Hold Time cements his status as one of America's best roots songwriters. [Mar 2009, p.105]

Entertaining though these tracks are, it's hard not to wish that he could ignore the buzzing irritations of not being universally adored, all the time, forever, and concentrate on the big picture. [Mar 2009, p.90]

Post-hardcore pioneers Thursday have responded to the end of their major-label adventure by producing their most consistent body of work to date. [Mar 2009, p.93]

Trail Of dead have kept faith with their traditional mix of prog pomp and grunge power for their sixth album. [Apr 2009, p.97]

They remain most compelling when Hanna lets rip, as on the propulsive, grinding 'Me & Mary.' [Mar 2009, p.93]

It's by nature a patchwork, but boasts more hits than misses. [Mar 2009, p.98]

It's their most melodically accomplished and wide-ranging effort yet. [Apr 2009, p.111]

A little too heavily indebted to fellow Aussies Nick Cave and The Triffids' late David McComb, even if that's not a bad place to be coming form. [Mar 2009, p.105]

At her best, on the eerie 'Every Path,' she's mesmeric enough to lure ships onto rocks, but come the inevitable 'Later...With Jools Holland' appearance, older viewers may be forgiven for thinking Dolores O'Riordan has changed dramatically. [Mar 2009, p.96]

Despite such big hitters as Bon Iver, Sufjan Stevens and Arcade Fire, it's an overly introspective affair, with little standing out bar contributions from The Decemberists and Dave Sitek. [Mar 2009, p.102]

But it's the art-punk sense of fearless invention that makes...Bobby Dee a winning album in praise of life's losers. [Feb 2010, p. 105]

The Mountain boys at the--ahem--peak of their powers. [Apr 2009, p.107]

Although just 26 minutes long, it's an unexpected triumph. [Apr 2009, p.115]

It's certainly not a consistent album, but the best of it is unique and intriguing. [Apr 2009, p.102]

Allen keeps it reliably real. [Mar 2009, p.92]

By the time he gets to the whiskey-soaked lament 'Whispered Words' you'll be wishing you had a back porch. [Mar 2009, p.93]

The sunny, country-ish melodies of opener 'Beathless' and 'Savorin' Your Smile' aren't quite matched by her limited voice, but when some darkness descends, as on 'Pictures Of You,' her perky nature adds a bittersweet twist to the added emotional weight. [mar 2009, p.104]

While the musical backing is occasionally sweeter than it is memeorable, Moss's narrative lyricism saves the day resulting in a rich debut that provokes fresh thoughts with each listen.

Houck's trip through Nelson's 60-plus albums shows such love and attention the great man himself could only approve of such hangover gems as 'I Gotta Get Drunk.' [Mar 2009, p.101]

His hard-hitting electro is basic, but brutally effective dancefloor fare. [Feb 2009, p.119]

The new problem is a lack of texture: in aiming for big hooks and big bucks, they've thrown variety out the window. [Jun 2009, p.134]

Sea Sew exudes the sort of simple, homespun charm that many strive to achieve but so few succeed in pulling off. [Jun 2009, p.123]

12 songs of charming inconsequence that briefly make the world a slightly better place. [Mar 2009, p.105]

A Fool For Everyone is serviceble moan-rock that only splutters to life when he slips into angular, Tom Verlaine guitar-playing mode. [May 2009, p.119]

If you like Sufjan Steven's lushly orchestrated reveries, you'll love this canadian eight-piece, who come across on their ambitious second album like an indie-folk Arcade Fire. [Mar 2009, p.105]

Which Bitch? is a blaze of glory. [Mar 2009, p.103]

There's plenty of evidence on Tonight... of attempts at broadening their palette, but it's usually by substituting jerky guitar for jerky synthesizer as the lead instrument. [Feb 2009, p.110]

His first proper UK release is a treat, at times conjuring the beautiful, stark bleakness of Nick Drake, elsewhere not afraid to crank things up. [Feb 2009, p.119]

While mostly perfectly acceptable as individual songs, the 13 tracks don't really stack up as an album, not one that gets close to his best anyway. [Mar 2009, p.94]

Tart modern pop performed with a sly sense of homour. [Mar 2009, p.105]

Their fifth album builds on 2007's well-received "Abandoned Language," with MC Dalek's rhymes playing second fiddle to producer Oktopus's darkly imaginative soundscapes. [Mar 2009, p.96]

