The immediacy and bare-wire fizz suit his lyrical candour. [Oct 2014, p.96]

The restless thump of Out For The West stands out. [Oct 2014, p.96]

The album isn't defined by what is on the record but what's missing, and sometimes less is just, well, less. [Oct 2014, p.94]

A riotous union of scabrous '60s punk, resonant surf licks and grimy, narcotic song-craft. [Oct 2014, p.94]

If quality control on Sukierae sometimes sags amid the fecundity, all is forgotten when Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig of Brooklyn-based new lights Lucius help gild country-folk standouts Wait For Love and Nobody Dies Anymore with calm-yet-striking backing vocals. [Oct 2014, p.94]

There's much of Lawrence's beguiling attention to detail present here. [Oct 2014, p.94]

Things work best when the musical surroundings match their respective vocal style and they create something resembling the cinematic edge of Johnny Jewel's Chromatics. [Oct 2014, p.93]

This is a musical round-trip calculated to delight anyone who has previously enjoyed Can or Amon Duul's loose-limbed walks on the cod-tribal wild side--and enlighten anyone who hasn't. [Oct 2014, p.93]

Basement Jaxx's energy and vision appears to be undiminished. [Oct 2014, p.93]

Tricky may not be reinventing the wheel, but his focus is sharper than ever. [Oct 2014, p.93]

A more elemental approach to dance music. [Oct 2014, p.93]

[MC Taylor's] voice is a gorgeous, low-slung burr, his melodies are fireside-warm, his restless imagination follows the lineage of Southern literary giant Eudora Welty and the collective chops, overseen by long-time studio accomplice Scott Hirsch, are impeccable. [Oct 2014, p.92]

It's an even more pop-centric prism of West Coast folky radiance. [Oct 2014, p.92]

A great country music record. Nothing less. [Oct 2014, p.91]

It's a parade of warhorses and they sometimes ride a little wearily, but Winter pepped their steps by four-handed guitar shootouts with Eric Clapton on Don't Want No Woman and Ben Harper in Can't Hold Out. [Oct 2014, p.91]

Some are enchanting. [Oct 2014, p.90]

An Earth reborn, then. [Oct 2014, p.90]

For every two triumphs there's a setback like the overwrought glitchy electro Eat Rich, yet it's hard to deny the imagination that fuels these flights of fancy. [Oct 2014, p.90]

There are moments where the duo sounds unfortunately like Muse. Yet for the largest part, this collection of tightly wound, riff-oriented rock makes for an exciting debut. [Oct 2014, p.90]

The results are too eccentric and sprightly to squash the music's potential. [Oct 2014, p.89]

Listen throws a helluva lot at the wall, and not much sticks. [Oct 2014, p.89]

Overjoyed suggest not only Half Japanese's own past abut also the pre-Television, Richard Hell-overshadowed Neon Boys. [Oct 2014, p.89]

The sum total is unmistakably, and welcomingly, Interpol. [Oct 2014, p.89]

There's lyrical playfulness throughout. [Oct 2014, p.89]

There's a crystalline gorgeousness in the production, too, that takes it out of homage territory and into a rarefied league that most recently recalls The War On Drugs. [Oct 2014, p.88]

More spontaneity might have tempered this chill wind. [Oct 2014, p.87]

This is an exciting second act, tempered by the occasionally predictable moment. [Oct 2014, p.87]

Goddess weaves a captivating spell that many are certain to fall under. [Oct 2014, p.87]

A concise 10-song encapsulation of Kilgour's eternal virtues. [Oct 2014, p.87]

[Wand] deliver their heavy acid rock distortions with an Oxford-shirted campus naivety that lends their debut an added weird darkness. [Oct 2014, p.86]

With Lullaby his tricky metamorphosis from Golden God to dignified elder statesman is now complete, and the last stages of that transition make for a rewarding, often touching listen. [Oct 2014, p.84]

The result is their best and most thematically complete album since Achtung Baby. By turning towards their past, U2 have found their way back to the future. [Nov 2014, p.88]

Relic sounds like an album that could have been recorded in the last 50 years. [Aug 2014, p.89]

