While Fuzz II has some absolute stormers, some of the proto-metal songs are a little too ponderous to really click. [Nov 2015, p.76]

Francesconi provides an elegant framework for Diane, who is in fine voice here. [Nov 2015, p.75]

The fifth album to feature Kentucky's Joan Shelley has an immensely welcoming ease that was absent in 2014 anxious solo breakthrough, Electric Ursa.... A major talent. [Oct 2015, p.83]

Diehard Moggers fans may bemoan the omission of obscure personal faves, but the belters title is well-deserved. [Nov 2015, p.95]

Jarre's own pastel-shaded musical signature sometimes gets lost in the crowd. [Nov 2015, p.77]

Return To The Moon is fully realised and offers plenty of intrigue, but .... rarely do they sound like a unit, and, surprisingly, Berninger is the one that ends up sounding a little lost. [Nov 2015, p.74]

Divers feels like her most comfortable, charming album. [Nov 2015, p.80]

The album presents the sound of masters at work, not thinking about their legacy, just doing the work. [Nov 2015, p.83]

As ever, when Los Lobos content themselves with sounding like Los Lobos, they're marvellous.... The lighter touches make less impression. [Nov 2015, p.79]

The album is reminiscent of Kraftwerk in its combination of chilly electronics and haunting, hooky melodies but has a wonkiness unique to Haines. [Nov 2015, p.76]

They're now coming across as though they're seriously indecisive, unable to take their upbeat dance-punk to its extremes. Tellingly, As If takes off when the group remove their vocals from centrestage. [Nov 2015, p.69]

This debut is an enjoyable, wittily written selection of material that, in its desire for vintage feel, manages to be instantly familiar. [Nov 2015, p.80]

Lead guitarist Sean Thompson displays precocious virtuosity through For Use And Delight, spinning out bent-note filigrees that recall the work of his legendary namesake. [Nov 2015, p.81]

An unambiguously terrific album. [Nov 2015, p.78]

Here are smoky, jazz-pop elegies, era-defining homages and bittersweet, elegantly orchestrated ruminations, underlining Jackson's reputation as a maverick auteur. [Nov 2015, p.77]

Pipes is the weaker collection--no remaster can disguise this. [Nov 2015, p.93]

This crisp new full-album remix merely enhances the brilliance. [Nov 2015, p.93]

Fading Frontier strikes the most satisfying balance between menacing mantric grooves of 2006's Cryptograms and the pop melodicism that emerged on 2010's Halcyon Digest. [Nov 2015, p.82]

Their jangly, soulful, melodic take on punk-pop still has freshness and urgency. [Nov 2015, p.80]

The results are frequently bewitching, if blatantly nostalgic. [Nov 2015, p.76]

Charmingly wistful and twitchily rhythmic pop songs. [Nov 2015, p.71]

Fish finds a gorgeous middle ground between lambent guitar soli, all slow rivers of singing steel string guitar, and richer, more resonant arrangements. [Nov 2015, p.72]

Jimmy Hall's vocals are unremarkable, but it barely matters; it's a guitar album and Beck still sounds as innovative and virtuosic as anyone. [Jul 2015, p.71]

There's nothing not to like, but at 13 tracks in just 37 minutes, it's all rather slight. [Nov 2015, p.76]

Alongside matters existential, there are plenty of personal expressions here. [Nov 2015, p.81]

They sound not beaten but energised by the spectre of society's destruction, off the chain and high on a cocktail of primal garage punk, astral jazz, pitch-black blues and psych ragas both damned and divine. [Nov 2015, p.77]

His 2012 debut Silent Congas was somewhat piecemeal, but I Need New Eyes feels more developed, less contrived. [Nov 2015, p.76]

[A] rich and understated debut brimming with wisdom and heart. [Nov 2015, p.79]

Julia Shapiro and Bree McKenna's vocals are brash and bratty, and there's no doubt that they'd be great fun live, but over 13 songs and half an hour, the jokes get pretty laboured. [Nov 2015, p.72]

Hard, and not necessarily rewarding, work. [Nov 2015, p.75]

His finest album yet. [Nov 2015, p.70]

Though feelings of disaffection inevitably colour Foam Island, a tentative optimistic note emerges in songs like the title track and "Stoke The Fire." [Nov 2015, p.73]

