For the most part, Honeys is a prime example of how the innovativeness of your chosen style matters not a jot, as long as you’re doing it with aplomb. And most importantly, having a bloody laugh.

By letting their heads float off into the clouds and planting their brogues firmly on the ground, Those Dancing Days have created an album of fizzing indie-pop to charm both the starry-eyed teen and the world-weary indie connoisseur.

An obsession with sex that's rarely heard outside Lil Wayne albums is combined with the woozy sizzurp lilt of A$AP Rocky and his own stunningly sinister devil's whisper delivery to create something remarkably dark and original.

That's not to say there's not some exceptional music on this record, it's just once again the impact of the best moments is dulled by the inclusion of some indifferent electronic compositions.

Two years, lots of touring, and a wad of cash from Domino Records later and the New Jersey four-piece have shaken off the sun-flecked dust of that haphazard genre to reveal a clean and canny record.

A bit of good-time boogie on 'Big Rock' is the only release of tension. Otherwise this is intimate country-folk that's utterly seductive in its stillness.

They lose points, however, for a descent into guitar squall and full-on ‘Baker Street’ sax (‘Perpetual Surrender’), which mar an otherwise intriguing debut.

Of course, the whole venture has about as much cultural currency now as an octopus's garden, but it's a lovely timewarp to slip into.

The turgid ‘Robots From Hell’ aside, they carry it off.

The debut album from the Leeds sonic evangelists features tracks about an assassinated prime minister, the Salem witch trials and an East German border guard who committed suicide through guilt after escaping to the West....These subjects are then twinned with a sound rich in solemn and ultimately cacophonous guitar.

The resounding verdict is that it’s a surprising, but bold and brave progression from last year’s confused "Graduation."

Revisited ‘Are You Experienced’ cuts ‘Fire’ and ‘Red House’ set the tone for power trio workouts topped by the title cut, while live favourites ‘Hear My Train A Comin’’ and ‘Lover Man’ show that Hendrix needed his own studio to replace the rubble they’d have left behind at NYC’s hallowed Record Plant.

Despite the mutant promise of the title, 'Eve-Olution' is hardly startling. Yet as proof that mainstream hip-hop can still learn new tricks, it's a success.

The main thing 'Sweat' has going for it is the fact that it isn't 'Suit.' [2 Oct 2004, p.63]

Their all-or-nothing ambition is exhilarating, however raw the execution.

Dense and relentlessly angry... 'In The Mode' is an example of fierce, righteous, and - despite the American input - fearlessly British innovation.

Overall, Shulamith is a record that takes on serious issues but always feels engagingly personal, with ideas set to the kind of alt.pop melodies you couldn’t forget even if you wanted to.

Britney and 'Britney' still works best when making a good pop cheese and dance sandwich.

Full of banging beats, big noise and abundant wit and joy. [26 Jun 2004, p.55]

The Donnas are utterly convincing...

By the end, it’s more than enough noodling, but you can’t help but marvel as Drinks shred their fingertips.

A dusky delight.

Almost in defiance of poor sales and cult following, CWK and their charming second album embody everything you hoped music might be.

This is BSP in fine, if not exactly boundary-shoving, form.

This Athens, Georgia collective have blossomed from winsome indie-pop virgins to frocked-up future pop stars, beaming their febrile college rock through a kaleidoscope of sleazy funk, electronica jitters, and 'Fear Of Music'-style Talking Heads ethno-beat.

The same old sombre samba, perhaps, but with a renewed sense of direction, it's threatening to take them somewhere fantastic.

It's a more honest title, for starters [Astrological Epochs & The Sands Of Time]--with 10 songs that, like the starry-eyed indie pop of Constellations, rather than cosmological in scope, are uniformly short, sweet and were recorded on a laptop.

It eases up on the rigorous deconstructivist tendencies that have so permeated the last two 'Lab records, taking a cue instead from the carefree effervescence typical of recent live encounters.