It's the darker numbers in which Jewel's muse gleams brightest. [Sep 2013, p.95]

There's much knowingness in his brazenness, and it's a mark of his talent that he stares hubris in the eye and nearly gets away with it. [Sep 2013, p.97]

The venom and rage of the Jim Jones live experience is captured more effectively on this third album than its predecessors, but there;s also greater depth to the playing and writing. [Nov 2012, p.76]

It's the album's deft balance between Sitek's freewheeling and darkly ambient aesthetic and the familiar sub-Beatles melodies that make BE a bold leap forward in the mould of Paul Weller's recent psych-inspired reinventions. [Jul 2013, p.71]

The results are so convincing, the only question is what took him so long. [Mar 2013, p.73]

[Blixa Bargeld is] in a whimsical mood, Mae West-flirtatious on "Come Up And See Me" and the booming "I'm smiling/From the bottom of my fair-trade soul" on the title track. Meanwhile, a delicate cover of The Tiger Lillies' "Alone With the Moon" is dispatched with a rich sonority. [Aug 2013, p.77]

She fails to stand out in a crowded marketplace. [Feb 2013, p.79]

Midwesterner Pokey LaFarge infuses would-be moribund styles with rare vigour, though lyrical concerns are anything but nostalgia. [Jul 2013, p.77]

The Inheritors is a fiercely original feast of experimental sound. [Jul 2013, p.76]

This pairing with the UK Soothsayers collective proves an easy fit, framing Campbell's precise, melodic vocals with intricate horn-led arrangements and adding judicious dub effects. [Aug 2013, p.69]

Almost every one is a pure and lovely miniature. [Aug 2013, p.69]

Immersive and claustrophobic, Ruby Red seems designed for solitary listening under headphones. [Aug 2013, p.72]

This is Clark, now in his 72nd year, as the rumpled poet of American folk-blues, imparting these semi-brisk, string-driven tales with his own unique brand of sad, funny, dry wisdom.

Tiden follows much the same formula [as 2011's Stunden] of Satie-esque piano sketches nestled in softly lapping rhythms, muted electro shadings and vaguely lysergic drones.

The sixth LP covers a familiar spectrum from table-thumping anthems to torrid speed-polkas and booze-punk shanties. But it also features agreeably surreal humour and occasional tender interludes. [Aug 2013, p.71]

He combines a fondness for Lou Reed-style New York street theater with anti-folk and '80s out-of-tune jangle to scintillating effect. [Aug 2013, p.76]

About Farewell is a gentle, rueful, often beautiful record. [Aug 2013, p.75]

Pratt has one of those voices, like Josephine Foster, that remain stubbornly, elusively ageless. [Feb 2013, p.78]

At its best, JBM's follow-up transcends it's self-imposed cliches. [Jul 2013, p.77]

Rickety in construction, it holds up as a work of single-minded, lunatic conviction. [Aug 2013, p.61]

Amid the murk, there are still magnetic, rough-hewn fight songs about heartache and ambition. [Aug 2013, p.69]

Body Music has the feel of an album rushed out for the summer. [Aug 2013, p.67]

Pretty, poignant and educational, too. [Aug 2013, p.71]

It's compact, often menacing strangeness has its own beauty. [Aug 2013, p.71]

A move into electric guitar, Hammond organ and bass bring mixed results. [Aug 2013, p.79]

They display an exuberant charm that's trashy and infectious. [Aug 2013, p.77]

It is a wispy thing, not always easy to grip. But its more soulful moments can be quietly transcendent. [Aug 2013, p.74]

It's fascinating territory and Merchandise sound like a band still exploring thier huge potential. [Aug 2013, p.73]

Kill The Wolf is another ruralist fantasy furnished with tales of witchcraft and maypoles. [Aug 2013, p.67]

This is full-bodied, tuneful and surprisingly friendly, with vocalist Kuperus toning down the swivel-eyed hysteria for some Siouxsie-styled elegance. [Aug 2013, p.65]

West and his Congo crew hook up with On-U Sound's Adrian Sherwood for a familiar set that marries reggae spirituals to the fortified jungle of the soundsystem. [Aug 2013, p.69]

Subtle electronics and the creation of desolate, 3-D spaces is the icing on a seductively ruined cake. [Aug 2013, p.76]

Most of these frothy confections would sit just as well on any of the band's previous 11 long players. [Aug 2013, p.67]

