An achingly sharp comedy album then, but at 19 tracks it's to be admired rather than loved. [Jul 2009, p.92]

This is fresh music, making exciting shapes with primitive resources, and though some will find Longstreth's keening bleat and bravura deconstructions show-offy there are constant flowerings of devastating prettiness, and when all the singers blare in unison the beauty they summon is almost overwhelming. [Jul 2009, p.100]

Almost three decades into their journey, age has only emboldened them. [Jul 2009, p.99]

The result is Placebo's best album since 1998's magisterial "Without You I'm Nothing." [Jul 2009, p.97]

This is an album that demands careful attention before its meanings and musing reveal themselves, blending apocalyptic visions with occluded celebration. [Sep 2009, p.91]

The results so far, as on 2006's martial piledriver "Empire," have both been levitating and gut-level, as befits a group who count DJ Shadow's "Endtroducing" and Oasis's "Definitely Maybe" among their musical epiphanies. These same virtues are all over "West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum." [Jul 2009, p.93]

Oh My God, Charlie Darwin may well be the second best cabin-in-winter indie album ever made. [Jul 2009, p.96]

It's a creative fecund, primeval power. [Jul 2009, p.100]

The resulting album is, as expected, old school chest-beating man-size heavy rock. [Jul 2009, p.104]

The album has its moments, but you really couldn't call it the main event. [Jun 2009, p.99]

Costello has again hauled material from diverse regions of his writing life into a strangely cohesive cornucopia. [Jul 2009, p.96]

Although every other verse here is filled by paradiddles, polyrhythms and wilfully complex time signatures, DMB's ear for a tune at least provides us with some fine choruses. [Jul 2009, p.94]

Lean and timeless sounding, it's also as truthful as Everett's sobering autobiography, Things The Grandchildren Should Know. [Jun 2009, p.104]

The sound is excellent, especially considering the age and the state of technology of some of the recordings. The songs, too, are invariably excellent. [Jul 2009, p.111]

Rancid's strength is singer Tim Armstrong's touching depictions of the world; from his heritage on 'East Bay Night' to swimming through the devastation of hurricane-stricken New Orleans and on his brother's time in Iraq on the acoustic 'Civilain Ways.'

The going is initially uncertain, but by 'Turn It On,' space and size begin to shift and singer Alex Kapranos shimmers in and out of the mix. [Jul 2009, p.106]

All passable fare. [Jul 2009, p.92]

Grace only had 10 songs, and though it seems tiresome to sit through multiple live versions of 'So Real,' the title song, 'Hallelujah' et al, it's not. [Aug 2009, p.118]

If his lyrics do have merit Chabot obscures them with generic electro-riffs. [Aug 2009, p.98]

Awesome in scope and execution, it's an album that's ultimately easier to admire than it is to love. [Jun 2009, p.108]

There was potential for so much more. [Jun 2009, p.98]

The assured Eating Us proves that distractions aren't necessary. [Jul 2009, p.93]

Beautifully arranged, its four pieces amplifiy Sunn O)))'s signature drone rumble. [Jun 2009, p.96]

A real treasure. [Sep 2009, p.90]

What they bring to the table is a living, breathing sence of the organic. [June 2009, p.109]

The exuberance and delight in the newness and rightness of it all is captivating. [Jul 2009, p.107]

The Glass Bead Game sees him broadening his palette to even greater effect. [Aug 2009, p.96]

Not an easy listen, but a brave, bold debut. [Apr 2009, p.99]

And while White Rabbits' wild Americana and freaked folk makes for a varied and vivid sprawl of sounds, their knack for addictive melody and honed songcraft delivers a beguiling, coherent and memorable whole. [Feb 2010, p. 97]

Gone is the Fisher Price-redolent instrumentation and found--sounds, in their place something more measured and radio friendly. [Jun 2009, p.98]

Toriphiles will be delighted to find a generous 76 minutes of songstuff here but the less committed might never get past the veritable encyclopedia of tortured vocal affections that blight the stodgy opening track. [Jun 2009, p.102]

Much here stands in marked contrast to that lushly arranged benchmark ["The Shepherd's Dog"]. [Jul 2009, p.114]

The record's familarity is nourishing rather than revelatory. [Jun 2009, p.99]

Much of it is unreconstructedly rockist. [Jun 20009, p.102]

