Ancestral Star finds Barn Owl alchemising those touchstones into new sonic vistas evoking either nocturnal desert chill or fathomless cosmic expanse. [Dec 2010, p.97]

Marnie Stern is a strong statement from a musician whose confidence is soaring. [Dec 2010, p.97]

Not Music can feel a little like trying to solve a series of Sudoko puzzles, the brain fully engaged but the heart untaxed. [Dec 2010, p.97]

Small Black are more convincing when they move into sharper focus. [Dec 2010, p.96]

Although this is never less than excellent fun, the originals are still the best. [Dec 2010,. p.96]

For a band feeling they had painted themselves into a corner, this is them sodding the consequences and stomping their way out. [Dec 2010, p.96]

There is no nostalgia about Living Proof. [Dec 2010, p.96]

His tried and trusted writing formula sometimes irritate--about being mistaken for Willie Nelson, about an amateur-sung cover version of Heaven that scored 16 million YouTube hits--are winningly self-effacing and chucklesome. [Dec 2010, p.96

An exciting, evocative album. [Dec 2010, p.94]

It's searingly sincere, earnestly aching stuff, but when The Thermals hit the melodic bullseye, yours will be the next heart that breaks. [Dec 2010, p.94]

Despite some uneven quality control, here's proof that this veteran MC still has things to say. [Dec 2010, p.94]

Lyrically, the pair stitch together vaguely gothic turns of phrase, yet devoid of any emotional insight or narrative point. [Dec 2010, p.95]

Blurry Blue Mountain is as idiosyncratic and left-handed as ever, pregnant with moments of mercurial magic. [Dec 2010, p.104]

The resulting album is an impressive country-soul-meets pop hybrid, with Pritchard's powerful honey-toned vocals framed by some deft and sometimes dramatic production touches from White. [Nov 2010, p.108]

Ghostly lullabies from the Birmingham, Alabama two. [Jan. 2011, p. 105]

It's when Duffy and co stop trying so hard that the album fairs best. [Jan. 2011, p. 100]

This 18-song miscellany reminds us that talent loves the company of talent, one-off duets with Ray Charles and Dolly Parton underlining Jones's seemingly effortless ascent to premier league status. [Jan. 2011, p. 97]

A third Rick Rubin-produced album -- cover versions but the comeback continues. [Jan. 2011, p. 97]

It's Green's pitch-perfect delivery, his ability to switch from sublimely giddy pop joy to earnest moments of heartache and convince utterly in both instances, that make The Lady Killer a treasure. [Jan. 2011, p. 96]

Overall Tron: Legacy is but faint clanging, drowned out by rent-a-string-section romanticism; like sad robots banging on a sound-stage door. [Jan. 2011, p. 95]

Wonky beats and shimmering twisted tech melodies. [Nov. 2010, p. 109]

His throaty, gnarled vocals--best showcased on the meandering, Dilla-esque Cloudlight--lend his music a gothic mood. [Nov 2010, p.109]

The "sonically exploratory" nature of Hurley occasionally serves Weezer's boredom threshold better than it does the songs. [Nov 2010, p.103]

Much of the album's charm lies in its simplicity, often paring back the instrumentation to focus upon the group's strongest elements. [Nov 2010, p.96]

On tracks such as The Day That The Earth Stalled and The Resist Stance, frontman and sometimes professor palaeontology Greg Graffin's folkish lilt and incisive anti-capitalist lyrics ensure Bad Religion never become cartoonish, while guitarist and label owner Brett Gureqitz's frenzied soloing reminds that after 30 years Bad Religion still strive to show those bands who are half their age--and twice as wealthy--how it is really done. [Nov 2010, p.110]

From the title track's monolithic defiance down, this one's an out-of-the-blue, anti-establishment classic. [Nov. 2010, p. 106]

It might be another album indebted to the '80s, but the sound of discovery has seldom been such fun as is. [Nov 2010, p.107]

Wyatt has a knack of making happy song sound melancholic, but conversely brings some wry levity to the lovelorn ennui of jazz standard. [Nov 2001, p.103]