Their seventh studio album removes some of the widescreen electronica and replaces it with a more, stripped back, acoustic vibe that rather suits them. [Aug 2013, p.67]

The effervescent punk-pop of The Breeders is a touchstone, as is Kimya Dawson's ramshakle honesty, but "Lips And Limbs" affects a subtle country twang, while on the terrific "Blue Pt. II," skeletal acoustic acoustics and frank lyrics document a stagnating love affair. [Aug 2013, p.79]

Their habit of singing in close harmony can be pretty but leaves little room for interesting vocal interplay. [Aug 2013, p.68]

The fatalistic and darkening Gothic moods bring out some of the shiniest elements of his prodigious talent and imagination. [Aug 2013, p.67]

Desperation is as refreshing as it is welcome. [Aug 2013, p.73]

While the ideas are sometimes thin, the delivery is invariably wry and charming. [Aug 2013, p.77]

The rhythm tracks are built up from finger bells and clicking wooden percussion, while each track is overlaid with wisps of koto or zither, which shimmer appealingly over the top, adding a touch of global gravitas. [Aug 2013, p.71]

Partygoing contains a handful of vintage Merritt moments. [Aug 2013, p.71]

It is raw, retro nouveau, deep house bangers like "When A Fire Starts To Burn" and "Stimulation" that make this a perfect Brit companion piece to Daft Punk's recent rebootings of disco history. [Aug 2013, p.69]

In common with a lot of records called Fantasy, this is ultimately a pretty pedestrian affair. [Aug 2013, p.72]

Traditionally, country music and club-derived electronics make for awkward bedfellows, but it's a testament to the strength of Gibson's strange vision that Me Moan might well become a touchstone of modern-day Americana. [Aug 2013, p.66]

It's seductive enough, but rather short on bravery. [Aug 2013, p.72]

The first µ-Ziq album in six years feels largely insulated from modern tends, with occasional contemporary touches leaking in. [Aug 2013, p.73]

The knotty, punky, Squarepusher-style edges of its predecessor have been smoothed down, with a little too much perfumed whimsy in the mix. [Aug 2013, p.77]

The execution is consistently weak. [Aug 2013, p.79]

At times, it's like an architectural drawing. But the repetitions soothe and tease, and then you start to hear the leaves. [Aug 2013, p.78]

One True Vine is a seamless sequel. [Aug 2013, p.70]

Aguayo always has heaps of ideas, some of which work brilliantly but more often than not, he finds himself stranded in a groove, unsure where to go next. [Aug 2013, p.67]

It's hard to find anything out of the ordinary here beyond the usual blend of angst rock and stadium bombast. [Aug 2013, p.69]

Price's maximalist approach is largely successful, producing vivid, neon-lit dancefloor monsters like "Axis" and "Fluorescent." [Aug 2013, p.74]

Tracks vary in emotional and sonic tone, sources, instrumentation and complexity. [Aug 2013, p.65]

It's a sometime magnificent beast of superior psychedelia. [Jul 2013, p.76]

Ceremony feels appealingly gigantic. [Jul 2013, p.83]

Her free rock trio is on thunderous form on these lithe and sinewy instruments, stirred up in a cauldron of sub-metal froth and white-hot jazz rock. [Jun 2013, p.76]

This drab, psych-wimsy-garnished exercise in English indie classicism stretches his [Oasis's Paul "Bonehead" Arthurs] goodwill. [Jul 2013, p.80]

Hope In Hell is entirely dreadful, a grim farrago of frenzied riffing and belligerently adolescent lyrics. [Jul 2013, p.69]

Talk of golden snakes, white hands of grief and stalking vultures is somehow steered clear of quasi-mystic cliche, marking out Rose Windows as promising contenders on the psych-rock block. [Jul 2013, p.80]

Pounding opener "When The Drugs Kick In," the workaday wonder of "Everyday," and a churning, blistering cover of Neil Young's "Southern Pacific" highlight a fine return to form. [Jul 2013, p.73]

Nile's river of song runs as deep as it's wide. [Jul 2013, p.80]

The DJ, producer and singer-songwriter's solo third suggests there's no shame in sticking to your retro-futurist guns, as long as you fire off the odd unexpected volley. [Jun 2013, p.76]

