An inventive reworking of Squeeze's "Up The Junction" and a caustic cover of the Sex Pistols' "EMI" are reminders that, 15 years on from "I Should Coco," their passionate (Brit)pop still crackles with energy. [Apr 2010, p.112]

Her sweet vocals and country-ish musical tilt recall Cat Power, but with a fresh and affirming, rather than jaded, worldview. [Oct 2009, p.112]

They do what they do with admirable panache, ripping thorugh 13 buzzy little items in a shade over half an hour as though lives, or at least wallets, depended on it. [Mar 2010, p.105]

Led by a yearning frontman getting his Morrissey on, it's a debut that's boyishly and buoyantly charming. [Aug 2010, p.126]

Whether a fanbase reared on moshpit anthems is ready for such artful desolation remains to be seen, but as an exercise in skin-shedding and score-settling The Betrayed is brutally effective. [Feb 2010, p. 103]

Compared to the mulch churned out by far too many, Contra will cut through most of the stuff on the radio like sunshine through clouds. [Feb 2010, p 100]

Unfortunately, wit the exception of the catchy "Needing/Getting," there's little that's memorable. [Winter 2010, p.107]

It's a faintly embarrassing trifle that only a 69-year old ex-Beatle could get away with. [Apr 2010, p.120]

What's lacking are a few copper-bottomed pop melodies to bind it all together; the kind of thing his collaborators normally provide, in other words. He's beter as a team player. [Mar 2010, p.101]

Always an engaging songwriter with a strong mystical and elemental bent, the seamlessly flowing July Flame now adds an increased accessibility to her armoury. [Feb 2010, p. 112]

The debut is a mix of styles classic and unorthodox, mythic American themes and sounds overlapping with futuristic textures. [Jan 2010, p.119]

Its grit and graft will keep his cult following happy. [Apr 2010, p.112]

The loose-limbed beats, fuzzy keyboards and faraway trumpet on Which One Of You Jerks Drank My Arnold Palmer? are loungecore at its best, while The Daily Routine's distortion is full of atmosphere. [Feb 2010, p. 103]

Clearly aiming for som eof the Lady Gaga's action, debut album Animal contains more of the same surging synth-pop and invitations to party. [Mar 2010, p.110]

He's hardly renowned as a pin-up, which lends his fourth album's Prince-ly fixation with carnal knowledge a touch of the absurd.... Still, it's delivered with panache, thanks to Thicke's versatile pop-soul vocals and some slick production work. [Jun 2010, p.131]

And while there's no escaping the notion This Is War would be easier to love could Leto decide whether he wanted to be in U2, Linkin park, or Marillion, one can't help but admire his style. [Jan 2010, p. 117]

The woozy G-funk of 2 Minute Warning and 1800's crunk rat-a-tat show his trademark drawl has lost none of its subtle menace, though too often it's left to guest cameos to supply the spark - rising R&B star Jazmine Sullivan brushing her host aside on soul-powered highlight Different Languages. [Jan 2010, p. 118]

It's the very real emotional core that save Straight No Chaser from being just a slickly anonymous pop confection. [Nov 2009, p.100]

A hip hop album of raw and unusual playfulness. [Jan 2010, p. 118]

Yet while these tracks might bring Nelly Furtado's Timbaland-fueled makeover to mind, there is more to She Wolf than glossy dance-pop. [Dec 2009, p. 124]

A live document of his wildly acclaimed 2008 tour, Glitter And Doom further amplifies that uniqueness, backed up by an entire second disc of surreal storytelling. [Jan 2010, p. 126]

Her fifth solo album mixes positive-message R&B, hip hop and funk with variable and often unsubstantial results. [Mar 2010, p.110]

Functional but fun. [May 2010, p.122]

The majority of Reality Killed the Video Star - a reliably punning title, and this one almost works - seems to have taken its glum atmospheric cue from Morrissey's Vauxhall And I or Rufus Wainwright's less fruity concoctions - without necessarily taking on board any of their melodic or lyrical gifts. [Dec 2009, p. 108]

