Startling, shape-shifting music by a band reaching the peak of their powers. [Mar 2013, p.108]

The deeper emotions being stirred this time around fans out to several other highlights. [Mar 2013, p.106]

Pomposity reigns and the songs are too one-paced to ignore it. [Mar 2013, p.104]

The baroque embellishments of Nowhere To Go and Blind Eye are a perfect dressing for the emotions that created them. [Mar 2013, p.104]

Their sixth album has everything you should want from a rock group: riffs, daring ambition, big choruses and a bit with bagpipes in it. [Mar 2013, p.103]

It may do little to make non-believers go his way, but Get Up! sizzles with intent from the off. [Mar 2013, p.102]

[The band's] hardcore sound is as tricky to keep up with as ever. [Mar 2013, p.101]

The spirit of drunk adolescence, cramped kitchens and broken valuable endures on their frightfully fun debut. [Mar 2013, p.101]

[Bryan Ferry] corkscrews the concept in an instrumental tribute nit only to the very first cocktail'n'cocaine era but also to his own serpentine melodic gifts. [Mar 2013, p.101]

On this voodoo-inspired record of unfettered ambition, Foals have achieved a rare magic. [Mar 2013, p.100]

It's a solid album. [Mar 2013, p.99]

[The band] hasn't compromised the pitiless bleakness of Scott Hutchison's lyrical vision from their previous output. [Mar 2013, p.99]

The Flower Lane is a collection of hazy but beautifully constructed songs. [Mar 2013, p.98]

His picture would be that much more moving if he spliced his peaks with the occasional trough. [Mar 2013, p.98]

It obeys no single genre but it sounds like 20 years of London at night. [Mar 2013, p.98]

To truly get into the spirit, though, you'll need to have an attention span longer than his own. [Mar 2013, p.96]

Despite the skill, it's delivered like a well-to-do busker rather than with the requisite polish. [Mar 2013, p.96]

This mix proves his skill again. [Mar 2013, p.96]

The 23-year-old Nashville resident's keening voice can drag you in with either the acoustic intimacy of 22, which resembles the stark folk of Father John Misty, or the electrified rock of Ramona. [Mar 2013, p.95]

Almost every song is blasted with canyon-sized quantities of reverb. [Mar 2013, p.95]

Their former high-speed heedlessness has been supplanted with a new awareness of song structure, grown-up texture and non-red-zone pacing. [Mar 2013, p.94]

Everyone, while unsurprised that his vocals are unobtrusive and his lyrics unspectacular, will seek that greatness in the guitars. [Mar 2013, p.94]

Amok shows Yorke successfully synthesizing his obsessions into a compelling and complete universe. [Mar 2013, p.92]

Mind games worth playing. [Mar 2013, p.107]

There's always something clever going on over the rhythmic chug. [Mar 2013, p.102]

[The Mavericks'] sound refreshed, recharged and better than ever. [Feb 2013, p.106]

His lightly jazzed guitar shuffles pleasingly.... But when he attempts to bring the funk and steam up some windows on Until You're Satisfied, your toes will curl for all the wrong reasons. [Feb 2013, p.113]

It leaves less room for their more usual fluid melodies, though both Nails and Best Friends And Hospital Beds recapture their emotive sensibilities. [Feb 2013, p.104]

The accompanying impression of sincerity is enough to save unashamedly sentimental tunes such as Wedding Party and Two Children from mawkishness. [Jul 2012, p.96]

It's an odd concoction that manages to shift between Boards Of Canada-gone-baroque and unsettling white noise. [Dec 2013, p.99]

Over six albums in nearly 20 years, Connecticut's Hatebreed have yet to deliver a record that sounds different from the last. [Feb 2013, p.107]

Alienation, restlessness and lovelorn angst abound here, and Veronica Falls have lost none of their knack for blithely morbid romance. [Feb 2013, p.113]

The tunes are excellent throughout, with strong echoes of Cannonball-era Breeders. [Feb 2013, p.106]

The main problem is that the wooly songs struggle to match the grandstanding conceit. [Feb 2013, p.101]

Refreshingly simple in its own small way. [Feb 2013, p.103]

Exorcism Of Envy not only has to be heard to be believed, it just has to be heard. [Feb 2013, p.111]

Sara Lucas's strident vocals are often incomprehensible, rarely alighting on a tune for long enough to become memorable. [Feb 2013, p.102]

Lyrically trying to hard, and musically under-achieving, it amounts to no more than a shonky indie take on something that, when the pairing is right, can be truly magical. [Feb 2013, p.105]

A dark, challenging album. [Feb 2013, p.107]

It occasionally delivers the eccentric, giant-chorused rock that made Faith No More so great. [Feb 2013, p.107]

While Acolyte sounded assured, Collections occasionally projects a sense of strain. [Feb 2013, p.103]

{Awayland} is not blessed with the stark folkloric purity of Becoming A Jackal. It still confirms, however, that O'Brien is a songwriter out of step, out of time, and when he hits his lyrical stride, out of this world. [Feb 2013, p.110]

Talk Normal have made an album that's by turns thrilling, frustrating and annoying, often within the same song. [Feb 2013, p.111]

Possibly the most polished album Adams has produced, Moves is bigger and grander than its DIY indie-rock sound may suggest. [Feb 2013, p.110]

He's made his most palatable LP yet. [Feb 2013, p.109]

Whether it's some twangy rockabilly or a thoroughbred country lament, their aim is always true. [Feb 2013, p.107]

