rock. The Las Vegas rockers' latest just doesn't have the same sparkle.

A spirited return from Beth Ditto and company--but where are the new ideas?

Released on the web fully two months before it hits record stores, Bloc Party’s third album is as gleaming and hermetically sealed as one of Kubrick’s monoliths.

South Carolina rockers make big music.

New mexican drone rock duds. Tune free zone.

Return To Form from last electro band standing.

New York dreampop combo meander a bit.

Cyndi’s lost touch with the zeitgeist a bit, and parts of this sound like she’s trying to keep up but this is generally a really good record.

If you take a chance on just one record then make sure it’s Take Me To The Sea as it’s possibly the underground triumph of the year.

Hobo Journeyman enlists the help of Nick Cave, KT Tunstall and Ruby Turner to deliver winning album.

Missing, thankfully, are the twee Paulie-isms that often insult our intelligence, making Memory Almost Full that rare thing, a modern-day Paul McCartney you can listen to without wincing.

Chill out maestros prove they have some different tricks in their locker.

If it ain’t broke you may smear it with red lipstick and back-comb its hair. But do NOT fix it.

With big choruses, pristine production values, sing-alongs, and much lovelorn balladry could it be that Devendra Banhart is about to cross over?

Their sunniest record yet, Campbell and Lanegan continue to impress with this short, but sweet, mini album.

After an eight-year hiatus, these hard rock legends return to the music scene with a banging album that has just a little less bite than others past.

Jack the volume up and let Fields suck the air from your lungs.

There’s still something oddly admirable about Alice In Chains’ stubborn refusal to change.

If you pardon our French, Clinic’s fifth album is pretty fucked up--and yet it's also their best effort to date.

West works because it juxtaposes a sense of vulnerability with a desire not to stay down for long, and is tinged with a sense of realism not always present in her rivals.

Stop me if you think you've heard this one before.

Mockney songbird grows up--but is she any wiser?

Sounding, for the most part, like a Stars In Their Eyes version of Cat Stevens, the album lacks variety, imagination and charisma.

Imagine an amalgam of The White Album, The Kick Inside and Professor Longhair, all conceived as an off-Broadway extravaganza directed by Julie Taymor.

This is a surprisingly enjoyable outing as these things go.

Velvet Revolver are a formidable collection of important figures from 80’s and 90’s hard rock, and this strong mixture of personalities lends their music a certain charisma, even when it isn’t particularly accomplished.

While their peers pander to the mainstream, the masked musicians continue to honour their scene by staying true to their roots while broadening their sound.