Given the backdrop to Joan Wasser's second album was her mother's passing to cancer, it's unsurprising that To Survive also packs a soporific sadness that can be draining despite our hostess's artistry. [July 2008, p.110]

Like other recent albums, this is not consistent enough to be classic Wilson but her voice still regularly seduces. [July 2008, p.109]

He calls his style 'slavishly copying,' we know it better as sweet soul. [July 2008, p.108]

A psych-folk bent for harmonic discord and atmospheric dread finds something forever sinister lodged at the album's heart: the kind of beauty that makes sailors run aground. [Dec 2008, p.102]

Marvellous. [Jul 2006, p.106]

The singles--'Fruit Machine,' 'Great DJ' amd the electro Krautrock of 'That's Not My Name'--are supported by the equally impressive 'Shut Up and Let Me Go' and closing title track, all bouncing beats, shiny samples and an invigorating knack for a pop tune. {june 2008, p.109]

Impressively, he makes it all his own--at times it feels like the songs might have been written by, or for, him. [June 2008, p.115]

Their third album is a confident return with staccato guitar/vocal interplay re-infused with wit and mechanical melodies. [June 2008, p.106]

Velocifero is comparable to pop at its best--travelling straight to the brain's pleasure centres but taking a strange tantalising cargo with it. [July 2008, p.110]

The Rick Rubin and Jacknife Lee-produced follow-up to 2005's "Make Believe," finds Cuomo precariously balanced btween amused/amusing self-obsessed and de facto narcissism. [July 2008, p.110]

Smilers is a masterpiece from a songwriter who's quietly chronicling the blanched last days of a sunshine empire. [July 2008, p.112]

The sense of wonder in Fleet Foxes' songs is matched only by the discipline and talent that created this adventurous, evocative record. One which is already shaping up as an album of the year. [July 2008, p.98]

A dash more melodic brio wouldn't have gone amis, but its muted charms gather cumulatively nonetheless. [May 2008, p.109]

The 10 songs here complements mainman Creston Spiers' whisper-to-howl vocals with startling dynamic shifts. [Sep 2008, p.106]

Howver uncool, these la's will have loads more hits in '08. [July 2008, p.104]

From the gentle fire of the first, and title track, this is Green in the role of Love Man and in very fine form. [July 2008, p.100]

Sadly A&E neither draws on personal crisis or the intimacy of "Acoustic Mainlines" [June 2008, p.106]

Certainly, for anyone dosed up on post-Sisters black-attired rockisms, these Alabamans are a pulse-racing godsend. [Jan. 2008, p.110]

Those Libertines comparisons are a distant memory on Emergency, an album that ditches any tentativeness felt on last year's "Wait For Me," the band and producer Stephen Street going for Yorkshire-patented, Kaiser Chief-sized choruses, and Arctic Monkeys' kitchen-sink philosophising in the verses. [June 2008, p.102]

A musical sub-genre rebooted. [May 2009, p.104]

Much of this album's re-booting of Waits' back pages in an ambient '80s style is fussy and forgettable. [June 2008, p.112]

Mudhoney celebrate 20 years of mucus-crusted punk hootenannies with a raw restatement of basic priciples. [June 2008, p.113]

'Easy Does It' is pleasant and clever rather than emotive and memorable, like so much of this album. [Aug 2008, p.114]

No "George Best," perhaps, but a rugged, well-meaning Paul Scholes of a record nonetheless. [July 2008, p.100]

While there's some decent garage-punk dirt in 'Roughshod,' and lengthier tracks like 'Free Kitten on the Mountain' and Monster Eye' both briefly echo the menancing screwl of Magik Markers and early Sonic Youth, there's little here that really pushes the envelope much beyond an awkward and mildly abrasive collection of indie rock off-cuts. [July 2008, p.102]

Sometimes Duffy tries just that little too hard to capture the sound of soul music's glorious past. [Apr 2008, p.102]

We Are Scientists now sound less like a band you might have seen on a bill with Bloc Party. [Apr 2008, p.112]

If the imagery on this album is often solemn--ice, looming meteorological disaster, remote canyons--it isn't melodramtically so. [June 2008, p.109]

They all bed down with perfunctory efficiency as the voaclly gifted, lyrically vague Mraz holds court with a nylon-string guitar. [Feb 2009, p.112]

As fans of the or two previous albums might expect, there's little on this covers collection that proves Vetiver's love of the three-minute pop format: the mood is instead tuned to the free-festival campfire and the misty morning meditation. [July 2008, p.111]

Undeniably grandiose as the Black Angels may be, the unrelenting darkness becomes too claustrophobic; even the Velvets sometimes let the sunshine in. [Aug 2008, p.113]