Trouble is they're embalmed within a high-gloss, synth-heavy production that sounds like '80s LA soft rock. [Sep 2014, p.98]

The permanence of adolescent earnestness hangs about the Young Adult novel-ish lyrics. [Jul 2014, p.92]

Although The Dew Lasts An Hour is a patchwork quilt of an album, it's so audaciously pulled off it's impossible not to grin and wonder why mainstream pop missed this trick 30 years ago. [Sep 2014, p.96]

With Ulrich Schnauss's ambient touches adding extra depth to the mix, it's the sound of a belated coming of age. [Sep 2014, p.96]

It ain't light listening but its emotions run deep. [Sep 2014, p.95]

Anyone with a dog-eared Thick As A brick or A Passion Play album will be familiar with the rich brew of prog, folk, metal and whimsy he has served here. [Jun 2014, p.95]

[A] stripped-down, beautifully stark and simple new album. [Sep 2014, p.96]

Clearly not a point of entry for the uninitiated, but all serious Wire-ologists need this. [Sep 2014, p.107]

English subjects his ghostly pastoral chorales and haunted organ tones to crashing interrogations of harmonic distortion, transforming old worlds of meditative calm into a new decaying landscape of soaring despair. [Sep 2014, p.91]

Hitchcock's own songs--especially Trouble In Your Blood and San Francisco Patrol--maintain the heartsick mood, drawing the corners of this record together into a beautifully measured whole. [Sep 2014, p.91]

Dry The River's contradictions result in an almost too-unified second release. [Sep 2014, p.98]

Only a dearth of melodic variations disappoints. [Sep 2014, p.93]

The result is an atmospheric sound, refined without losing its feisty, sometimes bitter vitality. [Sep 2014, p.98]

The bursts of industrial trash, though dexterous, feel superfluous. [Sep 2014, p.98]

He brings an easy empathy to these songs. [Sep 2014, p.96]

Jungle skillfully replicate the sexy patinas of their varied influence. [Sep 2014, p.94]

It's a more than worthy companion piece, with an unfinished, scrapbook feel that's far from unbecoming. [Sep 2014, p.94]

Restrained but emotionally compelling songs. [Sep 2014, p.93]

Jared Artaud and Brian MacFadyen pack a pummeling version of cultural vacancy, though they're a tad predictable. [Sep 2014, p.93]

While her David Lynch qualities remain, there's also something of the masochistic Lars Von Trier heroine in the resigned drowse of these songs. [Sep 2014, p.92]

There remains a mood off unease here, as if these transportive pop chants were also magic spells designed to awaken something ancient and terrible. [Sep 2014, p.90]

They are scarcely comparable to the original band versions with electric guitar blazing and in some cases Linda Thompson singing; but there's a certain magic in hearing these classics in such intimate form. [Sep 2014, p.88]

EX is a contemporary masterpiece. [Sep 2014, p.88]

Produced with Dave Fridmann and Joe Chiccarelli, the album benefits from the former's spacey soundscapes and the latter's commercial sensibility. [Sep 2014, p.96]

I'm Not Bossy, I'm The Boss is simply a remarkable collection of well-made songs. [Sep 2014, p.94]

It moves musical mountains with joyous funk, ecstatic hand-clappers, and fine redemption blues. [Sep 2014, p.95]

Charming and cherishable. [Sep 2014, p.94]

Gist Is feels like an urgent conversation,a record driven by compulsion; fortunately, tuning in to its internal dialogue is a pleasure. [Sep 2014, p.93]

LP1 is a hugely self-possessed debut, the work of an artist whose vision--not only her visual sense--is strong. [Sep 2014, p.89]

Get Hurt proves the balance between The Gaslight Anthem's Springsteenesque heroism and their punk fire is key to keeping them from tumbling into the trite. [Sep 2014, p.88]

In all, a deep treat almost on a par with Common's mid-'90s prime. [Sep 2014, p.88]

At its best, a healthily camp, good-spirited fusion on Abba and Blondie. [Sep 2014, p.98]

