Surprises are reassuringly thin on the ground here, but the quality of Ubovich's psych-tinged ramalams, mostly delivered at Ramones speed, is high. [Dec 2014, p.77]

Bainsbridge's achievement is to take a style of music defined by its emotional directness and render it mysterious, aloof and enthralling. [Dec 2014, p.77]

The real leap here, though, is one of songwriting. [Dec 2014, p.77]

While there are a few too many round-the-campfire gloom-fests on I Forget Where Were, there are also displays of real musical background. [Dec 2014, p.77]

Not everything works as well, but its entertaining enough and a portion of proceeds go to charity. [Dec 2014, p.76]

This terrific mini-album signals the arrival of an unlikely new set-up. [Dec 2014, p.76]

Baxter's brilliance is varied. [Dec 2014, p.75]

Co-producers Don Was and Jacknife Lee bring an Orbisonian scale to Melody Road, surrounding him with ornate yet tasteful arrangements worked up by LA's top session cats. [Dec 2014, p.75]

A typically frantic burst of speed metal/punk, but underpinned with plenty of hooks and changes of pace to maintain interest. [Dec 2014, p.75]

A triumphant, ridiculous mess. [Dec 2014, p.73]

Recorded live: there's a twisting, doomy intensity to these 10 instrumentals. [Dec 2014, p.73]

Whenever his scorched Bill Callahan drawl appears, the effect is at once jarring and intoxicating. [Dec 2014, p.72]

It must be said, [Rip This] lost some of the garage band magic that made [the debut] so memorable. [Dec 2014, p.71]

Ultimately the Barrs sound like themselves. [Dec 2014, p.71]

It's a stunning showcase of his emotional, slippery, psychologically fraught production style. [Dec 2014, p.71]

Lost On The River is an album of good, sometimes excellent songs with a unique creation story which, in the end, adds little substance to the narrative of perhaps the most mythologised recordings in musical history. As footnotes go, however, it's an entertaining, energised and often fascinating one. [Dec 2014, p.64]

[Alex G] already shows a masterful handling of mischievous lyrics and beautiful melodies. [Dec 2014, p.69]

That it far surpasses its cut-up, protracted origins, and might even be the best thing the Floyd have released for over 30 years, is a welcome surprise. [Dec 2014, p.68]

The pair have come up with a finely crafted album that blurs the line between shoegaze, indie pop and goth-rock, and is as assured as it is atmospheric. [Dec 2014, p.69]

Like 2011's Tao Of The Dead, IX is a big thing, which sometimes rings rather hollow. [Dec 2014, p.71]

The duo seems to be pursuing a more focused vision than they do in the rambunctious, eclectic Men. [Dec 2014, p.75]

It's a muscular, Butch-Vig-produced behemoth that impresses. [Dec 2014, p.77]

A slightly sunnier and more melodic LP. [Dec 2014, p.77]

Rhubarb Rhubarb is scuzzy but smart, surging between primitive playfulness and something more malevolent. [Dec 2014, p.83]

The choral refrain of the title hook, meanwhile, imposes collectivity on the query--just about the only time on the whole of Storytone that the horizon stretches further than Neil's emotional backyard. [Dec 2014, p.79]

Doyle shines as a singer and lyricist. [Dec 2014, p.78]

There isn't another band who make creativity sound so intensely joyous. [Dec 2014, p.75]

A confident, more expansive--emotionally and musically--annexe to his impressive, soul-baring debut. [Dec 2014, p.75]

Mering's atmospheric second album is a masterclass in spooked melancholia, clothing her cool Nico-esque vibrato in spine-shivering folk-noir arrangements. [Nov 2014, p.84]

What their debut lacks in innovation it makes up for with emotional eloquence. [Nov 2014, p.76]

It's compelling from start to finish; if OW's main is simply "to slay," then mission accomplished. [Nov 2014, p.81]

Beneath the gliding surface lies Browne the politico, quietly raging at the legacy of imperialism and warning of impending eco disaster. The music occasionally matches such animated sentiment. [Nov 2014, p.71]

She sounds like a woman liberated, employing the services of Al Green's band, the Hi Rhythm Section, and cheerfully ratcheting up the soul textures hinted at on her 2010 debut, Obadiah. [Nov 2014, p.75]

As reassuringly familiar as it all sounds, the high point comes courtesy of an interloper, John Cooper Clarke shoehorning suitably rant-like poetry into the six-minute garage groove of "Let You Down." [Oct 2014, p.73]

