It's reminiscent at times to what pal and label stablemate Will Oldham did on Bonnie "Prince" Billy Sings Greatest Palace Music.

The punkier title track stands out, as does the ferocious No Surrender, both featuring in their breakdowns the standout riffs from the album. But too much of the rest is lost in a barrage of blast beats, bluster, and bludgeon.

Witty and blessed with deftness Citizens! may well be, but we're still a bit bilious from our musical diet during the noughties to thoroughly appreciate it.

Beautifully produced it may be, but Two Vines is essentially an over polished collection of songs with less spontaneity in their composition.

Decidedly mixed results--but also, a sense of light at the end of the tunnel.

It is the penultimate songs that show some signs of invention.

Your Future Our Clutter is a tight, coherent, rock-out album--and it's great to see some discipline back in The Fall after years of scrappy offerings.

As usual the lyrics feel like they were written when stoned, but the music still shows creative engagement.

There’s not much on here that comes close in quality to either of Grant’s solo albums--like a fine wine, he’s become better and better as he’s aged. Yet there are some hints of his early promise on this compilation.

Fine Fascination is a very listenable debut.

The landscape has changed a lot since Gomez first broke down the door, announcing their arrival. This shouldn't take away from the fact that Whatever's On Your Mind is decent enough, as albums go, but you feel it's been preceded by too many slight returns to make new ground this time around.

She’s certainly an artist following her own vision: one which may sometimes grate, but is never less than intriguing.

Ultimately, Mothers feels like a stepping stone to bigger and better things for Swim Deep.

It’s hard to believe that The Strypes can make such an old-fashioned style of music cool for a younger generation but they give it their best shot in this fully committed album.

This album just doesn’t provide the musical support that he deserves.

Flying Wig is a record that it’s probably easier to appreciate than it is to completely fall for. While this probably isn’t a record for a newcomer to Devendra Banhart, long-term fans will appreciate the change in direction.

Numan’s consistency is also his biggest downfall. There’s simply no reason to listen to Intruder if you’ve heard any of the albums he’s released in the past decade, because it’s virtually identical to his previous works.

There's the sense that Wild Palms are a band who desperately want to create their own world but Until Spring never quite manages to draw you fully into its bubble.

Unfortunately, without much to grasp onto in terms of tunes, hooks or discernible lyrics CFCF can slink away into the territory of background music, albeit prettily and inoffensively.

It may not be entirely successful, but it could well be looked back on as the acorn from which a bigger tree grew.

While it hasn't got them to their destination, this album is a definite step in the right direction.

Stronger With Each Tear, as with most R&B albums, attempts to cover all bases and as such feels a little all over the place. Thankfully, there's enough here to cover the cracks that appear when she's taken out of her comfort zone, which, as much as it shows diversity, seems an odd place to want to leave when the results are often so spectacular.

Elephants On Acid is far from perfect, and at points its short tracks sound like sketches that could have been fleshed out more. But it is a worthy addition to their discography, and shows development of their signature sound.

Full credit should be given for bringing an extra dimension to the Erasure legacy, but World Be Gone makes for far from easy listening.

Ultimately, Inter only solidifies Obsidian as an album with independent parts that are quite inspired on their own but only form a seemingly infinitely confused whole.

No matter how careful and careworn Bry's immaculate vocal takes are, the band chug along with their muted guitar chords and thudding drums as if it were a mere run-through.

Endlessly is like many successors to huge-selling albums: the attempts to break with the artist's trademark sound are tentative, and the result is a record that hedges its bets to only limited success.

Closing track Happy Now even dares to pick up the pace and is a reminder how good Uchis can sound when she mixes things up a bit. A few more moments like this to break the homogeneity of Uchis’ songs next time around would be most welcome.

It's shallow but sweet, light-hearted pop indulgence, like the love child of Elton John and Jamiroquai auditioning for Simon Cowell.

Smalhans is simply another disappointing album from a producer who once seemed poised to become one of the more significant of his generation.

For someone as forward-thinking and experimental, playful and funny as King Krule, Man Alive! is just too dull of a work to celebrate.

As their sound comes into focus again, and their inflence is found to be more powerful than we first thought, there are mixed feelings on this latest Stereo MCs offering.

Lights is at times let down by this lack of variation.

There does seem something a bit rushed and unfinished about No No No though (which is ironic, given its long gestation period).

This is an album full of club bangers – anyone who prefers the ballads like Love Me Like You Do and How Long Will I Love You may be disappointed. Fans of decent dance-pop anthems though will be more than satisfied.

