While it may not be 1995 any more, few listening will care when the nostalgia is this expertly crafted.

There’s nothing as immediate as Ixtapa or Tamacun here, but there’s plenty of well rounded paeans nonetheless, and you’re sure to find something to adore if you’re a fan of guitar music, Latin music or heavy metal.

The album is very cleanly produced, though at times it has an unfortunate tendency to become ignorable rather than interesting, Guidance and La Force De Melodie with LouLou Ghelichkhani being the chief offenders. However, the beat switch-up in the middle of Music To Make You Stagger--which turns it from a chilled dubby number to something approaching drum and bass--is very enjoyable, as are the chilly textures of Water Under The Bridge with frequent collaborator Natalia Clavier.

It’s atmospheric, after a fashion, but it feels overproduced and it’s often physically difficult to listen to.

Owen and Hobbs could have just rewritten their debut note for note, but instead they have chosen to take us on a journey that many of us know all too well. Here's waiting for the next instalment.

It's all surface no feeling.

There are too many tracks on here that seem unfinished in a way, content to noodle around for far too long without making too much of an impression.

Like Oberst, the strength of her songwriting sometimes overshadows the rather interesting things going on in terms of production.

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.

Unfairly or otherwise, Lights will be consumed by many with the weight of expectation hanging heavy around it. For the most part, the strength of the songwriting should keep the doubters at bay.

This isn’t a concept, or a wild divergence from his earlier work. Rather it’s a bigger push musically and collaboratively with less emphasis on the politics that have dominated his past.

Although the songs on – never really rise above a mild trot, there’s still some musical variety.

For Idlewild fans, especially of the older school, there is more than enough here to warrant a pilgrimage to your local record shop.

It is personal without actually being personal.

Whilst it might not reinvent the wheel, Vessels is a rewarding slice of indie rock with a pleasing amount of dark psycadelic twist.

Josh T Pearson’s latest experiments have made for his most uneven record yet, but among the less characterful songs, there’s still some of that old miserable magic to relish within the directness of it all. The Straight Hits! may not be his finest, but maybe the purge was a necessary one.

Let's hope they carry on with that form of expression, as Replica Sun Machine has created an early blast of summer sunshine--playful, majestic, reflective and content, all in the same record.

With much to enjoy on this collection that has preceded their goodbye it would be music's loss if this were to once again genuinely signal the end of this quirky, characterful band.

Aside from its undertone of paranoid desperation, however, the album is a largely by-the-numbers exercise and seems almost certain to quickly fall off the public consciousness.

If you're a fan of Burnett's sound or just plain curious you'll find this a welcome project that does exactly what it sets out to do.

It’s probably their most ambitious effort since Brain Thrust Mastery, delivering a sprawling and colourful collection of pop songs which are sure to leave a smile on your face.

A pretty decent record if by no means a great one. Shiny And So Bright, Vol 1 / LP: No Past. No Future. No Sun. neither offers the chance to dent Corgan’s ego or inflate it in any significant way.

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.

There's no personality here, nothing to cling on to and love.

There’s no doubting Middleton’s way with a skewed tune and a wry look at the world, but Summer Of ’13 is buried beneath the sheen of production that sits uneasily on his shoulders.

Cosmic Egg is the kind of album you'd quite happily pop on for the first part of a road trip while you're full of enthusiasm, but it'd quickly get changed at the first toilet stop.

This is a remarkable album in every sense.

With not a dot ball or an overthrow, The Duckworth Lewis Method is an unqualified success.