Funneling psychedelic sounds through soulful gospel has long been a musical quest.... Matthew E. White's band have nailed the gig with their first experiment. [Feb 2013, p.106]

Though bereft of the drama and surprise with which a top production can transform a song into cap-R Record, her ninth album is a ton of fun. [Feb 2013, p.104]

Women & Work strikes a party-hearty country-soul vein. [Feb 2013, p.103]

The beats simply aren't up to snuff. [Feb 2013, p.103]

Witty, gritty punchlines abound, maintaining the energy level even on those tracks where the beats are somewhat routine. [Feb 2013, p.103]

This album [is] good fun. [Feb 2013, p.103]

It's a powerful record that reconfigures the classic mnid-90s New York sound more skillfully than anyone's done for some time. [Feb 2013, p.103]

While My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy was anchored by Kanye's galactic ego, Big Boi often gets lost in the crowd. [Feb 2013, p.102]

It's folk, yes, but with a wickedness instead of a waistcoat. [Feb 2013, p.113]

Lady From Shanghai laughs in the face of chart pop, but the listener can't help cackling along. [Feb 2013, p.108]

It's best experienced with the lights out, although as with most film music, it loses some frisson separated from Strickland's lurid images. [Feb 2013, p.102]

For the most part, this is a pastoral, frequently beautiful folk record, spiked with the odd unexpected diversion. [Feb 2013, p.112]

The fluid blend of tracks makes it more of a single piece than a series of highlights and also-rans. [Feb 2013, p.108]

Arc is a missive from the heart as well as the head. [Feb 2013, p.100]

There may be more instant records, but a little effort reaps its own rich rewards. [Feb 2013, p.109]

McPhun's chirrupy high-register and a synth-pop gloss, which washes over the album from start to finish, only serves to ramp up the all-consuming mawkish tone. [Feb 2013, p.110]

For all its chiseled flirtation, what Anything In Return fails to offer is any real emotion. [Feb 2013, p.112]

The virtuoso musicianship largely eclipses Henry Tremain's insipid vocals. [Feb 2013, p.112]

This is a joyful and respectful collection. [Feb 2013, p.107]

All too often the joy is forgettable. [Feb 2013, p.106]

As homeopathic remedies for heartache and life's unkindness, these reflective songs are persuasive and when the group decide to fly with the moment-seizing, easy-psych These Days Are Mine, it's doubly invigorating. [Feb 2013, p.105]

This record passes right through you. [Feb 2013, p.104]

While there are few surprises, there is much to enjoy. [Feb 2013, p.101]

Fog is about as far from his work with Will Oldham as it's possible to be while still playing the guitar. [Feb 2013, p.101]

His ninth record is ramshackle and there's a lot of it, but it's always entertaining. [Feb 2013, p.101]

[The album] is a thing of unstated, fragile beauty. [Oct 2012, p.104]

A weapons-grade blast from start to finish. [Jan 2013, p.113]

This collection collects their best and worst. [Oct 2012, p.118]

The sheer variety of music is astounding. [Jan 2013, p.114]

These new songs sound like they came straight from a traditional songbook. [Jan 2013, p.102]

Throughout, quality doesn't waver; always sensually and intellectually rigorous, her songs touch on degrees of romantic disaffection and beyond with a sometimes uncomfortable gaze, and still sound freshly minted. [Jan 2013, p.119]

They're unpleasantly listenable. [Jul 2012, p.103]

It sets Vast Of Cheers up as just another cookie cutter indie band. [Jul 2012, p.96]

[Wrongtom's] meeting with East London jungle MC Deemas J is his most faithful homage yet. It's also his best. [Nov 2012, p.112]

The music is fabulous, a sublime pulse of Hammond organ, trombone and piano. [Nov 2012, p.100]

Nocturne hasn't shaken its overriding influences but Tatum gently pushes these songs beyond elegant pastiche. [Oct 2012, p.114]

At its best, Other Worlds is sublime. [Nov 2012, p.106]

An awe-inspiring experience. [Sep 2012, p.100]

A curious document, but one that serves as a reminder of Hegarty's ability to catch the light live. [Sep 2012, p.97]

When he dials down the combative cliches, he remains a powerful, compelling lyricist. [Jan 2013, p.110]

Musically, it's more straightforward, psychedelic metal in which the sound leaps from minimal guitars to maximal sludge noise. [Oct 2012, p.98]

An occasional over-eagerness for approval, though, can allow attention to wander. [Jan 2013, p.111]

Not enough bold venture, too much going round in circles. [Jan 2013, p.110]

This is gorgeous. [Jan 2013, p.109]

The grooves stay warm and loopy. [Jan 2013, p.108]

Its pleasures lie almost entirely in the storytelling, bolstered by Mueler's between-songs narration. [Dec 2012, p.110]

A blissful blip that produced one of the '90s' finest rock albums. [Jan 2013, p.121]

The passage of time sometimes has a way of making youthful politicking seem naive, but not here. [Jan 2013, p.121]

Arbez keeps things interesting by twisting the formula. [Jan 2013, p.113]

Fans of Prefab Sprout, The Go-Betweens and Saint Etienne could do a lot worse than give their cerebral Canadian counterparts a go. [Jan 2013, p.110]

The occasional clunker's certainly not enough to take the shine off a solid, consistent album. [Jan 2013, p.110]

On his impressive second album, the LA-born R&B auteur offers fresh options for mainstream urban pop. [Jan 2013, p.110]