Pierce's lyrics remain largely opaque, and the atypically lumpen Warm Hand In Narnia sounds unsettlingly like Snow Patrol, but to cavil feels churlish when elsewhere such vivacious invention pervades. [May 2013, p.86]

Impossible Truth is an unusually articulate trip. [May 2013, p.85]

Seb Rochford's drumming gives songs such as Kouma an unavoidably non-traditional kick, and the guitars (primarily by the singer herself) have a crunch missing from her early recordings. [May 2013, p.85]

Surprises include End Of Night, nicely brutish electro-pop where Dido's automaton vocal really works; funked-up raga/calypso Love To Blame; and Sitting On The Roof Of The World.... Otherwise, Musak coming soon to a changing room near you. [May 2013, p.88]

He's boosted by a heart-and-soul R&B ensemble, but every hard-earned wrinkle on that still fierce visage remains in working order. [May 2013, p.90]

This colourful fruit ain't rotting yet. [May 2013, p.90]

Song titles like Soothe My Soul and The Child Inside suggest phoned-in conventionality, but there are edgy moments here. [May 2013, p.85]

Vanishing Point might be the best of this bunch, the group's B-movie R&B leaner and lairier than ever. [May 2013, p.86]

His quiet, reasoning delivery works beautifully, and reminds one of the singer's instinctive ability to transform a song. [May 2013, p.91]

Ignoring the meek opener Looking For A Fight and any rote lyrics, the instantly likable Outta My Mind and Dead in Your Head are a master class in girl group jangle pop. [May 2013, p.95]

A tremendous (and timely) distraction from the bad news from the desert this year. [May 2013, p.85]

While synth stomp Full Of Fire circles the (twisted) dancefloor, the bias is for brave, immersive, and high-risk music. [May 2013, p.88]

Even when he's so amiably out-of-focus, Vile's melodies remain vivid, his wanders never self-indulgent. [May 2013, p.86]

It captures their two sides--songs are either rousing with crashing guitars, swirling atmospheres and arresting climaxes or empyrean, indie introspective ballads. [May 2013, p.88]

Night Cafe, The Future Will Be Silent and the earworm that is Dresden might just be some of their best ever pieces. [May 2013, p.90]

It feels like a reaction to the concise, clear-headed It's Blitz; wild-eyed hoopla, in that spontaneous, occasionally brilliant, occasionally patchy kind of way. [May 2013, p.90]

One of their most consistently impressive releases. [May 2013, p.90]

You can fully imagine The Leisure Society penning another hart-rendering minor classic sooner or later. But for the moment, the waiting must go on. [May 2013, p.88]

The resulting sings--beautifully built around guitar, piano, drums and strings--are as their psycho-geography would suggest, intimate autobiographies, about ruined relationships. [May 2013, p.88]

[Wayne Coyne's] prolix tendencies have been stripped down into sombre considerations of lust, mortality and universal chaos. [May 2013, p.87]

With one million sales, the French quartet can be forgiven for not messing with the formula here. [May 2013, p.86]

Sam Beam has made a commercial record by the simple expedient of making a beautiful one. [May 2013, p.84]

He understands the value of restraint, his meticulously assembled songs slowly giving up their secrets rather than tipping everything out at once. [May 2013, p.82]

Taylor's beseeching voice and invigorating take on gospel is sincere and moving. [May 2013, p.96]

As ever, McClure's everyman persona is the hook that draws you in. [Jul 2012, p.85]

Head Down sounds highly-charged and fresh. [Dec 2012, p.84]

A clear-voiced statement of pop intent. [Apr 2013, p.97]

They are a fuller-sounding group in 2013. [Apr 2013, p.91]

Lapalux has joined the ranks of contemporary electronica's finest, like Flo Lo himself. [Apr 2013, p.95]

[Brian Chippendale] returns for more overcharged neon-Morricone industrial pop onslaughts, drums and vocals hooked up to his evil super-oscillator. [Apr 2013, p.89]