The result was a record stranded between the two [mainstream or underground cool], hummable, but too quirky to cross over. [Nov 2009, p.101]

The Fall contains more than a few copper-bottomed classics: the languid and steamy I Wouldn't Need You, the Ryan Adams co-write Light As A Feather, and Chasing Pirates, a near-perfect two-and-half minute study of the racing thoughts that get in the way of sleep. [Dec 2009, p. 114]

Anyone familiar with Portishead's magisterial Third and Barrow's production on The Horrors' Primary Colours knows the terrain-metronomic rhythms stretched like elastic; percussion as precise as surgery; disembodied keyboards and vocals. [Dec 2009, p.11]

For both Grohl and Homme, Them Crooked Vultures isn't a supergroup pitched at the world's stadia, but rather a pressure release valve from their highly successful day jobs, an opportunity to kick out the jams - this is very much an album based around heads-down, brain-disengaged, rock 'n' roll boogie jamming - and revisit the classic hard rock sounds they were reared upon. [Jan 2010, p. 114]

While Heartbreak Warfare and War Of My Life chug pleasantly along in their Police-lite way, and Taylor Swift makes the briefest of cameos on the bittersweet half Of My Heart, true inspiration, as ever, remains a conspicuous absentee. [Jan 2010, p. 120]

Sometimes less is more. [Jan 2010, p.117]

Having cornered the market in MOR pop, he brings these well-honed chops to bear on OneRepublic's second album, throwing up an immaculately mixed cocktail of soft-focused rock, white-bread R&B and heartstrung balladry. [Mar 210, p.107]

After a rocky couple of years, Good Evening New York City is proof that Paul McCartney's mojo appears full recharged. [Jan 2010, p. 116]

A complex album that reveals more with each hearing. [Oct 2009, p.110]

The lightness of touch is a pleasant surprise, but not as pleasant as the sound of summery Sumner re-engaging. [Nov 2009, p.101]

The 11th Bunnymen album is a reminder that the elegiac guitars and uplifting choruses of indie rock were invented by this band way back in the ealy '80s. [Nov 2009, p.104]

If Bob Dylan can do it, so can Tori Amos, whose own nod to the festive season, Midwinter Graces, is a rather more palatable, ornately arranged selection of self-penned songs and such carols as Star Of wonder and Emmanuel. [Jan 2010, p. 126]

More than a quarter century down the line, Bon Jovi are still living and selling the rock 'n' roll fantasy on The Circle. Why Not? They've done very nicely out of it. [Jan 2010, p. 126]

His debut album isn't quite as off the wall [as his mixtape], but taps an irrepressible post-Kanye West mood. [Jun 2010, p.133]

The follow-up to last year's scene-defining debut, Aerial, is every bit as good. On Lost, Huismans takes dubstep's booming sub-bass and frozen atmospherics and adds fuzzy keyboards and a spiralling vocal sample. [Dec 2009, p. 111]

Ultimately, the outlook remains lucuratively overcast. [Dec 2009, p.137]

The live material shows the band in their element, even if the limitations of Johnson's voice are exposed, flawless performances of "Hells Bells" and "Live Wire" explaining why they're still one of the most thrilling live acts. [Jan 2010, p.131]

Bibio's Warp debut, Ambivalence Avenue, is one of the stealth albums of 2009, its pastoral psychedelia reminiscent of Super Furry Animals idly punting with Boards of Canada. [Jan 10, p. 118]

It's the sinuous, propulsive bass of Malka Spigel (Newman's wife and co-founder of the Swim~label) that takes centre stage, never more so than on instrumental opener Faster, the first of several tracks to invoke the ghost of New order. [Jan 2010, p. 119]

Only Revolutions has enough in the way of nous, intelligence and tunes to broaden their audience immeasurably. [Dec 2009, p.122]

Freed from the expectation of neatly crafted songs, Goddard gets in touch with his dance roots on a collection of largely instrumental grooves. [Jan 2010, p. 119]

He may have followed the aspiring bedroom producer's now-established route from blog favourite to remixer (for Yeah Yeah Yeahs), but the solo debut of Dayve Hawk, former frontman for post-punks Hail Social, is anything but predictable. [Jan 2010, p. 122]

