At its best it's irresistible.... Elsewhere, more conventional material, including bluesy Internet ruminator Atacama and the oddly inclusive, cutlery-rattling Galapagos, sound like they were more fun to make than they are to listen to. [Jul 2014, p.112]

It's not an instant listen, but there's wisdom and loveliness to spare. [Jul 2014, p.110]

It all helps to bring out a soul and spirit that is hard to deny. [Jul 2014, p.110]

At times, it's almost peaceful. [Jul 2014, p.109]

When they do stretch themselves there's much to savour. [Jul 2014, p.109]

Enclosure, his 11th solo record, is uncomfortably disjointed. [Jul 2014, p.107]

Dalle has her bite back. [Jul 2014, p.104]

Owens is still lyrically overblown and adolescent with his themes, but his band have found a way to make their progressive intentions fit their punk rock. [Jul 2014, p.104]

Their technical reach may not yet match their imagination, but that'll come in time. [Jul 2014, p.102]

This stands up as a decent album of far-out wandering in its own right. [Jul 2014, p.101]

It's difficult not to warm to any record that quotes Prefab Sprout's Cars And Girls in one breath and uses the word "phlebotomist" in the next. [Jul 2014, p.109]

A compelling record, in which the moments of sudden tenderness stand strongest. [Jul 2014, p.105]

It's not settling down as anyone else might know it, but Revelation is the unlikely but lovely sound of a plan coming together. [Jul 2014, p.119]

As on Tramp, Van Etten's lyrics remain similarly frank. [Jul 2014, p.117]

Yann Tiersen's latest is as distant from that film's {Amelie's] accordion-powered melodies as his native Brittany is from Paris. [Jul 2014, p.117]

The significance of their sonic puzzles can remain frustratingly out of reach. [Jul 2014, p.114]

Themes of displacement, disillusion, and druggy ennui speak of a band who are no longer enjoying themselves. A shame, because when singer Andrew Savage shakes himself free from the torpor, his anger becomes an energy. [Jul 2014, p.112]

It's fun for sure but perhaps not quite the game-changer everyone--or, at least, the band themselves--was hoping for. [Jul 2014, p.112]

The characters and stories that Oberst sketches out have never been so fully realised. [Jul 2014, p.112]

The result is one of his most rounded, fulfilling solo records. [Jul 2014, p.111]

It's a curious artifact for sure, but it casts a unique spell. [Jul 2014, p.111]

Their fourth album continues their stimulus for head and viscera. [Jul 2014, p.107]

This third LP for the label is both gritty and polished, sung and played with the certainty of an artist who's been doing it forever and will keep on doing it until they're stopped. [Jul 2014, p.107]

Chatham County Line's format has barely changed, but it has matured deeply. [Jul 2014, p.104]

Unlike their forebears, they are never guilty of over-stretching their songs, ensuring Syd Arthur supply lushly brocaded pleasure throughout. [Jul 2014, p.102]

While there's nothing on here that feels quite as urgent as Nichijyou, last year's track recorded with Jehnny Beth from Savages, it's still a beguiling collection of songs. [Jul 2014, p.103]

These supremely accessible, expansively produced, mostly summery pop songs often suggest a less bilious, more fleet-footed Frank Turner. [Jul 2014, p.112]

Heartstrings lacks the killer song that would bring Howling Bells the success they undoubtedly crave. [Jul 2014, p.109]

Glass Animals have mapped out a vivid, intoxicating soundworld of their own. [Jul 2014, p.107]

Even if the arrangements can stray toward the vintage, the sisters' sublime voices ensure their songs always shine with startling clarity. [Jul 2014, p.107]

Like Willy Wonka, Jack White is a strange, dramatic and otherworldly figure. Lazaretto amplifies all these character traits to electrifying effect. [Jul 2014, p.106]

Illuminate is a powerful, sometimes overwhelming debut that pushes all the right buttons. [Jul 2014, p.103]

Stockholm contains 11 good-to-excellent songs, hooks and pleasure aplenty, but still, alas, short of a masterpiece. [Jul 2014, p.101]

It's a record that demands you get to know it inside out. [Jul 2014, p.101]