Admirably democratic, but a few dictatorial vetoes might not have gone amiss. [Jul 2013, p.71]

There are too many sleepy stretches and not enough memorable songs between these handsome bookends, as a talented young band dredges the past in search of an identity. [Jul 2013, p.81]

There's no dazzle here, but that's precisely the appeal of the Glen Campbell-like "Searching For The Sun," "You And I" and the high noon mariachi of "I'm A Man." [Jul 2013, p.81]

A 40-minute guitar wig-out at the end of the immense White Numbers--filling two CDs or three LPs--will delight Bevis Frond fetishists, but the toytown pop of "More Chalk" and teary madrigal "She's Just Like You" better showcase the cottage industrialist's skills. [Jul 2013, p.71]

Delivered with conviction and defiance these timely tunes benefit from the input of longtime pal and collaborator Rod Picott. [Jul 2013, p.72]

Mostly, Dear Mark J. Mulcahy, I Love You sounds supremely happy to be here: it's an infectious feeling. [Jul 2013, p.82]

For the most part, though, Long Way Down is relentless in its pursuit of a teen audience easily won over by a sensitive man-boy who knows his way around a piano. [May 2013, p.75]

Somehow, Turbines suggests both consolidation and progress. [Jul 2013, p.83]

The result is a pulsating, itchily funky brew, pitched somewhere between Pigbag and Can. [Jul 2013, p.78]

In essence, Ice On The Dune is pure pop with a twist--like a modern day 10cc, or ELO using synths instead of strings. [Jul 2013, p.75]

A beautiful, rather brave album, and by far her best. [Jul 2013, p.83]

All in all, a neat side-stepping of expectations and a timely one. [Jul 2013, p.81]

A tough one to make but astonishingly realised, Fields of Reeds is further evidence that they're out there, on their own. [Jul 2013, p.65]

A collection of vanilla indie-pop that paints a portrait of a group clinging on rather than pushing forward. [Jul 2013, p.73]

This follow-up is lighter still, housing Friedberger's gorgeous voice and diary-entry love songs within a freewheeling sound that bounces around the late '60s and '70s, looking for classic pop clues. [Jul 2013, p.75]

Of course, Black Sabbath can't fully turn the clock back to the beginning--but they can still do a pretty good job of sounding like the beginning of the end. [Jul 2013, p.70]

It's a fine effort in a heavily populated field. [Jul 2013, p.76]

Wings Over America is, like any triple live album, too bloody long. But its also a snapshot of a Paul McCartney who, despite some of the Wings album-track dross, felt compelled to make surreal symphonic pop that continued the pop ideals of Sgt Pepper and The White Album.

Immunity's greatest rapture, however, lies in Hopkin's welcome reunion with King Creosote for the title track's glistening melancholy. [Jul 2013, p.76]

The result is both catchy and sadly predictable. [Jul 2013, p.77]

CO's fifth album clothes Campbell's vignettes of thwarted romance in increasingly sophisticated arrangements. [Jul 2013, p.72]

...Like Clockwork is the sound of the band, oddly, albeit entertainingly unsettled. [Jul 2013, p.79]

Doldrums' frequently multi-tracked falsetto is the icing on an appealingly irregular cake. [Apr 2013, p.71]

He is a talent with real musical depth. [Jul 2013, p.78]

Rare and enchanting understatement in a brash and gaudy world. [Jun 2013, p.69]

The result is something abrasive but controlled. [Jul 2013, p.83]

It's chaotic then, but it's also packed with charm. [Jul 2013, p.83]

It's the quintet's talent for sneaking in moments of surprising prettiness that makes their seventh record such a charmer. [Jul 2013, p.81]

A disappointing triumph of retro-goth style over substance. [Jul 2013, p.80]

Their UPS lies in their assured threading of post-war archive material from StudioCanal, the BFI and old propaganda reels through Avalanches-style musical collages, [Jul 2013, p.80]

Hermetically sealed but beautiful. [Jul 2013, p.80]

Ghost's raps are more Staten Island than Sicily. [Jul 2013, p.76]

Not wonderful, but certainly frightening. [Jul 2013, p.75]

El Khatib and Auerbach pull off their modest yet elusive goal--to make a kickass record from start to finish--with brutal elegance. [Jul 2013, p.75]

[Kozelek's] blend of technical excellence and emotional authority gives the album its strength. [Jul 2013, p.74]