It proves to be an entertaining and profitable arrangement. [May 2010, p.112]

Their trad arrangements of others' songs are bewitching, but it's a pity they don't pen more original songs. [Nov 2009, p.112]

Loveless-era My Bloody Valentine is still their touchstone, with dreamy vocals almost obliterated beneath washes of distoortion on "I Just Want To See Your face" and "Reprobate!," but they also thorw curveballs. [Apr 2010, p.119]

The Wonder Show of the World turns over life's topsoil to find the truths beneath. [May 2010, p.122]

It's engagiing enough that even the happily perplexing nine-minuter "The Well" breezes by with no danger of outstaying its welcome. [May 2010, p.117]

Chill-out with substance. [May 2010, p.117]

The Big To-Do is the familiar mix of big guitars and off-kilter storytelling. [Apr 2010, p.120]

The hushed mandolins of "Still Love You" nudge it toward Sufjan Stevens territory and "Wont's Lie" is a witty gothic waltz, but neither does enough to atone for the mawkish excesses eleswhere. [Apr 2010, p115]

Peepers mostly whizzes by in a heady blur, but when they paise for thought, a whole new layer of depth and intrigue emerges. [Apr 2010, p.116]

Delicate folk rock is hardly thin on the ground, but rarely is it tackled with such mastery. [May 2010, p.125]

This 11-song Lp is less freak folk than freak scene, as the trio balances lo-fi guitar crunch with Chris Weisman's adenoidal vocals. [Jul 20120, p.93]

It clings too rigidly to its electronic template and sorely lacks the breezy pop iinventiveness of old. [Apr 2010, p.115]

Cafarella's falsetto takes some getting used to, but the strategy pays off handsomly on the title track's chiimiing melody and the angular strut of recent single "Disconnected," even if the high point is actually DFA-worthy disco epic "Criss Cross." [May 2010, p.126]

Noel Gallagher-approved Alberta Cross's first offering fulfils the promise of 2007's "The Thief & The Heartbreaker" EP. [Oct 2009, p.105]

There was nothing like "Demon Days" before and there's been nothing like it since. Until now.[...] Plastic Beach picks up several steps on from where its predecessor left off. [Apr 2010, p.104]

The dizzying "Here Comes All The People," this roller-coaster album's highlight, merges post-punk trash with whispered vocals, orchestral wizardry, funky guitar, tub-thumping drums and Snow Patrol-esque grandeur. [Apr 2010, p.115]

This instant familiarity is their strength but also the source of the mild disappointment that nags through the rest of the record, since it mostly amounts to variations on a theme, few of which scale those initial heights. [Apr 2010, p.116]

While unmistakably Scottish leader Scott Hutchison has taken a great songwriting leap forward, the more ingredients his group throws in, the more effecctive and more inspiring the Selkirkers are. [Mar 2010, p.102]

Highly evolved it may be, but that doesn't make it any more listenable. [Apr 2010, p.112]

It's hard to quarrel with the 27-minute running time when every second is irresisitible. [Jun 2010, p.124]

It is lighter sonically than the Hendrix classics and laced with a handful of instruments that, despite spotlighting the guitarist's jaw-dropping fluidity, might be of limited appeal. [Apr 2010, p.127]

Beat the Devil's Tattoo finds BRMC edging ever further toward parody. [Apr 2010, p.109]

It's a good move, supercharged power pop melodies and sparky guitars combining to good effect on tracks such as "Gimme The Wire." [Jun 2010, p.127]

The enveloping crescendos of "Albatross" define the album's blend of beauty and pure power in a record that puts "classic" back into classic rock. [Apr 2010, p.106]

It works surprising well. [Apr 2010, p.120]

Quarantine The Past, a 23-track Best Of, blazes their reunion trail, working as either a tremendous primer for the uninitiated or a dizzying reminder of their remarkable abilities. [Apr 2010, p.124]

The results are spooky, poignant and impressively unique. [Apr 2010, p.111]

Her debut album, indeed, is something of a mess, the sense being of an artist trying to run before she can walk. [Jul 2009, p.123]

So we get stomping piano pop hits (I'm All Over It), supper-club R&B (a cover of Rihanna's Don't Stop The Music) and finger-clicken' ruminations on the stage of the planet (Wheels, If I Ruled the World). Proof the thrill is in the chase. [Dec 2009, p.111]

The whole album passes without anything you could call a tune, but there's a keen intelligence at work: while fiercely odd, it's frequently electrifying, too. [Feb 2010, p. 112]

As a covers album, this is about as good as it gets. [Mar 2010, p.104]

Their best and most cohesive album since 1999's "Vertigo." [Mar 2010, p.111]

It may lack enough heavy hitters to equal the sucess of "Merriweather Post Pavilion," yet the aptly named McPhun has created a Technicolor, synapse-tickling delight. [Apr 2010, p.119]

The sound is richer and the mood conveyed by Sambol--think a Muppet Show Sylan--is more rueful. [Apr 2010, p.121]

Few tracks are any way immediate. [Apr 2010, p.116]

It features much gastly US po-punk. but Robert Smith and Franz Ferdinand take on songs from former Alice In Wonderland productions and just about win. [May 2010, p.125]

