[Fuzzy Logic] has aged well. [Dec 2016, p.117]

It was the album that cleared the way for them to become one of the '90s biggest bands. Country Feedback is still one of their best songs, a plaintive, alt-country ballad that allowed Michael Stipe's voice to shine. [Dec 2016, p.117]

The trip's less balls-on this time. [Jan 2017, p.112]

As lovely as Do Easy frequently is, the two are often little more than a producer of their favorite records. [Jan 2017, p.115]

The album's not without its moments--most notably the sense of urgency propelling recent single Have Faith. But too much sounds bloodless. [Jan 2017, p.111]

What's The Sound? is an intimate, lavishly layered collection topped by Woolhouse's worried vocals. [Jan 2017, p.115]

While Love Grows Out Of Thin Air spins exquisite patterns from chiming synths and electronic blips, The Magic In You sounds like Empire Of The Sun remixed by Jean-Michel Jarre. And not in a good way. [Jan 2017, p.112]

This is intelligent pop freighted with emotional complexity. [Jan 2017, p.108]

It's still not exactly crossover material. But the twitchy, Four Tet-like epic Thousand Yard Stare would slot perfectly into one of Yorke's after-hours DJ sets. [Jan 2017, p.108]

Halfway in the album starts to stutter like a mirror ball whose motor is on the blink. [Jan 2017, p.106]

Cory Hanson's solo debut holds itself very upright, eyes straight ahead, creating the sense that its elegant parlour-folk could topple into mania at any moment. [Jan 2017, p.107]

For all the tastefully understated harmonies and lush orchestration there are times his beats could use a shot of caffeine. [Jan 2017, p.104]

To their credit, they've not taken the easy route by simply cutting the bombast and hoping for the best. [Jan 2017, p.112]

Its best moments--Around The Bend, Traveller--are all about Wainwright, her elasticated voice and deft melodies. [Jan 2017, p.115]

Eternally Even retains James's parent band's mystery and washes of sound, but it's underpinned both by his conspiratorial, intimate vocals and a new-found, tacit anger on an album brought forwards to coincide with the US election. [Jan 2017, p.114]

Sande's second album doesn't always sound quite so revelatory [as her debut]: anguished intensity often masks a lack of musical spark, the draggy acoustic trawl of Give Me Something sounding like her namesake Adele at her least bothered. She is much more engaging when she operates at full-grown throttle. [Jan 2017, p.113]

An album that seeks to pull you under from the off and that, by and large, succeeds. [Jan 2017, p.112]

It's a nocturnal-sounding affair--with the spectrally moody title track, the bleepy poetry of Writer and the Kid A vibes of JFK. Taken together, FLOTUS is a beautiful thing. [Jan 2017, p.108]

Sister Wolf and Justine, Misery Queen highlighting the pair's ability to twist their songs into new, potently alluring shapes. [Jan 2017, p.107]

Mortality hangs heavy over this music, but Collins, ultimately, makes it deathless. [Jan 2017, p.107]

While the album title may echo the Liverpool indie-pop outfit of Driving Away from Home fame, Iron Lung's brooding intensity and Peter Hook-inspired bassline sound as if they've been teleported directly from Factory records circa 1981. [Jan 2017, p.104]

Flawed though it is, this brave and canny album hits the reset button and buys her a future. [Jan 2017, p.105]

You've got the novelty of a live album that borders on essential. [Jan 2017, p.104]

McClure says he's regressed to the catchy rock essentials after years spent experimenting: smart move. [Jan 2017, p.104]

By the time disc one wraps with the anthemic Halo On Fire, Metallica have already produced the excellent album expected of them. [Jan 2017, p.109]

In short: superb. [Dec 2016, p.106]

The desire to do something different is admirable, but the results are unfocused, like a collection of B-sides to singles that never existed. [Dec 2016, p.112]

It's a few tracks longer than it needs to be, but City Club is their best collection of songs to date. [Dec 2016, p.106]

A variable trip. [Dec 2016, p.105]

In short: challenging stuff. [Dec 2016, p.113]

Any darkness never overwhelms an album which feels as welcoming as an unscheduled drink with an old friend. [Dec 2016, p.110]

