Even when the music flags, Smith sings his way through these hillbilly anthems and barroom laments with eerie, unwavering conviction. [Nov 2012, p.111]

An album that's--unusually--both disorienting and immensely tedious. [Nov 2012, p.103]

These skeletal blues are for addicts only. [Nov 2012, p.98]

This is furious but slick metalcore, but none the worse for that. [Nov 2012, p.103]

Emotions are high, though their impact could be heightened if the band's post-hardcore sounds was less generic. [Nov 2012, p.103]

It's less primal scream, more yawn. [Nov 2012, p.112]

While cleverly mocking late-20s thwarted ambitions and McJob drudgery, Wolf offers little by way of an alternative, his lyrics ultimately as hollow as the cynical Generation X irony of the '90s. [Nov 2012, p.112]

There is promising variation in places. [Nov 2012, p.111]

For the most part, it works. [Nov 2012, p.108]

Tucker's inimitable vocals are savage and exhilarating throughout. [Nov 2012, p.108]

To a saucer-eyed teenager with a head full of pills stood amidst Deadmau5's immersive, impressive son-ET-lumiere experience, watching everything "going right off," it'll probably sound amazing. Maybe the rest of us should just wait outside in the car until the show's over. [Nov 2012, p.105]

Mostly Strapped is unified by a fuggy atmosphere, likeably odd guitar details and some immediate choruses. [Nov 2012, p.105]

Lurking beneath are the electronic pulses of post-rock and the occasional ripple of slip-slide jazz, ensuring that while Runner is approachable, it's always one step ahead. [Nov 2012, p.104]

Whenever the album bares its claws, such as on Joe's Cult and the soaring Horses, it demonstrates just how good it would have been with a dash more daring. [Nov 2012, p.104]

It's as if Swervedriver never left us. [Nov 2012, p.103]

Rock this clinical just isn't exciting. [Nov 2012, p.103]

The Connection is a stylistic leap, that shows surprising restraint, and--whisper it--maturity. [Nov 2012, p.102]

Jimmy's Show is filled with richly melodic songs, filled with whimsical lyrics about tea, sailors, table tennis and Ford Escorts. [Nov 2012, p.102]

The tales of love, loss, life and death on his 14th album are embellished with brass flourishes for the first time, which only adds to the sense of drama. [Nov 2012, p.102]

His version of Hey Joe curls around your ears like smoke before you notice what it is. Alice In Chains' Got Me Wrong works because Mehldau doubles the rhythm section on piano, giving it a real kick up the backside and sounding not unlike the great Neil Crowley. [Nov 2012, p.101]

She's good and snarky on Charmer. [Nov 2012, p. 101]

With arrangements pared back to the bone, it's that strange, slurred voice where all the attention is focused, meaning there's no hiding place at all. [Nov 2012, p.99]

Clever, but not clever-clever. [Nov 2012, p98]

The lyrics on British Lion are at best workmanlike, tackling vague concepts with a deadening succession of cliches. [Nov 2012, p.98]

The songs here are a familiar mix of wry life observations and clever covers. [Nov 2012, p.96]

Time for another rethink. [Nov 2012, p.96]

In the end, it's all a bit too sensible. [Nov 2012, p.95]