Once you get over the initial shock of Kelis' raw-throated take on country-rock on "Friday Fish Fry," the culinary theme becomes another ingredient that never quite blends into a tasty dish. [May 2014, p.76]

Those who adored The Make-Up may find the skeletal drum machine thunk of "Stuck In A Box" a little demo quality. But Svenonius' charisma is unflagging, and his commitment to the theme can thrill. [May 2014, p.71]

As frustratingly close to perfect as ever. [May 2014, p.73]

It;s an easy, unchallenging ride, but a satisfying one. [May 2014, p.76]

This stone-age jalopy has a definite theatrical charm--malevolent Nick Cave-ish narratives, vicious basslines, squally guitar and touches of honking saxophone, all executed with a visceral energy that's almost painful to behold. [May 2014, p.67]

There's a mellow-late-Beatles vibe at play, especially on "Full Moon," and this may be the band's finest to date. [May 2014, p.83]

The joy is in how much of it there is to listen to, with constant change in tempo, instrument and texture that manage to maintain an overall coherence while keeping everybody from getting bored. [May 2014, p.79]

The Afghan Whigs remain a high stakes band, conducting business not with a eye on self-preservation, but in the heat of the moment. [May 2014, p.72]

Throughout, Crowell’s versatile, impassioned voice is in fine fettle, a confident mix of goofiness and longing, anticipation and excitement, sadness and sentimentality, as if he’s just now entering a new prime. He might well be.

He's let down by the lyrics, which seem, to have been assembled from a collection of fridge magnet soul cliches. [May 2014, p.78]

These are beautiful songs, penned from midlife. [May 2014, p.82]

I Am The Last has a wind in its sails, though, thanks to Tibet's preacher vigour, and an extraordinary guestlist. [May 2014, p.71]

Though sometimes a tad one-dimensional, at its best this music is as warm, sad and effortlessly beautiful as a midsummer sunset. [Apr 2014, p.69]

This is music that looks death square in the face and screams back at it, announcing its life. [May 2014, p.69]

At two hours, it could use pruning, but Belomancie has a visionary quality. [May 2014, p.80]

The unlikely pairing works precisely because of the contrast between their approaches, as they locate a vibrant middle ground on rawboned yet tuneful rockers like "The Prisoner" and dynamic ballads like "No Sir." [May 2014, p.69]

This tasteful collection is best represented by McBride;s cover of Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes' "If You Don't Know Me By Now," matching her satin to the original's velvet. [May 2014, p.77]

This polished third album is a feat for fans of puerile humour and glam-metal guitar solos. [May 2014, p.80]

There are some nice details though daft lyrics such as "I kiss your knees and I try to be bold" threaten to undermine the flashes of brilliance elsewhere. [May 2014, p.73]

Their blue period, perhaps. It suits them. [May 2014, p.76]

She's in fine eloquent fettle, sinking her heart into the ever-resilient material. [May 2014, p.71]

An invigorating debut. [May 2014, p.78]

It's a surprisingly varied record, the mood darkening towards the close, the band ever occasionally busting their habitual one-minute barrier. [May 2014, p.78]

Fun for all the family. [May 2014, p.80]

The homogenous production gets bland real quick, meaning, that, ultimately, it' shard to care either way about it. [May 2014, p.83]

She's performing and singing at her peak. [May 2014, p.83]

The beautiful, feathery songwriting featured on Boson-based Casy Dienel's previous album as White Hinterland has had a steroidal pumping. [May 2014, p.83]

It's unfortunate that these splendidly rumbustious tracks make the lumbering ballads even harder work by comparison. [May 2014, p.81]

Few of the 23 artists involved here resist the shackles of taste. [May 2014, p.81]

While everything is played with gusto and the songs themselves are well constructed, the album perhaps lacks enough surprises or detours from its sturdy formula to make it especially memorable. [May 2014, p.80]

Sleeper Agent rise to the occasion on their major-label debut. [May 2014, p.80]

The Vienna-based Londoner who lurks behind the Sohn alias coins a wintry brand of high-tech electro-soul on this striking debut. [May 2014, p.80]

