He's back on his own terms, those of the earnest hyper-intelligent bookworm who won the plaudits of Jay-Z and 50 Cent, and sounding a lot more comfortable, with 'Hostile Gospel' and 'Say Something' re-staking a claim for the hip hop high ground over beats that are soulful and sonically coherent.

It doesn't stray too far from their original template but it is focused and involving.

She writes everything, and has a feel for timeless songwriting that means she can cover Eminem's 'Lose Yourself' live, and it works.

Straight out of Edmonton, Alberta, fast-talking MC Rollie Pemberton's impeccable second album confirms that the history of Canadian electro did not end with Neil Young's Trans.

The closer you listen to the jazzy guitars, Beatles touches and easy, shuffling rhythms ... the more it transpires that Tweedy is simply allowing the songs sufficient room to speak up for themselves.

As standout lead single 'American Boy' (on which she raps with West) shows, this could be one of the most unlikely comebacks of 2008.

The Senegalese seer is joined by a polyglot cast: the future's calling.

Lyrically absurd, musically turbo-fuelled.

From the full-on Nintendo Wii panic-attack of 'Alice Practice' to the breezy, off-kilter electro-pop of 'Crimewave' and 'Air War', this sumptuously squelchy 16-track debut already feels like a Greatest Hits.

West produces the bulk again on Finding Forever, and it's his skill in embellishing a sample and his unerring eye for a soulful hook that is consistently bringing the best out of his mentor-turned-protege.

While Narrow Stairs may scale down the melody-assaults of previous efforts, with their fresh groove and whiff of rebellion, Death Cab announce themselves as genuine rock stars.

The gear changes on this particular autobahn are swift and sometimes a little clunky.

Convening at the point where Iron and Wine meet Panda Bear, it's dreamy and chock-full of ideas.

The music's Pharrell Williams-assisted dancefloor pop; the words entirely Shakira's. Preposterously brilliant.

The loose, spontaneous nature of the exercise means there's the odd dud, but there are far more hits than misses. The result? A dead concept is temporarily revived.

[It has] an unexpected depth, unity and resonance.

The third album by Polar Bear suggests that this is a band running out of ideas.

All shuffling beats and pub wisdom, it's same again for Brown's latest.

The Fife songsmith breathes new life into traditional songs cribbed from versions by the likes of Anne Briggs and Nic Jones.

Skins have been shed, batteries recharged and the traditionally difficult second album dashed out with apparent ease.

The Hardest Way... is twice as good as any album about the price of celebrity has a right to be.

Complex, melodramatic, ambitious, vain, beautiful and frequently magnificent - Release the Stars may not yield many chart hits, but it feels like an album that will endure.

It's been four long years since the Banshees' last live release. But now we have a CD of brand new material from the high priestess of punk herself. And she doesn't disappoint.

It starts out blustery and familiar, before gradually revealing an unexpected and almost lovable sense of vulnerability.

On his 24th album, Springsteen reaches for the simple power and unabashed romanticism of early pop.

Their most rigorously conceived and focused [album] for years.

That it lacks any obvious singles hardly seems to matter. Viva La Vida is an assured return that should go some way to restoring Coldplays wilted critical stock.

Hurricane shatters the illusion, and flattens the force of nature known as Grace Jones into something quite humdrum.