If you know what's good for you, however, you'll drink the whole album in, because intelligently constructed and musically thrilling records like this are a rare, rare find.

Perhaps it's a problem with sequencing, as no doubt some of the acoustically driven material that The Vines compose is glorious, but it always sits difficultly alongside the heavier, angrier stuff that they are better at writing, and more at home playing. It's a problem that has manifested itself on every album, and is more than evident on Melodia.

It's hard to deny the fresh, eclectic sounds of Walls or the sheer beauty in the closing sounds of Volcano, but overall, if this is any indication, Danger Mouse's productions are losing their novelty, and Beck remains at an uneven point in his career.

While at times ¿Cómo Te Llama? might feel as though it's fallen through a timewarp from the late 60s/early 70s, it's not afraid to jump around within this, from raw garage rock to deeper, darker blues.

The balancing act that any group has to perform in successive albums remains askew here. In trying to bring outside influences into their specific sound, Ratatat have gained an appreciation for novel sounds, even if they don't fit in well.

I'm not going to pretend I know anything about dance, and the experts out there might be thinking this album features the 'tune' of the summer, but for a former Simian fan, this is nothing but a huge disappointment.

Described as bittersweet feel-good music, The Stoop does pop music with a capital P--in wolf's clothing.

They create a mood and atmosphere that's certainly unique, but one in which very few songs stand out, despite some fine moments.

It's a passable enough indie guitar album, but this is a genre that requires shaking up by a truly revolutionary record. This, unfortunately, isn't that record.

It's the big numbers, when Hegarty steps up to the microphone, that reveal Hercules And Love Affair as a project that captures not only the full range of moods on a night out on the tiles, but also the full range of human emotions from the start of a night to its end.

There's a confidence obvious throughout that suggests Sparro will build on what is a strutting debut, even if at the moment he's a big voice with too many small songs to sing.

Overall though, this is another wondrous album from a band at the height of their considerable powers.

This is what could be termed a healthy dose of parent-friendly hip hop, though now and again it threatens to spoil its reputation as it comes close to one of those dreadful ‘friend chip' adverts.

Sure it's self-indulgent, but sometimes indulgence is no bad thing, and that is certainly the case here.

Lookout Sea paradoxically Silver Jews' most complex and most accessible work to date. Better yet, it improves with each listen, as more and more nuances and links are revealed.

While this doesn't quite hit the heady heights of "A Rush Of Blood To The Heads," it's a huge improvement on the beiger than beige "X&Y," and if their next album (apparently featuring a Kylie Minogue duet!) continues this trajectory, we could have something pretty special on our hands.

Where it hits the mark, One Of The Boys is sparky and accomplished--though entirely disposable--pop.

In contrast to the potty-mouthed numbers that precede it, the song's ['Heartbeats'] starry-eyed optimism is contagious and solidifies Tilly & the Wall's status as an indie band with dance-floor aspirations.

Richly melodic and beautifully performed, A Piece Of What You Need deserves to be a big commercial hit.

The confidence of a band that took over a year to record the album is notable, and theirs is an assured voice.

It may not be particuarly original or challenging, but there's enough positive signs here to bode extremely well for the future. The sound of 2008? And beyond, we'd imagine.

There are certainly highlights but not enough good songs to give the album a big impact overall.

So Tim Burgess still has attitude, the kind we saw on One To Another but one that doesn't surface all that often in Charlatans songs.

Yet by the time the final notes of the acoustic closer I Wish I Were Here have faded away, then you're more than convinced that this is yet another triumph for the Wainwright family.

Evil Urges represents the creative peak of a band that has shown glimpses of greatness in the past and will hopefully continue to evolve in the future.

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.

They've produced a solid second album that is sure to succeed for them as long as they can maintain a good level of exposure.

Joan Wasser has shown herself to be an assured torch singer and original artist. To Survive is a challenge at times, but ultimately rewarding.

No new ground broken. No glo-stick/daft haircut stabs at credibility. Some old haunts revisited. Shameless? Perhaps. Anyone else doing a similar musical pot pourri to such goofed-out, quality chill? No. as the good Dr described it, this is simply a follow-on from their biggest album UFOrb, which was a timeless classic.

In short, the album is great but you do wish these bands could learn to dress better.