New Bermuda offers a tumultuous post metal that on passages of "Baby Blue" and "Brought To The Water," remind one more of the ethereal wandering of shoegaze. [Nov 2015, p.73]

Tracks like "Reticence," "Chrome Rose," and "I Was You" don't quite live up to their off-kilter introductions, but "Exploit Me" is a magnificent mix of Krautrock drones, sluggish tom-toms and a drunken vocal pitched somewhere between Mark E Smith, Nick Cave and Shane MacGowan. [Nov 2015, p.76]

These 12 tracks confirm Chris Difford and Glenn Tilbrook's melodic talents, but leaden exposition lyrics... make the grisly bits last a lifetime. [Oct 2015, p.83]

Plurality is the key to Clark Jr's appeal here. It also has to be said that this is a pretty safe, porous realm in which soul, hip-hop, Princely funk and ringing electric blues feed into one another. [Nov 2015, p.73]

Compton is a solid reminder of both Dre's skills and the depth of his contacts book. [Nov 2015, p.75]

Equal parts entertaining and self-indulgent. [Nov 2015, p.77]

Too often La Vie Est Belle, produced by Boxed In's Oli Bayston, has all the flair of an Editors potboiler, so a potentially uplifiting record becomes quite draining. [Nov 2015, p.80]

This is still a very heavy rock record, but it slithers with a degree of grace that had been missing in the past. [Nov 2015, p.65]

One of the missed opportunities of Cass Country is that it isn't especially revelatory about Henley, as a man in late-middle-age taking stock of his life. As a country album, it is perhaps a little too neat, a little too polished. [Nov 2015, p.68]

If anything, this is more consistent and satisfying record, one that emphatically places her at the forefront of modern roots music. [Nov 2015, p.72]

The arrangements are pleasingly stripped back--perhaps too much so for those powerful. [Nov 2015, p.73]

Caracal has the market in mind, but not at the expense of quality. [Nov 2015, p.75]

Allas Sak marks another gentle shift in direction for Gustav Ejstes, and though Dungen are not saying anything new, they're at least articulating timeless emotion in a classy fashion. [Nov 2015, p.75]

This certainly feels like a rebirth. [Nov 2015, p.79]

All A Man Should Do is a thing of considerable depth and sensitivity. [Nov 2015, p.79]

It is, for Pole, a breath of fresh air. [Nov 2015, p.80]

What could be tokenistic gels well. [Nov 2015, p.81]

An adept stylistic reboot. [Nov 2015, p.83]

These songs are pretty, but something intense seethes just beneath the surface. [Nov 2015, p.83]

The band pursue numerous fractured trends through a breakneck 34 minutes and manages to corral them into an acid-drenched but cohesive whole. [Nov 2015, p.83]

These songs offer a smart inversion of the usual gender roles in mainstream music, all set to a propulsive, bass-heavy backdrop. [Oct 2015, p.81]

While the programmed beats are generic, his fleet-fingered guitar work shimmers with the high-end wit that powers a batch of hooky, sharply drawn tunes. [Oct 2015, p.75]

It's an immersive and emphatically pulsing ride along Detroit techno lines. [Oct 2015, p.77]

Sometimes, beats and basslines are distinct; other times, as on "Mysteries" and "Lighthouse," you just get a sense of them, as structure dissolving into mist. [Oct 2015, p.78]

Strikingly immediate, yet also rewarding repeated immersion, the 10 tracks here are, just as Forster intended, amusing, infectious and relaxed. [Oct 2015, p.65]

Lush, lightly electronic chamber-pop arrangements dominate. [Oct 2015, p.84]

As the LP continues, you are progressively engrossed. [Oct 2015, p.84]

With Have You In My Wilderness her songs feel brighter, more pop, yet they're also just as lush, as considered and as quietly experimental. [Oct 2015, p.77]

This Terrific follow-up is even better, the quartet unloading a clamorous set of songs full of pique, provocation and waspish humour. [Aug 2015, p.77]

Ultimately Artificial Dance, stiff and self-aware, is easier to admire from afar. [Oct 2015, p.94]

