Carry Me Back feels like a sidestep towards a more traditional sound. [Jan 2013, p.108]

They're much more at ease losing themselves in power-pop harmonies on Lazy Bones and embracing '60s garage on Stop When The Red Lights Flash. [Jan 2013, p.108]

Thankfully, it avoids the easy traps of earnestness or tweeness, and emerges as an intriguing, convincing listen. [Jan 2013, p.108]

This is a swig of all that's gone before, chased down with much warmer production. [Jan 2013, p.107]

At it's best, it's impeccable. [Jan 2013, p.107]

She's not ready to call time just yet. [Jan 2013, p.105]

The Violence is ambitious in Hayman's homemade, almost hesitant way, but his vision goes far beyond any other current independent artist, and is a true treasure. [Jan 2013, p.105]

[Glass's] lyrics are often buried in the mix, but no amount of production occultation can hide the fact that the likes of Plague are excelsior anthems for the End Times. [Jan 2013, p.103]

While Sing The Delta isn't DeMent's best work, it's full of understated, sharply observed songs. [Jan 2013, p.102]

It's very diversity makes it a little impersonal and even arch, but there are strong songs here and a retrospective disc shows there's plenty more where they came from. [Jan 2013, p.102]

A rather lovely bedtime listen. [Jan 2013, p.101]

Maybe he's not the kind of artist you need to hear stripped down. [Jan 2013, p.101]

Nothing really stands out like the best thing here, Make The World Move, featuring fellow Voice Judge, Cee-Lo Green. [Jan 2013, p.101]

Good pop needs light and shade to grow up, it seems, and so does Example. [Jan 2013, p100]

Tulisa struggles to get to grips with the predictably generic R&B ballads, but when the pace is upped and she shouts along to Young and the feisty M.I.A.-lite Live It Up, the personality that has turned her into a phenomenon of out times transcends her obvious limitations. [Jan 2013, p.112]

Bish Bosch is an album even fans won't necessarily play often, but on those special occasions, as per title, it very much does the job. [Jan 2013, p.104]

It's less direct than before, but still strangely, powerfully beautiful. [Jan 2013, p.103]

Warrior, a moderate improvement of her disappointing debut Animal. [Jan 2013, p.106]

In parts, [the album] is certainly worth it. [Jan 2013, p.113]

One for heartbroken dreamers. [Jan 2013, p.105]

With no track under six minutes in length, some editing wouldn't have gone amiss. [Jan 2013, p.107]

The most impressive moments are when he shifts away from his comfort zone. [Jan 2013, p.111]

Such willful awkwardness means they're never likely to rise above cult status, but this is still a very welcome form. [Jan 2013, p.105]

No flame then, but her light shows no sign of going out. [Jan 2013, p.112]

producer Don Was has tried to capture a country legend in his veteran state, but he's missing all the tricks. [Jan 2013, p.106]

Reconstructed stands as a compelling snapshot of an artist who can't be considered a real game-changer. [Oct 2012, p.118]

His first album in seven years is vigorously diverse. [Nov 2012, p.90]

If you lock The Flaming Lips, Kanye West and Rustie in a studio together, they might well emerge with something sounding like this. [Dec 2012, p.112]

It's a highly evolved, sometimes claustrophobic take on warm but angular Scandi-pop. [Oct 2012, p.103]

Maynard is clearly being primed to take on Bieber. Hence the ultra-pop, super-slick confections he layers his not altogether unpleasant (but not utterly spellbinding voice all over. [Sep 2012, p.105]

When they really hit their Ultravoxian stride on Clipped Wings or the piano breaks through the wall of synthesizer on Migrating Clay Pigeon, they're really quite spectacular. [Jul 2012, p.107]

As impressively deep as the music's pile may be, however, it's Marshall's towering voice that most recalls Elbow. [Dec 2012, p.109]

Even Faith's super-powerful voice never elevates the material above the decidedly everyday. [Jul 2012, p.100]

Rework is a must for toe-dippers and Glassheads alike. [Dec 2012, p.120]

Unashamedly retro, yes, but delivered with out irony--and at ear-ringing volume. [Dec 2012, p.105]

Overall this is never less than an engaging listen. [Dec 2012, p.112]

This improbable return could almost be a relic excavated from their mid-'70s heyday. [Dec 2012, p.110]

This collection by 18-year-old Chicagoan David Davis makes footworking beats accessible. [Dec 2012, p.106]

Field Music honor these songs by bringing the same bold commitment they bring to their own writing. [Dec 2012, p.105]

Cells remains more a collection o would-be club anthems than an album. [Dec 2012, p.104]

Blue Lines doesn't need [extras]. It was a classic in the truest sense, and unimprovable template that sound like it was recorded yesterday--or tomorrow. [Dec 2012, p.118]

There's certainly enough thrills to go round, even if Idea Of Happiness is sometimes lacking the killer chorus that would take it to the next level. [Dec 2012, p.115]

Thoughtfully conceived and carefully executed, it's a record worth braving. [Dec 2012, p.122]

Things perk up on the lovely Where There Are Pixels and the choired-up I Must be Jesus but it's one for the fierce-hearted and, as such, highly recommended. [Dec 2012, p.111]

Vague prog touches and thrash influences soon emerge, offering breadth and depth. [Dec 2012, p.109]

The fact remains that Take The Crown is a disappointment. [Dec 2012, p.99]

Streamlines their punk blasts as they aim for a wider audience. [Oct 2012, p.98]

More often than not, this is pop punk as it should be: direct, streamlined and raucous but of enough substance that preachy points are made within nagging, urgent choruses. [Oct 2012, p.93]

