He chucks deep vocal house and astral UK bass, with the title track crucially offsetting a tendency to overly tasteful restraint. [Feb 2015, p.73]

A few underpowered, slate-grey instrumentals miss the mark, but the gorgeously warped "Tied And Bound" comes close to the alien beauty of Mica Levi's sonically extreme soundtrack work. [Mar 2015, p.84]

It's an album of two halves, with "Rock And Roll Again" summarising a scene-setting opening hand that focuses on good-time, AC/DC-worshiping rockers. A shade more subtlety comes late on. [Mar 2015, p.72]

There's a gauche Hollyoaks vibe to sentimental moments "Sailing" and "Wild West," but otherwise this is a handsome debut. [Mar 2015, p.72]

Heavy Love is a supremely self-confident record. [Mar 2015, p.85]

The exceptionally well-curated material is all drawn from women singers--if not always women writers--and does a fine job of placing Giddens at the nexus of a multiplicity of traditions. [Mar 2015, p.79]

In The Pink Of Condition is very much Evans' own. [Mar 2015, p.77]

What Peace lack in originality, they make up for in charm. [Mar 2015, p.80]

The rest of Mount The Air is tentative by comparison [to "Magpie"]; stylish, and extremely skillful, but a bit too much arr and not enough trad. [Mar 2015, p.68]

There's nothing fake about the purgatorial narrative of songs such as "Nobody Knows My Trouble" and "My Diamond Is Too Rough." [Feb 2015, p.74]

This is a melancholic album, but a determined, thoughtful one. [Mar 2015, p.80]

The likes of "Born Disco; Died Heavy Metal" and a jitterbugging "New York Minutes" are revealed to be much more robust tunes than was initially obvious. [Mar 2015, p.73]

The albums keep coming, with little stylistic variation, nor significant lapse in quality. [Feb 2015, p.87]

Modern Nature is close to classic Charlatans--no mean feat after their recent tribulation. [Feb 2015, p.74]

The beauty of the album is that it draws its charm from the natural collision of styles. [Feb 2015, p.74]

It's yet another display of excellence from an artist in consummate control of his art. [Feb 2015, p.82]

[John Tejada] maintains his penchant for melancholic, Detroit-inspired tech-house better suited to the home than club environment. [Feb 2015, p.84]

[The Hexadic System] sounds complicated, but primarily this is a guitar record. [Mar 2015, p.81]

Glass Riffer dials back the bold orchestrations of 2012's America in favour of a rapturous electronic pop with Deacon's voice pushed upfront. [Mar 2015, p.75]

The album's hard-slapping boom bap, laced with confident social realist flow, could only ever have come from New York. [Mar 2015, p.71]

You long for a bit more of the ardour of "Fine Squad." [Mar 2015, p.73]

[A] strong second album. [Mar 2015, p.73]

An uninspired outfit played into a corner. [Mar 2015, p.73]

An album of fierce ambition and undeniable charm. [Mar 2015, p.80]

Novelist Michael Chabon's lyrics fail to illuminate the theme, while the music settles for tasteful reverence. [Mar 2015, p.81]

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings and Jack White outclass the flat cap and braces brigade. [Mar 2015, p.84]

The band generally favour simplicity and great hooks on this fine second album. [Mar 2015, p.84]

In his communions with nature, Elverum continues the American tradition of Whitman, Thoreau or Emerson, immersing himself in hymns to the land. [Mar 2015, p.78]

Just about every song is not what it seems. [Mar 2015, p.78]

From The Very Depths is unreconstructed but brutally effective. [Mar 2015, p.84]

Its muted feel is accented by folk-blues tones that rarely break out of a shuffle, enlivened only by some buzzing electric guitar cameos by guests including Johnny Depp and Bob Mould. [Mar 2015, p.84]

"Drips" hovers between Hot Chip and late-period XTC, while the meticulous detail of "Babymaking" and "Don't Sit Back (Frankie Said)" recall lost studio gems like Rosie Vela's Walter Beck-helmed Zazu. [Mar 2015, p.75]

