Their remix of Blues Explosion's 'Mars, Arizona' is the best record of the last five years, no question.... The rest? Merely brilliant. [15 Apr 2006, p.33]

A one-way ticket to the outer limits of the solar system. [8 Apr 2006, p.39]

And yet for all the disparate elements, we haven't heard a record all year so secure in its own vision, or a collection of songs that sound so much like they need to be together. The only downside of this is it kind of smothers the potential for standout Oh. My. God. moments.

Essential listening... but only if you're of that particular breed of misfit who grills their cornflakes before adding milk, in order to make breakfast that bit blacker an experience. [1 Apr 2006, p.41]

Though they've shed the cheap - but undeniably fun - Day-Glo immediacy of 'Fever...', it's been replaced by a range of expressions that most artists will only stumble upon by their fifth release.

'This New Day' is, by Embrace's own standards, a triumphant album indeed. [25 Mar 2006, p.35]

A debut that will endure.

What compensates for 'Keys To The World''s shortcomings... is that voice. [21 Jan 2006, p.33]

A stunningly original record--harrowing and hilarious in equal amounts. [25 Feb 2006, p.32]

Out there, sure--but this is the sort of experimentalism Radiohead scoop plaudits for. [18 Feb 2006, p.35]

[It] takes some persistance. [18 Mar 2006, p.35]

It's irresistible. [16 Sep 2006, p.36]

The Sounds pick up where White Rose Movement faded out, with their melange of sussed Scandi cool, new wave pop pout, and Killers-style synth mayhem.

Although as tuneful as ever, tracks like 'Alice The Goon' and 'Peace And Love' reflect these tumultuous political times with a new and surprisingly vicious sonic edge that even they probably didn't think they could muster. [25 Mar 2006, p.37]

[It] doesn't really sound like Prince at all. [25 Mar 2006, p.35]

A rather lovely music: all widescreen swell and swoop and sweet, pained harmonies, with a Flaming Lips-style skewed pop undertow. [22 Apr 2006, p.41]

Overflows with pristine melodies, sugary harmonies [and] a barely-definable sense of heartbreak. [3 Jun 2006, p.33]

The wonder of 'Stars...' is how magnificently alive all this suburban angst sounds.

A fine album that, while not likely to win any prizes for Gorillaz-style innovation, will resonate, both musically and lyrically, with fans young rather than old.

A melodic masterpiece of boldly indignant malevolent spite.

Goldfrapp inject more than enough of the 21st century into what they do to avoid being thoughtless rip-off merchants.

Nothing new here, as you might expect, but a handful of catchy tracks could teach those young whippersnappers a thing or two about melody. [11 Mar 2006, p.43]

There's no deely-bopping 'Wow And Flutter' on here. [4 Mar 2006, p.29]

Rollickingly great fun to listen to. [4 Mar 2006, p.31]

A monster of a record. [4 Mar 2006, p.31]

[Has] the unmistakable feel of an instant classic. [28 Jan 2006, p.34]

A mesmerising album. [11 Mar 2006, p.41]

McBean... decided to have a go at everything. Luckily, he appears to be a natural. [4 Mar 2006, p.31]

There's no possible way of having this much fun without getting the chorus of Handel's 'Messiah' drunk on peach schnapps. [4 Feb 2006, p.29]

It's a consistently engaging combination. [18 Feb 2006, p.35]

He dissects his 20-something malaise with a dry and eloquent wit like a K-Mart Morrissey. [6 May 2006, p.33]

The frame is there, there's just not enough meat on the muscles of their Euro-jitter-pop.

While debut album 'Faded Seaside Glamour' suffered from a mild dose of ADD, sprawling and meandering into atmospheric noodling between its smatter of acid-in-your-candyfloss pop hits, with 'You See Colours' Gilbert has sharpened his pop stiletto blade.

If there's a lesson to be learned from 'Making Dens', it's that there's nothing to be feared from pushing the pop envelope that little bit further.

Clever and memorable--an electrifying frisson of underground meets overground, punk purism meets pop perfection, artistic integrity meets not minding too much if more than five people like you. [11 Jun 2005, p.65]

But just before sheen threatens to turn to smarm, The Research acknowledge twee works best when a dark side lurks just beneath the surface.

This is an album that leaves you in absolutely no doubt that, at the very least, Pascal Arbez-Nicolas is the best thing to come out of France since Daft Punk. [30 Apr 2005, p.63]

A masterpiece.

Even if you've been fortunate enough to live with these tracks over the last year or so, they still sound more vital, more likely to make you form your own band than anything else out there.

In among the usual awkward, bad sex and sharp-yet-jaundiced eye on what others settle for, there's something unusual for this pair: hope. [12 Nov 2005, p.45]

Truly a master-class in beat-science from start to finish. [28 Jan 2006, p.34]

A not-bad record. [11 Mar 2006, p.43]

A great record. A great work.

Just when you're starting to worry some of the cancer vibes might rub off, he'll crack that underdog grin and knock out a number like 'Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)', backed by a bunch of cheerleaders. [18 Feb 2006, p.36]

So exciting that it should come with a precautionary bottle of Prozac. [6 May 2006, p.33]

There's a 10 out of 10 album that's been thrown away here; as it is, it's the best demo you'll hear all year. [12 Nov 2005, p.41]

A mini-classic of magpie pop. [21 Jan 2006, p.35]

You can't help but feel The Subways are stuck between rock and a slightly harder place, and are just a bit confused. [9 Jul 2005, p.57]

But while 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' delivered an aural punch above B&S's usual weight, it wasn't quite the return to form many claimed. That return is delivered here, on 'The Life Pursuit', Belle And Sebastian's seventh album and their best since '...Sinister'.