Too often, though, his eagerness to please sees him tumbling down to earth. [Oct 2012, p.93]

A great leap on from an already remarkable debut. [Oct 2012, p.114]

Three years after Rod's Soulbook covers album, Hucknall does that bit better, as you would expect from a voice with more than a decade's less wear and tear. [Dec 2012, p.106]

A deranged and thrilling experience, there's been nothing from them to touch it since. [Dec 2012, p.122]

For the umpteenth time, hats off, gents. [Dec 2012, p.122]

Short, but thrillingly witchy and proof that Wolfe can command the quiet as well as she does the noise. [Dec 2012, p.115]

Godrich's production gives the album exquisite depth but also smothers its soul. [Dec 2012, p.114]

An epic, genre-defying sonic stunt indeed. [Dec 2012, p.114]

Trust have a problem in Robert Alfon's unengaging, reedy mid-range quiver of a voice. [Dec 2012, p.114]

It's executive producer Eminem and his tin ear for a beat who dominate the LP's direction--or, rather, lack of it. [Dec 2012, p.112]

Trash Talk's speed punk is the musical equivalent of the third can of Red Bull: a great idea at the time, but may well produce a headache after. [Dec 2012, p.113]

Tender New Signs is full of cracking tunes that help avoid the formlessness that effects-laden atmo-pop often slumps into. [Dec 2012, p.113]

Each and every track is subservient to a formula which demands a whistling filter sweep, a rattling, super-hyped snare roll and the inevitable canyon-deep drop before it all goes nuts. [Dec 2012, p.113]

The album's closing songs blur into a somewhat too-cushioned landing. [Dec 2012, p.112]

File besides Peaking Lights as odd couple doing weirdly accessible wonders. [Dec 2012, p.112]

While the songs remain wonderful, Mr. Blue Sky feels like Lynne righting imaginary wrongs. [Dec 2012, p.111]

Long Wave seems like great fun for Jeff Lynne, less so for the rest of us. [Dec 2012, p.111]

It delivers patches of sheer brilliance, but the overwhelming urge is to ask them to cut to the chase. [Dec 2012, p.109]

Thrilling stuff. [Dec 2012, p.109]

The result may be less straightforward to dance to, but can play dizzying tricks on the ears. [Dec 2012, p.108]

Hayes has a tendency to wisp but this is offset by more exciting tunes such as the Cure-y single Keep running. [Dec 2012, p.106]

The Death Cab For Cutie man turned his vision to a series of alternate realities. [Dec 2012, p.105]

This could be the most finely realised piece of work by a teenager since Arctic Monkeys released Whatever People Say I Am... in 2006. [Dec 2012, p.104]

Fagen's fourth albums is as airtight as his others. [Dec 2012, p.104]

The band sound bored. [Dec 2012, p.103]

Guitars jangle and fuzz to no clear purpose, the rest of the instrumentation plods behind, and singer Wayne Petti fails to convince. [Dec 2012, p.103]. [Dec 2012, p.103]

The real delights are the dreamily sinister instrumental sections. [Dec 2012, p.100]

It doesn't quite touch the invention of the people who inspired it. [Dec 2012, p.100]

They offset their cosmic silliness with molten rock surges and spacey interludes. [Dec 2012, p.99]

ChesnuTT's thrilling unorthodoxy remains in off-kilter arrangements and strange details. [Dec 2012, p.101]

The Carpenter's appeal lies in its gentle tempos and heartstring-tugging melodies. [Dec 2012, p.100]

A quietly beautiful record. [Dec 2012, p.105]

An intoxicating listen that's well worth experiencing for yourself. [Dec 2012, p.109]

Unfortunately, Iha's anemic vocals are as terminally starry-eyed as ever. [Dec 2012, p.107]

For a record that initially seems nothing more than a charming little reverie, it's difficult to shake off. [Dec 2012, p.102]

Impeccable taste and genuine love shines through like sunlight on grimy garage windows. [Dec 2012, p.99]

Another dicey sell for the moshers probably happier to indulge in the record's belligerent breakdowns and build-ups. [Dec 2012, p.109]

An excellent return. [Dec 2012, p.109]

It's a lush and elevating experience. [Dec 2012, p.109]

The Coup's sixth album recalls OutKast or The Roots at their boldest, and Riley's an engaging host. [Dec 2012, p.103]

It's more accessible than more tripped-out previous releases. [Dec 2012, p.110]

You're left with a decent retro rocker who's treading water when he should be kicking up dust. [Dec 2012, p.110]

The rest of King Animal struggles to match "Been Away Too Long" for musical flair or raw energy. [Dec 2012, p.113]

It has the messy, majestic sprawl of classic Crazy Horse. [Dec 2012, p.115]

In a half-hearted effort to dilute the homogeneity, Harris grouts 18 Months with flimsy instrumentals, as if to create the illusion of a proper album. He's not fooling anyone--maybe not even himself. [Dec 2012, p.108]

They run a schizophrenic gamut of cinematic moods that bleed into one another jammed together into one disorienting hour that reaches its end without any discernible narrative reward. [Dec 2012, p.104]

All you need to notice about Oui Oui... is that, together, these musicians can still rustle up a synergy no other band can imitate. [Dec 2012, p.102]

As a singer, Kylie still sounds about 15 and her voice sometimes struggles not to be engulfed by the swells of strings and legions of backing singers. Nevertheless, for the most part, this is quality stuff. [Dec 2012, p.101]

Eccentric as ever then, but there's no denying the continued originality of the sound. [Dec 2012, p.102]

Compared with the clever appropriations of others who share his historical interests Manual veers close to pastiche. [Dec 2012, p.101]