Vlautin's literary side is very much evident, with the lyrics of these 11 songs effectively vivid short stories populated by bruised characters. [May 2014, p.108]

It's diverting enough but unlikely to gain Sartain significant ground. [Jun 2014, p.119]

It's on the conceptual pair of tracks 45s (c.69) and 45s (c.14), where he contrasts two generations of hipsters hanging outside the same club 45 years apart, that his imagination really takes flight, though, giving an exciting glimpse of where “tradition” folk rock might go. [Jun 2014, p.108]

The bed springs chez Wegg-Prosser are clearly creaking. [May 2014, p.121]

The lack of an absolutely killer song and an aversion to hooks may yet derail them, but there's hope to spare. [Jun 2014, p.122]

Another triumphant reaffirmation of UK dance music's mass appeal. [Jun 2014, p.120]

Shadow finds a band who can do more than just roar. [Jun 2014, p.114]

The fact that Grace Jones actually made a run of visionary '80s albums has long been rather overlooked, but this luxurious reissue goes a long way to righting that wrong. [Jun 2014, p.124]

Upon its release in 1994, Definitely Maybe sounded messy and thrilling. Now, of course, it sounds like a classic. [Jun 2014, p.127]

A pop culture enthusiast, Luke Haines once again shows his uncanny ability to beat vivid and idiosyncratic new narratives from leathery sacred cows. [Jun 2014, p.111]

This album gently shimmers when you want it to dazzle. [Jun 2014, p.121]

At times they pull in too many directions at once. [Jun 2015, p.116]

The results ate at once intimate and expansive, layering vintage synthesizer riffs over fidgety percussion. [Jun 2014, p.112]

There's a small charisma shortfall, but blessed with good songs, Leithauser wears everything well. [Jun 2014, p.113]

With sympathetic production by reggae stalwart Mike "Prince Fatty" Pelanconi, the results combine Janet Kaye's lovers rock, the Wailers' pop years and the sound of Compass Point studios. [Jun 2014, p.107]

Although Lion City's best moments come with the fusion of African and Western psychedelic rock to ambient atmospherics, standout song Justice will suit anyone who's ever wondered what might happen were Bruce Springsteen to write a blue-collar anthem with African rhythms. [Jun 2014, p.108]

In Conflict is as densely crammed with ideas and movement as his CV, an impression bolstered by the presence of the polymath's polymath Brian Eno. [Jun 2014, p.117]

Butler's gang of misfits may fall further below the radar on the back of this, but artistically he's on to something. [Jun 2014, p.112]

Almost every track on this fifth LP is thematically inspired by a historical figure, which intrudes in the spoken passages of Sunday Neurosis, but otherwise inspires some of their most exciting music to date. [Jun 2014, p.119]

Weighted by retro production that gets bogged down in neo-soul moves reminiscent of Sade, though, inspiration flickers throughout without ever reaching full illumination. [Jun 2014, p.118]

Almost defiantly ramshackle the mix of classy songcraft and threadbare instrumentation nonetheless makes for a compelling listen. [Jun 2014, p.118]

Songs such as the Psychedelic Furs-recalling The Second Summer Of Love and the Bowie-like Sell Your Soul show McBean's keener on examining his adolescence in the alternative '80s,, alongside other rock'n'roll mythology. [Jun 2014, p.118]

By turns impassioned, thoughtful and thrilling, it makes for a standout debut. [Jun 2014, p.117]

Melodies unfold, lyrics reveal their meaning and the wait is revealed as having been worth it. [Jun 2014, p.116]

While Martyn's voice has dropped an octave and lost a few notes along the way, that merely adds to the beaten and beating heart of these songs. [Jun 2014, p.114]

His stentorian baritone adds emotional depth and there's a world-weary rue to the lyrics. [Jun 2014, p.114]

Fly Rasta offers no concessions to the new-fangled ways of hip-hop, dancehall and R&B. [Jun 2014, p.114]

The celestial keys and brooding bass of Lesson From The Darkness could be straight from the early '80s, but The Faint's mastery of their influences ensures Doom Abuse is defiantly their own creation. [Jun 2014, p.108]