The result is a little pick 'n' mix, but the delivery is great and songwriting assured. [Mar 2015, p.77]

Presley has a wry, modern take on country music. [Mar 2015, p.81]

These immersive, synth-driven compositions may never match the brooding atmosphere of the filmmaker's early scores like Halloween and Assault On Precinct 13, but still have much to commend. [Mar 2015, p.73]

Some of these pieces are more like performance art works than songs. [Feb 2015, p.83]

This score for the new Hawkings biopic is an effective series of piano-based miniatures sweetened with strings and harp. [Feb 2015, p.79]

On their fifth full-length, they've got looser and groovier, and it suits them. [Mar 2015, p.75]

Two Gallants can swagger and rage like The Black Keys, but they can also find moments of ambient bliss to complement songs of helplessness and regret. [Mar 2015, p.82]

Worthy is a far bolder and more satisfying selection [than Thankful n' Thoughtful]. [Mar 2015, p.77]

An album as strange as it is compelling. [Mar 2015, p.77]

Timelessly scented, you can almost smell the joss sticks. [Mar 2015, p.76]

Not one original note, but big fun for feedback fetishists. [Mar 2015, p.69]

Co-produced again with Jonathan Wilson, the album bristles with richness and bespoke detail. [Mar 2015, p.70]

As a celebration of classic songcraft, it is as sincere as any of Dylan's many forays into traditional American roots idioms. [Mar 2015, p.65]

Their take on the genre [is] sharply observed and utterly sincere. [Feb 2015, p.83]

It's neither pastiche nor parody, corralling '60s psychedelia, prog, Indian ragas, country rock, '50s lounge music and Javanese campursari into his vision. [Feb 2015, p.79]

It's an inspired rather than gimmicky conceit. [Feb 2015, p.71]

His debut album reworks traditional material, much of it obscure, yet sounding familiar thanks to the vibrancy of playing, notably from William Tyler on guitar. [Feb 2015, p.78]

Fear Trending is a fully realised album which stands equal to anything this consistently inventive band have done thus far. [Feb 2015, p.82]

It's a risky move [a change in sound] that has nonetheless reaped rewards. [Feb 2015, p.77]

10 Futures propulsive blend of soul-pop and electronica sees him indulging a more experimental side, making it a satisfying proposition all round. [Feb 2015, p.73]

They've unleashed the rock monster within. [Feb 2015, p.87]

Their best work moves beyond pastiche into broader sonic terrain. [Feb 2015, p.82]

It is ambitious music, even compared with Big Inner and it also sounds rich with potential. [Feb 2015, p.67]

The Musicianship is on point, the recoding crystal clear. But as a listener, it feels difficult to penetrate the album's inky darkness, and you suspect they like it that way. [Feb 2015, p.77]

A confident take on sleek, horn-powered Philly soul with a hunt of garage muscle. [Feb 2015, p.78]

A paucity of strong tunes remains his Achilles heel, but no-one else does wasted decadence with such persuasive panache. [Feb 2015, p.80]

These are new songs that sound like the old songs, the kind you might treasure 'til your vinyl is pockmarked and warped. [Feb 2015, p.86]

The sound is monumental, the lyrics discursive. [Feb 2015, p.87]

They've developed a needling, post-punk style that nods to Joy Division, Gang Of Four and Shellac. [Feb 2015, p.84]

A dynamically nuanced, nine-song set that conjures real-world wonders as convincingly as a doomed voyage to some imagined, far-flung galaxy. [Feb 2015, p.82]

It's all likable, seldom revelatory. [Feb 2015, p.80]

There's nothing revelatory here, but it's good to see Hayes being so productive. [Feb 2015, p.77]

Something more intimate and traditionally crafted, exploring the highs and lows of human interaction. [Feb 2015, p.77]

Restriction certainly has its moments, but you have to wade through a lot of dross to find them. [Feb 2015, p.73]

Wallflower is quintessential adult pop, with solid if predictable selections. [Nov 2014, p.76]

