It's a pounding alt-rock dynamo with its head sunk in Sonic Youth and Dinosaur Jr rarities.

Ultimately, 'Ten New Messages' is too myopic to see beyond its own concrete cynicism.

If 'Hats Off...' is slightly too much, too soon, they've still done enough to impress.

Disappointing, then, that the eight-track ‘bonus disc’ opens with a cover of a cover: a lo-fi version of ‘Valerie’. [Review of Deluxe Edition]

Right now, their bouncing glamorama feels like the most important album you could own.

An intimate, frequently beautiful and consistently surprising record that gets better with every listen.

'Pocket Symphony' sure does drift over you like a duvet of mood-stabilising drugs.

A record with the bleak-yet-redemptive spirit of REM's 'Automatic For The People' and the musical magnificence of a 'Deserter's Songs'. But also a record that - as much as 'London Calling' or 'What's Going On' - holds a deep, dark, truthful Black Mirror up to our turbulent times.

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.

Sure, 'The Weirdness' rarely comes close to capturing the feral magic of the band's best vintage work (even if 'Mexican Guy' is built on the same rhythm as '1969') , but, hey, it's The Stooges - and that should be enough for anyone.

A welcome change of pace.

[Rjd2] has moved away from sample-based instrumental hip-hop, throwing in gently psychedelic Beatles-y songcraft and live instruments to achieve a jack-of-all-trades sound that, while perfectly pleasant, is done better by Beck.

Taylor's attraction lies in her ability to switch herself effortlessly between vastly different styles.

Half great and half pointless.

We find exquisite Beatles-indebted pop, moments of effortless lyrical and melodic brilliance and a few tunes which drift dangerously close to easy listening.

The moments of dark introspection still linger in the album's secluded corners, but overall, 'A Brighter Beat' is exactly that.

Each winding soundscape sounds like it was made for those big budget nature documentaries with David Attenborough.

The best Levi since 501s.

Sparse, directionless and half-formed, Trans AM's eighth LP is nowhere near the radical transformation its title suggests.

It's guiltily satisfying in a bearded, nodding sort of way, but there's little to grab on to in such an ironic hall of mirrors.

Prepare to lose your heart to him.

Moments of beauty cut through the bleakness.

Tracks like 'Bacaroo' and 'Sailing Bells' deploy the sort of lovely string arrangements that sweep you off your feet and have your knickers on the floor before you even notice your cold bits.

They're a band who are defiantly British and who haven't sold their soul to current trends--and they're all the better for it. [20 Jan 2007, p.29]

The real achievement of 'A Weekend In The City' is its path to this conclusion, pulling hard-won moments of contentment from a maelstrom of anger and confusion.

Not likely to appeal to your common or garden new raver, but perfect with a nice cup of tea.

It's nothing if not infectious.

An oddball pleasure.