Garvey's poetics have acquired more acuity. [Dec 2015, p.86]

The awkward early passages of Pyramid/When The Poor Can reach The Moon would surely struggle to gain airplay in any decade, including this one, yet it ultimately rises to the kind of triumphant chorus at which Phillipps excels. [Nov 2015, p.87]

Martin Courtney's music is unsurprisingly like Real Estate's in that it comes at an unhurried tempo and sounds deceptively simple. [Nov 2015, p.94]

A mightily approachable and sometimes even fun album. [Nov 2015, p.88]

[A] soaring yet engagingly earthly first album. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Half Moon Run may still be exploring a road that travels between Django Django's left-field indie pop and the wintry harmonies of Fleet Foxes, but the scenery is damned fine. [Nov 2015, p.89]

A fittingly weighty document of their emotional heft. [Nov 2015, p.105]

All in all, this is an unqualified triumph. [Nov 2015, p.86]

It's when everything begins to fan out like a peacock's tail at the height of courting season that you're reminded just why Newsom is a 21st century one-off. [Nov 2015, p.84]

By the end, As If makes you want to run away, arm in arm with the night. [Nov 2015, p.93]

Evan Brettin's sometimes self-conscious production affectations cannot obscure a thoroughly lovely psych-pop album. [Nov 2015, p.88]

For Use And Delight is by turns plaintive and rocking, a wistful rhythmic journey into a band's true beating heart. [Nov 2015, p.90]

At its best--Northern Blues' soulful echo--a bit of Southern grit's rubbed off on the Canadian. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Whatever the style, Rod Argent and Colin Blunstone’s music is executed with wholehearted passion and technical precision.

The second CD's half-hour of demos and discards is a repeat-play joy. [Nov 2015, p.102]

The County Durham punks' first in 36 years is suitably grown-up if a little underwhelming. [Nov 2015, p.96]

They ensure Deerhunter's most accessible songs yet are also their most affecting. [Nov 2015, p.86]

The Making Of is a decent debut. [Nov 2015, p.87]

Handsomely subversive. [Nov 2015, p.89]

This fuzzy psych soul suffers from too many Stones riffs, not enough fresh ideas. [Nov 2015, p.96]

[A] mix of old themes and new forms. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Fish is Chapman still pushing out the boat and long may he sail. [Nov 2015, p.86]

Defiantly dark, dense and hazy hip hop and paranoid urban blues. [Nov 2015, p.93]

Overall, Beck's playing is by turns exquisitely dainty and jaw-droppingly unhinged. [Jul 2015, p.86]

Beach Music is stylistically disjointed. [Nov 2015, p.94]

Taken as a rollercoaster whole, this will blow any right-thinking rock-action believer's head off. [Nov 2015, p.87]

The twinkling, chaotic, looped intensity of All Graphs Explored is typical of Larry Gus's individual and highly charismatic approach. [Nov 2015, p.89]

An intriguing blend of countrified, down-tempo acoustic charm. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Although perhaps too much arrangement is thrown at the producer-penned opener Among The Believers, second track Forbidden Nights, written in 2009 by Elvis Costello, has a stronger melody. [Nov 2015, p.92]

Ought's sound is stamped with enough original invention for them to stand tall amongst the art-schooled crowd. [Nov 2015, p.90]

Dodge And Burn is at the very least a solid offering with some dramatic and exhilarating rock'n'roll moments, but overall it's more a consolidation than a staking out of new ground. [Nov 2015, p.87]

The skinny is it's more reminiscent of Led Zeppelin III and late-period Black Crowes. [Nov 2015, p.86]

[A] flawed but magnificent album. [Nov 2015, p.88]

Girl Band play ugly noise with a charisma and energy to drag them from the no wave ghetto, to somewhere bigger. [Nov 2015, p.89]

The bulk of In Dream is much darker, but no less alluring. [Nov 2015, p.94]

While the peppier River Of Longing and Palace Of Love are rousing, it's when the brakes are applied that Illegals in Heaven leaves a durable residue. [Nov 2015, p.90]

The gorgeous harmonies of Fran Foote add further engagement on a set rich in attitude and uncompromising intent. [Nov 2015, p.91]

Their big sound has a wide sonic palette, from the spacey keyboards of Honeytrap to the baroque strings and synths of Sunny, but there are some less inspired moments. [Oct 2015, p.91]

More diverse, howling dirges from the West Coast quartet. [Oct 2015, p.98]

Wistful alt pop gets an ample glug of electro groove and distinct hints of '80s cheese comfortably reinforce Austin William's hazy vocals. [Oct 2015, p.98]

McKeown adopts a sophisticated take on 4/4 grooves: with Calumet's stuttering organic rhythms offering a confident and captivating example. [Sep 2015, p.93]

Her ideas and unabashed sexual allusions, certainly, are a good deal more interesting than her inflexible retro-electro rumble. [Oct 2015, p.92]

Not all [are] successful, but the extent of her ambition cannot be faulted. [Oct 2015, p.90]

A serious trip. [Oct 2015, p.95]

From here, Del Rey will surely be forced to redraw the blueprint, but for now, this is her best yet.

