Like Willy Wonka, Jack White is a strange, dramatic and otherworldly figure. Lazaretto amplifies all these character traits to electrifying effect. [Jul 2014, p.106]

Illuminate is a powerful, sometimes overwhelming debut that pushes all the right buttons. [Jul 2014, p.103]

Stockholm contains 11 good-to-excellent songs, hooks and pleasure aplenty, but still, alas, short of a masterpiece. [Jul 2014, p.101]

It's a record that demands you get to know it inside out. [Jul 2014, p.101]

Vlautin's literary side is very much evident, with the lyrics of these 11 songs effectively vivid short stories populated by bruised characters. [May 2014, p.108]

It's diverting enough but unlikely to gain Sartain significant ground. [Jun 2014, p.119]

It's on the conceptual pair of tracks 45s (c.69) and 45s (c.14), where he contrasts two generations of hipsters hanging outside the same club 45 years apart, that his imagination really takes flight, though, giving an exciting glimpse of where “tradition” folk rock might go. [Jun 2014, p.108]

The bed springs chez Wegg-Prosser are clearly creaking. [May 2014, p.121]

The lack of an absolutely killer song and an aversion to hooks may yet derail them, but there's hope to spare. [Jun 2014, p.122]

Another triumphant reaffirmation of UK dance music's mass appeal. [Jun 2014, p.120]

Shadow finds a band who can do more than just roar. [Jun 2014, p.114]

The fact that Grace Jones actually made a run of visionary '80s albums has long been rather overlooked, but this luxurious reissue goes a long way to righting that wrong. [Jun 2014, p.124]

Upon its release in 1994, Definitely Maybe sounded messy and thrilling. Now, of course, it sounds like a classic. [Jun 2014, p.127]

A pop culture enthusiast, Luke Haines once again shows his uncanny ability to beat vivid and idiosyncratic new narratives from leathery sacred cows. [Jun 2014, p.111]

This album gently shimmers when you want it to dazzle. [Jun 2014, p.121]

At times they pull in too many directions at once. [Jun 2015, p.116]

The results ate at once intimate and expansive, layering vintage synthesizer riffs over fidgety percussion. [Jun 2014, p.112]

There's a small charisma shortfall, but blessed with good songs, Leithauser wears everything well. [Jun 2014, p.113]

With sympathetic production by reggae stalwart Mike "Prince Fatty" Pelanconi, the results combine Janet Kaye's lovers rock, the Wailers' pop years and the sound of Compass Point studios. [Jun 2014, p.107]

Although Lion City's best moments come with the fusion of African and Western psychedelic rock to ambient atmospherics, standout song Justice will suit anyone who's ever wondered what might happen were Bruce Springsteen to write a blue-collar anthem with African rhythms. [Jun 2014, p.108]

In Conflict is as densely crammed with ideas and movement as his CV, an impression bolstered by the presence of the polymath's polymath Brian Eno. [Jun 2014, p.117]

Butler's gang of misfits may fall further below the radar on the back of this, but artistically he's on to something. [Jun 2014, p.112]

Almost every track on this fifth LP is thematically inspired by a historical figure, which intrudes in the spoken passages of Sunday Neurosis, but otherwise inspires some of their most exciting music to date. [Jun 2014, p.119]

Weighted by retro production that gets bogged down in neo-soul moves reminiscent of Sade, though, inspiration flickers throughout without ever reaching full illumination. [Jun 2014, p.118]

Almost defiantly ramshackle the mix of classy songcraft and threadbare instrumentation nonetheless makes for a compelling listen. [Jun 2014, p.118]

Songs such as the Psychedelic Furs-recalling The Second Summer Of Love and the Bowie-like Sell Your Soul show McBean's keener on examining his adolescence in the alternative '80s,, alongside other rock'n'roll mythology. [Jun 2014, p.118]

By turns impassioned, thoughtful and thrilling, it makes for a standout debut. [Jun 2014, p.117]

Melodies unfold, lyrics reveal their meaning and the wait is revealed as having been worth it. [Jun 2014, p.116]