This extended family Sunn))))/Boris supergroup opt for cross-referenced influences. [Apr 2013, p.98]

Simon's songwriting ability is unquestionable, and the similarity with his father's voice is hard to ignore, but his quest to re-imagine Elliot Smith's XO too often gets in the way. [Apr 2013, p.86]

In short, a bafflingly sequenced and rather unlovable record. [Apr 2013, p.91]

An album for anybody who likes rock music to sound angry about something. [Mar 2013, p.89]

He still sings very much from the heart, though, and the result is altogether awesome. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Miami's best tracks remain (twisted) dancefloor friendly. [Apr 2013, p.95]

It feels hemmed in by its own musical limitations. [Apr 2013, p.94]

These fine-spun talents are too frequently suffocated by the album;s production, which ignores the songs' subtler details in favour of something more epic. [Apr 2013, p.89]

It's core is stop-start, angular digital transmissions entwined with acoustic piano and smokey analogue-synth interludes. [Apr 2013, p.95]

This is a galvanising return. [Apr 2013, p.96]

At best the new songs are bright, '70s soulful confections but too much will give you toothache. [Apr 2013, p.98]

Though Old Sock ultimately feels somewhat stop-gap, it genre-hops beautifully, Clapton and friends reliably able. [Apr 2013, p.86]

New stuff for him every bit, from pain to process, and consequently unprecedented in his previous work is the sweet melancholy measure of his voice. His songwriting, too, emerges liberated, lyrics forged, melodies flowing. [Apr 2013, p.86]

It's difficult to tell how much post-production has been done and how much the record truly reflects Marie's artistic vision. Even so, it's a good listen. [Apr 2013, p.90]

Unbalanced and unrelenting, it's a fascinating album, if difficult to enjoy. [Apr 2013, p.90]

Steve Mason's second album under his own name is more melancholy meander than Molotov Cocktail. [Apr 2013, p.95]

It's more showbiz than authentic, being knee-deep in the kind of epic balladry that wouldn't be out of place at Eurovision. [Apr 2013, p.91]

A hell of a production. [Apr 2013, p.87]

Possibly an album for Boz's benefit more than anyone else's. [Apr 2013, p.91]

The Electric Word now reveals the Reverend brothers Gean and Tommie West's vocal gospel-soul power utterly undiminished by time. [Apr 2013, p.96]

A mixed bag. [Apr 2013, p.96]

Some have been admirable attempts to anthologise the best of his post-Experience work. others are more dubious. This latest set falls somewhere between the two. [Apr 2013, p.105]

Wilson's Raven can sound magpie-like--with jazz-rock joining the classical prog references--but tunes as lovely as Drive Home or the slow-burning title track remind you that he has a vision that's all his own. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Truly cinematic and imbued with humour and pathos, popcorn not included. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Rocky bests every beat thrown at him. [Apr 2013, p.94]

There are plenty of twisty turns, and more than a dollop of cynicism and cheek, to ensure that this latest comeback earns its rightful place in the CVB canon. [Apr 2013, p.90]

Whitley's is an unconventional neo-soul debut. [Apr 2013, p.98]

Piano and guitars soar vertiginously; lyrics are bittersweet or pleasingly surreal. [Apr 2013, p.98]

Agreeably retro psych-pop from New Zealand. [Apr 2013, p.98]

Folky, fragile songs and others built on washes of guitar effects. [Apr 2013, p.98]

Graffiti on the Train may be a conduit to pastures new, but it's two steps forward, one step back. [Apr 2013, p.96]

Love From London once again shows his ability to reconcile the sheer peculiar wonder of being alive. [Apr 2013, p.96]

The balming glow of the Sparhawks' sunray-through-clouds harmonies, their surfeit of haunting, enigmatic melodies, makes immersion in The Invisible Way's melancholia a sublime pleasure. [Apr 2013, p.96]

150 minutes of challenging, organic electronica. [Apr 2013, p.95]

Devotees of J Dilla and Flying Lotus in particular should investigate. [Apr 2013, p.95]