Marianne's back on her feet theses days, fully recovered, and while reminding us that love is pain, doesn't entirely neglect the funny bone. [Oct 2014, p.70]

Phantom Radio feels like a real upping of the game. [Nov 2014, p.70]

The result is the most accessible Scott Walker album since Tilt, perhaps even longer. [Nov 2014, p.74]

The sound is low-slung, lugubrious Americana. [Jun 2014, p.76]

A set that touches on the laser-guided minimalism of his early work but mainly finds him knocking out shaggy bar-room psych and strung-out doo-wop. [Oct 2014, p.67]

Sometimes, More is more. [Nov 2014, p.73]

Sparhawk builds on the melodic sensitivity that frontman Dave Simonett revealed on his Razor Pony EP. [Sep 2014, p.79]

The 2 Bears' faith in the unifying qualities of a good rave-up has a tendency to spill over into hokey sentiment at times, but such criticism feels like pure humbug in the face of the album's unexpectedly trippy and heartwarming final third. [Oct 2014, p.65]

Trick is the Bloc Party singer's comedown record: confessional, emotional and, in places, a bit much. [Nov 2014, p.76]

Some odd production choices slightly blunt the impact of straighter rockers like "Piss Pisstoferson," but "Onions Make The Milk Taste Bad" confirms their skill for combining the heavy, the catchy and deliriously strange. [Nov 2014, p.77]

[An] excellent debut album. [Nov 2014, p.73]

Allo Darling' have become more accomplished since their 2010 debut without losing the intimate charm that make their brand of "real indie" an enduring choice for outsider pop fans. [Nov 2014, p.69]

As befits a compilation of songs that weren't up to scratch the first time around, 24 Karat Gold contains a few tinpot tracks that even the Nashville boys couldn't fix. Most, too, spill over the five-minute mark. But as fresh testament from one rock's great survivors, it makes for a fascinating listen. [Nov 2014, p.82]

Something on High obsesses on matters of faith, most compellingly on "Bodies," a dystopian reimagining of the Ark story. [Nov 2014, p.83]

Dissonance and propulsion remain watchwords. [Nov 2014, p.78]

It's a scuzzy Swans-like behemoth. [Oct 2014, p.77]

More suited to contemplation and drift than dance, perhaps, and with Gavin Bryars-like strings and low-level electronics making the 11 pieces more voluptuous than ever. [Oct 2014, p.67]

Playland is pretty much "The Messenger Part 2." [Nov 2014, p.77]

It strips out their usual psychedelic sprawl, leaving something leaner and more insistent, if no less Technicolor and joyously hypnotic. [Nov 2014, p.80]

If Heartleap does indeed prove to be the final destination of Bunyan's old horse and cart, it's entirely worthy one. [Nov 2014, p.79]

He sings plenty, with engaging huskiness, while leading his band down ever more inventive tangents. [Nov 2014, p.76]

A colorful fusion, blunted underground hip-hop flowing into delirious live bass jams and cosmic balladry. [Nov 2014, p.75]

Best yet and then some from an artist whose vision continues to expand with every release. [Oct 2014, p.68]

At times the elemental pounding can become an aural bludgeoning. [Oct 2014, p.80]

A considerably more fully formed affair, rich in texture and atmosphere, though reprising Familial's aura of downbeat anxiety. [Nov 2014, p.83]

ZW have sensibly resisted the urge to shape their sound for arenas, the gaseous disco of "Coming Up For Air" and the darkly glittering instrumental "Elusive" underlining the poignancy that was always their trump card. [Nov 2014, p.84]

Perhaps they lack the arty flourishes of elder statesman Damon Albarn's solo work, but these bold, brassy tunes serve to remind that it wasn't only about Union Jacks and DMs back then. [Oct 2014, p.69]

There's plenty to admire--not least "Without You" and "Innocence"--but you sense their moment may have passed. [Oct 2014, p.71]

No longer quite so greasy, but rewardingly slick. [Oct 2014, p.80]

Technology's presence just goes to show how untamable Amidon's unself-conscious, creaky-rope voice is. [Nov 2014, p.71]

There are no songs here to touch past glories, [3rdeyegirl's] excitement in the studio is captured.... They just remind you he's still around; short of a tune, but the unique inhabitant of a purple planet all his own. [Nov 2014, p.80]