Two Vines is a leap forward for pop's most enchanting odd couple. [Dec 2016, p.102]

Engagingly eccentric. [Dec 2016, p.110]

The sound of a man taking his giant leap forwards. They're out of the indie ghetto forever now. [Dec 2016, p.104]

They're at their best when they keep it succinct, as on I'm Still Believing and Another Dimension. Their longer songs are less successful. [Dec 2016, p.115]

The twosome have cooked up something special. [Dec 2016, p.113]

Although they're heavily fracking the '70s, they're doing so with a punky precision that keeps them on the right side of oddball. [Dec 2016, p.113]

At its worst, it's tired and turgid, but neither is it hopeless or without hope. [Dec 2016, p.109]

A wasted opportunity. [Dec 2016, p.109]

A collection of wonderful stripped-down folk rock. [Dec 2016, p.106]

There's something pleasingly nostalgic about this second LP from the Wirral's Hooton Tennis Club. [Dec 2016, p.1109]

A bold experiment with plenty of flavour. [Dec 2016, p.105]

As playful as they are serious and as innovative as they are traditional, this is surely what Syd Arthur set out to be. [Dec 2016, p.115]

It's a real showcase for their strengths. [Dec 2016, p.115]

There's nothing groundbreaking here, but these songs will surely be lots of fun to play live. [Dec 2016, p.115]

Deeply ambiguous yet wittily epigrammatic, You Want It Darker is all one might want from a final testament, short of cosy reassurance. [Dec 2016, p.114]

Earthly's songs of early-20-something kicks and empowerment prove enduringly infectious over repeated listens. [Dec 2016, p.113]

Ultimately, Powell's capricious nature gets the better of him and as soon as he settles into a groove, as on the Factory Floor-like Junk, he sabotages it with a discordant sample-crash like Gettin' Paid To Be yourself. [Dec 2016, p.113]

Having survived some rough patches, they've made adjustments and becomes as warm, robust and satisfying as a cuddle in front of the TV. [Dec 2016, p.111]

It's the most vital-sounding record he's made in years. [Dec 2016, p.110]

With its beauty and sonic twists, Citizen Of Class is a thing of quiet wonder. [Dec 2016, p.110]

A muffled production makes it difficult to glean exactly what he's so cross about, but for all its catharsis, the furious intensity and bangarang clutter mask the absence of real tunes. [Dec 2016, p.110]

It's actually the album's introspective second half which proves most affecting. [Dec 2016, p.110]

You have to salute Jaar's ambitious, freewheeling approach, but a little more cohesion would've sealed it. [Dec 2016, p.109]

Warm, understated and authoritative, Day Breaks demands you lean in and listen. [Dec 2016, p.109]

It's all slick, sassy and infectious, but she's clearly capable of being much more besides. [Dec 2016, p.109]

Skeleton Tree is untouchable. [Dec 2016, p.108]

Chrissie Hynde still answers to no one and it's a glorious sound. [Dec 2016, p.107]

The results can veer wildly from the alluring to the downright alarming. Yet Gately's ear for melody holds it all together. [Dec 2016, p.106]

An appropriately violent swansong, then. [Dec 2016, p.106]

It's enjoyable inventive stuff, although the world music influences and Perry's scat singing style can make him sound unnervingly like Sting at times. [Dec 2016, p.106]

Keane fans will be happily familiar with the piano-heavy pop-rock, but those who wanted a little more grit will fine it in spades on The Wave. [Dec 2016, p.105]

The Last Hero won't make them any new friends, but those they have won't be disappointed. [Dec 2016, p.105]

Whether that relatively small selection of highlights justifies buying this package is a moot point. It may depend on whether there is something of interest in the sound of great talent stuck in a deep rut. [Nov 2016, p.116]

Plenty of opportunities to put your hands in the air, but, ultimately, you may not care. [Nov 2016, p.108]

Amazingly, this weird, consciously retro amalgam of Van Dyke Parks, Big Star and Queen actually works. [Nov 2016, p.111]

Unfortunately there's no left-field motion, no unexpected turns, none of the twist'n'crawl that separated them from the workaday pack. [Nov 2016, p.102]