Les Revenants is more about establishing a complex, unsettling atmosphere than slashing Bernard Herrmann-esque quiet/loud dynamics. [Apr 2013, p.90]

It's one of those records where less is most definitely more. [Apr 2013, p.90]

They produced 11 perfect songs defined by sweet, honeyed vocals and spiritual uplift. [Apr 2013, p. 90]

Less a big splash, more fascinating ripples on a pond. [Apr 2013, p.89]

[Singer MJ's] reverb-drenched vocals keep his lyrics veiled, but the reckless energy of two-chord Spaceman-3 like rock-outs such as Preservation and Away/Towards suggests a most electrifying catharsis is in process. [Apr 2013, p.89]

A substantial and richly evocative work. [Apr 2013, p.89]

180 is filled with such a sense of unyielding joie de vivre and spirit that you can't help but be seduced by its unfettered feel. [Apr 2013, p.88]

Producer Hal Willner has dug deep to improve on [the original Rogue's Gallery] and reckons he has a happier collection as a result. [Apr 2013, p.88]

Chelsea Light Moving's sound and fury certainly thrill. [Apr 2013, p.88]

[The songs] are among the most immediate he's recorded. [Apr 2013, p.88]

Happy or sad, these are fine songs. [Apr 2013, p.88]

An audibly irked record.... Girl Talk has balls and tunes. [Apr 2013, p.88]

Pale Green Ghosts is both novel and familiar. [Apr 2013, p.86]

The Next Day [is] Bowie's most impassioned and convincing work in decades. [Apr 2013, p.84]

A brace of curiously tuneful, bluesy-psych pop songs. [Apr 2013, p.98]

The odd over ethereal moment notwithstanding, the remainder of the album proves equally alluring. [Jan 2013, p.90]

Writing in a different meter results in parts of Sudden Elevation becoming more linear, less abstract than predecessor Innundir Skinni. [Mar 2013, p.89]

There's a peculiar tension in the way the stripped down electronic and acoustic percussion and Shemie's reverby incantations work together. [Mar 2013, p.89]

Foxx reaches pensionable age in 2013, but the creative fires still burn white hot. [Mar 2013, p.90]

An eclectic gem that namechecks Malcolm Gladwell's social psychological musing as an influence. [Feb 2013, p.91]

Lucinda Williams has labelled Regan "his generation's answer to Bob Dylan," and on this evidence, that doesn't feel like hyperbole. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Overall Anthems is a gutsy carer swerve from Carter who proves himself capable of crooning with swagger. [Mar 2013, p.94]

Long Island is alive and involving, creating a world of its own. [Mar 2013, p.87]

The music could overwhelm lesser singers but Lidell's astonishing vocals carry it off with remarkable elan. [Mar 2013, p.90]

A logical next step then, which stays the right side of MOR. [Mar 2013, p.96]

If you're the kind of listener who has come to associate outtakes from classic albums with meagre, dryly forensic spoils, prepare to be very pleasantly surprised by Disc 3.... Rumours reminds us why we should continue to indulge them. [Mar 2013, p.100]

There's no question that it's his most appealing work for ages, but still one wishes that the chilly spark on title track and Hey Little Bruiser could have been sustained throughout. [Mar 2013, p.94]

Be Your Own King is somewhat hobbled, though, by a flat, dense production from The Do's Dan Levy. [Mar 2013, p.89]

A blurred landscape of muffled beats warped tape and corroded ambiance that suggests club land euphoria. [Feb 2013, p.93]

The 13 numbers they've chosen are sung with respect and restraint. And beautifully. [Mar 2013, p.96]

The music's one-dimensional emotional range is the Achilles heels of an otherwise gracefully dextrous affair. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Although this change of surroundings gives the album an uneven feel, the charm of Gideon's Art Brut-like spoken-word missives is ever present, as is their sense of Dadist fun. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Inc. have taken pop-R'n'B out of the cynical genre tourism and into somewhere far more interesting. [Mar 2013, p.94]