It's not perfect but there's enough invention here for that not to matter. [Mar 2012, p.106]

It is a precious reminder of Wagner's quietly incisive gifts. [Mar 2012, p.105]

Maraqopa sounds like the place he's been searching for all along. [Mar 2012, p.105]

His aim is true, his enthusiasm genuine and even the one new self-penned track, Live It Up, slots in nicely. [Mar 2012, p.105]

Hive Mind sounds at once strange and familiar. [Mar 2012, p.100]

Their penchant for thuggish lyrics and thudding beats now sounds more monotonous than menacing. [Mar 2012, p.100]

Vodka & Ayahuasca is a potent brew. [Mar 2012, p.100]

Classic heartbreak stuff. [Mar 2012, p.97]

A dazzling listen. [Mar 2012, p. 105]

Entrancing. [Mar 2012, p.102]

It's the curveballs, rather than the reliable Lanaganisms that make Blues Funeral such a powerul return. [Mar 2012, p.101]

They sound like a band expanding their horizons with success. [Mar 2012, p. 100]

Swapping The Hold Steady's white-knuckled intensity for skeletal drums and echoing guitar gives Finn's voice more room to manoeuvre. A welcome change of pace. [Mar 2012, p. 100]

[She] sticks to the formula of soft-spoken polemical raps and gritty lo-fi beats. [Mar 2012, p. 97]

This third effort sees the band step into darker territory, blending detuned guitars and Sonic Youth-esque dissonance with infectious pop-punk hooks. [Mar 2012, p. 100]

All the evidence anyone needs that the 50-something Weller is in the midst of a supersonic prime. [Mar 2012, p. 98]

The music is as compelling and versatile as Polachek's voice. [Mar 2012, p. 97]

Their second album finds them full of anthemic swagger and brio. [Mar 2012, p. 97]

Unlikely to return them to chart orbit. [Mar 2012, p. 97]

Stunning. [Mar 2012, p. 96]

Confirms her as the most compelling new pop star around: half doomed romantic, half mordant cynic, with a distinctively conflicted vision of how love, fame and America work. [Mar 2012, p.94]

Some of the greatest countrified orchestral pop this side of the randy old goats' [Gainsbourg and Hazlewood] heydays. [Feb 2012, p.108]

Heavenly. [Mar 2012, p.97]

All over the place, he takes you along for an engaging ride. [Feb 2012, p.97]

Essentially, it's post rock without the waiting around - all the songs here are straight arrowed and straight-forward, but never predictable. [Oct 2011, p. 125]

Strikes the right balance between rock ballast and frayed pop beauty. [Sep 2011, p. 101]

The group struts through an early brace of crackling tunes.... Unfortunately though, the album's second half slips - bar the swirling psychedelia of Sioux - into more indistinguishable indie-rock territory. [Oct 2011, p.123]

It's transporting enough to leave haunting echoes all its own. [Sep 2011, p.114]

A career-spanning, alternative "best of." [Feb 2012, p.101]

Essential to anyone searching for modern folk's head waters. [Feb 2012, p.101]

Though wildly hit and miss, Keep Your Dream, is never more fun than when going completely over the top. [Feb 2012, p.110]

MU.ZZ.LE is more crackly, lo-fi trip-hop, like something beamed in from another planet. [Feb 2012, p.110]

It's very much a period piece, but a very enjoyable one at that. [Feb 2012, p.107]

Resolution is a furious and unrelenting broadside of searing riffs and invention. [Feb 2012, p.107]

With elements of Afrobeat, house and indie rock, E Volo Love is an assured affair, [Feb 2012, p.107]

A functional quality is leavened by guest voices. [Feb 2012, p.104]

The gloomy beats prove best suited to Pusha's own sinister drawl. [Feb 2012, p.104]

Their infectious electro-funk certainly has a new hedonistic swagger. [Feb 2012, p.104]

Conjures up a haunting, almost mythical American landscape of lost highways and endless skies. [Dec 2011, p.137]

Smart, anthemic and often desperately moving. [Dec 2011, p.137]

An album that's consistently mind-melting and often brilliant. [Feb 2012, p. 106]

Margo Timmins gives haunting, basilisk voice to the songs ... even familiar listeners will be intrigued. [Dec 2011, p. 125]

Replacing buoyant guitars and boy-girl dilemmas with dark themes of religion, parenthood and death, this [album] is a bridge to grittier material, albeit that with a glittering pop-rock handrail. [Nov 2011, p. 143]

There's all the usual yarn-spinning and nerdy wit here, but ... there's also a warmth and wisdom that no amount of lo-fi goofing can disguise. [Nov 2011, p. 135]

It starts promisingly ... but 43 minutes of joyless hectoring becomes an endurance test. [Feb 2012, 110]

If there had been a disco episode of Star Trek, then Phenomenal Handclap Band would have provided the go-to floor-fillers. [Feb 2012, p. 109]

Her debut LP is a Story Book Forest of weird instruments and enticing sounds. [Feb 2012, p. 108]

Together [Mt Sims] and Leila forge a suitably avant-garde partnership ... conjuring up a febrile, vital rush of looped, monotone vocals, buzzing electronics and fractured beats. [Feb 2012, p. 107]

