The third outstanding album of his career. [Mar 2007, p.103]

American Doll Posse sounds like a return to more conventional songwriting form. [Jun 2007, p.87]

BRMC seem invincible; or back to their searing best, at any rate. [May 2007, p.87]

It's a darker, deeper affair. [Jun 2007, p.94]

All the elements are there, but somehow 5:55 doesn't gel as it should. [Oct 2006, p.124]

An album that shines light, albeit dimly, into hidden corners of the soul. [May 2007, p.100]

Several of the songs seem performed out of affection rather than any sense of artistic adventure. [May 2007, p.90]

Favourite Worst Nightmare is a near-triumph, a far superior Album #2 than Meat Is Murder, The Libertines, or Second Coming. Yet some doubts nag, partly because of the subject matter. [May 2007, p.84]

No doubt Oyamada has a fine ear for sound design, but he handles his tunes with antiseptic gloves. [May 2007, p.88]

Surprisingly invigorated. [May 2007, p.89]

Why, when Dragonforce are doing this for real? [May 2007, p.96]

Bristl[es] with wit, energy and nifty hooks. [May 2007, p.99]

Unsettling stuff--but weirdly life-affirming, too. [May 2007, p.103]

A successful fusion of tradition and modernism.

This treads the thin line between appealing whimsy and finicky, smartypants noodling. [Jun 2007, p.111]

Nothing sounds more dated than an ageing futurist, and it's only when Trent cuts loose... that we get a glimpse of the world-beater we know he can be. [May 2007, p.103]

These 11 new songs will do little to dispel the view that the band are fatally addicted to self-indulgent navel-gazing, but it's still beautifully recorded, and played with exquisite tact and precision. [May 2007, p.88]

The Grinderman hat seems to have tilted the basic Bad Seeds stance brilliantly on its side, bringing out a new humour and a grumpy-old-rocker gravitas. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Cassadaga is fulsome, epic, and swirling, by far Oberst's most sophisticated, seamless effort. [May 2007, p.89]

Things grow richer and stranger as the album develops. [May 2007, p.87]

This is a larger-sounding, less homespun set than thte sisters' previous two albums. [May 2007, p.102]

Outside of fashion, and as exciting as The Bunnymen's second, Heaven Up Here. [Oct 2006, p.133]

[The first half is] all dismayingly unconvincing and lacklustre in execution... Then something changes.

Cements FOW's status as the savviest modern-day practitioners of both Beatlesque pop and Steely Dan's cool precision. [Jun 2007, p.94]

It's all certainly a lot more complex, if a little less immediate, than anything they've done before. [May 2007, p.104]

Amid all the dirty, clanging glam, there are unfinished moments. [Apr 2007, p.119]

The Endless Not sees the whirring tape-loopsof old replaced by iMacs, but not at the expense of sheer abrasiveness. [May 2007, p.113]

Mesmerising stuff. [Jun 2007, p.99]

Steingarten combines clipped, Kompakt-style 4/4 funk with a massy dub sensibility reminiscent of Adrian Sherwood's Tackhead productions. [Apr 2007, p.114]

It's strangely joyless. [Jun 2007, p.115]

It's bombastic, but you can't fault its ambitions. [Jun 2007, p.115]

Klaxons bristle with energy and ideas. [Feb 2007, p.77]

Smith sounds revitalised (and often very amused), delivering his most emphatic vocals in years. [Mar 2007, p.76]

Their second album manages to be full of surprises, while never straying too far from what you'd expect. [Mar 2007, p.80]

Gimmicky moments are plentiful, but it's the box-fresh pop songs like "Misery" and "The River" that benefit most from their renewed sense of purpose. [Apr 2007, p.100]

Hampered by Gray's dial-a-diva rasp, Big is nowhere near as good as it should be. [May 2007, p.92]

[It] strikes a finer balance between ['Year Of Meteors'] and the magic folk realism of her earlier work. [Apr 2007, p.116]

His elegant songcraft often recalls Freddie Mercury.

Gone is the Suede-lite of The Tears. Instead we get acoustic guitars, lush string arrangements and the previously cagey Anderson pouring his heart out. [Apr 2007, p.92]

The Bees have a nose for sniffing out fine pop melodies. [Apr 2007, p.93]

Rarely has anyone making such exciting and fashionable music been so unapologetic about being mature, too. [Apr 2007, p.97]

[The album] adds a newfound sang-froid to their quiet/loud approach. [May 2007, p.100]

They may have defined a genre, but Low can clearly still move forward. [May 2007, p.99]

Living With The Living finds them at their most assured. [Apr 2007, p.113]

Despite a top-drawer guest list, this often feels like empty bombast. [Mar 2007, p.98]

A record dotted with peaks. [Apr 2007, p.93]

By far their boldest statement yet. [Apr 2007, p.92]

For those willing to take a chance, it's an impeccably realised, verbose treat. [Apr 2007, p.99]

Most of the album sees producers Charles Webster and Ewan Pearson buiilding on the bedsit rave of "Missing" and the beatific drum'n'bass of Walking Wounded. [Apr 2007, p.120]

The over-shiny, repetitive beats and the carefree, happy-skippy persona soon palls. [Apr 2007, p.120]