Maybe Beth Orton, unlike some of her still-desperate-for-kudos contemporaries, is merely growing old gracefully, but clearly gracefully aging doesn't necessarily make for great records.

Overloaded with laugh-out-loud lyrical gobbets, intelligent production and tunes that straddle commerciality and the street. [28 Jan 2006, p.34]

Sadly, the energy and abandon that has made Tiga's recent remixes so essential is largely absent. [4 Feb 2006, p.29]

Succinct, tiny pop gems like 'Milk Bottle Symphony' and 'Relocate' are beautifully realised. [11 Jun 2005, p.67]

For a genre that once sounded astonishingly futuristic, it is quite remarkable how tired and old house sounds now.

Not quite the greatest per se, but bloody close. [21 Jan 2006, p.33]

Dithers between drone rock and harmonica-driven indie-strut. [14 Jan 2006, p.33]

Twist[s] both the ultra-familiar and the obscure into awkward new shapes. [21 Jan 2006, p.35]

This is a record that wipes the board clean. It's a record that will invigorate and re-energise.

It's hard not to enjoy being alive while listening to this album. [25 Feb 2006, p.31]

This album is covered from head to toe in a cuticle of stylish crap. Underneath, fortunately, there are several redeeming gems. [21 Jan 2006, p.35]

Still, it remains a challenge to crack their ice-cool exterior, to really feel things as they feel - but does that matter? The Strokes are, and have always been, a band that looks great at arm's length - and consequently, 'First Impressions Of Earth' remains, in the best way, untouchable: the first - indeed, maybe the last - word in New York City cool.

Adams has stripped most of '29''s tracks down to spare, brittle bones.

Mary J draws on an eventful life to reach new levels of feeling. [7 Jan 2006, p.29]

Will... have you oiling your joints and gearing up for a bit of robobooty gyration. [21 Jan 2006, p.33]

If you scratch below the surface of 'See You On The Other Side' you'll find little of substance. [3 Dec 2005, p.43]

This perpetual desire to show off is Hawkins' weakness and 'One Way Ticket..."s ultimate downfall. [26 Nov 2005, p.44]

This is pedestrian, derivative twaddle of the lowest order that embarasses both the '60s and the recent revival fad. [21 Jan 2006, p.33]

A masterclass in why Galaxie were such a great band. [18 Feb 2006, p.36]

The spontaneous nature of this album isn't quite the asset it could be. [26 Nov 2005, p.45]

Believe the hype, this is even better than 'Ray Of Light.' [12 Nov 2005, p.45]

This is a rare and wonderful joy: a live album that even non-obsessives should embrace. [12 Nov 2005, p.45

'Aerial' has more than its share of static, but the highs are more than worth the lows. [12 Nov 2005, p.45]

Unlike Cash, the ego on display here still sounds like it's got the whip hand on the talent and you never really start to like him. [4 Mar 2006, p.31]

Marvellous. [5 Nov 2005, p.45]

A disorientatingly great mess of free-jazz, space-rock and voodoo swamp music. [10 Dec 2005, p.37]

Sublime stuff. [11 Feb 2006, p.33]

This music is the electronic, Warp-inspired answer to Brian Wilson's 'Smile.' [31 Jul 2004, p.41]

A good debut, if strangely restrained. [2 Apr 2005, p.50]

Dry, controlled music. [11 Jun 2005, p.67]

Despite the air of musical schizophrenia, 'Intensive Care' is OK in a sort of karaoke way. [22 Oct 2005, p.43]

'Sung Tongs' brought a smattering of organization to the band's chaos, and now 'Feels' finally sees them emerge, blinking, into the sunlight. [15 Oct 2005, p.35]

The likes of 'Chromakey Dreamcoat' sound like they were made on a potter's wheel rather than an iBook. [15 Oct 2005, p.36]

Far from bad... but so much of it sounds like a museum piece, the glum-pop self-harmings of another time. [12 Nov 2005, p.45]

Slightly less lo-fi than previous efforts--although as it blends together Slayer, Japanese noisecore and warp-speed prog intricacy, sound recording fidelity is a relative concept. [5 Nov 2005, p.45]

A rhinestone-tipped treat. [22 Oct 2005, p.41]

The sound of a pioneer who refuses to stop innovating. [8 Oct 2005, p.45]

You won't listen to it again and again; yet the time you do, it'll be a blast. [4 Feb 2006, p.29]

Its tales of fleeting love begin with a swagger... [and] the next seven tracks represent a complete emotional collapse. [8 Oct 2005, p.43]

Ace. [15 Oct 2005, p.35]

Dirty Three have become increasingly proficient at speaking a private musical language in public. [22 Oct 2005, p.41]

It's a little like a Crimewatch reconstruction: very well put together, all in a good cause, vaguely entertaining, but really they're just hoping it'll vaguely remind you of something that happened years ago. [1 Oct 2005, p.47]

Truly, Weller's back. And this time, he rules.

Samey and inaccessible in parts. [5 Nov 2005, p.43]

Dios (Malos) are clearly capable of breezily mordant psychedelia nd thumpingly pie-eyed pop... Sadly, they're not so hot on tunes you can't help whistling. [4 Mar 2006, p.31]

The Go! Team's eclectic soundclash makes us feel deliriously dizzy. [11 Sep 2004, p.53]

Gives up its delights slowly and not without a wry smirk along the way. [11 Jun 2005, p.66]

Lurches spectacularly from lounge-jazz to avant-vaudeville and takes a pop at everything in between. [14 Jan 2006, p.34]

Absolutely stunning. [4 Feb 2006, p.29]