Exotic Creatures of the Deep is a substantial, if inconsistent treat. Even when they're treading water Sparks still cut it better than most bands half their age.

Even the moments when Harcourt just falls short are infinitely more interesting than most people's failures.

Snark aside, it's a shame that aside from a couple of notable exceptions, the album title is just about right.

While this probably won't go down as Adem's greatest work (he's too talented a songwriter in his own right for that to happen), it makes for a nice curio.

It is, amazingly, surprisingly, spectacularly, their best record yet.

The softness of Helen Marnie's voice against the rocky, stark landscape of Velocifero gives Ladytron its edge (something that doesn't work as well with the two tracks sung by Miro Aroyo in her Bulgarian tongue), but overall, it's never really enough.

The Red Album brings forward everything they do best, with hooks aplenty, emotive and funny lyrics, all washed down with the odd frisson of self doubt. It's a potent mix, and keeps them a step ahead once again.

A stunning debut then, and one that will make Fleet Foxes one of the most sought after bands of the year.

Rooks is a hugely self-assured and often compelling album, which looks outside of the world of modern man for inspiration, and in most cases, finds it in spades.

It's not a bad record, but by The Zutons' own extremely high standards, it's a disappointment.

Though it adds no innovation to the genre, Lay It Down's tried-and-true approach should appease longtime soul fans

Some may listen to Songs From A&E and dub Jason Pierce a one-trick pony. Which may be true, but what a trick he's managed to perfect.

Undoubtedly it's a very effective dance record, and in a club everything here would sound great. As an album, though, HEALTH//DISCO is encumbered by the very tracks that have birthed it.

The record could perhaps do with more of these vocal interjections, as it's packed with mostly instrumental grooves. However what there is comes extremely well layered and with a careful structure, well thought through but also retaining the potential for improvisation and a chance to cut loose.

What impresses most of all about this album, however, is the accomplishment and confidence with which it's constructed, and the economical way Merziger and Kammermeier make use of the huge array of colours and sounds at their disposal.

The Lucky Ones is unlikely to garner any new fans for Mudhoney, which is a shame because this is one of the best albums of their career.

Arm's Way is a masterful and intricate offering progressing from their debut to create a new vision mixing a banquet of sounds and tempos to create an accomplished peace of musical craftsmanship.

Autobiographical, hopeful, working through different genres, one can't help but feel that if she had stretched herself while remaining focused just on quality dance-pop that the record would have been fantastic and not such a sad sunset on the legendary Summer.

Lie Down In The Light is the sound of a musician at ease, quietly and calming experimenting with his sound and subsequently coming up with his finest work to date.

Gedge and Albini is a match made in heaven, and El Rey is an excellent follow-up to one of their finest works together.

For a debut album it's remarkably consistent and confident, and promises great things to come for the future.

None of it stops you longing after the energy and charm of their debut.

More than anything else, there's a sense of contentment and pleasure that purveys the Things Of The Past that could have been lifted from the Summer of Love itself.

There's a distance to their music, as if they're floating away on the horizon, just out of reach. It's worth savouring them that way.

This sense of being aware of our own impending death leading to a heightened sense of life sums up perfectly The Airing of Grievances, an album that bemoans the past, shrugs it's shoulders and raises a glass to the future.

Eloquent, glamorous, spirited and now more sonically innovative than ever, the quintet have affirmed their place as one of Britain's most exciting bands with this release.

It's remarkable that what started as a drunken joke between two musicians in their early 20s can sound so polished and professional.

The result is sublime, lost somewhere between a 3.00am Ibiza beach party, the Royal Festival Hall and the best soundtracked bedroom in the whole damn world.

With songs that face the pain and torment of neurotic fears, John & Jehn have crafted an absolutely stunning album of beautiful and noisy sounds placed atop slow, steady tempos and invigorating dance beats alike.

Their seeming insanity only adds to the magic.

Compared to the admittedly prodigious vocals of Duffy and Adele, this feels like the real deal.

Yet far from being miserable, this is a record substantially more alive than its eponymous predecessor.

So while a cautious welcome is given to this near-flawless interpretation of soul music, it is done with the observation that another record of such polish will be ultimately empty, and more than a little disappointing.