The extra care and attention to production and arrangements has paid off, making Man It Feels Like Space Again as consistently enjoyable as their older albums were unevenly thrilling. [Feb 2015, p.85]

For all the haunting, dislocated atmospheres here, Coombes still has an ear for melodies. [Feb 2015, p.75]

An out-of-time treat. [Feb 2015, p.73]

It's the sense of a nuanced beat group finding their own path beyond Sonic Youth and My Bloody Valentine that's most compelling. [Feb 2015, p.99]

This lush hybrid of electronica, jazz and modern classical forms is one of the most beautiful accidents in Ripatti's long and prolific career. [Feb 2015, p.84]

The repressive weight of the production creates a micro-climate that's compelling to move through. [Feb 2015, p.83]

Kozelek's latest aims for a similar kind of dolorous charm, plus Spanish guitar, and often succeeds. [Feb 2015, p.80]

Production-wise it tips a brim to the jazzy psych of the Brainfeeder crew, with some very gnarly riffs chopping through the boom-bap. [Feb 2015, p.77]

Nothing Important offers more of idiosyncratic "ritual community music," as he calls it. [Feb 2015, p.75]

A cutting, driving, defiantly hook-happy set (mostly) focused on survival amid America's income-inequality nightmare. [Feb 2015, p.75]

It's a shouty, attitudinal set that connects Ke$ha to Britney Spears and Cyndi Lauper. [Feb 2015, p.75]

Broke is an pleasant surprise. [Feb 2015, p.73]

A very fine record, for sure, but Earle has a nagging habit of stopping just short of the hands-down classic he's capable of. [Feb 2015, p.78]

This is all very impressive stuff. [Feb 2015, p.80]

Throughout, their balance of the tense and clanging with the urgently poppy is impeccable. [Feb 2015, p.76]

What A Terrible World continues to sharpen the band's sound. [Feb 2015, p.81]

Girls In Peacetime Want To Dance feels like a creative rebirth for a band who were beginning to feel like nothing more than the day job. [Feb 2015, p.70]

He's the kind of singer whose voice you instinctively trust. It's a resource that brings continuity to a fifth album touching on greed, death and dogs. [Feb 2015, p.72]

Producer Joe Henry's tribute to that album, 1964's Bitter Tears, reimagines it beautifully. [Nov 2014, p.83]

Mark Nevers, on production, ensures Singer's grave is the lushest Oldham LP since Beware, and "So Far And Here We Are" is a stinging all-new effort. Motives, though, remain even less clear than usual. [Nov 2014, p.71]

While the fuzz-filled punk vibe is still present and correct, there's also a hard rock thread running through Overdrive. [May 2014, p.80]

Lament is a startling, eclectic listen. [Jan 2014, p.72]

Slim Twig's louche theatricality will probably repel as many listeners as it attracts, but life is a cabaret, old chum. [Jan 2015, p.92]

This fine reissue includes remarkably fully formed demos of the entire LP. [Dec 2014, p.89]

The resultant 37-minute piece is atypical of wither band's work, aiming for something more freeform. And meandering.... Still, when it hinges together, Words absolves itself. [Dec 2014, p.80]

While nothing on this best-of collection quite matches the exquisiteness of Grant's solo work, you can still hear him testing the waters and laying the groundwork for what was to come. [Jan 2015, p.87]

An amusing curio, although you're unlikely to listen to it more than once. [Jan 2015, p.75]

They channel their power into free form excursions of an often surprising delicacy. [Jan 2015, p.75]

Magazine 13 flits between Art OF Noise preset chintz, serene Vangelis miniatures and serrated Knife-like techno primitivism with such aplomb that it's tempting to view this as either a very good inside joke or striking outsider art. [Jan 2015, p.67]

The results are by turns atmospheric, deeply odd, funky and wistful, but never less than superb. [Nov 2014, p.84]

Chubbed Up+ feels like a bit of a stopgap between this year's Divide And Exit and a new album scheduled for early next year, but it nonetheless has much to recommend it. [Jan 2015, p.92]