Errors have always been technically thrilling, but [this album] sees the four-piece imbue their machine-like synth and riff soundscapes with a new-found warmth.[Feb 2012, p. 104]

At times The Ship's Piano seems like one long love letter... laced with sentiment and heartfelt thanks for life's greatest gift. [Nov 2011, p. 135]

It takes a special talent to mine new gold out of acoustic songwriting, and Ben Howard just isn't it. [Nov 2011, p.135]

The sisters harmonise like sisters should, the tunes soar as both country and Bright Eyes should and First Aid Kit is contending like contenders should. [Feb 2012, p. 104]

Angry, innovative and often ahead of the curve. [Feb 2012, p.111]

Opener Drifting In And Out, a shimmering piece of dream pop, is beautifully realised, but the other nine songs fail to live up to its promise. [Feb. 2012, p. 110]

Fizzing with memorable melodies, irrepressible energy and Matthew Caw's heartfelt vocals, this 38-minute set doesn't have a wasted moment on it. [Feb. 2012, p.108]

Their sound is instantly familiar - equal parts Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons and Coldplay - but executed with sufficient exuberance to avoid any staleness. [Feb. 2012, p.101]

Drifts past pleasantly enough, but fails to make an impact. [Feb. 2012, p.101]

Somehow contrives to bring us the worst of both worlds [of glossy dance floor beats and Manc rock swagger.] [Oct. 2011 p. 131]

Rather than merely bashing out folk takes on [the songs of Wyatt and Antony], they've remodeled them, retained the sense of gravitas and added a fan's love. Gorgeous. [Feb. 2012 p. 111]

At times it's gently dreamlike and beautiful, but its ethereal ambitions often feel like a lack of focus rather than a statement of intent. [Feb. 2012 p. 111]

Their 16th album proves that while Guided by Voices' songs are legion, their gifts remain singular.[Feb. 2012 p. 109]

[An album] that's up there with its maverick creator's best.[Feb. 2012 p. 105]

Not without some good moments, but bereft of magic. [Feb. 2012 p. 104]

They sound truly beguiling. [Feb. 2012 p. 101]

Seventeen years on,... Cake have lost none of their bite. [Feb. 2012 p. 101]

Sees Milo Cordell and Robbie Furze being drawn further into the stadium-electro wind tunnel. [Feb. 2012 p. 101]

A downright joyous debut. [Feb. 2012 p. 101]

Proves that there is still a place for bands playing short, noisy pop songs about girls and being young, regardless of where they come from. [Feb. 2012 p. 100]

A varied and hugely absorbing record. [Feb. 2012 p. 107]

Irresistible. [Feb. 2012 p. 107]

Surprisingly addictive. [Dec. 2011 p. 124]

The songs are so delicately crafted that it never feels predictable. [Feb 2012, p.103]

Utterly mesmerizing, psychedelic document of the random music made by machines and nature. [Jan. 2012 p. 127]

A snapshot of one of the most vital, intellectual, breathlessly thrilling bands Britain's ever produced. [Dec. 2011 p. 143]

A second disc continues the upbeat mood of the main album. [Jan 2012, p.135]

This two-disc set captures R.E.M. in their prime, erasing the memory of their middling final decade. [Jan 2012, p.135]

This collections reveals that you can make music as clever or as conceptual as you like, but back it up with magnificent songs, and the people will flock. [Jan 2012, p.132]

The bonus material on both albums offer up further evidence that this was the Pumpkins' purple path. [Jan 2012, p.130]

The bonus material on both albums offer up further evidence that this was the Pumpkins' purple path. [Jan 2012, p.130]

It shows the music, too, is undergoing rapid evolution. [Jan 2012, p.123]

London's electronic wunderkind explores just about every other avenue in post rave dance music. [jam 2012, p.123]

Dan Mangan here serves up the welcome alternative [to other alt-folkies.] [Jan 2012, p.123]

Messy but addictive. [Jan 2012, p.123]

This is an electrifying collection of electronic music with heart and soul as well as dancefloor throbs. [Jan 2012, p.1222]

The duo deliver traditional virtues and a familiar Yuletide ambiance here. [Jan 2012, p.124]

Your tolerance for extended jams will be tested but it's a varied and mesmerizing trip nonetheless. [Jan 2012, p.124]

Basically, it's a Megadeth album; no more, no less, no change. [Jan 2012, p.124]

Their boldest and best album for years. [Jan 2012, p.124]

The results should be riveting. Sporadically, they are. [Jan 2012, p.127]

[It has] abundant warmth, melodiousness and spontaneity--and fewer full-tilt stylistic shifts than earlier records. [Jan 2012, p.127]

Breezy sort of fun to be had. [Jan 2012, p.126]

It's great at times, but far more work than it should be. [Jan 2012, p.127]

It's packed with clever songwriting, wry observations and occasional Leonard Cohen-esque dark foreboding. [Jan 2012, p.120]

Attention Deficit Domination goes straight for the doom-rock jugular. [Jan 2012, p.120]

There are moments of genuine wonder. [Jan 2012, p.120]

An admirable tribute if frequently deafened by the echo of its tragic catalyst. [Jan 2012, p.121]

As a kind of '90s bedsit atmosphere plug-in, it works perfectly. [Jan 2012, p.124]

Simply crazed speedcore played over actual cattle auctions. [Jan. 2012, p. 120]