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]

Loving, not by the spoonful but by the bucketful. [Oct 2015, p.80]

Their slickest album yet. [Oct 2015, p.76]

Few of these chugging bar-room stompers register as earworms, even after repeated listens. [Oct 2015, p.76]

With a live '70s R&B sound fuelled by flower power and, in "Star Now" and "Satellites," some excellent songs, Bilal is as focused as he's ever been. [Oct 2015, p.73]

[The cover of Jason Isbell's "Dress Blues"] is nevertheless the best thing on Jekyll + Hyde, which plunges to a wretched nadir on "Heavy Is the Head." [Oct 2015, p.73]

The group's formula is undeniably infectious, with giddy, harmony-enriched interplay outshining occasional lapses into spindly scuzz. [Oct 2015, p.73]

Technically, he shows himself to be a better singer than we might have predicted from those early lo-fi recordings, but it all tastes a little sweet. [Oct 2015, p.71]

It's excellent stuff. [Oct 2015, p.75]

While the sugary highs could give Van Dyke Parks an ice cream headache, it's hard to resist a work so clearly besotted with the power of music. [Oct 2015, p.78]

Levi's penchant for cracked-up nursery-rhyme melodies and wry humour elevate what might've been an exercise in wilful primitivism. [Oct 2015, p.80]

After two decades, a band that could easily feel like part of the wallpaper remain hungry to show that you never know what lies beneath. [Oct 2015, p.68]

This is an engaging piece of minimalist minimalism: Steve Reich with a battering ram. [Oct 2015, p.71]

No No No is limited overall, and finds Condon's filigreed production out of step with the minimalist balladeering peers who have flourished in his four-year absence. [Oct 2015, p.71]

Indie slackers Hooten Tennis Club demonstrate some unique charms on their debut album. [Oct 2015, p.77]

While no reinvention, Paper Gods is both entertaining ad typically Duran-esque. [Oct 2015, p.75]

Lydon remains a devout pop modernist. [Oct 2015, p.81]

Turkey is less throwaway than its scrappy, Bandcamp-released predecessors. [Oct 2015, p.78]

Understated and in, places, unfashionable. [Oct 2015, p.83]

Eiesland's emotive vocals and the elegant new wave inspired soundscapes sustain the bittersweet mood even when the songs lack stickiness. [Oct 2015, p.80]

What went Down is their most fully realised yet. [Oct 2015, p.75]

An album of well-crafted discreet songs. [Oct 2015, p.76]

A lugubrious lo-fi treat. [Sep 2015, p.69]

There are moments of genius throughout. [Sep 2015, p.91]

The ornate multitracked chorales retain a heady intensity. [Sep 2015, p.73]

Bad Magic is gloriously genre-defying. [Sep 2015, p.78]

The end result is something that's freaky and funny, as rigorously experimental as it is gleefully entertaining. [Sep 2015, p.82]

It's most persuasive setting is deluxe drive-time melancholia, purring with understated classicism. [Sep 2015, p.69]

Elitism for the People documents Pere Ubu creating their own private musical apocalypse and then forging in to start the world anew. Not a world to be drowned in, but one to treasure. [Sep 2015, p.88]

Frontman Fred Macpherson's pithy musings on London's hipster demi-monde can be excruciating when set against his band's bog-standard stadium churn. [Sep 2015, p.81]

[A] strong final work. [Sep 2015, p.71]

[Black's] bright, clear voice supported by lush soundscape of horns, strings and piano. [Sep 2015, p.81]

Atmospheric, heart-rendering and infused with myriad old souls, Imaginary Man is a richly dramatic, poignant singer-songwriter opus. [Sep 2015, p.71]

The spirit moves zeroes in on [the lines separating faith and hope, optimism and cynicism, and emotioanl carnage] in bare, existential terms... with the ferocity of a soul singer pushed to the edge. [Aug 2015, p.80]

This sombre threesome could use a little humour and warmth, but there is real passion in reverb-drenched, Spector-ish, elemental pastorals like "Rivers" and "Trenches." [Sep 2015, p.80]

The problem comes when you delve beneath the sonic experimentation and listen to Marela's whimpering lyrics--a litany of drippy, desperate neediness. [Sep 2015, p.77]

What becomes clearest from listening to Live At The 12 Bar is the way Jansch's playing manifests a very particular physicality, working to its own internal logic, voice, and six strings running in refined tandem. [Sep 2015, p.92]

These are sighs as much as songs, with Cale's vice rarely wavering into anything more obviously declarative than a half-snarl, half-mumble. [Sep 2015, p.71]

This is essentially the same clutch of B-sides, outtakes and live tracks you'll already own if you shelled out for 2002's Slanted And Enchanted (Luxe and Reduxe) edition, sans the mother album itself. [Sep 2015, p.94]

If the first half of the album doesn't quite fire up with the dame ferocity as its predecessor, fans of Tin Star will be pleased to hear it gathers pace soon after. [Sep 2015, p.72]

The perfect needle, pitched into the red every time. [Sep 2015, p.81]

Stuff is a comforting listen, startlingly consistent in mood and featuring some of Yo La Tengo's most touching moments. [Sep 2015, p.70]

Rarely before have the pair achieved [moments of transcendence and preserving them in amber] with this much grace and finesse. [Sep 2015, p.68]

This Zen archer lets fly with his second straight bulls-eye. [Sep 2015, p.79]

Beneath The Skin is further proof that the Icelandic music movement is a near-unstoppable force. [Aug-Sep 2015, p.79]

River is deeply embedded in a historical continuum. [Jun 2015, p.71]

Back to the future, but intoxicatingly so. [Sep 2015, p.78]

The Trackless Woods is one of those wonderful records that reveals more if itself with each successive play. [Sep 2015, p.74]

His first solo album is more entrancing than anything he's recorded to date. [Aug 2015, p.78]

There's vulnerability in Chapman's lazily charming voice. [Sep 2015, p.78]

There is a tense, troubled air to many of these songs.... But the like of "Plates2" and "Moonbeams" mirror the story of the album by unfurling gloriously into expansive soft-rock vistas. [Aug 2015, p.69]

Fragrant but underpowered 10th LP. [Aug 2015, p.76]

Upbeat, uptempo and clearly a lot of fun to make, Give Up Your Dreams is a funny and infectious record. [Sep 2015, p.80]

Her self-produced Domino debut is an alluring tale of heartbreak and romance, framed by murky electro ballads and scuffed synthwave. [Sep 2015, p.75]

This is something wholly unexpected. [Sep 2015, p.78]

Ultimate Painting may sound like a lot of bands--Real Estate, The Feelies--but they set their own beguiling pace, sounding completely untroubled by the passing of time. [Sep 2015, p.83]

Seldom is the personal married to the political in such an enchanting fashion. [Aug 2015, p.75]

[An] edifying fourth solo album.[Aug 2015, p.78]

In lyric form and musical scale, it was epic.... The discs of "companion audio," often short on revelation, here reveal a moment of sheer anomaly. 10 Ribs & All/Carrot Pod Pod is whatever that title may mean, everything the LP is not: a tender piano piece. [Sep 2015, p.93]

The heavier contemporary numbers hint at a fire still burning. [Sep 2015, p.93]

If there is pure genius in this last set of remasters, it is in how Jimmy Page has contrived to turn Coda from a desultory selection of offcuts into an essential purchase. [Sep 2015, p.93]

It's best appreciated not as a legend's lap of honour, but for itself. [Sep 2015, p.75]