She's actually more effective when slowing things things down a notch. [May 2014, p.77]

This is actually their most enjoyable record in ages, largely because it draws together recurring Laibach themes. [May 2014, p.77]

An album that feels joyously cathartic as well as musically stunning. [May 2014, p.76]

The duo of Matt Carlon on Modular synthesiser and Joanthan Sielaff on bass clarinet, are onto something with Seer. [May 2014, p.74]

Salad days is goofy but sweet guitar pop in the vein of Jonathan Richman, occasionally somewhat lightweight but delivered with a crooked smile that's quite endearing. [May 2014, p.73]

Anderson's voice keeps songs like "Smoulder" feeling raw and human. [May 2014, p.73]

Slasher House is not so different to the last Animal Collective album, 2012's bristly Centipede Hz. [May 2014, p.69]

Small Town Heroes is the band's fifth and best album. [May 2014, p.68]

His leftfield takes on protest soul have been ditched in favour of pick'n'mix revivalism and banal inspirational platitudes. [May 2014, p.67]

You wish the pace would pick up after a while but then again, what My Sad Captains do, they do beautifully. [Apr 2014, p.78]

Vermont find unexpected warmth in the almost mathematical precision of these restrained but seductive instrumentals. [Apr 2014, p.83]

Essential and sublime. [Mar 2014, p.76]

Langford, as ever, masterfully mixes the personal, the political and the poetic. [Apr 2014, p.77]

Old Fears is entirely worth your concentration. [Apr 2014, p.81]

Sinclair's knack for storytelling, wordplay and a warm voice carry sufficient wit and energy to ride the jazzy undercurrent. [Apr 2014, p.81]

A stew of attractive singalong folk pop that looks to evocative kitchen sink drama for lyrical inspiration. [Feb 2014, p.83]

They have finally assembled a terrific debut full of scuzzed up guitars, dirty synths, nihilistic lyrics and wood's magnificently bored--though never boring--vocals.[Apr 2014, p.71]

Motion files nicely alongside Fripp & Eno, or Klaus Schulze, a set of rippling, drowsy circuitry, laminated with silvery guitar drones. [Apr 2014, p.76]

Their full engagement in the creative task was never in doubt, and more than 40 years later the result compels close listening. [Apr 2014, p.88]

DNA plus inspiration can be a potent combination. [Apr 2014, p.69]

No range of light here, just a wan glow that denies the need for shade. [Apr 2014, p.71]

Remarkably, almost every performance resonates. [Apr 2014, p.83]

These are songs to be treasured. [Apr 2014, p.73]

The second album by this East London singer sees her moving away from the orthodox jazz trio and expanding her sonic palette. [Feb 2014, p.77]

A Dietrich pour nos jours. [Apr 2014, p.80]

The result is alternatively maddening and satisfying. [Apr 2014, p.74]

No prizes for adventurism, but bracingly fat-free, with attitude in spades. [Apr 2014, p.77]

Guitarist Marty Stuart re-recorded his parts, and contemporary shading has been added by Buddy Miller and Jerry Douglas. They don't completely erase the synthetic qualities of the sound, but it's clear that Cash was in fine voice even if the material didn't always suit him. [Apr 2014, p.89]

[Seb Rochford] delivers Bear's most varied set to date. [Apr 2014, p.80]

A typically perverse decision to substitute a US remix for the standard version of album closer "Tomorrow" does little to deaden the impact of an album that owned its moment every bit as much as The Queen Is Dead. [Mar 2014, p.94]

Singles Collection Volume 3 betrays its genesis as something of a grab bag. [Apr 2014, p.94]

The larger-than-life Elton of the live stage gets a workout on "Saturday Night's Alright For Fighting" and "Benny And The Jets," pounding rockers on the most impressively diverse collection in his catalogued. [Apr 2014, p.91]

An album that is startling as it is likeable. [Apr 2014, p.74]

Now manifesting more of an intense, slow burn than a fierce blaze, they sound no less anguished. [Apr 2014, p.74]

Bassist William Cashion and keyboardist Gerrit Welmers match him for breathless passion, whipping up a stirring synth-pop writ in bold emotional colours. [Apr 2014, p.74]