Robyn has assured her contemporaries that pop life does not end as a tweenie, that pop music can be for adults, and that adults can be Do It Yourself indie artists, so long as one thing is in place: talent.

Overall, Hard Candy lacks subtlety and is overworked and overproduced.

You could equally say the album was allowed to peak too soon, but either way let it take nothing from the fact that this is a refreshing and extremely promising debut effort.

Even with an unfocused album like The Colourful Life as a debut, Cajun Dance Party are doing much, much better than some of their young contemporaries (Miley Cyrus and The Jonas Brothers Band, for staters) in terms of crafting genuine, soulful art.

The Seldom Seen Kid keeps the band on this upward trajectory.

After six years away this pasty Americana comes as a big disappointment.

It manages to stay true to the band's short-form indie excitement whilst also revealing further virtues well into repeat spins.

In short this is a album that you put on for instant and disposable thrills.

A real mixed bag, then--M83 still show plenty of guile and in their best moments present music of hidden power and grace.

It will no doubt be the soundtrack of the summer for many people, but the lack of originality, warmth and soul may well leave some feeling rather underwhelmed.

They asked, so we'll tell. Does it offend me? No. Does it bore me? Yes.

With material as good as this, we can bear to do without Pixies for a while yet.

They do make thoroughly exciting music that becomes quickly airborne, able to move the listener to a different plane with disarming ease.

It doesn't match its predecessor but it's a banquet of sound well worth feasting on.

Far from being a band at a crossroads, as might have been implicated around the release of "Funf," they reaffirm themselves here as one of our unsung independent music gems.

Fans of him and the band will love the intimacy and relish the chance to hear him without all the trimmings, but for everyone else, it would be wise to take him with the excess before going without.

His continually entertaining and tuneful approach should pick up many more fans over the summer, and those that found their way in through tracks such as 'Eany Meany' won't be in a hurry to up sticks either.

In Ghost Colours finds the band brimming with confidence, delivering their catchy choruses and synthesizer hooks with a conviction that's difficult to resist, staying true throughout to a groove that fits in with early house music.

The result is fun, easily listenable, entertaining and good material for weddings, 40th birthday parties and, for those of you who weren't there the first time round, any '80s theme party you might want to hold.

An album of murky depth, of seductive charms and no end of style.

This is perhaps not the classic Definitely Maybe has become, but with their army of live followers accumulated since Christmas, combined with that ready made clear charisma and cocky confidence--if anyone can revive Manchester, it is the Courteeners.

X is more filler than killer.

Their debut album is a riotous cacophony of perfectly sculpted indie boisterousness.

Overall this is an unpretentious and varied album of rave stompers, hands-up disco and sedate moments of beguiling ambience that combine to form probably his best and most cohesive album since "Play."

On Accelerate R.E.M. sound like men less than half their age, ripping through 11 songs in a mere 35 minutes that contains great chunks of just about everything that made them the biggest band in world back in the 1990s.

There are admittedly a few throwaway one minute efforts dotted around the tracklist such as the piano and melodica-tinkle-tinged Thank You Very Much and The Oasis, but luckily the highlights far outweigh them.

This might be a ride through familiar territory but The Proclaimers specialise in steadfast song writing and this is sure to satisfy their legions of fans.

There may be nothing on here Funplex that will challenge the likes of Rock Lobster or Love Shack, but Funplex is a consistently brilliant party album from a band that knows the value in simply having a good time.

Considered as a whole, or even as two self-serving parts, Saturday Nights And Sunday Mornings is so generic and unenlightening that you will probably not remember hearing it within an hour or so.

White's second fling with The Raconteurs is quite the party, and perhaps one that may leave Meg a bit jealous.

While there could have been an effort to eliminate some of the canned percussive elements and other recording anomalies, Elf Power have crafted a wonderful album, filled with plenty of catchy hooks and interesting musical ideas based on simple progressions.

So-so is, sadly, exactly the problem with a lot of the rest of the album, which veers from ho-hum to shoulder-shrugging acceptance without any real sense of originality or development.

Twenty One is an excellent album replete with brilliant, clean, original production and instantly memorable songs.

There's not one duff moment during the album's 50 minutes - it's pop music to be treasured, loved and listened to for years to come.

They've managed to inject 15 punk songs with youthful energy and just enough variety to keep things interesting, crafting a goofy, yet determined record.