An essential Mogwai purchase. [26 Feb 2005, p.66]

The stories Rose tells are as fresh as wet ink.

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

Colourful and unconventional throughout, Knockin’ Boots keeps Julio Bashmore’s reputation for bangers firmly intact.

Filled with lively, stylised pop tunes, she’s once again proven that she’s not just that girl from ‘Call Me Maybe’.

It all adds up to an album that holds your full attention even if it isn’t Cyrus’s boldest or most visionary. ‘Endless Summer Vacation’ certainly feels like an accurate reflection of who she is as an artist – and a person – in 2023.

‘Spiral’ is a gorgeous, often filmic listen that rewards with each spin. Most importantly, Jaar’s enhanced vocal role gives a new voice to troubling themes previously suggested in the stirring moods of Darkside’s music. Eight years was worth the wait.

It exists in its own eccentric, unique universe, and that is the best thing that any debut album can do.

With this, their follow-up, they're in familiar miserably poetic folk-song territory. For some reason, every song evokes the pub.

Their 2011 debut album was nominated for the Polaris Prize, Canada’s equivalent of the Mercury--although UZU, its follow-up, is bolder, rangier and more ambitious than anything likely to trouble that bauble’s orbit.

The 23-year-old is most impressive when channeling the heartfelt huskiness of Edith Piaff on the old timey ‘I’ve Got A Girl’, which rolls across the backdrop of a hefty Waitsian polka.

It’s admirable to see him balance his signature sound with hints of exploration in collaborations such as ‘Monsters You Made’, all while remaining true to his mother tongue.

It’s the naturalness in how Claud pulls it off that makes ‘Super Monster’ feel so exceptional. Dance, cry, think about someone in particular, fall in love with it overnight.

The album bustles with defiant spirit while leaning heavily on deeply catchy songwriting and production.

‘The Dream’ continues the slow, rewarding blossoming of Alt-J’s records, each a little more generous, thoughtful and optimistic than the last. ... It’s the sound of a band revitalised, having finally found their happy place.

There are only two major mis-steps – ‘Beads On One String’ is the kind of amorphous soft rock balladry that Sting used to make in the ‘90s and Townshend’s easy listening ‘I’ll be Back’ descends into a plain awful vocodered rant. ... But otherwise ‘WHO’ either recaptures the band’s root ferocity or explores new territory with style.

At times, ‘Crash’ eases off the throttle slightly – the interpolation of ‘Show Me Love’ on ‘Used to Know Me’ is infectious, if slightly too straightforward, while smouldering ballads ‘Move Me’ and ‘Every Rule’ could do with more of the skewed hints of unfamiliarity found in spades elsewhere. These are minor gripes, though, and by the time those synthesised strings whirr into life on the jagged pop-funk track ‘Baby’ they’re easy enough to overlook.

Bono's genius is that his inner monologue is so huge and heroic that it matches the scale of the music. And, even more so than on 'All That You Can't Leave Behind,' the music is enormous. [13 Nov 2004, p.55]

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

The absence of quirky samples and lame big beats make it all sound, right now, strangely radical.

One of the most cosmopolitan albums to carry the Giant seal of oddness. [11 Sep 2004, p.55]

‘Eyeshadow’ treads more familiar ground, thrillingly injecting the Welshmen’s knack for an anthemic chorus with Thursday’s pulsing, wide-eyed intensity. Rickly fans may be uneasy with No Devotion's softer synthpop moments though.

There’s some fatigue while listening to the slower tracks like ‘Shine Your Light For We’ – turning his laidback style into something mind-numbing, but these moments are pretty rare. .... Without special guests this time around, he doubles down on what he does best: directing the dancefloor with precision, patience and pure instinct.

Both cerebral and corporeal, sacred and profane, The Eternal sees this band approach the level of The Velvet Underground, where chaos and beauty ravish each other within the same song. Clever old sods.

Every so often a new band will arrive clamouring that guitar music isn’t dead, as if they’re mid-CPR. Yak have crash-landed clutching its still-beating heart, wearing an irrepressible grin.

With a Balearic pulse and horizontal attitude throughout, this record is ready-made sunshine--MDMAzing pretension-free fun for the masses. This is the album we need in these hard times, even if we don’t deserve it. Put this record on, dance until sunrise, gurn through Brexit and rave until war is over.

Following on from his eclectic debut, ‘USEE4YOURSELF’ finally etches IDK’s place in rap.

Being able to show so much humanity and versatility so early in her career is highly respectable and if this is a glimpse of the future, Nia Archives looks set to become an unstoppable generational talent.