Too many average slow jams.... They just remind you he's still around; short of a tune, but the unique inhabitant of a purple planet all his own. [Nov 2014, p.80]

There's a haunted, frequently unhinged quality to its songs and performances. [Nov 2014, p.83]

The skinned-back arrangements on the self-produced Madman isolate his voice's primal expressiveness and the plainspoken emotion of his songs. [Nov 2014, p.81]

Snaith has perfected his recipe for bite-sized psychedelia. [Nov 2014, p.71]

It has its charms.... but the naivety of their debut remains elusive. [Nov 2014, p.84]

Slick and seductive. [Nov 2014, p.78]

An unexpectedly excellent set of sinuous and sensual techno. [Nov 2014, p.76]

It's hard to really connect with most of In A Dream; not only does it play through as tirelessly, tiringly arch, many of the songs just don't quite cut it. [Nov 2014, p.76]

Cool to the touch, but vanilla sweet as well. [Nov 2014, p.76]

Gamble is a dab hand at sound design and creating textures that convey anxiety and paranoia--some tracks are smothered in hiss--but because of its sprawling length, parts of KOCH feel rather one-dimensional. [Nov 2014, p.75]

Close to monomaniacal in their passions--weed, Satan, vintage British horror--Time To Die nonetheless introduces a gnarly edge to their downturned churn. [Nov 2014, p.73]

The Tom Waits-ish jazz of the title track, the slinky CCR-ish trundle of "My Baby Drives" and the gentle pedal-steel-led-weeper "White Gardenias" confirm that Earle's quieting of his demons has lost him little. [Nov 2014, p.73]

It's a strong return, though bad luck for the copycatting Royal Blood and DZ Deathrays who'd been counting on their obsolescence. [Nov 2014, p.72]

Trouble is a typically tender, casually contemplative, occasionally tearful goodbye. [Nov 2014, p.72]

This is songwriting with a stunning paint job, but with its training wheels still on. [Nov 2014, p.71]

While there's nothing as pop as "Windowlicker" here, it's still thrilling to hear him romp deliriously through all manner of styles in the key of Apex for the bulk of these dozen tracks. [Nov 2014, p.71]

The overall mixture of anger and longing, fierceness and calm, is breathtaking. [Nov 2014, p.68]

There is more raw drama here, a prevailing starkness. [Nov 2014, p.65]

The good news is that Something Shines also enriches her puritanical sonic palette with lush instrumentation, mid-song tempo shifts and free-jazz digressions. [Oct 2014, p.77]

Owens has never been afraid to comet to terms with his troubled past, but here those stories are slathered in such cliched schmaltz that it's hard to empathise. [Oct 2014, p.76]

The third suffers from a bit of improv cliche in its fox-sex vocals, but the central melodic theme is robust enough to return for a warm-hearted final track. [Sep 2014, p.73]

Ben Glover makes his fifth album a bringing-it-all-back-home beauty. [Oct 2014, p.73]

This is quicker, sleeker and punkier [than Water On Mars]. [Oct 2014, p.77]

Her fourth full-length album effectively showcases the breadth of her sound. [Oct 2014, p.76]

An album of great depth and richness, Sukierae finds Tweedy at his most dignified, addressing life-changing events across all aspects of the full emotional spectrum. [Oct 2014, p.64]

If there's a faint veil of disappointment hanging over all this excellence, it's that Allah-Las haven't built m,ore adventurously on the foundations of their debut. [Oct 2014, p.66]

This underrated band progressively unleash waves of measured ferocity over he turbine drumming of Brandon Young toward payoffs that are staggering in their intensity. [Oct 2014, p.71]

It's a stunning comeback that whets the appetite for an autumn tour. [Oct 2014, p.74]

The dozen sly and witty songs are all Setzer originals, but it takes a liitle suspension of disbelief to imagine "Calamity Jane" and "Cock-a-Doodle Don't" could've been authentically written 60 years ago. [Oct 2014, p.79]

Rapid-fire delivery often make catching his drift difficult, but when spaces allow it, as on the hallucinogenic "Upsweep" or pointed "Retirement Ode," Busdriver's wit and wisdom flash through. [Oct 2014, p.69]

There's a little too much preciousness here. [Oct 2014, p.72]

A triumph. [Oct 2014, p.77]

A more contemplative, intimate offering that in its own heavy and soulful way is just as thrilling. [Oct 2014, p.79]