Mostly Born In the Echoes is a blast. It's just that sometimes it's a blast from the past. [Aug 2015, p.108]

[The] debut is a blast from start to finish. [Aug 2015, p.104]

In short, Calling Out's not a bad shout if you're looking for something calm and unruffled to soundtrack the summer. [Aug 2015, p.104]

A house album that strips out the weaknesses while putting boosters under the strengths. [Aug 2015, p.113]

A welcome reversal of fortunes. [Aug 2015, p.112]

There's little to grasp here, the chiming guitar of 11 and blustery feedback of 6 excepted. [Aug 2015, p.106]

Years & Years may not be with us for the long haul. But right now, they're picture perfect. [Aug 2015, p.110]

While not exactly rammed with chart-friendly bangers, the likes of Oino's Day-Glo twitch and Mountain's doe-eyed dream pop should hopefully ensure Dust the success that eluded him first time around. [Jul 2015, p.108]

An lysergic audio treat to sate the hunger of horned nature deities and psychedelic heads alike. [Aug 2015, p.115]

Not all the songs are as well-defined as the skittish pop of Our Eyes, however, and while beautifully enunciated melancholy is her default setting, this record could do with more sharp edges. [Aug 2015, p.111]

It's angry, piss-yourself funny, bursting with ideas and endlessly quotable. [Aug 2015, p.107]

It's pretty good. Production values have been upped in the intervening period but rather than smooth out their edges, they only serve to accentuate their fierce, angular approach. [Aug 2015, p.110]

Rest And Be Thankful is as welcome as the first true summer's day in Argyll. [Aug 2015, p.109]

This is Parker's finest achievement yet, with the lavish soundscapes and dense atmospherics often anchored with undeniably catchy hooks. [Aug 2015, p.102]

Worthy, but hard work. [Aug 2015, p.115]

Back To Basics' pub-rock charm wears thin pretty quickly. [Aug 2015, p.115]

They are as fearless and undiminished as ever here. [Aug 2015, p.114]

Universal themes absorbs and moves far more than it frustrates. [Aug 2015, p.113]

His first LP of original material since 2002's October Road slips into earshot with the gentle country lilt of Today, Today, Today and rarely breaks a sweat from here on in. [Aug 2015, p.113]

Though never matching the otherworldly brilliance of their first two albums, Moonbuilding 2703 AD does at least find these 50-something space cadets still aiming for the stars. [Aug 2015, p.111]

More a holding album than a great step up. [Aug 2015, p.111]

He's starting to look like someone who an no longer be held by the confines of his own skull. [Aug 2015, p.109]

These songs aren't as charcoal-stark as her earlier solo work, but the aura of breathy acid-folk enchantment can leave the feeling there is too much atmospheric smoke, not enough revelatory mirror. [Aug 2015, p.104]

An assured first step. [Aug 2015, p.114]

Whatever she's doing, it's working. [Aug 2015, p.109]

Furman's collage approach and his Joanthan Richman-styled variations are charming, full with both life and with tunes. [Aug 2015, p.106]

Their second album has much to recommend it. For the most part, songs fizz by succinctly. [Aug 2015, p.106]

Each of these fine songs could be sung by a blowsy, bruised Blanch DeBois. [Aug 2015, p.109]

Subculture stands up well: an accomplished set of ska, pop and reggae. [Aug 2015, p.112]

Walk Dance Talk Sing is most effective when, rather than relying on the tunes to work their magic, they lock the groove into a freewheeling funk-motoriik. [Jul 2015, p.102]

This second LP falls slightly short of its predecessor. [Jul 2015, p.105]

As much an art piece as it is a pop record, EWAB would make the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon flat on your back at a sun-strafed festival. [Jul 2015, p.106]

Something special and fascinating and really quite contemporary. [Jul 2015, p.111]

It's a dazzling trip. [Jul 2015, p.108]

He rarely slips into simple pastiche. The real deal. [Jul 2015, p.112]

An album that plays too safe in its thirst for hits. [Jul 2015, p.110]

The follow-up to 1997's Lipslide proves worth the wait. [Jul 2015, p.104]

A record of elegantly woozy street-level songwriting that highlights the links between Dire Straits and Television. [Jul 2015, p.104]

She's A Witch's tumbling harmonies, the tessellating grooves of Dark Star and Bushe's surrealist lyrical skew help cast a dazed spell. [Jul 2015, p.106]

This is spectacular. [Jul 2015, p.115]

Wolf Alice is fiendishly difficult to pin down, bu they're full of inspired ideas rather than lacking direction. [Jun 2015, p.115]

Lyrically unambitious, musically on its laurels, there's no oomph here. [Jul 2015, p.113]

At Times, Tenderness teeters on schmaltz, but Souther's way with a simple melody usually pulls it back. [Jul 2015, p.113]

Everything that made their past albums so engaging--the lopsided melodies, frontman Tim Elsenburg's anguished drawl, those lazy Bacharach-style brass fills--is still here, but harnessed to better songs. [Jul 2015, p.114]

For better or worse, this is exactly how you'd expect the third Leftfield album to sound. [Jul 2015, p.107]

The mood here is still adolescent but with a growing emotional and musical sophistication. [Jul 2015, p.115]

Relatively speaking Home Economics finds a much warmer and more colourful band at work. [Jul 2015, p.112]

A mixed bag, then, but still uniquely one of Herbert's own. [Jul 2015, p.107]

