Challengers ultimately proves to be the group's finest hour. [Sep 2007, p.112]

This band brings a grubby beauty to a sound imbued with the insidious durability of the Buckingham-Nicks Fleetwood Mac. [Sep 2007, p.105]

Andorra arrives in reverberant, sun-drenched spumes of falsetto vocals, crunching guitars, pulsating drums, jingling sleigh bells and fluttering flutes. [Sep 2007, p.109]

Ear Drum confirms Kweli's position as an icon. [Oct 2007, p.106]

Three decades on, the Mekons are a veritable institution, but as Natural proves they're a still-evolving and effective one. [Sep 2007, p.105]

HIs essential charm flows through raise-a-glass choruses tinged with melancholy. [Oct 2007, p.91]

The superb Ditherer belies its title with head-on immediacy even if it giddily ignores the confines of triangular rock. [Sep 2007, p.108]

John B Sheff's wavering, sometimes overwrought, vocal takes getting used to, but it's worth it for songs like these. [Mar 2008, p.108]

Molina devotes will yearn to bask in this full bloom of Magnolia. [Oct 2007, p.91]

The Pretties turn in a brand new album of mostly original material recorded the righteous way on analogue gear, displaying considerably more energy and invention than most what's around today. [Nov 2007, p.108]

Just a quick read of the titles on this 12th album shows Chuck has lost none of his sloganeering, rebal-rousing wit. [Oct 2007, p.106]

They have emerged with identity still intact, marrying melodic '60s songwriting to Doorsian melodrama and garage rock mentality. [sEP 2007, P.110]

Prince's 26th album will be remembered more for its method of distribution--a reactionary tabloid's covermount CD--than for being tighter and more tuneful than 2004's "Musicology" and last year's "3121." [Sep 2007, p.113]

The Con rockets beyond even their own high standards. [Mar 2008, p.103]

This would be a strong set if they culled three tracks, shortened a few others and rearranged the sequencing. As it is, this record suffers from a distinct mid-album crisis. [Dec 2006, p.103]

The result is an unusual and likeable mix of country rock, rockabilly and excellent ballads. [Nov 2007, p.102]

He sometimes gets it right: the rare restraint of Positively 4th Street and Gates Of Eden hints at the fine album this might have been had Ferry and co given us more Dylan and less esque. [Apr 2007, p.108]

This is a shape-shifting beast, its classic pop sensibilities leavened with occasional samples or stretched into epic, groove-based jams. [Apr 2007, p.96]

Flute and horn fight for breath alongside swampy vocals, and a heavy-handed rock bombast doesn't hide a dearth of hooks or memorable pop melody. [Sep 2007, p.110]

A coffee table record. [Jun 2007, p.114]

The Long Blondes sound pleasingly frayed around the edges. [Dec 2006, p.118]

An eerily oneiric album of light, space and silence. [Jun 2007, p.100]

After a few spins its beautifully arranged songs get scratched into your soul. [Jun 2007, p.100]

Mirrored explodes with twisting grooves and obtuse angles. [Jun 2007, p.102]

Connoisseurs of punk's darker corners and post-punk's experimental extremes will have their socks rocked off, totally. [Apr 2007, p.108]

Like [Brian Wilson's] Smile, it extends the language of pop, setting a fearsome standard for anyone equal to the challenge of matching his limitless invention. [Jun 2007, p.98]

Many longtime listeners... are sure to be disappointed with the radio-friendly production and sheer innocuousness of [the] lyrics. [Jun 2007, p.104]

The tunes dry up alarmingly. [Jun 2007, p.108]

Volta bristles with life. [Jun 2007, p.102]

The results are urgent, direct yet cerebral, drawing on some familiar touchstones. [May 2007, p.114]

Everybody ultimately suffers from a dearth of catchy melodies. [Jun 2007, p.112]

[Their] first [album] to sound authentically beaten up. [Jun 2007, p.101]

Existing fans are well served. [Jun 2007, p.112]

A lot of artists are creatively bankrupt by their third album. But being still only 23, you suspect Patrick Wolf is just coming into his own. [Mar 2007, p.99]

Here's a concept Tori: less is more. [Jun 2007, p.108]

Baby 81 finds a band evolving past expectations into a newly intriguing proposition. [Jun 2007, p.101]

Beyond is the better-produced natural successor to 1987's epochal You're Living All Over Me. [May 2007, p.104]

It's definitely in the family tradition. [Oct 2006, p.112]

The music... still has the from-odd-angles of Smog records, but now there's exquisite light amid the shade. [Jun 2007, p.114]

Although the album is marred by its over-consistent tone, almost any one of these songs taken in isolation--played of the closing credits of The Sopranos, say--would rightfully be hailed as a lost classic. [May 2007, p.118]

This is unmistakeably the Arctics, only stronger, harder, sharper, faster.... An extraordinary and fulfilling sequel to their debut. [May 2007, p.100]

Full of regret, hard-won wisdom and DIY pop artistry, No Need To Be Downhearted transcends bog-standard indie to build a world of sophisticated melody and ingenious arrangements. [May 2007, p.112]

An album that can only add to her legend. [May 2007, p.112]

Best of all is Sleep Together: like Radiohead playing Kashmir, and brilliantly led by former Japan keyboard player Richard Barbieri. Yes, prog lives--and Porcupine Tree are its leading players. [July 2007]

There's a sense of going too far, of antic hilarity tipping into something more revealing. [Apr 2007, p.104]

Cassadaga is an album to warm souls, rally minds and break hearts in equal measure. [May 2007, p.110]