Weathered and intelligent, these songs resonate like folk antiquities from another age. Even more remarkably, they never sound forced. [Apr 2007, p.116]

More structured than its predecessors. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Magical. [Apr 2007, p.114]

This is raw, inventive stuff. [May 2007, p.88]

Surely--surely!--this is an elaborate hoax. [Oct 2006, p.110]

Historically confused it may be, but the simple pleasures of Turn The Lights Out are hard to deny. [Apr 2007, p.115]

[Herrema's] songs still have the fuzzy weirdness of prime Trux, but now they're chunky, determined and fully formed, too. [Apr 2007, p.115]

Largely, this one is a case of nice threads, shame about the songs. [Apr 2007, p.115]

Their lack of artifice is a godsend. [Feb 2007, p.81]

While never musically abrasive, [it] is riddled with enough trademark lyrical barbs and sung with sufficient Eartha Kitt-ish snarl that the listening is never too easy. [Nov 2006, p.134]

Their witty pop vignettes are about as much fun as you can have alone with a stereo. [Oct 2006, p.109]

The album has a hazy, deeply romantic quality. [Nov 2006, p.112]

Parts of Myth Takes [are] as close to commercial... as !!! can get without combusting. [Apr 2007, p.92]

Pocket Symphony drifts inconsequentially along. [Apr 2007, p.92]

While there is much here to admire, at its overblown worst Neon Bible is one of those records that takes itself too seriously to be taken seriously. [Apr 2007, p.90]

Candylion is a more layered, fully-realised album than 2005's Yr Atal Genhedlaeth. [Feb 2007, p.79]

Son Volt have discovered a new sense of ambition, even abandon, on The Search. [May 2007, p.104]

The problem with The Weirdness is that it shoots its bolt immediately and has nothing left to offer. [Apr 2007, p.93]

It's frequently wistful, sad and nostalgic. Yet Cooder's eccentric storytelling style and his prankish, Sufjan Stevens-ish take on Americana also sounds oddly contemporary. [Apr 2007, p.99]

The powerful tunes make this an odd thing: a subtle album, fit for stadiums. [Mar 2007, p.83]

It's essentially a pop record--albeit a complex and cleverly arranged one. [Apr 2007, p.115]

A winning hybrid of indie neuroses and Brill Building craft, precision and intimacy. [Apr 2007, p.120]

The results have a clinical, cerebral appeal, but--perhaps predictably--sometimes fail to deliver instinctive musical kicks. [Mar 2007, p.100]

If the Valentines' inspired drone-rock of "Hammond" suggests a more stoned Spiritualized, their commercial future will depend on refining relentless glam-stomps "This Mess" and "Steal Their Gold." [May 2007, p.115]

Their mission sounds increasingly convincing. [May 2007, p.87]

The Calling finds her in fine voice, nestling somewhere between Shawn Colvin and Helen Reddy. [Apr 2007, p.116]

The key moments are covers. [May 2007, p.104]

Overall... the mood remains one of pleasant inconsequence. [Apr 2007, p.94]

There is little to these songs besides Mark's Lennon-like voice and an unobtrusive piano and guitar. [Apr 2007, p.113]

Arrangements range from scraped guitars to epic brass fanfares and, unusually for an album about loners, there's no misanthropy. [Mar 2007, p.86]

All Of A Sudden... rather falls under the shadow of Mogwai and Godspeed You! Black Emperor, but there's ample majesty in its climactic moments to recommend it. [Mar 2007, p.79]

If he sometimes misfires... K-OS at least has inventiveness in his sights. [May 2007, p.96]

Imagine Bolan produced by Prince, then scrambled by Beck, and you're only halfway there. [Mar 2007, p.85]

There's a nervy, frayed soulfulness to these songs. [Feb 2007, p.76]

It's less gonzoid than previous efforts and more effective for that. [Mar 2007, p.79]

In his own way, Swift is as vivid a newcomer as Joanna Newsom or early Rufus Wainwright. [Mar 2007, p.84]

An amazing album. [Mar 2007, p.75]

These articulate odes to pop's past strike the right balance between carefully studied craft and melodic inspiration. [Mar 2007, p.83]

Combine[s] utterly maddening complexity with candyfloss pop hooks. [Jun 2007, p.108]

An album of sometimes stark simplicity, West is in many places rather drab and charmless. [Mar 2007, p.72]

They're now a glorious band. [Feb 2007, p.76]

New Magnetic Wonder can make a claim to be the definitive AIS album. [Apr 2007, p.92]

For an album that strives to articulate the youthful pleasure-rush of love, drugs, and power, this is a worryingly pedestrian effort. [Mar 2007, p.75]

It's tasteful, but not much more. [Feb 2007, p.78]

One of the year's most uplifting records so far. [May 2007, p.99]

A brave endeavour. But unlike My Chemical Romance's Black Parade, Infinity On High has critically little sense of its own ridiculousness. [Mar 2007, p.79]

The added zip only serves to spotlight her stark, moody delivery. [Mar 2007, p.98]

Her songwriting here... demonstrates a depth and majesty previously absent in her work. [Mar 2007, p.82]