Though nothing here quite matches the melodic and emotional force of their first-album anthem "The Mother We Share," the quality threshold is high throughout. [Oct 2015, p.73]

There is so much on Nashville Obsolete that impresses, but what lingers longest is rare and persuasive ability to tap into the ageless mythos of true American folk. [Oct 2015, p.85]

A confident advance on 2012's Rhythm And Repose. [Oct 2015, p.77]

Pagans' first half dazzles.... The album closes with eight minutes of psedo-Vangelis twaddle. [Oct 2015, p.80]

Rattle That Lock turns out to be a modest achievement for the most part. [Oct 2015, p.82]

The Alvins' follow-up [to Common Ground] is highly expansive in a focused way. [Oct 2015, p.69]

For such a relaxing piece, though, there's also a melancholy tot he minor keys and descending harmony lines, which elevates this epic above bland mood music. Still, listening in one sitting is a feat. [Oct 2015, p.81]

Folds' heady tunes sparkle in these unconventional settings. [Oct 2015, p.75]

[A] wonderous first solo offering outside of Air. [Oct 2015, p.76]

Psychedelic touches percolate subtly through the songs. [Oct 2015, p.79]

The best of Faith In The Future is among the best of Finn. [Oct 2015, p.75]

Brun continues to confound expectations on a set of sonically adventurous songs. [Oct 2015, p.73]

His third album showcases Californian singer Marsa Pullman, setting her bell-clear voice against elegant country-soul settings that conceal lyrical darkness. [Sep 2015, p.76]

The latest from the three siblings plus mate chews gleefully through genres. [Oct 2015, p.73]

Their imperial phase may have passed, but Slayer will not go easy. [Oct 2015, p.83]

The Original Faces is very lovely indeed. [Oct 2015, p.77]

[Brace The Wave] sounds like it was recorded in a toilet, with Barlow playing an adapted ukulele. The songs, though, are as good as anything he's done with Sebadoh or Folk Implosion. [Oct 2015, p.71]

Between the orderly new overview. with its 15 previously unissued tracks, and McLagan's engagingly hodgepodge insider's portrait, we have as complete picture as we're likely to get. [Oct 2015, p.95]

Their third and strongest album, pitching them closer to Captured Tracks labelmate Mac DeMarco. [Oct 2015, p.84]

The listener is left longing for a change of texture and pace. [Sep 2015, p.81]

It begins as stormy Sabbath-inflected psych, but later takes some knowing stylistic detours. [Oct 2015, p.84]

[A] charming debut. [Oct 2015, p.71]

It drags and trundles in places, opting for plump maximalism over the lean, urgent minimalism of yesteryear.... All the same, Music Complete is easily New Order's best album since Technique, and probably their most musically diverse ever. [Oct 2015, p.74]

Lyrically, Richards sometimes relies too heavily on the Random Stones Lyric Generator. But Richards has always worn his humour and his soul well, and these qualities are sympathetically served here. [Oct 2015, p.70]

A career peak. [Oct 2015, p.78]

A flexible lineup enabling The Arcs to experiment seamlessly with melody and structure. [Oct 2015, p.71]

An epic, if somewhat ruminative tone dominates. [Oct 2015, p.77]

This addictive slab of retro rock is the work of gifted singer/guitarist Tash Neal and deft drummer.singer Chris St Hilaire, who've loaded the 13 tracks here with hooks. [Sep 2015, p.77]

No surprises, no classic, but a warm and well-produced set. [Oct 2015, p.78]

Here are 10 tracks of undeniably well-engineered rock, but the sounds remain the same. [Oct 2015, p.83]

It can sometimes feel a little over the top but that's partly the point, and Fleming's voice has enough sincerity to hold it together. [Oct 2015, p.73]

Total 15 initially feels a bit slight. The second disc more than makes up for this though. [Sep 2015, p.83]

It is short--just over 30 minutes--but it feels sprightly and substantial. [Oct 2015, p.84]

Business as unusual for Twig. [Oct 2015, p.83]

Royal Headache's second album oscillates between slightly unconvincing punk throwback and much more effective complex numbers. [Oct 2015, p.81]

Their debut to Sam & Dave is plain, but there;s as much Alabama Shakes and a pre-stadia Kings Of Leon too. [Oct 2015, p.81]