Dear John is the album he's been gradually building up to, an ebbing and flowing suite best taken as a single musical movement. [Apr 2009, p.107]

Their quirky, inventive take on hip hop deserve a bigger audience. [Mar 2009, p.98]

With stylistic echoes of The Kinks, Pixies and non-dancing Stones roses, the songs' themes of social isolation, romantic frustration and other junior Dylan-isms suggest a talent yet to mature. [Feb 2009, p.113]

His forth album is accessible, furnishing his glitchy sound with nagging hooks, funky flourishes, and some proper tunes indeed. [Feb 2009, p.115]

Once again it's a showcase for some dextrous prog-jazz metal guitar work that on occasion veers dangerously close to tuneless skronking. [Mar 2009, p.104]

Only really worth investigating if you already own everything by the constituents' day-job acts. [Aug 2009, p.109]

Their sound has broadened, too, moving from callow mod-punk towards the big choruses of Kaiser Chiefs. [Nov 2008, p.120]

With Merriweather Post Pavillion, Animal Collective have refined their distinctive vision, once again proving they are ahead of the pack. [Feb 2009, p.1114]

Emotion drips from every breath. [Feb 2009, p.118]

Get Guilty bursts with dazzling tunes and--for him--relatively simple arrangements. [Apr 2009, p.108]

He's never been quite so on top of his game or quite so blessed with melodic magic. [Mar 2009, p.100]

A 26-minute tsunami which hurtles by in a Fiery Furnances-esque blur. [Aug 209, p.112]

In other words, the man's a ham, but a terrific one. [Aug 2009, p.109]

There's much here to justify Alan McGee's awe. [Oct 2008, p.148]

If the whole is too eclectic to eclipse the sum of its parts, it's an exhilarating diversion. [Apr 2009, p.100]

Folie A Deux is mostly a barrelling, hugely confident record that should see Fall Out Boy swiftly elevated into mainstream rock's premier league. [Jan 2009, p.112]

Brighten The Corners found the Califirnian indie five-piece buoyed by a more consistent set of songs than 1995's sprawling "Wowee Zowee." [Feb 2009, p.124]

Old school, but somehow not old hat. [Feb 2009, p.113]

It makes for one of the few Christmas albums that stands repeated listening. [Jan 2009, p.116]

While this circus could have more attractions and you yearn for a flash of lyrical brilliance among the uncomplicated relationship musings, there's no disgrace here and nothing to alienate their audience or embarrass those who grew up with Take That. [Jan 2009, p.117]

As the exclaimation mark in their name suggests, their every sentiment is exaggerated, but they do do careening anxiety rather well. [Nov 2008, p.110]

It's nowhere McCartney hasn't been before, yet it's still richer and more varied than he's been in years. [Jan 2009, p.116]

If this album is a mixed bag for West the producer, then it's a nadir for West the lyricist. [Jan 2009, p.114]

This is an unusually sentimental record, co-written by the man himself, in which many songs bravely cast him as the old man he is. [Jan 2009, p.118]

Galoshes largely succeeds as a document of a delinquent soul finally coming to terms with his own past. [Feb 2009, p.119]

This mixtape is broad in scope and delirious in flavour. [Jan 2009, p.1222]

So the crude arithmetic of Day & Age is not encouraging: four great songs, two so-so ones and four duds. But the spirit in which it was made merits goodwill. [Dec 2008, p.124]

There's a mesmeric quality to the layering of divergent sonic textures. [Mar 2009, p.98]

Rudolf's sound is his own on an album full of scarf-waving choruses, insistent hooks and surprisingly reflective lyrics. [Mar 2009, p.104]

By throwing everything at the wall and nailing up the stuff that didn't stick, he's done himself--and more importantly what he clearly views as his masterpiece--a grand disservice. [Jan 2009, p.110]

However appealing Sugar Mountain may be to some, the storytelling alone will prove too much for others. [Jan 2009, p.127]

Lucky, then she's so musically warm and, like its predecessors, Safe Trip Home takes comfort in a sound that almost masks her unrest. Almost. [Dec 2008, p.127]

These renditions, however, also stress how undeserved their reputation for tea-and-cakes twee was, using Stuart Murdoch's lyrical sharpness and the radio sessions' rough edges to draw blood. [Jan 2009, p.126]

