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]

Silly and overblown, but wittily, brilliantly so. [Jul 2013, p.73]

With echoes of everyone from Big Star to Elliott Smith, Bored Nothing have sufficient promise to be really something. [Jul 2013, p.71]

The dentist-drill whine of Klachefsky's voice will scare off all but the hardy, but Boats rock regardless. [Jul 2013, p.71]

Six albums in, they remain fond of that very Swans pursuit of ecstasy through repetition. [Jul 2013, p.69]

On the whole, it's a little in hock to its influences, although the closing eight-minute title track is a fine exception. [Jun 2013, p.73]

The results go beyond folk, with flurries of orchestration and discord adding rusty grandeur to Flemmons' pained vocals. [Jun 2013, p.69]

A return to a winning formula, if not an emphatic return to form. [Jun 2013, p.79]

Its eight songs are distinct and stirring. [Jul 2013, p.80]

This is space-age folk music from an elaborate sound sculptor. [Jul 2013, p.75]

The sole new composition, "Prungen," is a funked-out blast of galloping synth arpeggios, while the terrific "Music! Dance! Drama!" fires up a cyclotron of raucous electro-punk fanfares and weapons-grade xylophone riffs. [Jul 2013, p.77]

The Weighing Of The Heart marks a fresh start for Schott, whose decision to sing brings a warmth and intimacy to her music-box miniatures. [Jul 2013, p.73]

All the hustle, serendipity and moments of beautiful clarity that characterise urban life are here in nuanced, very modern song. [Jul 2013, p.78]

The nicest moments come when his simple structures are allowed to do their thing. [Jul 2013, p.75]

Slow Summits is bold and immediate. [Jun 2013, p.78]

Aside from the odd burst of medieval flute, their fifth album is unlikely to scare the horses, striking a neat balance of darkly powerful and whimsical. [Jun 2013, p.70]

This is what The Graceless Age as a whole does so unforgettably, bearing witness to a burning world. [Sep 2012, p.70]

Rarely since the Laurel Canyon heyday of CSNY, Jackson Browne et al, has the confessional mode been quite so unashamedly mined for artistic ore. [Jun 2013, p.68]

It's a treat to finally hear Moyet stretch herself on a classy and engaging modern collection that's only really let down in places by the santitised electro of one-time Bjork and Robyn producer Guy Sigsworth. [Jun 2013, p.76]

The album never lags completely, but its fair to say that the band aquit themselves far more strongly on "You Haven't Got A Chance" and "I Watch You" than on rather less comprehensively developed garage rock like "Go Blow A Gale." [Jun 2013, p.69]

Their brand of gut-wrenching emo, aligned to fearsome fantasy rock remains both wildly overcooked and deeply derivative. [Jun 2013, p.79]

The animal kingdom looms large but human experience is still at the core of Rennie's surreal couplets, given added portent by Brett's compellingly mournful baritone. [Jun 2013, p.73]

She hasn't acquired any other new weapons here, though, sticking to her usual palette: intimidating, sludgy-but-spare garage that builds like someone surreptitiously tightening a thumbscrew. [Jun 2013, p.76]

It works well, the results low-key but luminous. [May 2013, p.69]

At times the backdrop is so subtle that the end result is almost like an aria. Elsewhere the tunes deliver more pf a punch. [Jun 2013, p.75]

There's barely a wrong-placed note on the whole magnificent album. [Jun 2013, p.81]

The mood is heavy throughout, but only the closing, exhausted "Katla" outstays its welcome. [Jun 2013, p.81]

The clutch of pre-album demos on LP3 of the boxset reveal how tightly plotted her vignettes were before The Breeders even entered the studio.... The post-Last Splash EPs are manna from heaven for college rock connoisseurs.... The only black mark against LSXX is that the brighter, re-recorded single versions of “Divine Hammer” and “Saints” serve to make the album originals sound a little underpowered.

Perhaps for the first time, The National sound relaxed in their skin. [Jun 2013, p.77]

Its collision of tea-time melodrama and Gary Barlow make her sound more Pop Idol than pop idol. [Jun 2013, p.67]

It is the instrumentation that offers the complexity, bringing texture to this deceptively simple-sounding album. [Jun 2013, p.72]

An unmissable craftman. [Jun 2013, p.69]

It's a record that manages to sound deeply affectionate without being sentimental. [Jun 2013, p.70]

Laurie reprises his well-intentioned but essentially unconvincing bluesman shtick. [Jun 2013, p.75]

Not everything works, but somehow everything fits. [Jun 2013, p.66]

The occasional glint of mandolin and fiddle fails to alchemise Time's glossy LA rock, or excuse some shocking lyrics. [Jun 2013, p.79]

In a genus so often characterised by grandiloquent gesturing, this is drama of the pensive and underplayed kind. [Jun 2013, p.74]

Songs Cycled is opaque and entirely accessible. [Jun 2013, p.80]

It helps that The Child Of Lov, while not big-studio slick, is so imaginatively realised. [Jun 2013, p.70]

Volume 3 is terrific when M. Ward's heavier production subsides and Deschanel's voice freely suggest swinging from lampposts in a romantic swoon. [Jun 2013, p.78]