It’s a conflicting record, filled with swells and dry spells, but the forecast is generally clear in all directions.

Anyone who wants a nostalgia rush back to the Commotions days may be disappointed with On Pain, but for everyone else this is an effective indication of an artist steadily on his own path, and doing very well out of it.

For a man who was once so adept at innovation and seeking new creative paths much of Rave Age is a disappointment, the sound of a man content of tread over old ground.

They may never reach the heights of 20 years ago but England Is A Garden shows them to have reached a level of reliability, consistency and competence that many other bands would gladly take.

With a little less mess, and a little more hook, the band might find some truly zealous followers.

It’s a difficult one to love; most of these songs will drift out of your brain almost as soon as they enter.

Despite the occasional lapse into MOR sludge, this is mostly the sound of a band back on form.

Miami frustrates and falls well short in terms of capturing hearts as readily as it will minds.

Ultimately this is not the artistic disaster it could have been, for despite some uncertainties it is clear Peter Gabriel has plenty of original thoughts to add to these songs.

Plum does little to rock an established boat. Going forward, consistency is the key Widowspeak must aim for, because if you took their top moments from across all five albums then you would have an absolute classic on your hands. Plum needed a larger smattering of their best capabilities to warrant repeated listens.

There’s no real new ground being broken on Agora, but it does make a good entry point if you’ve not been acquainted with Gilberto’s music before.

Pissing Stars is by no means an easy listen but, if time is invested, amongst the heaviness and foreboding, rewards can be found. The world may be a bleak, troubling place at times, but Menuck continues to find salvation through his music.

They manage to create a hefty mass of synth'n'guitar led sound, while remaining friendly and accessible.

This New View is pleasant, but a little more of the old fire would be welcome.

You'd be well advised to beg, borrow or download a handful of tracks from The Resistance; but if you're planning to sit through the whole ponderous enterprise, you'll likely need a blister pack of paracetamol and a hell of a lot of patience.

Comparisons with Older are revealing, for Robbie sounds a bit world weary here at times, and the orchestrations are layered on thickly in an attempt to bring some brightness to the grey. Sometimes this works--with the electro swagger of Bodies a case in point--but other times the colour is a pasty, codeine white.

It’s unsubtle and it’s inconsistent, but Ultra Mono has an awkward frankness to it that isn’t entirely without charm.

Whilst it's unlikely to win over many new fans, it will certainly keep those who have been with the band so far content.

May not be groundbreaking, but it's a solid first album.

It only fails in that its broad pallete means when Mondo is good, it can be very good. When it fails to hit the mark however, it's pretty average fare.

More often than not, most of the songs feel like they're only 75% there; so close to really coalescing into something special.

A nice Christmas present for that hardcore Killers fan in your life, but most casual observers will be happy to give this a miss and wait for the third album.

Fever Dream won’t change the world, but it may seem like a slightly more comforting place as you listen.

This is a quiet, dignified record which, while maybe not being the most exciting album you'll hear all year, would make a cracking Christmas present for the more mature relative in your life.

The Bachelor sounds like another attempt by Wolf to perfect something that he got pretty much right on his first album.

Ultimately, this isn’t a classic Alice Cooper record by any means; it has a few good songs here and there, but nothing canonical. But, if the point is to document a bunch of old friends getting together and doing the thing that gave their lives meaning, and sounding like they’re having a blast, then it’s mission accomplished.

It's this flitting between moments of brilliance and sections of dainty sounding but ultimately rather tedious meandering that defines the album.

When it catches fire, as on Unholy, it sounds terrific but those moments are too few.

Amazingly, 14 years since their last studio album, the clock has been turned back and Big Country have produced an album on a par with some of their earlier work, probably surpassing 1988’s Peace In Our Time.

The Cat is back, albeit more of a moonshadow of his former self and lacking some purr and bite.

The 10 tracks on her debut are all lovingly crafted, but the languid atmosphere means that they sometimes drift into each other.

Some good moments then, but overall Funeral Party fail to keep the energy levels up.

It probably won’t lead to any sort of career revival, but you get the impression that Lloyd Cole’s perfectly happy just following his path and seeing where it leads at this stage.

It's unclear whether Pop Etc have branded themselves as an out and out dance pop band, or if they remain an alternative, slightly niche group, masquerading as a clichéd pop group.

Optical Delusion is messy, and it certainly doesn’t display the focus of the Hartnoll brothers’ career highlights, but you’re never more than five minutes away from a musically inspired moment.