'Ludow St' is lyrically smart, musically ambitious, more than any other track on Phrazes, it makes you wonder, if not regret, why the Strokes themselves never pushed the boat out this far. For that reason alone, it was worth Casablancas making this intriguing if imperfect record. [Nov 2009, p.98]

The tunes come think and fast, but their geeky adolescent routine is wearing thin. [Jan 2010, p. 126]

It's almost worth it for the titles alone. [Dec 2009, p. 136]

More of the same, then, but such cold-blooded consistency should be commended. [Dec 2009, p. 126]

Bleach's grooviness is intrinsic to its enduring appeal, just as much as the cankerous layers of noise. [Dec 2009, p.128]

Thirty years since first making her entrance as the distaff Tom Waits, Rickie Lee Jones still sounds utterly unique. [Dec 2009, p. 126]

In time-honoured, do-it-yourself fashion, their debut Introducing breathlessly races through 10 buzzy tracks in a shade over 23 minutes, by which time they've long since run out of puff. [Feb 2010, p. 112]

His synapse-fusing take on acid-house, however, first showcased on 2005's OK Cowboy, reamins an underground phenomenon--this sequel won't alter that. [Nov 2009, p.114]

As a live document of The Rollling Stones in all their swaggering, arrogant pomp, Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out is damned near essential. [Jan 2010, p.131]

Vocal harmonies, graceful pianos and psychedelic guitars keep the eco messages of Light Years and Dreamin persuasive rather than preachy, making Escape 2 Mars an impressive throwback to the "daisy age' of early De La Soul. [Feb 2010, p. 107]

Much of Greatest Hits will be familiar to people who've never heard a Foo Fighters album before: indeed, these are precisely the people it's aimed at. Like all such, Greatest Hits fulfills a function for fans too. [Dec 2009, p.134]

Utterly cinematic, it owes as much to Vangelis's Blade Runner soundtrack as derrick May's minimal techno. [Jan 2010, p. 120]

But while their second album is lyrically all quiet desperation, boasting such giveaway titles as Once I Was Pretty and The Disappearance Of My Youth, musically it's an altogether more uplifting proposition of stately A-ha styled synth-pop. [Feb 2010, p. 112]

Mark this down as the point which we can say with certainty for the first time Devendra Banhart is here for the long run. [Nov 2009, p.113]

Live At The Olympia more than stands up as a vital, vibrant document in its own right. [Dec 2009, p.118]

His debut album is a brilliantly inventive collision of '80s golden-era hip-hop, Aphex Twin-style beats and pop melodies that wouldn't be out of place on an OutKast record. [Nov 2009, p.107]

Wolfmother 2.0 are as retro as before, at least there's a refreshing variety to the bludgeoning. [Nov 2009, p.115]

Mostly, syrupy arrangements and obscure song choices spoil the flow. [Apr 2010, p.119]

While impeccably executed, as ever, a little more warmth and a little less ego wouldn't have gone amiss. [Dec 2009, p. 126]

If there is a highlight on this surprisingly dog-free set it's Fight For This Love, where soaring melody piles upon soaring melody without sacrificing its subtle grace. [Dec 2009, p. 121]

A third-eye dilator to be sure, but surprisingly easy to groove to. [Jul 2009, p.131]

There's a lot going on, but Welch never confuses breadth with depth. [Aug 2009, p.98]

With Tarot Sport, Fuck Buttons have made a career-defining album that will resonate with anyone who has ever spent a night with their head in the speaker stacks and gone home marvelling at the ringing in their ears. [Nov 2009, p.106]

Cox's great virtue is that he wears his experimentation lightly; though meticulously orchestrated and teeming with digital feints, these songs feel wonderfully spacious and derive an easy-going charm from his hazy vocals and their one-take recording. [Jan 2010, p. 117]

Erland Oye and Eirik Boe's voices cannon off each other appealingly enough on 'Boat Behind,' but the album drifts in the manner of nick Drake out-takes and by the time you've waded through 13 dawdling tracks, it's a struggle to recall any of them. [Nov 2009, p.109]