Over the course of a whole album their light-as-afeather mix of glacial keyboard, breathy vocals and mid-tempo time signatures begins to grate, and you wish producer Thom Monahan had made them take more risks. [Jun 2009, p.99]

His sometimes unkempt vocal performances can work better in the smaller doses of singles or cameos, but here, as on 2006's "The Big Bang," he sounds like he has made the album his metier. [Jul 2009, p.98]

The result is a brilliant modern singer-songwriter record, full of wit and musical variations. [May 2009, p.100]

Hard Islands is evolution. But some will hanker for Fake's fluffier vintage. [Jun 2009, p.102]

Armstrong's anti-establishment shtick has lost some of its impact. [Jun 2009, p.102]

The overall effect is more inline with how Townes made his early albums. [Jun 2009, p.96]

There are perky alt-pop nuggests aplenty here, so it's a shame the momentum can't be maintained. [Jun 2009, p.96]

Sewn Together is as winningly tuneful as it is raggedly charming. [Jul 2009, p.95]

Graham Coxon has left behind his early Jam-meets-Syd-meets-Billy Childish thrashings and his more petulant little-boy-lost vocals, and recorded an album seemingly inspired by Paul Weller's "22 Dreams." [Jun 2009, p.98]

Fabulous. [Jun 2009, p.98]

Its successor emanates a similarly yeasty authenticity, stretching songs into epic ballads, its acoustic guitars, bass and drums ornamented by a lattice of deftly plucked and strummed things. [May 2009, p.105]

Decamping to Mexico with a gang of musician friends and collaborating in songwriting as well as performance has made for Conor Oberst's most colourful, upbeat record so far. [Jun 2009, p.100]

The end result just about captures the riotous, magical bustle of their live shows, so seek it out. [Jun 2009, p.101]

The acoustic neo-folk ditties that made his name are deployed in the form of 'Faithfully Remain' and 'Skin Thin,' but the heavy side of Harper makes for a welcome detour. [Jun 2009, p.102]

Their second with this new line up comes up trumps again. [Jun 2009, p.104]

The Horrors are operating at a way more advanced level, dragging rock, feedback-drenched, electronic and electrifying, into a new decade. [Jun 2009, p.101]

This, then, is A-grade rock'n'roll--profound, damaged, brimming with wondrous dreams. [Jun 2009, p.104]

Roadsinger really does pick up where Cat Stevens left off back in the late '70s. [Jun 2009, p.103]

An antidote to pop bands masquerading as punk, this is the real deal--ugly, and utterly English. [Jun 2009, p.98]

Balf Quarry sees the duo swaggering through louche wah-wahed blues, no-wave barn burners and salty pop ditties, culminating in an eerily beautiful, piano-haunted fever dream. [May 2009, p.109]

Colonia has nothing like its predecessor's consistency of tone, but Persson strikes gold with two siren calls worthy of the last, desperate, doom-laden Abba albums. [Mar 2009, p.109]

Together Through Life is an album that gets its hooks in early and refuses to let go. [Jun 2009, p.94]

Whatever they're called, Sabbath still rule. [Jun 2009, p.99]

Gardot's torch ballads smoulder intensely. [Apr 2009, p.103]

It's hard not to be seduced by the pure enthusiasm the duo have for wailing feedback, white light/white heat and archaic teen rebellion. [Aug 2009, p.103]

This covers set is a fine entry-point. [Jul 2009, p.97]

San Fran stalwart John Dwyer continues to deliver quality goo goo muck with his subterranean garage-psych combo. [Aug 2009, p.104]

Music For The People is a record that brims with weighty ambition. [April 2009]

The opening tunes are strong, but in the later half mannered singing and pretentiousness bring back memories of the Thompson Twins. [Mar 2009, p.110]

It's the same PSB sound--huge electronic hooks wed to archly recited lyrics. The only difference is almost every track here is a potential hit. [Apr 2009, p.100]

Gruff Rhys returns from his sabbatical to release another crush of blissed-out psychedelia, crunching beats, sun-kissed harmonies and topsy-turvy rhythms. And what a blast it is, too. [May 2009, p.96]

Even where Sounds Of The Universe resembles a self-help manual, it does so with commanding tunes and a ring of truth. [May 2009, p.102]

The results may finally help them to escape the label of a light-hearted Fall with singer Eddie E. Smith. [Jun 2009, p.96]

Soul is only as good as its rhythm section and Drive-By Truckers are just not up to the job, obliterating subtle originals and OutKast and Tom Waits covers with bashing, crashing drums and plodding bass. A missed opportunity. [May 2009, p.97]