Despite a few moments of middle-of-the-road excess, The House is a shockingly good album--that is, not actually amazingly good, but just shockingly by Katie Melua.

Half-baked lyrics detract from intelligent and well-executed backing, and as such the album fails to resonate with any of the force that it attempts to muster, despite the odd successful moment.

Point Of Go is a decent, albeit flawed, transition album.

Their fluctuating randomness trails away from scattered innovation and colourful variances in pitch and tone to become interchangeable noise. Without sufficiently varying their distinctive sound, they still serve a herbal tonic for the senses, even if there’s a decidedly bland aftertaste this time. Still, at least there are some nice vinyl options to put away on the shelf.

Turning The Mind represents something of a disappointment.

Napa Asylum graces us with moments of understated beauty, and when it's not terrifying us with bad trips, leaves a feeling of contentment and fuzzy warmth with the world. However, 22 tracks is gratuitous and excessive, and the repetitiveness inherent in some of the tracks shows that quantity, and not always quality, swayed the making of the final cut.

All This Life won’t win any album of the year awards, nor will it garner much critical praise, but how good it actually is comes as a surprise. It’s all too easy to knock the likes of Starsailor, but with the new album largely reflecting the sound of a rejuvenated band, let’s not write them off just yet.

For all the colour and flair apparent on Crazy Itch Radio, and despite some genuine gems... a reliance on production and arrangement where some more killer tunes would have worked more memorably is, perhaps, an indication that the Jaxx have, down the years, simply set the bar high.

For Dead Meadow this is growth of a kind, and it is certainly a move away from their old sound. Whether this is positive growth or not depends on what you want from the band, but as a soundtrack to getting well and truly caned, you can't go far wrong.

While the concept behind Lysandre works well on Owens’ first debut outing, there is always a nagging feeling of something missing throughout the record.

If Alanis lacks breadth in terms of her subject matter, and she does, she makes up for it in the rich variety of styles that have influenced each track.

When the Arctic Monkeys’ career comes to be reappraised, this album could be seen as an outlier, or the start of their next phase. It won’t be to everyone’s taste, but sometimes, dividing an audience is exactly what you need to do.

There may come a time when Crystal Antlers' potential coalesces into a great album, and will be greeted with true accolades, rather than a better-luck-next-time send off--unfortunately for us all, Two-Way Mirror is still pre-natal.

Dolly has invited you to her hoe-down, and it would be churlish to refuse. Just remember to leave your brain at the barn door.

As has frequently been the case with later Yo La Tengo albums, the surface appearance of this music is deceptively simple. Delve beneath it, and the artistry that has fuelled the group for three decades gradually reveals itself.

Unfortunately, overall the record is unable to match the consistency of its predecessor. That the trio started work on Friends without a label is certainly telling, as the overriding impression is one of a band in transition.

Ultimately, Rain is slightly too smooth to count as a complete success.

Danger In The Club exudes an appealing spontaneity but frustratingly the songwriting still seems a bit haphazard, with the lyrics in particular remaining underwhelming.

Black Pudding, like the foodstuff it’s named after, is more of an acquired taste.

Most of these ballads are in the middle of the album, which drags it down somewhat, so it’s a blessed relief when Pharrell returns to produce the excellent Runaway.

Philips is very much the band’s driving force. Her musical persona is a collage of punk-rock heroines and sliver-screen starlets. She has the rebelliousness of Kathleen Hanna with the lusty charm of Poison Ivy.

There are some encouraging if fleeting flickers of light and warmth here that hint there could be more to come in terms of musical development, but for now the group are little more than faithful revivalists of a niche subculture with limited appeal beyond those already converted.

Electronic Music Improvisations Vol. 1 does what it says on the tin, but transcends curio status through Miller and Jones’ unique musicality and verve.

Overall, Happy To You is a solid if unspectacular second effort, one that disperses moments of brilliance with the occasional filler track.

The only evidence we have is a middling album marking a new chapter in a diva's life that doesn't sound any cheerier than the chapters that went before.

It won't be a surprise with such an approach that The Body of Christ... has its weaker moments, but it almost seems to miss the point to care. Fight Like Apes delight in their own cackhanded methods, and the odd sloppy sample or laughable lyric are merely grist to their deliberately anarchic mill.

The desire is there for more of that visionary spirit--though the suspicion lingers that with everything just simply too available, Moroder no longer has the focus and inspiration that fired his finest work.

Actually You Can probably isn’t the best album to introduce the uninitiated to the delights of Deerhoof. By now, you very much know what you’re getting with them, and Actually You Can is another example of why they have such a strong cult following.