The sound might be spacier and more panoramic, but there's still some grit in the mix. [May 2007, p.110]

Seduces with a mixture of whimsical beauty and compelling mystery. [Jun 2007, p.101]

Their music has a heavier gait, like a cross between a crazed Triffids and a stroppier Bad Seeds. [Oct 2006, p.102]

He sounds fresher than in years. [Dec 2006, p.108]

Because Of The Times burns with all the invention and ambition that seemed to have been sucked out of its predecessor. [May 2007, p.108]

It's conceived, written and designed for the loud appreciation of sweat-drenched pill-poppers at a 'nitespot' nowhere near you. And as such, it succeeds in magnificently silly style. [Feb 2007, p.100]

An energised splicing of riff, declamation and technology that sounds like a thrilling synthesis of 2003's The Real New Fall LP and 2005's Fall Heads Roll, delivered with the highest levels of vigour for some time. [Feb 2007, p.92]

An album full of jukebox hits. [Mar 2007, p.98]

Strangelet's not so much odd as unusually good. [May 2007, p.102]

This remains at its essence an album of beguiling, rain-splashed intimacy. [May 2007, p.106]

The influences here are smart, the music smarter. [Feb 2007, p.100]

His lyrics don't always match his ambition. [Apr 2007, p.108]

A little too relaxed for its own good. [Apr 2007, p.108]

A fantastic consolidation of everything good about LCD. [Apr 2007, p.108]

A winner. [May 2007, p.106]

A record that sounds like absolutely no one else on the planet. [May 2007, p.102]

A big-tableau statement that combines his musical and ideological passions. [May 2007, p.106]

Overall, the album might not surpass his masterpiece The Mysterious Production Of Eggs, but Armchair Apocrypha proves Bird's knack for the musical hat-trick. [May 2007, p.102]

El-P's portentous delivery lacks poetics. [May 2007, p.110]

The ballads bewitch, reminding us that Tracey is one of the unique British voices, up there with Dusty. [Apr 2007, p.100]

[Introducing] contains her best songs and most relaxed, assured performances. [May 2007, p.112]

Its predominantly midtempo, cleverly crafted pop-Americana sounds even more substantial. [Apr 2007, p.97]

Immediately and huantingly familiar, it circumvents pastiche courtesy of a mischievous cut'n'paste aesthetic. [Feb 2008, p.108]

12 knockout tunes soaked in feedback and melody. [Apr 2007, p.96]

In a crowded space, The Rakes have a place to call their own. [Apr 2007, p.96]

[It] burns with pop ambition. [Feb 2007, p.105]

Winehouse remains one of modern music's most original voices and is now emerging as arguably the finest soul singer of her generation. [Nov 2006, p.116]

Memory Man comes at you with a hesitant rush, portraying bespectacled, nice Mr. Hales as an improbably suburban Jeff Buckley--no glamour, all passion. [Oct 2007, p.94]

The record comes on like a sweaty, amphetamine-fuelled rehearsal room bash that went extraordinarily well. [Oct 2006, p.102]

It's a reversal of the usual wild and weird direction of extra-curricular albums: it's more commercial than Room On Fire! [Nov 2006, p.112]

You're left feeling less !!! than ??? [Apr 2007, p.102]

It's impeccably stylish, idiosyncratic stuff, as ever, but is a little more heart too much to ask for? [Apr 2007, p.108]

Here lies much of the album's magic: whatever ornate turns the music takes, at its heart is the primal stuff of great rock'n'roll. But God, is it big. [Apr 2007, p.94]

On paper, it looks so wide-ranging as to be in danger of coming out gloopy and overdone; as it turns out, Rhys glues everything together with a crisp sense of confidence. [Feb 2007, p.98]

These 12 tunes pack an almighty sonic punch. [Apr 2007, p.96]

Full of curios and cameos, My Name Is Buddy falls short of masterpiece but is dense with wonderful music. [Apr 2007, p.100]

Sadly, there's little to propel them to radio ubiquity or challenge the Britrock big hitters, but then, maybe, that's the whole point. [Mar 2007, p.95]

Perfectly conceived and executed, the album is a beautiful collection of mood music. [May 2007, p.112]

This is possibly the most optimistic album about depression ever made. [Mar 2007, p.98]

Explosions In The Sky are true masters of their craft. [Apr 2007, p.102]

No vintage-gear replicator, he's modern-sounding, fresh, fun--a genuine contender for 2007. [Mar 2007, p.105]

Sex Change continues their move away from arena bombast towards streamlined Euro grooves. [Mar 2007, p.103]

Ooz[es] between queasy fantasy and distorted reality. [Mar 2007, p.105]

Vividly of-the-moment, rich in melody and wry optimism. [Mar 2007, p.104]

It's not perfect--you want it to shift up a gear occasionally, or to try different approaches, but the songs are all stuffed with daffy musicality and charm. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Most [tracks] are brilliant. [Apr 2007, p.97]

The result is 31 minutes of constantly surprising music, more absorbing and less conventional than anything on their self-titled 2005 debut. [Feb 2007, p.102]

The album's substantial rewards lie in the unorthodox rhythms of drummer Matt Tong. [Mar 2007, p.102]

An evocative set of instrumentals, rich in texture and gentle, melancholic beauty. [May 2007, p.103]

[It] sees their "spooky American music" get creepier still. [Apr 2007, p.97]

What if Lou Reed and Moe Tucker joined forces with the Danielson Family? [Mar 2007, p.104]

What Yes, I'm A Witch proves, above all else, is that the world is at last catching up with Ono. [Mar 2007, p.92]