They've forged a sound that's ambitious and close to unique. [May 2008, p.109]

The Last Shadow Puppets is an extraordinary side project that's even more enticing than the mothership. [May 2008, p.100]

All the ingredients for another hit album are here. The only thing missing is soul. [Dec 2007, p.110]

The reinvention is thrilling to eavesdrop. [June 2008, p.106]

Supreme Balloon is an airy sphere of joyful electronic possibility. [June 2008, p.103]

Fans of dramatic Diamond are well taken care of here. But the real masterpieces are the opening and closing tracks. [June 2008, p.104]

The one constant is their ability to chill the nape hairs, which ultimately is all that matters. [Apr 2008]

The ultimate sugar hit: an occassional buzz but ultimately unsatisfying. [June 2008, p.103]

Shine justifies John Legend's signing of her to his Homeschool label and finding producers she could inspire. [Mar 2008, p.112]

Third shows Portishead in the tradition of, say, Fairpoint Convention as much as Massive Attack, and though it might not convert sceptics it is convincing, and occasionally thrilling, demonstration that the wilderness can be a great place to cook up new ideas. [May 2008, p.103]

What might sound like a depressing work of angsty indulgence is in fact an uplifting record of angular alt-folk. [June 2008, p.108]

His near facsimile approach to fond memory demands a revitalising new element and he hasn't got it. [May 2008, p.112]

Flowing with an easy energy, it's the last track on an album that shows Madonna still firmly on the dancefloor, but with her eyes now turning to the USA. [June 2008, p.106]

The whole record's buzzy, hat-wearingly trendy; but also irresistible, and almost boundlessly exciting. [July 2008, p.104]

The brooding 'Singing Man' and the euphorically optimistic 'Rising Up' underline that the best hip hop is about taking chances. [July 2008, p.100]

Smile finds them advancing that set melodic agenda and playful rearrangement of classic rock DNA. [June 2008, p.109]

The Evangelist is tinged with the voyeur's illicit thrill a Forster spies on his neighbours and loved ones, but these are slso some of the most direct songs he's written. [June 2008, p.114]

A true, if guilty pleasure. [june 2008, p.103]

The Mudcrutch reunion is a refreshing tweak to the comfy old Petty band chemistry. [July 2008, p.108]

He indulges in too many mudane romantic/spiritual invocations and vague geopolitical maunderings. [June 2008, p.112]

Although on occasion Simon verges on a tinkly supper club sound, these awkward moments are thankfully outweighed by her rich melodies and candid lyrics. [July 2008, p.101]

Imperial Wax Solvent is a swift two-finger rejoinder [to middle aged mellowing]. [June 2008, p.112]

By and large, though, Cajun serve up a smooth, folky breed of indie-rock, only rendered unlovely by Blumberg's histrionic yelping. [Jun 2008, p.103]

The bass-fuzz stomp and chain-gang holler of 'Grounds for Divorce' couldn't be more immediate, Guy Garvey refusing to let emotional intelligence blackball a decnt tune. [Apr 2008, p.106]

Mr. Love and Justice unvels a warmer, less blustry, more soulful Bragg. [Apr 2008, p.102]

Restless, relentless, righteous: this guru of the primeval groove is once more helming an exceptional rock'n'roll band. [July 2008, p.108]

The rolling melodies, stately pace and closed-miked, out of phase vocals result in an off-kilter whole, tempered by contributions from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. [July 2008, p.111]

In catharsis lies energy, and this, ultimately, is a very joyful, uplifting album. [Nov 2008, p.108]

All told, it sounds a bit like a band searching for a new direction, and while they don't always find it, it's a worthwhile endeavour either way. [June 2008, p.106]

Unobtrusive producer Tony Hoffer again extracts clarity while adroitly leaving the sense of a happpy mess. [May 2008 p.112]

The sneeringly portrentious title and tracks called'Being Bad Feels Pretty Good' or Epic Last Song' would be forgivable--japes, even--if there were a sense of bona fide abandon bubbling beneath the synth squelches, vocoder-shrouded vocals and obligatory cowbell bashing. [Apr 2008, p.114]

A stopgap while The Gossip work on new material, this album is nonetheless worth the price of a hand-stamp. [May 2008, p.102]

A definate contender when those Best of the Year polls gets underway. [Aug 2008, p.105]

The fourteenth Bad Seeds record is willfully untidy and, at times, pretty chaotic. It also rocks like crazy. [Apr 2008, p.104]

Here are 13 reasons why we don't need another Pixies record. [Apr 2008, p.101]

