There is nothing groundbreaking about this LP; it's just classic.

Even in spite of their obvious knack for a beast of a tune that knows no indie fear, they do a cracking job of getting peculiar on us as well.

A return to form: no tongue-in-cheek pop motifs, but a welcome re-embracing of the mid-American rock that always informed Pavement's more enlightening, abstruse moments.

A beautiful ramble of a record.

There's definitely something horrid, hairy and horrendously hippyish hobbling these lovely boys.

It's a lot less dangerous than we've been led to expect.

A third of this record sounds like the Cocteau Twins covering Enya, and another third sounds like a trip-hop Blind Melon... But the other third is pure Muggs.

About as boring as a record can be.

This is hip-hop - experimental, brave, and weird, just like it's supposed to be.

This is no whimsical, fey take on folk music, rather a bold, buoyant frug with the skeletons of The Doors, Teardrop Explodes and other likeminded explorers of the stoned side.

A shimmering snowflake of a record.

Fischerspooner might be harking back to a more colourful age, but '#1', more than any other album apart from, perhaps, 'Original Pirate Material' is very much The Sound Of Now.

A collection of skewed pop classics that draw as much on the contemporary R&B of Timbaland as they echo the darker side of New Order.

How anyone can describe Leeds' The Music as a "best new band" is beyond me. Unless they're over fifty, sport a footballer's perm and weep at Almost Famous.

This may not quite live up to 'Ocean Songs', but it still stands up on its own.

It's every bit as essential as any of its predecessors; completely essential, in other words.

Calexico provide drama, atmosphere, tension and tenderness in the 16 tracks here, not only because they have soul but because they're so good at their craft.

It's an obvious comparison given the company they keep, but, this time around, Aereogramme really are Mogwai and The Delgados on the same record.

'The Datsuns' is an album that could have been made in 1967, 1977 or 1987, but which, fortunately for them, was made in 2002.

Mostly, it's Chan's wonderfully bold and understated piano and guitar work that makes 'You Are Free' what it is, a collection of shapely and becoming lo-fi oddities.

For those who looked forward to the new genre-leading direction in downbeat dance that would come with the next Massive Attack album... well, let's just say the major challenge you'll face with '100th Window' is deciding whether there is a hidden track or that 'Antistar' is really a 22-minute song with an excessively long silent bit in the middle.

Anyone expecting a return to the spiky garage rock of 'I Should Coco' may again be disappointed by Gaz & co's refusal to whole heartedly revisit the three-chord bluster of their debut, but with 'Life On Other Planets' Supergrass have come closer than ever to the psychedelic pop-punk masterpiece of their dreams.

Despite the unconventional approach, it's definitely an album.

As ever with the great man, this is a record that rewards the attentive, and repetitive listener.

It's all good. Favourites switch with listens, and we can assure you that this record will remain on your deck all year.

Challenging, arresting and moving in equal measures.

Startling for all the wrong reasons.

Stripped of the Pumpkins' pomp angst and invested with a new pop-rock sensibility by fellow cohorts David Pajo and Matt Sweeney, in Zwan Corgan has simply formed the perfect band.