This fourth album finds them repeating the nifty trick of simplifying Tool's complex musical equations. Math metal for dummies, anyone? [Jan 2009, p.113]

Like his dad, he's more of a declaimer than a singer, but that's still plenty good enough to get his politicised sloganeering across. [Dec 2008, p.130]

It's as complex and funky as the city that inspired it. [Dec 2008, p.133]

Her giggly peers will find she speaks their language, while grown-ups will prefer her to keep quiet. [Apr 2009, p.110]

This has a more expansive, almost pop feel. [Dec 2008, p.132]

The lack of any overt passion, energy and fresh ideas makes a numbing and sadly all too predictable listen. [Dec 2008, p.128]

The lasting impression os of music full of a magic and panache that a mere compilation album can't quite reflect. [dec 2008, p.136]

A short and sharp, but ultimately shockless, album that would have benefited from changing its tune once in a while. [Feb 2009, p.112]

Anyone unfamiliar with Sheffield's rich musical heritage could be left thinking the city's main legacy was maudlin ballads for the Saga set. [Dec 2008, p.128]

In stepping out of their comfort zone and trading in their previous identity, it seems Travis haven't yet decided who or what they now want to be. [Oct 2008, p.144]

In between there's much else to savour, from smooth slow jams to Won't Trade's terrific blast of rap meets '60s soul. [Jan 2009, p.123]

It makes a refreshing change from the studied cool of Moretti's paymasters. [Dec 2008, p.130]

Undeniably bold and ahead of its time, it also remains rather easier to admire from a safe distance than to actually like. Or listen to. [Nov 2008, p.121]

A work of astonishing beauty with a time travel concept more out-there than Bjork's ever been. [Dec 2008, p.133]

Silence Is Wild may be willfully idiosyncratic and prone to self-indulgence, but it's also refreshingly imaginative, sexually upfront and impossible to second guess. [Mar 2009, p.101]

Few rappers think to use words like "polyocular;" fewer still manage to make them funky. [Nov 2008, p.111]

A disappointing lack of originality on an album that is all too clearly in thrall to The Libertines and all their many acolytes. [Jan 2009, p.120]

Bloc Party remain a band with the greatness they seek still hovering somewhere on the horizons. [Nov 2008, p.112]

Off With Their Heads affirms the undying pleasures of smart, catchy pop music does well. [Oct 2008, p.137]

The first half of Heart On is a heroically hedonistic party, but it's the subsequent comedown that, inevitable, lingers longer. [Feb 2009, p.113]

Self-parody has lately been The Cure's greatest enemy: here, happily, it's not the main attraction. [Jan 2009, p.113]

A Hundred Million Suns is just what their hordes demanded, similar enough to uits predecessors to be identifiably Snow Patrol but sufficently different to suggest progression. [Nov 2008, p.106]

An intriguingly woozy melange of out-of-focus vocals, feedback squalls and metronomic beats, everything coming together just so on the compelling 'Nothing Ever Happened.' [Nov 2008, p.121]

New York's O'Death are a breathless proposition for the most part. [Nov 2008, p.118]

This third album is more in the same gold-standard, singer-songwriterly vien. [Dec 2008, p.130]

Much in between sounds like Adams on autopilot. Godd, but never great. [Dec 2008, p.122]

Exhuasting but rewarding too. [Dec 2008, p.135]

Herren's wall-of-noise productions were clearly a big influence, alongside shoegazing indie bands and Joy Division, though nothing that follows quite measures up to spectacular opening lamundernodisguise, somehow reminiscent of both MGMT and gothic folk troupe Espers. [Dec 2008, p.133]

It's clear Russell was a true renaissance man, as at home with thoughtful guitar pop as he was with New York disco. [Dec 2008, p.143]

Filth's fondness for combining high-minded conceptualism with base British humour is actually their strong point. [Dec 2008, p.123]

Ultimately, though, it's her own barnstroming commitment and sheer affability that steer things safely home. [Dec 2008, p.123]

"Lamping" is a hunting term for flooding a forest with light then opening fire on the panicking prey, and the ninth album by these Athens, Georgia oddballs is similarly scattershot. [Dec 2008, p.132]

Their fourth album proves more than just a trendy daliance, placing them at the cutting edge being honed by Dirty Projectirs and TV On The Radio. [Nov 2008, p.117]

Its triumph is in its intimacy and honesty. [Dec 2008, p.134]