The musical similarities to old muckers Coldplay might smack of cynicism, but you can't fault their ambition. [Jun 2014, p.108]

A true one-off, you're either a believer or you're not. [Jun 2014, p.106]

She sounded better as a bit of a bad girl. [Jun 2014, p.106]

Like every era of electronic music all balled up together, CCTV and subways, excitement and fear. [Jun 2014, p.123]

While Azalea drops the occasional zinger, The New Classic is the sound of an ersatz rebel playing to script, having a shot at the rap career Paris Hilton never quite got round to. [Jun 2014, p.123]

A unique and thrilling voice forging a new folk tradition. [Jun 2014, p.122]

Maybe having others to lean on in the big bad world brings the best out of Fullbrook, who sounds bright and confident where once she was charmingly hesitant. [Jun 2014, p.122]

With Williamson delivering street-ranter streams of consciousness over Andrew Fearn's frigid post-punk/jip-hop productions, it's possibly not for the casual listener out for a few laughs but there's much to invigorate in its unaffected, defiant slagging of hated jobs, metropolitan hipsters, Twitter and more. [Jun 2014, p.120]

For all its surface activity, this twitching, fidgety aesthetic is still all icing and no cake. [Jun 2014, p.121]

Each track sparkles with a playful inventiveness, while Meath's beguiling, melancholy melodies are impossible to resist. [Jun 2014, p.121]

Putting it on is less like listening to an album and more like scaling a mountain. [Jun 2014, p.121]

As a whole, though, I Never Learn wallows too much. [Jun 2014, p.119]

Mulvey is very much his own man on this highly intriguing debut. [Jun 2014, p.117]

His first album since 2008's Ninja Tuna marks a radical shift, ditching both fishy puns and vintage soul samples in favour of swarming basslines and stuttering electro beats. [Jun 2014, p.116]

It's all done with a cheeky girl's charm. [Jun 2014, p.115]

Is Indie Cindy good enough for the Pixies to keep going? Pretty much. [Jun 2014, p.113]

The country-folk roots are earthly present, but old-time tropes are given contemporary settings. [Jun 2014, p.112]

Weird Drift is a lighter and less oppressive affair [than Love & Devotion]. [Jun 2014, p.112]

At times, stellar. [Jun 2014, p.112]

It's a graceful exhibition of light melody over dark mood. [Jun 2014, p.110]

The result is an inspired collection of songs from a consistently surprising and creative artist. [Jun 2014, p.110]

The charitable thing would be to blame record label micromanaging because surely nobody would choose to be this unoriginal. [Jun 2014, p.111]

They still sound a little too arch and buttoned-up to make a convincing transition from lab to club. [Jun 2014, p.111]

The relentless live percussion give Frost's music the structure that makes it more than noise. [Jun 2014, p.111]

The Nihilist is a mind-melting blend of traditional songwriting and endless, restless experimentation. [Jun 2014, p.110]

Someday World is a joyous blend of busy rhythms and bright, surging melodies with fleeting hints of Hot Chip and Talking Heads. [Jun 2014, p.108]

The Long Journey Home and God, I'm Missing You might look back at the past, but Crowell's best years are right now. [Jun 2014, p.107]

Nabuma Rubberband is too uneasy, too unsettling, to guarantee a full-blown commercial breakthrough, but otherwise, they've cracked it all. [Jun 2014, p.107]

White Women has all the depth and staying power of a Christmas cracker joke. [Jun 2014, p.106]

Herd Runners is ambitious and emotionally enthralling throughout. [Jun 2014, p.106]

It's genuinely exciting to think where The Horrors might go from here. [Jun 2014, p.105]

A must-listen if you know the infield fly rule, but not so essential if you don't. [Jun 2014, p.104]

What might have been a solid, politically-tinged LP is let down by poodle-yelped vocals. [Jun 2014, p.104]

The debt to electronic pioneer Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene is obvious, but it's a compliment to say this is guaranteed to send you to sleep. [Jun 2014, p.104]

They sand down their raucous edges for a more playful psych-pop sound. [Jun 2014, p.103]

Not always easy to decode, but worth the effort. [Jun 2014, p.103]