It might be a record looking to the past, but it has Harris and Crowell doing some of the best work of their careers. [Apr 2013, p.103]

Hitchcock continues on a roll, all 10 songs here hooking you in with the head-nodding grooves and dreamy psych-pop tunes of seasoned pro. [Apr 2013, p.103]

Day Before We Went To War, co-written by Brian Eno, inflects mundane details with enigmatic dread in a similar fashion to the frostbitten adult pop if ABBA's final years. If only you could hear this colder, bolder Dido in every song. [Apr 2013, p.101]

It's a minor-chord menace, their darker surf-steeped vibe driven by steady percussion and hypnotic basslines. [Apr 2013, p.101]

The Big Other is a pure and unexpected delight. [Apr 2013, p.101]

Endless Boogie isolate the kind of grinding blues rock riffs you'd hear on AC/DC, Canned Heat or early Beefheart records and cane them relentlessly. [Apr 2013, p.100]

When Allien adds a taste of techno's rhythmic grunt, some focus is briefly achieved, but unfortunately it happens all too briefly. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Ultimately, there's something delicious and monumental about Hurts.[Apr 2013, p.106]

[Natalie Bergman's] undoubtedly gifted, but the end result feels as passionless as a first date at Starbucks. [Apr 2013, p.112]

This is a beautiful album that counterpoints Banhart's boundless and surreal imagination against a newly-discovered depth and sincerity. [Apr 2013, p.105]

The tempo seldom rises beyond a twitch, or Buttery's voice above a murmur, News From Nowhere is warm and confident. [Apr 2013, p.99]

At times, all this loose-limbed craziness can become tiresome but like an excitable friend dragging you onto the dancefloor by the sleeve, they make it very a=hard not to join their party. [Apr 2013, p.97]

They may be too post-modern for some tastes, but Thurston Moore has his sonic menace back. [Apr 2013, p.97]

Temper Temper, their fourth, adds an aggressive edge to their sound. [Apr 2013, p.96]

Like Boys Outside, Monkey Minds casts Steve Mason as a gifted songwriter, a world-worn bringer of anger, melancholy, hope and melody. [Apr 2013, p.96]

Somewhat laid-back for a record made by an ex-punk, even one in his mid-50s. [Apr 2013, p.96]

Bad Blood feels strangely anemic.[Apr 2013, p.95]

It's the sort of manic outsider funk that succeeds or fails on the basis of how charming you find Nguyen's delivery. [Apr 2013, p.95]

His imaginative, smartly delivered lyrics hold the attention during those moments when producer Lewis's beats don't quite match them for sparkle. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Clocking in at a shade over tow hours, there's room for fans of all vintages to find something of value. [Apr 2013, p.94]

The Next Day is a loud, thrilling, steamrollingly confident rock and roll album full of noise, energy, and words that--if as cryptic as ever they were--sound like they desperately need to be sung. [Apr 2013, p.92]

The Deserters produces a gently psychedelic kind of romantic chamber-pop. [Jan 2013, p.113]

Sudden Elevation sacrifices her native tongue and most of her earlier tweeness, while retaining her capacity to move and enchant. [Mar 2013, p.93]

If some of these drifting, piano-rich tunes aren't reworked into dream-state Ibiza sunset bangers by next summer then, frankly, the world is dancing to the wrong beat. [Mar 2013, p.98]

The jarring throb of HIQS aside, it's an album of subtle charm that rewards repeated listening. [Mar 2013, p.95]

It takes truly special songs to lure you in so deeply you forget it's a museum piece. And for the most part these aren't--they're simply good enough. [Mar 2013, p.105]

A sense of dread pervades throughout. [Mar 2013, o.101]

Starting at a bass-heavy point where crunch is more important than structure, guitarist-singer Joel Flyger nevertheless knows how to write a pop hook. [Mar 2013, p.108]