Upping the tempo-and libido of her Grammy-winning "Beautifully Human," here Scott lays the funky paramaters wide open. Jan 2008, p.100]

More memorable for famous guests than fine tunes, The World Is Yours does not diminish Brown’s reputation, but it lacks the exotic, adventurous reach of his best work.

Once Upon A Time In The West may lack the cultural resonance Archer so desperately craves, but it’s widescreen appeal makes most guitar bands sound like they’re on Super 8.

There's another side to the jaunty guitars and multi-tracked choruses that sometimes make Tunstall sound like she's singing an orange juice advert.... 'Beauty of Uncertainty' and the closer 'Paper Aeroplane' are stark and moody etudes as far removed from, say, Dido as it's possible to get.

The drawback, as ever, is Blunt’s warbly, whining, strangled voice, which sounds increasingly like a bad Weird Al Yankovic parody.

You’d be even more surprised to hear that it features 'songs'--proper, beautiful, well-crafted songs.

With Drew at the helm, however, it becomes a messier, less wholesome affair, seductively so on 'Lucky Ones' and 'Frightening Lives,' which scamper toward some grubby euphoria like a hal-cut Arcade Fire. [Oct 2007, p.87]

Just prepare for a Rogue Wave deluge. [June 2008, p.102]

With every album that he writes HIM mainman Ville Valo gets closer to his dream fusion of Metallica, Depeche Mode and Ozzy, while still remembering to add some distinctly gothic beauty. [Oct 2007, p.93]

It's business as usual. [Nov 2007, p.98]

The lyrics to these songs are themselves sketchy, enigmatic, quietly rousing, windily romantic, redolent of majestic vistas, vast horizons, a landscape of personal liberation.

Many of their songs go on for weeks, doing little but reiterating banal refrains, badly confusing hypnotic with merely repetitious. [Nov 2007, p.96]

It’s a welcome return, to say the least.

Al Jourgensen is bringing Ministry to a close, and truthfully, it's the right time. [Nov 2007, p.113]

His mystical belief in the power of love pervades the material, sometimes anthemically, sometimes playfully, but always disarmingly. [Oct 2007, p.96]

Gravenhurst prove that kicking arse is neither beneath nor beyond them. [Oct 2007, p.93]

Ultimately, the record is a tribute to McClure's charisma and unswerving self-belief.

Fourth album time for Turin Brakes, and practice is edging the duo closer to perfection. [Oct 2007, p.113]

But though much of the record revels in freaky electronics--'Chores' and 'Winter Wonder Land' rush through as though played by pixellated marching bands--there’s an overwhelming sadness to the undertow

If there's a criticism, it's that this rarely expands on the ideas of their debut: shouty kiddy-rapping, Motown samples, crashing drum loops. But when a band boasts such a unique sonic palette, "more of the same" surely ranks as a compliment.

Hot Hot Heat have recently toned down a lot of their jerkier tendencies and are a lot less annoying for it. [Nov 2007, p.107]

This sounds more like the Pixies than any of Francis' other solo albums. [Oct 2007, p.83]

Grand National lack Hot Chip's playful edge and by 'Joker and Clown,' thoughtful production is hitched to that last refuge of pop scoundrel--the Snow Patrol-style ballad. {Apr 2008, p.90]

It's the clever orchestration that elevates this above postmodern gag, all fluttering pipes and chiming guitar. [Nov 2007, p.98]

A cover of Pink Floyd's 'Echoes' proves you typecast Qui at your peril. [Oct 2007, p.102]

A likeable, modest debut. [Oct 2007, p.101]

Their fourth studio album combinds poignant odes to former drummer Ben Eberbaugh with a joyous refusal to take itself seriously. [Oct 2007, p.83]

It's commendable stuff, but you can't help wishing he'd kept the scattershot, carte blanche approach of before. [Nov 2007, p.121]

North Star Deserter is among his finest, sublimating Chesnutt's occasional tendency to cloying whimsy in gothic folk backdrops. [Oct 2007, p.87]

Scandinavian accents add to the sense of pop era unmoored from its time and place, and reconfigured into one coherent record with cool precision. [Feb 2008, p.78]

La Radiolina reaches out beyond it's core audience to a universal constituency, not so much a world music record as a global-rock mission statement.

