Golden Animals do a remarkably impressive job of conjuring up just the kind of image they set out to do: floppy hatted, Afghan-coated drop outs singin' blue-eyed Blues as the acid gradually seeps out of their veins and into the foothills of the mesa.

Perhaps one of the telling strengths of LAX is that despite all star guest appearances from the likes of Ludacris, Travis Barker, Nas and the aforementioned Ice Cube it is very much The Game's album.

The pedigree of the singles can't be disputed, and they both hit the bullseye--the trouble being that the nine tracks that follow are too often found on the outer reaches of the board.

With songs that are inspiringly teeming with originality and ideas, Courtcase 2000 is as exciting and mind expanding a record as any this year.

As things stand, a lot of people are going to fall in love with this new young talent, and her ambitious and creative debut. But Lykke Li is likely to stay a cult curiosity for now.

Write off Jaguar Love at your peril; this is one of the best albums of the year so far.

Merging the sounds of space rock with an element of trance and a smattering of early Velvet Underground experimentation, the group ends up with an enticing album that holds a fresh mix of sounds.

Lindstrøm manages to achieve a palatable yet ambitious record without ever resorting to indulgence, not forgetting in his view of large forms to look closer and focus on the minutiae.

What impresses most is the flowing musicality, the invention, the subtlety of many of the effects.

Her songs are similarly sparse and fragile, with some astonishingly mature lyrics framed by beautifully pretty melodies.

The music they weave always, without fail, stays just the right side of pretentious, playing with past conventions and current trends, showing how clever they are without showing off.

The memorable melodies expressed by Chadwick, drive Eyes Wide and Accidental Anarchist passionately along, and album closer Fight Or Flight is undoubtedly a gem in the rough of an otherwise largely underwhelming effort.

So, the jury is still out on Conor Oberst. His loyal fans will be slightly puzzled by the easy going roll of the music but rewarded by several choice lyrical nuggets, while his critics will point out that Dylan had already released Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde On Blonde before recording John Wesley Harding.

So while they aren't 'middle of the road' yet, their rumble needs to find a direction of their own before finding their speed limit.

Commercial considerations aside, this is a finely crafted and lovingly realised album that Halstead should be proud of, and which deserves to finds its way into more homes than the usual coterie of 4AD fans.

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.

The later half is really rather spectacularly ace, in an unexpectedly grandiose way.

Pay no attention to the hype--after all, it didn't do Vampire Weekend any harm--and sit back and listen to one of the most purely enjoyable albums of this year.

Donkey is not the greatest thing since the peanut Kit-Kat, yet there's some indie-tastic fun with a hint of electro punk, a bit like The Gossip but swapping the Ditto scream for Lovefoxxx's sultry, breathily seductive whisper.

Canning's voice is not the strongest--indeed, it often stays buried deep down within the mix--but if you're a fan of Broken Social Scene, you'll know that it's atmosphere that's all important. Which is something that Something For All Of Us has in spades.

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.