Kill is no great departure, but their sense of mischief and their genuine, Killers-esque power ensures staleness is kept at bay, while The Newark Airport Boogie (not their first airport tribute, incidentally) is bouncier than a spacehopper. [Feb 2010, p. 104]

Inspired by New York's Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, The BQE is an ambitious orchestration to accompany the film of the same name. [Dec 2009 p. 127]

Sadly, anybody hoping for Pavement's off-kilter melody and cryptic lyrics will be disappointed. [Dec 2009, p. 126]

But on his 14th album, this spiritual cowboy ("Home is where my horse is," he sings on Natural Forces) appears to have rediscovered his adolescent side. [Dec 2009, p. 119]

Staying true to a 20-year career of uncompromising extremity, it will take commitment to breach this seventh album's walls of noise. [Dec 2009, p. 113]

Some might find Issues a bit too strenuous ("I stand up to them and confront/While you choose to be a cunt, " claims Up) but as fans know, The Slits are meant to be full-on. [Dec 2009, p. 126]

Sometimes brillliant, but often baffling. [Nov 2009, p.107]

Presenting a more elegiac, frigid sound than recent albums, the songs, notably the Mogwai-meets-Morricone Make, show rhythmic agitation and conversing guitars finding resolution in horns and massed voices. [Jan 10, p. 119]

Espers' folk apocalypse is very now--and very welcome. [Dec 2009, p.112]

At times, this means overloading slight ideas, but when they get it right, as on the glorious 'Finish Line,' the results are irresitible. [Nov 2009, p.104]

Embryonic has a cloudy feel, full of hulking, malformed basslines, distorted drums, and melodies that circle without ever ascending. [Nov 2009, p.102]

But, alternating between the laughable and listenable, it's safe to say there's never been anything quite like the sound of him jollily croaking his way through Her Comes Santa Claus or Hark The Herald Angles Sing. [Jan 2010, p. 119]

Fluff, maybe, but very entertaining fluff. [Dec 2009, p. 115]

The best record of her life by some distance. [Jan 2010, p. 122]

It's like a broken radio stuck between frequencies, at once disorienting, woozy and supremely psychedelic. [Nov 2010, p.112]

Ditto's one-of-a-kind voice still bestrides everything, sometimes gutsy and soulful, sometimes oddly sweet. [Jul 2009, p.130]

Nothing if not consistent, Nicolas Godin and Jean-Benoit Dunckel's sixth studio album sounds effortlessly Air-like. [Nov 2009, p.110]

It's not his strongest, but facinating none the less. [Nov 2009, p.110]

Martsch's hitherto opaque lyrics are more revealing than normal, exposing sentiments of anger and loss. [Mar 2010, p.97]

It might be the best album Jim Kerr and Charlie Burchill have put together since 1984's "Sparkle In The Rain." [Jun 2009, p.131]

Enjoyment of this LA tribute act's wilfully non-PC parody of '80s hair metal entirely correlates with one's familarity with Poison and Faster Pussycat's liking for double--often single-entendres. [Jul 2009, p.117]

Darkly funny and strangely beautiful. [Nov 2009, p.111]

This eclectic follow-up finds him embracing the diversity that made Sebadoh so exciting in the '90s.[ Nov 2009, p.101]

It's wall-of-noise stuff, but consistently they manage to either build a decent tune into the squall or else engage the listener through exhilarating power alone. [Nov. 2009, p.101]

Sad to say, The List is an overly polite, lifeless collection of tried and trusted country standards apparently recommended as required listening by her father back in 1973. [Dec 2009, p. 126]

This isn't quite their peak (not least since it seems to have been recorded in a shed next to a motorway), but when they hit their stride it's clear why they're so revered, most thrillingly on the anthem that is, 1,2,3, Partyy!, the stentorian Forget Yourself or the beguiling closer, Slow Faucet. [Jan 2010, p. 122]

Unashamedly English with a slightly mysterious undertow, the likes of Harvest Time and Graven wood recall Pink Floyd at their most pastoral. [Jan 2010,p. 126]