As an exercise in historical re-enactment it works just fine, but not everyone will want to stick around until Going Way Out...comes around again. [Nov 2007, p.104]

Scialfa's third is the most complete and satisfying of her career, the lyrical candor matched by the open-ended optimism of the band which weaves doo wop, gospel and rockabilly influences into a convincing whole. [Oct 2007, p.102]

Best of all are the lyrics, with fragments of nursery rhymes, playground chants, witty wordplay and light hearted braggadocio which, rather like The Go! Team, will leave you with a big, stupid smile on your face. [Oct 2007, p.101]

A glorious blend of wired energy and sullen attitude.

She twangs the boundaries of taste both lyrically ("Take me on a genocide tour/Take me on a trip to Darfur") and musically. But a knockout's a knockout, however messy the bout.

Under The Blacklight is by far and away the most accessible album that Rilo Kiley have ever made.

Kweli, whose wordy rhymes can often read better than they flow, sounds nimble and at ease most of the time. [Oct 2007, p.96]

It's quite fun picking off the trio's various folk-pop influences, with traces of The Mamas & The Papas, Astrud Gilberto and Natalie Merchant filtering through the mix. [Jan 2008, p.90]

The Josh Ritter who appears here is primarily a writer of quality pop songs.

If at times it's a little too knowing for its own good, the music itself is less claustrophobic than before. [Nov 2007, p.121]

Even by his prolific standards, Sojourner is impressive. [Oct 2007, p.99]

While they sound no less vital than their infuriatingly profitable contemporaries, they sound no more, either. [Oct 2007, p.101]

Ackerman's psych-mangling songs covers a riveting emotional and sonic range. [Dec 2008, p.92]

The band’s decision to keep things on more orthodox tap seems to have been accomplished at the expense of some of their spirit.

A couple of sweaty, sybaritic slowjams prove that his libido hasn't waned, but his mojo undoubtedly has. [Oct 2007, p.101]

Remarkably extending to 18 tracks, Absolute… traces the discography from the wide-screen Mary Chain of 'Only Happy When It Rains' to the Bond theme 'The World Is Not Enough' and the Spectorish strings of this year’s comeback, 'Tell Me Where it Hurts'--though 2001’s cute 'Androgyny' is an odd omission.

Canada's Quin twins fairly blaze through The Con's 14 compact, supercharged tracks. [Oct 2007, p.109]

Just as the record threatens to flatten into artifice, they bust out their best Clash and Cheap Trick moves on 'Middle Management,' gleefully shattering the porcelain into smithereens. [Jan 2008, p.82]

Rather than producing themselves, they could benefit from a wise head adding a touch of reverb, a sting of echo.

The Brothers prove they can still poleaxe a dancefloor with a well-aimed barrage of strobe-ing electro-house.

Avoiding the ponderous repetition that dragged down songs like “Bullets” on the first record, they concoct a gentler, dreamier atmosphere with less apparent anxiety, and create a shadowy veil of sadness, shot through with hopeful transcendence.

Zeitgeist comes on with a vicious energy, a jugular-grabbing intensity.

It’s a majestic, grandiose, machine-tooled album, subtly orchestrated with gothic pianos and doomy organs.

“Waters Of Nazareth” yawns like a car crusher, mashing hip-hop, electro and funk into gleaming slabs of sound, while “D.A.N.C.E” displays a lighter touch, channelling Chic disco in a whirl of sugary keyboards and euphoric violin stabs.

The fact that Time On Earth takes several listens to sink in practically ensures that it will be undervalued, if not ignored, which is a shame, because this taut album possesses the immersive qualities and cumulative impact of a good novel.

Overall, Sirens… may be a bit of a stylistic scattershot, but the Muscle Shoals foundation and Isbell’s razor-sharp songwriting mark it as an auspicious debut.

