The songs dive off in unexpected directions, but remain linear. [Nov 2012, p.87]

The Aftermath is wild and explorative, its appeal lying in the sprawling ideas and yearning vocals. [Nov 2012, p.103]

A short, dynamic return to form is similarly earwrenching. [Nov 2012, p.95]

A dense, fervent, riffy drums and electric-guitar driven album. [Nov 2012, p.95]

It doesn't help that the album features a glut of dull mid-tempos. [Nov 2012, p.95]

It makes a terrific album, stronger than Interpol's last two, with enough detail in the arrangement to separate Banks and his day job. [Nov 2012, p.95]

Sonically ambitious it may be, but it's consistently accessible. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Most important is the pure joy of these tracks and how instantly likeable they are. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Easy on the ear yet never sugary, full and layered yet never stodgy, intricately assembled yet never fussy, pulsing with a Ringo beat yet never monotonous. [Nov 2012, p.91]

There is improvement in the songwriting....But halfway through you might well weary at the album's unrelenting, full-bodied tone. [Nov 2012, p.91]

Glad Rag Doll breaks intriguing new ground for a hitherto smooth operator. [Nov 2012, p.90]

Even in Beth's comfort zone, her acoustic band, produced by Tucker Martine, enrich some beguiling songs, with not a dud among them. [Nov 2012, p.90]

The sound of a band re-energised, La Futura is possibly the hard rock album of the year. [Nov 2012, p.88]

Blessed with impeccable musical bone structure, nearly everything suits them. [Nov 2012, p.88]

Some of the 11 songs have a rich band sound with strings and strong piano, and others a spare contemplative tone. [Nov 2012, p.88]

Quite literally, a dream album. [Nov 2012, p.88]

Muse and David Campbell's melodramatic arrangements occasionally raise a smile, but if you like your rock symphonic and your vocals histrionic, The 2nd Law delivers. [Nov 2012, p.87]

Other artists covered include Gnarls Barkley, Tom Waits and Neil Young, but this is Bettye's record, these are her songs now. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Ndegeocello doesn't opt for straight covers, adding a fresh, and sometimes unexpected, twist on a 14-track collection that mostly reconfigures Simone's most famous songs. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Silver Age is the most consistently exciting record he's made since Sugar's Copper Blue. [Nov 2012, p.86]

The album follows a North American folk linage from Jean Ritchie and Hedy West through to the present, via the chugging, churning electronic (folk) rock of The Velvet Underground, all the time infused with a joyous communal warmth. [Nov 2012, p.85]

As an experiment in revisionism, the results are mixed. [Nov 2012, p.85]

Possibly it's the glorious touch of melodic grandiosity forming the heart of Don't Mess With Latexas that supplies the most climatic moment to remember amid this remarkable, kaleidoscopic offering. [Nov 2012, p.84]

In sonic terms, it's considerably more aspirational than even last year's Sun And Shade, allowing Earl's take on various ages of American song-craft to snap into sharper focus. [Nov 2012, p.84]

The increasingly frequent transitions between the finger picking subtlety of old to such newfound rockage are, however, simply too jarring for satisfactory listening. [Nov 2012, p.84]

The teen delivers poetic social realism. [Nov 2012, p.90]

Snaith's upward trajectory shows little evidence of slowing. [Nov 2012, p.87]

Department of Disappearance won't surprise or disappoint anyone who loves its 2009 predecessor Yours, Truly, The Commuter. [Nov 2012, p.86]