Antidotes feels like riding a tea-tray down an icy mountainside. [Apr 2008, p.106]

A crash, bang, wallop delivery, plus an organic fuzz, like stubble against a microphone, colour 'Headshock' and 'Le Ruse,' but smart arrangements and Josh Grier's slackjawed, cryptic confessionals tap into something beyond blokey bluster. [June 2008, p.106]

It's the kind of inimitably throbbing slice of neo-psychedelic unease they've knocked out with biennial constancy since 1999's Internal Wrangler. [May 2008, p.109]

A fun day out only slightly marred by clinical execution that lacks the emotional tug that lovers of this vintage seek. [May 2008, p.102]

The best songs here more than compensate for the near misses. [May 2008, p.112]

Sampling Serge Gainsbourg's quivering strings for 'Sensitized,' however, only serves to highlight the album's lack of truly knee-wobbling moments. [Dec 2007, p.98]

At it's best, it's a picaresque, altered-states voyage through old school hip-hop, black-leather electro and techno menace; elsewhere it's as invigorating as trying to get served at a bar. [Apr 2008, p.101]

Danger Mouse asked the pair to write songs for Ike Turner and ended up producing the best album of their career so far. [May 2008, p.111]

It really does seem that a decade-long period of interbal artistic crisis has been resolved, beautifully, even triumphantly. [Apr 2008, p.98]

The quartet's grandeur evokes Maiden and Priest with a hint of Thin Lizzy, yet they avoid European power metal's widdly overkill. [May 2008, p.109]

This third Sun il Moon album demonstrates Kozelek spinning luminescent textural webs on original compositions which, like the ravishing 'Moorestown,' rank among his very finest.

Highly politicised, yet leavened with deft vocal harmony and potent melodies, the album drips with passion and thoughtfully targeted ire. [Oct 2007, p. 90]

As feisty good-time rock goes, the Stones get good and gone and its worth every penny for the duet with Buddy Guy on Muddy Waters' 'Champagne and Reffer' alone. [May 2008, p.103]

Kate Pierson and Cindy Wilson's endless calls for us to party hearty sound like nothing less than Shampoo's sozzled grans on a hen night, Fred Schneider's ironic lounge lizard is just creepy, and the same old tuned guitars spar against the same old Barbarella beats. [Apr 2008, p.102]

Frontman Brendan Urie has a knack for jaunty pop but Pretty Odd is too clinical and calculated for one so young. [May 2008, p.102]

It's not a bad album, just not that distinctive. [May 2008, p.111]

Efrim Menuck's off-key wail remains an acquired taste, but there's undeniable collective commitment. [Apr 2008, p.112]

The formula makes for a kick-ass sound, one which you can imagine rocking a festival tent to its foundations, and yet uncomfortable echoes of Lenny Kravitz keep reappearing. [Dec 2007, p.108]

The Jets sound cohesive and settled but losing their saucer-eyed charm can't help but make them a less mesmerising alternative to the competition. [Apr 2008, p.114]

Sometimes there's a danger that comes with being too damn clever, namely that the melodies at the heart of songs can suffer or a feeling of too much fiddling around. [Apr 2008, p.104]

A second album every bit as upbeat, funny and furious as their eponymous 2006 debut. [Apr 2008, p.105]

New Puritans sound best when living up to that Fall-derived name. [Feb 2008, p.113]

The Kills sound and feel like no other band--nocturnal, wayout, untouchable. [Apr 2008, p.100]

Street Horrrsing is a six-track, 50-minute melange of iridescent synths, psychedelic drone, distorted vocals and tribal rhythm, peaking with the deftly layered counter-melodies and blissed -out propulsion of epic single 'Bright Tomorrow.' [Mar 2008, p.113]

Surface and feeling, Neon Neon dream the life with boundless imagination. [May 2008, p.108]

With producer Danger Mouse's nuanced psychedelic rock and soul backdrops, scintillating pop music with substance results. [May 2008, p.103]

What she shows via sweetly understated arrangements, are beautifully simple love songs delivered with a summer-scented voice that echoes Karen Carpenter one minute, Linda Ronstadt or Peggy Lee the next. [Aug 2008, p.102]

The benchmark for 2008's best electronic record has been set. [July 2008, p.102]

Green writes with a compulsive frequency, like an office joker cracking funnies. And after 20 of his songs, the appeal wanes in not dissimilar fashion. [Apr 2008, p.114]

It's top quality stuff. [May 2008, p.106]

Infectious, propulsive, unselfconscious, The Dodos are good enough to keep such company [as Brian Eno or David Byrne]. [Aug 2008, p.106]

Wolf's sing-speak vocals are arresting. [May 2008, p.112]