Creepy but beautiful. [Apr 2014, p.73]

Unfidelity is too turbulent to be purely scenic in the Boards Of Canada sense, its plaintive melodies hemmed in by the gurgles and clanks of some sinister, unmanned waste disposal plant. [Apr 2014, p.73]

This is another uplifting, honest set. [Apr 2014, p.71]

The band's arch, apocalyptic howl is frequently interrupted by industrial pummelling and passages of heads-down skronk, to the point where you genuinely have no idea what they're going to do or say next. [Apr 2014, p.71]

Teeth Dreams is The Hold Steady's least fussy, least mannered, least arch album. Not coincidentally, it's possibility their best. [Apr 2014, p.63]

An ultra-gentrified karaoke set. [Apr 2014, p.77]

Analogue synths and electronic drums combine with distorted tribal chants to darkly compelling effect. [Apr 2014, P.77]

We Got A Love rarely deviates from DFA's tried-and-tested disco-punk template. [Apr 2014, p.81]

It may be a little too restrained in places, but this is a quietly confident debut. [Apr 2014, p.74]

An exemplary set. [Feb 2014, p.76]

It's like walking through smoke and mirrors towards an utterly empty dancefloor, a kind of nightmare inversion of TNGHT's rave exuberance. [Apr 2014, p.73]

Lost In The Dream is calmer and more confident than previous efforts, songs stretching out beyond the six-minute mark if the feeling is right. [Apr 2014, p.83]

Though beautifully produced, over 40 minutes these spacious, electronic soundscapes sometimes lacks bite, blurring comfortingly but unimaginatively into one another, their euphoric ambitions too often thwarted by their meanderings. [Apr 2014, p.81]

Their methodically slothful hybrid of Angelo Badalamenti, Bill Evans and Sunn O))) is much prettier and more restful than one might imagine, [Apr 2014, p.69]

Whether it's the ramalama of "Dorner Party," sleazy synth jam "Funny" or the brooding "Do The Vibrate," revved up and slightly ramshackle is how BL troll across this superior barroom set. [Apr 2014, p.69]

Parker Millsap's second album is possessed of classic troubadour restlessness, drenched in the Pentecost but headed onto country/folk/blues highways tramped down by everyone from Johnny Cash to John Fullbright. [Mar 2014, p.79]

There are many fine moments here. [Apr 2014, p.76]

They continue the template of their superb I Have Lost All Desire For Feeling cassette last year. [Apr 2014, p.78]

Inspired concept, superlative execution. [Apr 2014, p.76]

The sound they've fashioned is glossy and supersaturated while still exhibiting the subversive impulse that yielded the supremely catchy but subtly sinister smash "Pumped Up Kicks." [Apr 2014, p.74]

Atlas is dominated by a saturated prettiness that seems at once virtuoso and effortless. [Apr 2014, p.68]

After years of striving, makes Augustines a band that now sound energised by palpable relief. [Apr 2014, p.69]

Their fourth album, self-produced and recorded in Berlin, finds the smart hooks and spiky lyrics all present and correct. [Apr 2014, p.69]

This album feels like a new beginning. [Apr 2014, p.70]

There's a sustained congruence about the rhythms and textures that make The Take Off and Landing of Everything seem like an extended and mediation on certain musical and lyrical themes. [Apr 2014, p.72]

The results are sparkling, upbeat and infectious. [Apr 2014, p.73]

While they're not doing anything particularly new, the mixture of bile and valedictory swagger here is exhilarating. [Apr 2014, p.73]

There are a couple of duds, but songwriters Ariel Rechtshaid and Justin Raisen, a kind of grungy hipster take on Sweden's pop factory, still have a tremendous hit rate. [Apr 2014, p.74]

The rest can't quite match this opening brace ["The Upsetter"], but there are gems throughout. [Apr 2014, p.75]

The overall tone may be sombre but it's expressed with such a weightless delicacy, shaded with occasional harmonica and piano, that it's hard not to feel transported. [Apr 2014, p.77]

This is a tremendously assured album, beautifully paced and full of great rockers. [Apr 2014, p.77]