Tracks like "Huis Clos"... can drag... And the garage rock of "(I Wanna Be) Waiting For My Plane" is an unwieldy cross between early Sonic Youth and Two Lone Swordsmen's axe-men incarnation. [#253, p.69]

This level of gross hallucination could risk indulgence... But for straight-up bad vibes to the head, Fast Cars is compelling. [#252, p.67]

LCD Soundsystem's gift is to forge iron from irony, show that cleverness need not be enervating. [#252, p.46]

Ladd's eclectic and downbeat montage of samples creates a rootless soundscape, seemingly geographically transient, restless, impatient and unsettling. It is the perfect backdrop for Ladd's soul-searching reflexes and rants. [#251, p.54]

The record makes you marinate in Francis' omni-loathing, and the effect is one of catharsis rather than exhaustion. [#254, p.57]

This could have been camp on a Himalayan scale. Its strength is that it's anything but. [#255, p.51]

The five tracks penned and played on by PJ Harvey... reverberate with all the dark, elastic abrasion of PJ's best work. [#248, p.66]

The collaboration has had the effect of sharpening Oldham's focus and yielding one of the most gripping collections to bear one of his many pseudonyms. [#252, p.48]

Their most beautifully conceived and ambitiously extended work to date. [#252, p.59]

Lyrically, Mm.. Food is the best of the three albums released by Daniel Dumile this year. [#250, p.73]

Such unashamed prettiness in a production is rare, and it's rarer still to achieve this without sliding into a quagmire of tweeness or an insufferable knowing smugness. [#252, p.62]

In many ways this is his finest outing since The Boatman's Call. [#247, p.55]

Le Tigre make a convincing case for synthpop as an instrument of liberation theology. [#248, p.58]

This album does suffer a mysterious drop in its energy levels midway in. [#249, p.50]

Black's pleasure at rediscovering these old songs in new company is infectious and makes the exercise engaging and worthwhile. [#252, p.62]

The sound has a new depth. [#249, p.65]

A set of powerfully written and unfussily executed songs. [#248, p.50]

The best thing they've done since Stakes Is High. [#250, p.73]

Hovering somewhere between offbeat anti-folk and laptop noise terrorism, Kptmichigan falls short of achieving a genuine hybrid but trails some interesting sonic debris in the process. [#249, p.64]

A genuine sense of danger and trepidation stalks through these tracks. [#249, p.63]

Think of Young Prayer as the demos deemed too spectral, too elusive, to be revisited for [Brian] Wilson's new take on Smile. [#249, p.61]

The music has an originality that sounds remarkable even now. [#248, p.52]

Another charming collection. [#248, p.51]

A defining album that should lift her out of the 'sounds like' territory. [#248, p.65]

A scattering of influences have been streamlined into tightly focused songs, with a keen sense of melody and an impressive grasp of agitated, Gang Of Four-style rhythms. [#247, p.70]

Hobo Sapiens is a confident and consistently rewarding record, and some of its songs rank alongside Cale's best. [#236, p.56]

Possibly the most daring record she's ever made... [but] Medulla is not a complete success. [#247, p.53]

A fitful and languishing affair whose best moments will have you yearning for more, while the worst may leave some listeners wondering what they were doing here in the first place. [#248, p.59]