A sleek fusion of minimal bass, subtle breakbeats and surpise vocalists. [Apr 2010, p.111]

The Open Road restates his credentials, mostly with fleet-footed aplomb. [Apr 2010, p.111]

Songs such as "Don't Ask" strike, but with nothing to sweeten the blow. The sound of baby going out with the bath water, in short. [Apr 2010, p.109]

The sextet have simply folowed their instincts and made a gloriously upbeat pop collection, packed with kitchen-sink productions and thumping choruses, invariably underpinned by Rasmus Nagel's stentorian keyboards. [Apr 2010, p.106]

The resultant upgrade sounds like a ZX Spectrum wired to a jack hammer. Add the occasional pause for breath--as on the glacial "The Erskine Bridge"-- and Come Down With Me is a thrilling invitation. [Mar 2100, p.101]

Instead of setting alarm bells ringing, One-Arm Bandit manages to be both playful and innovative in a '70s prog-rock kind of way. [Mar 2010, p.110]

The melodramatic clatter of Corridors and Meridian's airborne melodic spores mark then out as rare species, but their underlying pomposity remains an albatross around their necks. [Mar 2010, p.108]

This Ronson-produced collection of swinging '60s pop and blue-eyed soul is still well-crafted, with standouts. The problem is Merriweather's voice, which is technically agile but emotionally anodyne. [Jul 2009, p.127]

While there's plenty to admire, Magic Chairs feels like th work of a band who can't quite allow themselves to make the anthemic indie-rock of which they're clearly capable. [Mar 2010, p.101]

Thier latest mixes elements of ambient, post-punk and psychedelia. Often a recipe for a mess, there are moments of coherence. [Mar 2010, p.97]

Maybe it's simpy the case that, Cash and Rubin having done similar things together so often in the past, the magic and power ro move have worn off, only to be replaced by an uneasy feeling of exploitation. [Apr 2010, p.108]

The title track sets the tone with its exploration of heroin addiction as a metaphor for relationships, but it's "The American Scream"--a gritty, neo-gothic parable--that best illustrates Alkaline Trio's unique take on three chords and the truth. [Mar 201, p.97]

This is a record so richly involving that it promises to throw up fresh delights weeks, or even months, down the line. [Apr 2010, p.113]

Adding bassist Jonana Bolme has sharpened focus, but its' frontman Sam Coomes's guitar that brings a new strut to typically droll psychodrama such as "repusion." [Apr 2010, p.119]

High On Fire sound like Lemmy fronting Black Sabbath on a Slayer tribute night. [Apr 2010, p.106]

A rich, multi-layered and utterly enchanting record. [Mar 2010, p.106]

Without diluting the pair's roots, the 1 tracks weave a binding spell that feels just as familiar to Western ears as African. [Mar 2010, p.108]

It's when he stops trying to be the people's poet, however that Falcon soars. [Mar 2010, p.100]

It's soulful and pristine pop that all seems a little pedestrian in comparison. [Aug 2009, p.101]

Marcus Mumford's wearied vocal keeps the mood honest, rather than histrionic, and he finds a gentle beauty on 'After The Storm's' lonely walk home. [Nov 2009, p.115]

As a result, She Rode Me Down thunders along like a flute-propelled express train, Black Smoke is a foreground as they've been since their moment of near-glory Travelling Light and they somehow prised the elusive Mary Margaret O'Hara out of obscurity to duet on Peanuts. [Feb 2010, p. 112]

He attampts to reinvent himself again, this time as an unlikely hybrid of Rufan Wainwright and Elvis Costello. The results are surprisingly good. [Mar 2010, p.105]

Gentle, droll and - bar the disappointingly immature Oh Shucks - mercifully free of knob gags, Minor Love is charming. [Feb 2010, p. 108]

The two-part "Metal Bird" is genuinely thrilling. They don't scale such heights elesewhere, but this is still an album that rewards perseverance. [Mar 2010, p.108]

The result is a superbly off-kilter record, from the new wave guitar jerks of Each Time Is A New Time to the strident harmonies and shifting melodies on All You'd Ever Need To Say. [Mar 2010, p.101]

Story Of The Year manage to stand out from the melodic post-hardcore morass due to the sheer stength of their anthems, That said, there's little new on this fourth album. [Apr 2010, p.106]

Amusing on first listen but--as with so many records sold on amusing wordplay alone--it doesn't stand up to repeated exposure. [Feb 2010, p.105]

More accessible than Animal collective, weirder than MGMT, this is otherworldly pop music to make the head spin. [Mar 2010, p.103]

One Life Stand is the classic pop album they've always threatened to make. [Mar 2010, p.96]

His first album in more than 15 years sees him back atr the musical vanguard--thanks in large part to XL boss and producer, Richard Russell, whose arrangements brilliantly frame the 60-year-old's rich burr and terse street poetry with brooding electronica and stark blues handclaps. [Mar 2010, p.106]

Compared to the radical thrill of Portishead's equally long-gestated "Third," there's a sense Del Naja and Marshall are still feeling their way back. [Mar 2010, p.99]

