The record as a whole is full of wan acoustic guitar tunes in desperate need of that mysterious quality of oomph.

The debut album from the London five-piece is impressive enough.

The volume remains punishing, but this record triumphs in melodic subtlety, political nuance and conceptual clarity.

Shame’s latest offering is a refreshing refuge for those thirsting for music that stirs you up live, and allows you to play witness to a band’s evolution of sound.

For all its slavering over archaic ‘80s production cheese, The Desired Effect is a consistently impressive collection--probably the strongest Brandon’s produced since 2006’s ‘Sam’s Town.’

It's chaotic and confounding. It will frustrate as much as it delights. And no, not everything they throw at the wall manages to stick. But my, what a lovely mess they've made.

You just can’t shake the feeling that the whole thing is just far too safe. You can’t blame team Adele for following a formula that has so far resulted in 30 million album sales--but here’s to a little more innovation on ‘29’.

None of the band’s bolshy character is lost on Bronx IV, but they do find new places to go.

It's the sound of a band once introspective but alive, now lost, depressed and completely unavailable.

This is a surprisingly decent album, as good as anything they've ever made.

Overall, ‘times’ is an incredibly cohesive collection of slide-across-the-kitchen-floor dance-pop bangers that encourage you to hold on to the good times. SG Lewis’ long-awaited debut album is a much-needed beacon of light.

Heroux may yet have an album in him that doesn't basically sound like his favourite '80s music stapled together, but this ain't it.

The pair attack a chunky selection of bluesy Wilko originals with gusto.

The result is a fourth album both back-to-basics in a Ramone-next-door sort of way, but with renewed purpose and attitude, and eyeing new paths of punk-rock progress.

The detail of individual tracks is almost irrelevant, as the album drifts from sunrise strings to rise-and-fall synths to piano notes as delicate as foals taking their first steps. But it creates an undeniably compelling whole.

Yes, there are jokes and doo-woppy moments of light-heartedness, but this is a soupy, stoned, distressed-sounding album at odds with the Lips’ image as the world’s premier party band.

Polly’s second joint album with Parish couldn’t be more eclectic in its breadth and scope.

On Field Music Play they bring their brand of clever and excellent to other people's pop songs.

Lyrically 2 Chainz knows he's no street Shakespeare, but as this EP shows, he can certainly knows his way around an arresting tune.

If it was all such axe-grinding, Disaster Piece might flag--but it has vision too.

It’s a fizzing piece of hard-rock magic.

Loud, weighty but oddly civilised.

Much of the reason for bothering with BYOP lies in the absolute glory of hearing Pearl succeed in making every lyrical couplet she spews forth sound as if she's been drinking cider since birth and is ready to hurl... anytime... now!

There’s not much variation between the melodies of ‘Defender’ and ‘V Formation’--and the closing title track feels like a bit of an anticlimax--but the album’s nine tracks are mostly enveloping soundscapes. There’s a distinct journey through Murmurations, and you might get lost--in a good way--in the middle.

On the whole, Red Hot + Fela works both as an introduction to Afrobeat, and as a reworking of the genre, making it a fitting tribute not just to Fela’s music but also his indomitable spirit.

Simple but sensational.

It’s perhaps not the best month to be showing such unabashed love for Phil Spector, but timing aside, this is an outstanding album.

Full of fraught, frivolous fun. [11 Jun 2005, p.67]