The best Levi since 501s.

Out of the lo-fi punk/hardcore/black metal bedrock clatter of sound they create, lysergic and buzzing riffs clarify gloriously before melting back into chaos.

One of the most exciting hip-hop releases not only of this year, but in recent memory. [27 Nov 2004, p.61]

Psychedelic craziness. [30 Apr 2005, p.64]

He empowers all to be ‘African Giants’ on an all-over entertaining album, demonstrating that he’s one for his people.

Both modern and natural, tragedy has tugged defiance from The Charlatans once more.

'Begin To Hope' is the sound of [Spektor] blossoming into the most talented female artist around--and one with edge. [8 Jul 2006, p.43]

No Age will never be legit superstars, but they have a keen and loyal fanbase, something cherishable in a year likely to be paradoxically remembered for forgettable chancers.

For an artist who has long revelled in gruesome imagery and high concept, this feels like a surprise peek behind the curtain, and yet another sonic boundary crossed.

Reflektor is cleaner, sharper and dancier than anything the band have done before.

Does nothing wrong but could do with a bit of meat. [13 Aug 2005, p.58]

The London quartet's second long-player sounds designed to interrogate ideas of what punk should or could mean.

Overall, it feels like listening to a rocket preparing for take-off before shooting out into deep space, and if this doesn’t get you dancing, you’re probably clinically dead.

Peace & Magic marks the duo out as genuine oddities, music makers full of irreverence, wit, silliness, wild experimentalism, genuine musical brilliance and weirdness.

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

For all its technicality and viscerality, the album never packs the same emotional punch as 2013’s Arc and some songs--like the glitchy, overlong ‘Warm Healer’--never quite seem to find their own centre of gravity. Still, few records released in 2015 will feel as true to the times as this one.

In contrast to... 'Yr Atal Genhedlaeth', which was a bunch of promising, but half-finished song sketches, 'Candylion' is a much more coherent and loveable affair, and up there with some of SFA's better moments.

Her vocals now sound stately, and the impression is of a grande dame breathing new life into work made as an ingenue.

Frustratingly, though, White Chalk isn't consistent enough to be a classic PJ album, and if you're new to her music, this isn't the ideal place to start.

If this really is to be Lambchop's final album, it's an undeniably lovely one.

The results are beautiful, moving and – regardless of subject matter – brilliantly inventive.

Across 11 tracks, Jessy Lanza has delivered her strongest album yet: ‘Love Hallucination’ is a record that boldly soars towards synth-pop ecstasy while retaining its experimental desire.

What gives Saturnalia its real kick is the way it emotionally engages.

It’s a record that – while injected with a healthy dose of groovy fun – is keenly honest. And although it may be sonically sugar-coated, Wolf’s candid lyrics never are. It’s funk-fuelled catharsis.

This is that rare music that genuinely deserves the descriptor ‘visceral’: sonic body horror that comes on like avant-garde composer Diamanda Galas scoring David Cronenberg.

Grid of Points is a seemingly-unfinished bunch of loose ends that somehow appear complete when combined.

If The Horrors' "Primary Colours" is the night out, then Three Fact Fader--Engineers’ follow-up to their 2005 debut--is the sound of the blissful recovery next day.

Uneasy and scratchy, and powered by hefty beats from producer Justin Raisen, ‘No Home Record’ is a restless listen.