While his lyrics are lascivious to a point, songs such as "Love," "The Hardest Way" and "Heartkiller" are strictly soft-focus, with any semblance of attitude--or actual sex--air-brushed into radio-friendly oblivion. [Mar 2010, p.102]

Elegantly downbeat, Soldier Of Love sparkles as a whole rather than as a collection of parts. [Mar 2010, p.107]

Happily thieir mellowness is balanced by musical variety, from Snow Canyon's hint of Emmylou Harrris country to Forever Me, which is pure Bjork-ish torch song indie. [Mar 2010, p.111]

The imaginative scope of this debut shows why expectations have been raised, his hazy soundscapes and blurred falsetto recalling Animal Collective's more strung-out moments. [Mar 2010, p.110]

The shoutiness that made their previous two albums a tiring listen hasn't been entirely banished, but they have taken it down several notches, while also dialing down several notches. [Jun 2010, p.133]

Not only is he an edgy folk singer, but Regan's second album sees the young Dubliner plug in to a similar ragged, rockabilly vein to Dylan's mid '60s classics. [Feb 2010, p. 111]

The Courage Of Others charts a terrain more folksy and pastoral with a greater sense of melancholy and fear at its core. [Feb 2010, p. 106]

Short, but extremely sharp. [Feb 2010, p.104]

Impressive though it is, however, there's a lurking feeling that it could have been released any time in the past 10 years. [Mar 2010, p.97]

While his satanic-hick shtick hasn't evolved an iota since the first Hellbilly Deluxe, there's no denying that he knows his audience. [Mar 2010, p.97]

The resultant chaos is addictive, energizing and catchy as hell. [Feb 2010, p. 108]

Montreal's Preistess are more holy smokers than divers, to the point where this engrossing second album recalls the potent psych-rock of the early-'90s-era. [Apr 2010, p.106]

With much here that could match the chart success of fellow travellers La nd Little Boots, it;s an accomplished first offering. [Feb 2010]

The trio's lyrical style is woven into a bewitching mesh of soul, funk and psychedlia by cut-and-paste guru Madlib. [Mar 2010, p.98]

IRM proves suitably unconventional thanks to the presence of co-writer and producer Beck Hansen, who plays fast and loose with Gainsbourg's breathy chanson, skipping from spiky percussion (Master's Hands) to lush orchestration (Vanities) even joining her at the mic for jaunty, '60s-flavoured duet Heaven Can't Wait. [Feb 2010, p 107]

Every so often, a newfound edginess gratifyingly creeps in, be that musical, on the gothic post-hardcore of "Plan A," or lyrical, on "The Sea Is A Good Place To Think Of The Future," a movingly detailed portrait of a suicidal girl. The signs of a band whose ambition may yet match their productivity. [Mar 2010, p.055]

This record, however, makes an indelible mark. [Feb 2010, p. 110]

The giddy result of years spent twisting and caressing orchestras of samples into a living, breathing organic whole, There Is Love In you brims with a playful sense of wonder, never more so than on centerpiece This Unfolds. [Feb 2010, p. 109]

The acoustic-only, antique-sounding folks songs of Realism are superficially less abrasive than 2008's Distortion, but beneath they still articulate black-humoured romanticism. [Feb 2010, p. 111]

It's to Bailey Rae's credit that never for one second does the album feel exploitative or mawkish, just truthful and real. [Mar 2010, p.94]

Slight by comparison with 2009's "Merriweather Post Pavilion," but not without it's own charm. [Feb 2010, p.116]

Citay's fourth album hasn't moved far from the excessive Black Sabbath/led Zeppelin grind of their self-titled 2006 debut. Dream Get Together does, however, show more finesse. [Mar 2010, p.98]

Produced again by former Arcade Fire man Howard Bilerman, here spare, lovelorn songs such as zithery vigil The Shore evoke an elegant melancholy, while the more rugged likes of Gold Rush dart forth on galloping drums, fiddles and banjos. [Feb 2010, p. 104]

This time around, though, she's more introspective, less shouty and the result is her most absorbing album since 2005's "Kidnapped By Neptune." [Mar 2010, p.106]

It's not as electric as some performances, but it's no wondder he had a heart attack soon after and retired...for now. [Apr 2010, p.126]

Although reaching a touching peak on melancholic closer City By The Sea, two albums in Good Shoes still lack a defining personality of their own. [Feb 2010, p. 107]

Erland And The Carnival is an exquisite update of the classic folk-rock sound of the late '60s, full of dark and lovely covers and originals starring tramps, carnivals, Derby Rams and death. [Feb 2010, p. 105]

As an album, it is an imposing structure, a statement to their architectural skill. Beneath their grand design, however, Editors exists in a grey area, mistaking the half-light for night. They're not quite masters of darkness yet. [Nov 2009, p.105]

Experimental yet entirely accessible, Transference proves that Spoon are of America's finest bands. [Feb 2010, p. 111]

If Noah And The Whale's The First Days Of Spring dealt with identical subject matter from a 20-year-old's perspective, 46-year-old Everett's tale is darker and more adult. And painfully brilliant. [Feb 2010, p. 104]