Her debut British release showcases a vivid and fully formed talent clearly versed in quirky, often humourous songcraft. [Nov 2007, p.125]

High on aggro but low on ideas, it mimics The Pistols' sneer and The Jam's melodies, while throwing in some inexcusably clichéd lyrics.

At its best, in its stoned funk and stewed grooves, there’s enough to suggests they could even fulfill their early ambition to be the "Sly and the Family Stone of Salford." Double double good.

The real triumph of Easy Tiger is less rooted in the sound, more in the attitude. [Jul 2007, p.114]

The Mix-Up is the best record collection ever thoroughly digested and re-imagined by a bunch of guys in love with sound.

[It] sidles forth with an easy-going aura, belying the artistry within. [Jul 2007, p.107]

It smacks of compromise. [Jul 2007, p.109]

Translated From Love utterly captures Kelly Willis' oft-wayward talent. [Oct 2007, p.115]

Ferry's systematic methodology reveals the flaws as well as the qualities of the chosen material. [Apr 2007, p.105]

Every one of these 11 songs is a work of wayward genius. [Apr 2007, p.106]

A compellingly weird experience. [Jul 2007, p.92]

You can occasionally hear [Adem's and Hebden's] trademark sounds punctuate these proggy, Tortoise-like instrumentals. [Jul 2007, p.102]

Idealism is essentially a retread, but a superior retread with subtle character definition. [Jun 2007, p.97]

They continue to find some clever ways to do a pretty dumb thing. [Jul 2007, p.112]

At times here it feels like Debbie Harry took a wrong turn on the way to Studio 54 and wound up with Shed 7.

As boisterously sentimental as The Cavern at closing time. [Jul 2007, p.106]

This is the kind of exploration of space and motivation that the dance-punk scene is supposed to be about. [Jun 2007, p.98]

Another entry in Cornell's catalogue of partial successes. [Jun 2007, p.91]

[A] remarkable album. [Jun 2007, p.91]

Musically, affairs lack Manson's customary anthemic poise, but tracks like "Heart-Shaped Glasses" draw on Berlin-era Bowie and Iggy's The Idiot with brooding panache. [Jul 2007, p.107]

If nothing else, [his] accountant will be pleased with Maths & English's broad appeal. [Jul 2007, p.99]

As spirited as this effort is, there's not much here to worry James Murphy. [Jul 2007, p.99]

What has sadly gone missing here, however, is Farrell's voice. [Jul 2007, p.112]

He sounds more like a loner--intense, precise, impervious to fashion--than ever. [Jul 2007, p.102]

The core of the album lies in a cluster of gorgeously restrained, piercingly evocative pieces built mostly from acoustic instruments. [Jun 2007, p.94]

Worth catching. [Jun 2007, p.87]

The results will gladden devotees of fractured, footsore indie-rock. [Jul 2007, p.127]

Overall the record has the pleasantly hobbyish but inessential air of a gap year vanity project. [Jul 2007, p.103]

Those bel canto melodies will still be a little syrupy for some. [Jun 2007, p.94]

there's a bit too much scene-setting and not enough storyline, but overall this is some rollicking debut. [May 2008, p.113]

It's complex, uncompromising stuff. [Apr 2007, p.106]

Possibly [his] best album. [Jun 2007, p.84]

A slight disappointment. [Jun 2007, p.88]

Decidedly heady stuff. [Jul 2007, p.100]

If it's a little predictable, it's still easy on the ears. [Jul 2007, p.127]

Witty like Loudon Wainwright, doleful like Jonathan Richman, Hamilton emerges as a distinct presence throughout, and it's this you warm to. [Dec 2006, p.102]

Repeated listens--it's a grower--reveal a number of meatier, surprisingly hard-rocking songs. [May 2007, p.99]

She's rarely sounded more alive. [Jun 2007, p.92]

Aggressive bursts of noise and fantastic harmonic singing make this record sound like the result of a happy accident rather than a long-pondered academic exercise. [Apr 2007, p.94]

While what was lost with Smith is immeasurable, what he left was amazing, and New Moon is an appropriately spectacular monument. [Jun 2007, p.112]

Amiably lightweight. [Jun 2007, p.115]