Functional and festival-friendly, their epic naivety quickly becomes wearing. [Jul 2015, p.111]

The results are serviceable. [Jul 2015, p.111]

A black-metal-inspired collection of songs equally beautiful, if largely less accessible to the casual listener. [Jul 2015, p.112]

It's both a delight and a retro-soul how-to. [Jul 2015, p.112]

Peace Is The Mission feels like too much of a splurge to be enjoyable right through. [Jul 2015, p.109]

Gibson's music has a strange timelessness faded and well-mulched, though there are moments when the mood proves a little too sludgy to be memorable. [Jul 2015, p.106]

They mesh exquisitely here. [Jul 2015, p.105]

A bold step, especially as the songs slow-burn rather than star-burst. [Jul 2015, p.105]

Up front, Island is punk-pop par excellence, while, toward the end, Dorian's a blissful medium pacer about carefree journey home. [Jul 2015, p.114]

William's slick pop-R&B effectively smothers Snoop's signature drawl. [Jul 2015, p.113]

Mostly this debut sidesteps the freakish in favour of pop immediacy. [Jul 2015, p.113]

He's more class than charisma. [Jul 2015, p.111]

LaFarge explores nooks and crannies left unfinished 70 years ago instead of merely replicating the bigger themes. [Jul 2015, p.108]

[Producer Mutt] Lange proves an excellent match. Never before have Bellamy's guitars sounded so terrific. [Jul 2015, p.110]

A great concept, but there aren't enough ideas here to prevent it running out of steam. [Jul 2015, p.108]

The quality dips towards the album's close, but all told, this is a solid return to the fold. [Jul 2015, p.102]

It's a richly textured record. [Jul 2015, p.109]

An exhilarating ride from a group who sound completely revitalised. [Jul 2015, p.108]

Justin Hawkins' vocal histrionics can, at times grate, but for suckers of old-school guitar riffs and songs about the Viking invasion of East Anglia, there's much to enjoy. [Jul 2015, p.104]

True, like an armful of regrettable tattoos it may have transitory allure, but its nasty, brutish and short appeal will do for now. [Jul 2015, p.104]

An album so rich, complex and dazzlingly fluid. [Jul 2015, p.103]

Boyle is still at his strongest when he opts to bring the noise. [Jul 2015, p.102]

Musically, she delivers that desired top-down, sunny LA drive-time feel. [Jul 2015, p.100]

It's still unclear, for all the charm and enthusiasm, exactly what might mark them out, make them a cause, a rally call. For now, though, Young Chasers is just enough to keep them out in front. [Apr 2015, p.103]

As film music the score's consciously unobtrusive. [Apr 2015, p.94]

By avoiding a quick fix, The Vaccines have made their most complete album yet. [Jun 2015, p.113]

It's a delight. [Jun 2015, p.110]

Those who investigate Heartbreak Pass may find themselves enthralled. [Jun 2015, p.107]

A splendid blast of pop art--with the accent on tunes and outrageous fun. [Jun 2015, p.110]

Sub-Lingual Tablet is occasionally lumpen, frequently marred by Smith's recently adopted growl yet powered by enough energy and spark to burn through any reservations. [Jun 2015, p.105]

Crowell co-writes the majority of these 11 new songs, covering all the bases from nostalgic regert to downright weepie, highway anthem to cajun-flavoured rug-cutter. [Jun 2015, p.107]

Seemingly compiled by the toss of a coin, Can't forget is a hotch-potch of old staples, two new songs and two covers. [Jun 2015, p.102]

With Multi-Love, Nielson has concocted an intoxicating brew. [Jun 2015, p.113]

A concise soundtrack of garage racket, gospel-informed blues, glam balladry and piano confessionals. [Jun 205, p.104]

Big, bold and joyful, it's exactly what a great pop album should be. [Jun 2015, p.105]

Dumb Flesh strikes a fabulously oxymoronic tone: euphoric dread. [Jun 2015, p.100]

What Hardy has done here is make a folk album for people who don't normally like folk music. [Apr 2015, p.103]

His experiments works best when anchored to a solid rhythm. [Jun 2015, p.102]

Suffused in African melody and harmony, the touches of house and hip-hop more decorative than foundational, it reads like Esau's love letter to his homeland. [Jun 2015, p.113]

All the chest-thumping overwhelms the more interesting diversions. [Jun 2015, p.112]

This second collection of mostly covers after 2013's Memphis embraces some of the best music of his career. [Jun 2015, p.111]

It's not all bad, but Global suggest the hardest-working man in experimental pop needs a lie down. [Jun 2015, p.111]

One to be enjoyed in small doses. [Jun 2015, p.110]

Impressive and increasingly accessible, this is the sound of a major talent developing. [Jun 2015, p.104]

Platform is always engaged and engaging, the questions it raises never merely academic. [Jun 2015, p.107]

It does reconfirm her knack for making grown-up dance albums unlike anyone else. [Jun 2015, p.106]

While these songs still have Matsson's trademark melancholy at heart, there is a new kind of gladness and hope to them too. [Jun 2015, p.112]

This isn't just a new Faith No More record. It's one of their very best. [Jun 2015, p.113]

The follow-up [to 2013's All Hail Bright Futures] doesn't start well, picking up where that album's most irritating moments left off. [Jun 2015, p.100]

A lovely, tender album. [Jun 2015, p.110]