Her Dusty-meetsNancy tones glide as imperiously over violin-caressed opener 'French Navy' as on lustrous indie-country upgrade 'You Told A Lie,' reaching sublime lvels of heartache on the Spectoresque title track. [Jun 2009, p.109]

Jazz albums don't come much better. [May 2009, p.101]

This set stands out as Cleaves' most engaging release since "Broke Down" back in 2000. [Aug 2009, p.104]

Graceful and witty with 'Old Wounds' and mordant and terse in the spiky 'St. Albans,' while the sublime 'Mimi' reveals a storyteller's eye for nuance and character. [May 2009, p.102]

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is a record of grand hopes and epic imagery, and powerful, uplifting music--the most accomplished of his 20-year career. [Apr 2009, p.102]

This second album owes nothing to Kevin Shields and just about everything to the Smashing Pumpkins. [May 2009, p.69]

This, one, in its place [Pixies reunion], is fresh and really rather fab. [Mar 2009, p.106]

His third album, with its surprisingly upbeat title, makes good on the escalating promise of his previous releases. [May 2009, p.110]

The Future Will Come's title seems presciently loaded, its content primed for a mainstream meet'n'greet. [May 2009, p.108]

They're still at their best on offbeat musings. [May 2009, p.101]

The Canadian quartet have long proved their sidemen chops, and sound as good on honky tonk, back-porchers or country ballads. [May 2009, p.101]

This 77-minute abbreviation includes the 18-minute triptych 'Time Of Ye Life/Born For Nothing/Paranoid Arm Of Narcoleptic Empire, typifying CBP's simmering conflagration of Mogwai, Godspeed! and The God Machine. [May 2009, p.109]

Neilson's own reedy but elemental voice is the perfect foil to this, and the myriad musical ideas are nailed down by classic, disciplined songwriting. [May 2009, p.108]

While Two Suns almost inevitably finds Natasha Khan caught between the rock of artistic muse and the hard place of major label rockability, there's still invention and charisma enough here to keep both leftfield chin-stroker and ingenue fan onside for now. [Apr 2009, p.106]

This is mostly an album about England, about hearts beating wild and strong through wind whipped, rain-lashed, solace-in-introspection northern living. [May 2009, p.97]

Sov's downfall is the occasional repetitiveness on songs like 'Pennies,' where cyclical beats and lyrics begin to grate. [May 2009, p.96]

Nine of its 10 songs are around the three-minute mark and as solid and straightahead as the tank behind whose wheel they might've been written. [May 2009, p.98]

Mostly, though, the album plays to Mould's strengths. [May 2009, p.98]

From rowdy juke-joint jams to sunblushed cornfield ballads, these songs born of tough times. The latter provides the album's stand-out moments. [Jul 2009, p.100]

Their debut full-length more than makes good on the attention they've been receiving. [May 2009, p.103]

It's on those songs that strike a chord with Elliot personally that he's most convincing. [May 2009, p.103]

Repo is a brightly coloured series of aural non sequiturs, its lard-legged beat science peaking with distorted synth-funk jam 'Ultra Vomit Craze.' [May 2009, p.109]

The Jeff Buckleyesque epic 'Larkspur' and the desolately pretty 'It Hits Deeper' raise the bar for sensitive creatives everywhere. [May 2009, p.103]

Cumulatively, the combination of Ashworth's sub-Bill Callahan levels of vocal animation and the mid-paced songs with tolling chord changes can err towards the enervating rather than the enigmatic, but funkier beats and mellotron give White Jetta a lift. [Jun 2009, p.96]

The results are truly beguiling. [Jul 2009, p.104]

Everyday Demons ticks all the hard rock boxes. That there isn't a single orginal idea on display here doesn't actually matter. [Mar 2009, p.105]

It's Blitz! succeeds because YYYs have managed to mix the human and the electronic, the emotional and the artsy, the fashion-forward and the oddly retro. [May 2009, p.94]

After nearly two decades, this man and this woman still turn heads. [Apr 2009, p.100]

A surfeit of wilfully sibilant '80s keyboard sounds notwithstanding, there's little to dislike. [May 2009, p.103]

The result is fabulous, Ogerman framing Krall's sultry, languorous delivery with arrangements that are opulent yet don't swamp her voice. [Jul 2009, p.93]