Alias perhaps lacks a truly killer song, a lightning rod to draw newbies in. [Sep 2014, p.94]

The concept here by Mac and co-producer/trombonist Sarah Morrow is terrific. [Sep 2014, p.88]

Musik, Die Schwer Zu Twerk's 30 minutes stand on their own despite nods to Flaming Lips' darker side and Linear Downfall's fascination with early King Crimson. [Sep 2014, p.91]

Dan and his cohorts craft an especially intimate and understated kind of English-born Americana that could easily hold its own in any late night session with the likes of Bill Callahan, Will Sheff or Tim Rutili. [Sep 2014, p.90]

Booker's unique sound is a taste worth acquiring. [Sep 2014, p.91]

This record [is] near the top of the band's bejewelled catalogue. [Sep 2014, p.92]

This is the sound of a big new beginning. [Sep 2014, p.92]

J's mature-era peak continues. [Sep 2014, p.90]

The album has a clear, organic sound. [Sep 2014, p.90]

Those attuned to the harsh aspects of existence, who despair at the forces shaping the world, won't find any answers as such, but Angels & Devils' blend of fever dreams and corporeal nightmare articulates the confusion beautifully and brutally. [Sep 2014, p.86]

With musical modes brilliantly elevated by his occasional producer David Mansfield, Wainwright nails the exigencies of old age through the medium of rockabilly, the quest for parking spaces in Manhattan via cabaret klezmer, and the gloating joys of i-ding a faithless girlfriend dead in a deep freeze with cheery Vaudeville sing0along. [Aug 2014, p.90]

Brace yourself. This album is more clinging than quicksand, it is uncompromising, transcendent voodoo. [Sep 2014, p.92]

Knitting it all together, Lustman pens some melodic vignettes of considerable beauty. [Aug 2014, p.91]

Fade-outs on six of the songs suggest a studio-jam approach that works well, but some of the best tracks are the ones that shirk blues idioms. [Aug 2014, p.90]

Hypnotic Eye mostly returns to their earliest days of razor-edged guitars and garage rock.... The listless You Get Me High and Burnt Out Town's clunky blues may let the side down, but it feels good to finally have the real Heartbreakers back. [Aug 2014, p.94]

The hefty production complements a moody selection of songs about bullying, Italian Soccer and1960s London. [Jul 2014, p.93]

Deftly delivered and heartfelt, a career high. [Jul 2014, p.95]

The feel is antique and wearily repetitive. Only the sexed up Wicked Way and the deft and tender Little Pixie, about her baby daughter, offer any light and shade. [Jul 2014, p.92]

Dinosaur Jr, Screaming Trees and GBV overlap on this Venn diagram of melodic powerpop. [Jul 2014, p.96]

Blue-eyed soul with a gritty bite. [Jul 2014, p.96]

[Miles Whittaker and Andy Stott] summon Northern Industrial music's ancient frequencies to produce a dense hypogeal noise. [Jul 2014, p.96]

Intelligent, pan-generation pop you won't mind taking your teenager to the O2 to see. [Jul 2014, p.96]

The most maligned period of his career, the 80s still served up the odd Dylan gem and 17 are re-ignited here. [Jul 2014, p.96]

A little loosening up might help those serotonin levels. [Jul 2014, p.96]

The overall effect is more organic and rock. [Jul 2014, p.94]

An album of alluring dignity and depth. [Jul 2014, p.93]

Wonderful. [Jul 2014, p.93]

File next to the Super Furries' Mwng as a landmark album for Welsh-language pop. [Jul 2014, p.93]

Punchy, seductive, surreal. [Jul 2014, p.92]

Love Frequency feels overly polished and not entirely convincing. [Jul 2014, p.91]

It sags a little mid-show, during the numerous elongated versions of 45:33, but epic, celebratory readings of Losing My Edge and Yeah (Crass Version) are not to be missed. [Jul 2014, p.90]

As the plot inexorably winds on to its tense denouement, the depth of tempest's storytelling ensures the album yields more with each further play. [Jul 2014, p.88]

This is Toumani's best work since 200o8's The Mande Variations. [Jul 2014, p.88]