[In The Now] doesn't stray too far from the latter-day Bee Gee template as songs such a s Grand Illusion, Star Crossed Lovers and the swooning ballad The Long Goodbye combine harmonies with memorable melodies. [Nov 2016, p.105]

If there's an issue, it's that Rhys's voice doesn't appear often enough, although the instrumental interludes--Chop Sop, Dylan's Demons--are typically quirky and inventive. [Nov 2016, p.113]

Far from running on empty, the spouses from Charleston, South Carolina have life to thank for refilling the song tank. [Nov 2016, p.114]

Lean and modest throughout, Don't Let The Kids Win reverberates with a sense of truth that only the truly exceptional can convey. [Nov 2016, p.110]

Modern life is rubbish, but the tunes are great. [Nov 2016, p.114]

Whereas that time [on Off My Rocket At The Art School Bop] the sharp lyrics were backed by memorable tunes, here he isn't pulling up any trees musically. [Nov 2016, p.107]

Let Them Eat Chaos is masterful. [Nov 2016, p.107]

An album that yields more with each listen. [Nov 2016, p.111]

The songs pound like jackhammers, there ate big choruses everywhere and mischief to spare. [Nov 2016, p.108]

Few singers examine the pathology of heartbreak so expertly. [Nov 2016, p.102]

His earthy but frequently beautiful Americana has maintained a consistent heaviness of vibe, and album five continues down the same byway. [Nov 2016, p.107]

Gong have become their own tribute band. But it works. [Nov 2016, p.107]

It doesn't eclipse their finest work, but if Toy is to be their farewell, it's a fine way to go. [Nov 2016, p.114]

There are some exquisite songs here. [Nov 2016, p.111]

Revolution Radio is Green Day back at their best. [Nov 2016, p.104]

Requiem is Goat's most acoustic and folksy release to date, but their greedily promiscuous approach to pilfering beats from all pints of the globe is undiminished. [Nov 2016, p.107]

The oddball rapper with the humdrum name is carving out a space all of his own. [Nov 2016, p.102]

Eventually even the guest run out of ideas, leaving only Dupieux's fragmentary electro-funk. [Nov 2016, p.111]

The folky reworking off The Raconteurs' Caroline Drama is an improvement on the original and the stark version of Love Is The Truth, originally written for a coke ad, outweighs the bombast of the released version. [Nov 2016, p.117]

White Glue departs little from the scratchy template of La Spark but sounds more confident, if still just as nasty. [Nov 2016, p.114]

It often feels a little formulaic, but, boy do they have that formula down to a fine art. [Nov 2016, p.107]

The two troubadours don't miss a trick bringing sepia-tinged majesty and tragedy back to life. [Nov 2016, p.102]

How To Be A Human Being shows a band who know how to Frankenstein a song together, but can't bring it to life. [Nov 2016, p.107]

Ou Va Le Monde is twanging Tarantino-bait, Tatiana is a thumping, technophile take on The Velvet Underground, Le Chemin is gloriously woozy and Exorciseur is Gainsbourg-esque. But they're all eclipsed by the closing Vagues, a 13-minute psychodyssey. [Nov 2016, p.108]

These records might not eclipse Channel Orange, but they have their own mercurial gleam, mapping the spaces between people, reaching for a hazy intimacy that almost feels real. [Nov 2016, p.112]

These records might not eclipse Channel Orange, but they have their own mercurial gleam, mapping the spaces between people, reaching for a hazy intimacy that almost feels real. [Nov 2016, p.112]

[Johnny Lynch's] third album proper features confident, spangly pop music with beats as sneaky vehicles for stories of murder, primal blood rites and near-death experiences. [Nov 2016, p.113]

Despite some strong material, the relentless gloom gets a little wearing well before the end. [Nov 2016, p.113]

This time there is too little that snags the ear. [Nov 2016, p.114]

They're at their most effective, however, when they allow their songcraft to dictate the swirl, rather than vice versa. [Nov 2016, p.115]

It veers back to the more melancholy, washed-out experimentalism of their first records, while occasionally seeking to beak new territory. [Nov 2016, p.111]