Seeds is destined to grow and grow. Exhilarating stuff.

It's a rootsy album that is delivered faithfully and respectfully, but one where the strong, clear voice of its author cuts through powerfully.

It may be occasionally unnerving, but there is pure balm to be found here, music to speak to even the most troubled of souls.

Lanegan has infused much of this material with the sounds of his influences successfully. Admittedly it is a little tinny in places, and sometimes the warmth of that voice makes for an awkward fit with the detachment of the music, but for the most part, it works rather well.

Iit feels like there’s so much more music and ideas for them to explore, so many other potential directions for them to head in. For now however, this remarkably mature and accomplished album will do just fine.

Elytral may not be an easy record, but it is strangely affirmative and rewarding.

This is a fitting debut for a man who to many needs no introduction.

If there were any criticism to be leveled at this album, it's that it is a little bland around the edges.

As uneven as Hey Clockface can become, there are still enough reminders of Costello’s genius scattered across the album. After all these years, his aim is still mostly true.

This album shows that simple can indeed be effective. Regan simultaneously covers a lot of topical ground whilst using a finite number of musical resources.

This is the most consistent album to date by a band whose flashes of brilliance hitherto seemed often dissolved in their encumbering desire to set down a surfeit of ideas on each record. Here, their creative energies are reconciled just as the salt doll is reconciled with the sea.

His versatility serves him incredibly well once again, and ultimately prevents the demons from bringing him down. By laying bare his troubles, Ben Watt has made his finest album yet.

They’ve had their day doing one thing, they now need to do another, and while further albums are even less likely than this one, Happiness Not Included feels like something of a missed opportunity.

So, all things considered, it’s another solid entry in McClure’s catalogue.

While debuts can often be bold and brash, Vondelpark’s alternative, understated approach is to be commended.

You will have gathered from this that Happy In The Hollow makes a positive impact, its occasional loss of focus an asset rather than a fault as the music runs free. TOY make music notable for its mood, groove and texture, if not always finding a killer melody.

It’s both expressive and inventive while still retaining that alluring degree of mystery.

Whereas Walker seemed to grasp something on that album [The Drift], here he seems restless and inconsistent, but his continuing artistic quest remains peerless and fascinating.

Treefight For Sunlight have a genuine ability to create instantly arresting melodies.

On first listen it feels understated, the low-slung rhythms an easy listen with many melodic and textural high points. Yet as you spend more time with them the frank admissions of the band take on a reassuring quality, sharing our own highs and lows with everyday life and offering a calmly assertive way of dealing with them.

For his sense of structure and emotional give and take is acute, so that we move from loud to quiet, from slow to quite fast, from acoustic to electronic, with an ease that makes perfect sense.

In The Thread That Keeps Us, Calexico have learned to let go a little, to let nature take over. The result is surprisingly comforting.

Altogether different from normality, and further down the path towards minimalist orchestral experimentation than expected, Terrestrials is a challenging listen yet it retains some weird, mystic ability to attract and transfix its audience.

It is arguable that Ones And Sixes is their most fully integrated album to date--a richly satisfying and coherent work drawing together many of the different strands of their career so far.

Those who have managed to adjust to the attention deficit techniques of FlyLo or Prefuse 73 should have little problem in embracing Lynn's new approach, particularly as it appears to have resulted in one of the best albums of the year so far.

Peace On Venus is arguably the band’s finest (half-)hour since Dilate.

In their rousing live shows, Benin City are better able to keep up the momentum and present a case for the preservation of London’s club scene, but Last Night is still a fun late-night journey around the boroughs.

Basically, this is the sound of a band happy to be coasting, which can be a chore to listen to.