Wald is a continued move in more playful directions. [Oct 2015, p.95]

Caracal is nothing less than one of the best pop albums of the year. [Oct 2015, p.90]

This is serious... and seriously good. [Oct 2015, p.89]

You don't dip into this music--it fully engulfs you. [Oct 2015, p.95]

The album is mainly archetypal Forster. [Oct 2015, p.92]

It's their fourth album in six years, but quality hasn't wavered. [Oct 2015, p.94]

This darker edge lends substance to some of Vile's best songs to date. [Oct 2015, p.94]

This is not a record that wants or needs to be solved, but the clues and traces it leaves behind are so compelling it's difficult to let it alone. [Oct 2015, p.86]

Mind Over Matter's sleazy rockabilly nightmares and Captain Beefheart-channeling psychedelic detours are entirely keeping with the group's '80s records. [Jun 2015, p.93]

The winning formula could hold Chvrches back from breaking new ground. [Oct 2015, p.90]

The seven songs--mostly lengthy, one epic--have (as expected) extraordinary guitar solos, fused vocal harmonies, sprightly old-time and brooding folk. [Oct 2015, p.93]

A triumphant second solo chapter. [Oct 2015, p.98]

There is always the creamy centre of that angelic voice, making this a mightily impressive debut. [Oct 2015, p.93]

Rattle That Lock escapes the weight of legacy and operates in the here and now in a serene triumphant manner. [Oct 2015, p.88]

Phil's voice is fierce, Dave is warm and the band masterly. [Oct 2015, p.93]

Kwabs' effortless ability to glide through genres and attract ungrudging royal endorsements will, one suspects, give his moving debut serious legs. [Oct 2015, p.96]

Wright has unequivocally delivered her best album yet. [Oct 2015, p.94]

By turns whimsical, self-deprecating and humorous. [Oct 2015, p.93]

Such is the breadth of ideas and chutzpah here that you can even forgive Godin for having the temerity to name one track Bach Off. [Oct 2015, p.89]

Hollow Meadows carries his usual stamp of songwriting quality, but rather than further develop these new sonics and dynamics it feels more like a retrenchment. [Oct 2015, p.88]

A more nuanced approach than generally prevails on his records with The Hold Steady. [Oct 2015, p.90]

Jazz and trip-hop shade this darkness. [Oct 2015, p.96]

The thrill-packed Mudflowers--as unlikely as it seems--will be high on 2015's American best-of lists. [Sep 2015, p.88]

At times feeling almost uncomfortably personal, i the main these indie-folk confessionals are kept just the right side of maudlin to make Barlow's exposed emotional workings a surprisingly engaging listen. [Oct 2015, p.96]

Hauff gives you the feeling that there's something very wrong, and leaves you to make up your own nasty stories. [Oct 2015, p.96]

[A] gloriously sensual record. [Sep 2015, p.93]

Another epically conceived record from a cult hero who should be slaying arenas. [Oct 2015, p.95]

Despite two years spent on its dense construction, Music Complete rarely feels stilted, though it could use a stricter edit.... Yet the compensatory highs go beyond expectations. [Oct 2015, p.89]

The guitarist has made the best and most honest of his outside raids, freshening his classicism with a hard stare at payback and mortality. [Oct 2015, p.91]

There are several instant classics here. [Oct 2015, p.94]

By and large, as per its title, Yours, Dreamily is a downtempo treat, tailor-made for sundazed summer evening drives with the window down. [Sep 2015, p.87]

Doomed to the shadows of Flying Nun's more famed exponents, this box set should finally rehabilitate the band. [Sep 2015, p.103]

This time nuance embellishments lend greater power and depth. [Oct 2015, p.90]

There's a synergy and rapport in the set's dozen tracks that reveals how deeply the new band has gelled with Mayall. [Oct 2015, p.88]

No nonsense also means no frills and Stereophonics still follow the white line straight down the middle, doggedly relying on songs rather than production dazzle or image to see them through. [Oct 2015, p.96]

Esteemed Cologne unit corrals a trans-global selection of the dancefloor's most revered. [Sep 2015, p.95]

All lovely throwbacks have an instant familiarity. [Oct 2015, p.93]

Affecting, uplifting, damned catchy. [Oct 2015, p.94]

While Riddick doesn't boast the vocal chops of his heroes, telling interventions from Q-Tip, Leon Sylvers III and The Doggfather himself flesh out his questing intergalactic creations with charm to spare. [Oct 2015, p.89]

Their mellowest ever high. [Oct 2015, p.92]

This fourth album takes then back to the headlong kitchen-sink pop of their excellent 2009 debut Jewellery. [Oct 2015, p.95]

Low have made one of the most impressive albums of their career and it still feels like their best work is ahead of them rather than stuck back in the past. [Oct 2015, p.92]

A solid collection of angst anthems. [Oct 2015, p.98]

Few recent debuts have felt quite so enjoyable. [Sep 2015, p.94]

Paper Gods feels like a Duran Duran-shaped helium balloon, impressive, shiny, but oddly empty inside. [Oct 2015, p.96]

This is easily Battles' best album to date, the one you've always hoped they would make. [Oct 2015, p.95]

A record of disarming directness. [Oct 2015, p.89]

With a playing time of just 29 minutes, this feels more like a holding exercise than a fully-fledged long-playing statement. [Oct 2015, p.88]

They may occasionally press autopilot but the unexpected sound of Blythe singing for the first time ever on Overlord proves their willingness to suppress a few decibels for the sake of progress. It suits them. [Oct 2015, p.90]

This largely autobiographical follow-up uses Guy's musician friends more wisely. [Oct 2015, p.91]

The whole album unfolds at a pace somewhere between stately and glacial. [Oct 2015, p.93]

Some structural confusion aside, it's easy to embrace his Johnny-Flynn-does-indie songs. [Oct 2015, p.98]

10 well-crafted, progressive rock tracks that transcend schlock-rock trappings. [Oct 2015, p.98]