Tender Opposites is undoubtedly a solid, cohesive and enjoyable first album from the Montreal band.

An underplayed, subtle triumph, but a victory nonetheless.

The Orb and Lee "Scratch" Perry recording in Berlin could have been a disaster but this is anything but.

It's an album that is perfectly inoffensive, but in the end, there is nothing here that hasn't been done before--and done much better.

There's an urgency and excitement to a number of these songs that elevate them beyond being pretty and delicate pop nuggets.

Given its very nature, this is an album that is more suggestive than it is demonstrative, with attuned, nuanced performances creating a range of colours and sensations.

He's combined a sparkly and woozy aesthetic with killer melodies to create a cohesive and fun winning formula.

Peer between the lines and Eitzel has lifted off some of the weight to create his most redemptive, mature work yet.

Rudi Zygadlo proves here that he is far more than an electro producer, and has delivered a second album that frequently captivates and often mystifies.

If he can place more focus on songcraft, his tunes will soar majestically; but at the moment there's not a lot under the surface to make him anything other than intriguing.

The one big drawback of Gold Dust is the danger it may provoke a 'so what' reaction, simply because for all of its polish, it doesn't really take the listener anywhere that interesting.

These songs are made for clubs, student unions and theatres, not arenas. And it's all the better for it.

Until The Quiet Comes is at once iridescent and ambiguous, luminous and impenetrable: an elegantly conceived and executed album which may well come to be seen as Flying Lotus' finest work to date.

Too much of the album simply plods from dreary verse to dreary verse.

The quality, depth, and otherworldliness that Halstead has achieved here elevates it above being just another folk album.

It arrives with sharp impact, melding abstraction and direct sound to impressive effect.

Young Guns may have pushed themselves to the edge to create Bones, but the end result confirms the hard work was more than worth it.

Blood Rushing is a beautifully lilting, melodious album.

This is a solid, if unspectacular, comeback and fans will be crossing their fingers that The Sound Of The Life Of The Mind is a new beginning, rather than a one-off cash-in.

Push And Shove is a decent, solid pop album, but it lacks the sense of occasion and excitement that you'd expect from a band's first album in 12 years.

It truly is awful.

Privateering is arguably Knopfler's strongest solo effort and one which shows off his ability as a guitarist, a vocalist and a songwriter.

Maybe not a wholly successful album then, but at its best, The Truth About Love proves that Pink can still credibly compete with the pop stars she helped to inspire.

Ill Manors is visionary, it's bold, but most importantly it's very good.

A bright, brief, crystalline work that is a more than worthy addition to one of the most consistently excellent catalogues in alternative music.

The album essentially involves wallowing in 45 minutes of one man's competently performed but largely uninteresting catharsis, and there are unlikely to be too many takers either now or in the future unless LeBlanc lowers his lofty ambitions and frankly, chills out a bit.

While Love Remains proved a hard listen because of its liberal use of distorted effects, Total Loss is tough going because of the emotional intensity of its content.

It's a perfectly satisfactory album, but save for one or two moments of brilliance, there's nothing here that will keep you coming back for more.