You Have Already Gone to the Other World, produced by Deerhoof's John Dieterich, is their best yet. [May 2013, p.65]

Holiday is resolutely sombre, but the arrangements make inviting drama out of Principe's impressionistic lyrical intimacies. [May 2013, p.75]

If Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix was the album that gave Phoenix everything they'd always strived for, Bankrupt! is the record that finds them trying to come to terms with it all. [May 2013, p.80]

This duo's songs are genetic pop mutations, scampering out of control. [Apr 2013, p.73]

Professor Beam has made his first art movie, and it's a stunner. [May 2013, p.70]

The Besnard Lakes' fourth album doesn't really add anything new to the heady concoction of symphonic shoegaze, doo-wop and spy stories they perfected on 2007's Are The Dark Horse, but it's always a pleasure to hear them work up a storm. [May 2013, p.67]

A couple of the more freeform screamers may be a holler too far for some ears, but there's no denying the passion and power of Bradley's formidable lungs. [Apr 2013, p.67]

Always confident in his ability, here he conjures sublime moments with "Retrograde" and ""digital Lion" before violating each with curdled klaxons, his voice throughout pitched persuasively somewhere between Antony Hegarty and Jeff Buckley. [May 2013, p.67]

Four albums in, and Cold War Kids still feel like a band trying to decide what they are. [May 2013, p.69]

There's only one possible word for this: rad. [May 2013, p.79]

Impossible Truth says more with six strings than most records manage with a thousand words. [May 2013, p.79]

It's a soul-searchingly strong set. [May 2013, p.78]

Marnia tones down the more extreme histrionics that made earlier albums and acquired taste. [May 2013, p.78]

The debut album by this French five-piece sends an icy wind cutting through their shoegaze haze. [May 2013, p.78]

Inspired song choices further deepen the spell in a beguiling instant classic from a masterful soul stylist. [May 2013, p.78]

As with most "difficult" albums, the more one listens, the more forgiving they become. [May 2013, p.77]

Even if this [air of refined sophistication] can occasionally make Women feel a little bloodless, you have to marvel at the exquisite execution. [May 2013, p.76]

Some may find it too clean, but it's still thunderously good. [May 2013, p.75]

"FBI" sounds like a comatose disco track being sung in a toilet, but the default position is a weirdly bluesy take on Krautrock. [May 2013, p.75]

The partners [Peyroux and producer Larry Klein] and arranger Vince Mendoza breathe new life into iconic songs. [May 2013, p.75]

Pearl Necklace seem to be honing their edge, not losing it. [May 2013, p.75]

These moody, brooding pieces avoid TV cliche and occasionally produce gems in their own right. [May 2013, p.74]

Afropop sparkle to jazzy bounce and shoe gaze shimmer, but too often these exotic ingredients feel like undigested dilettante dabblings. [May 2013, p.74]

Lapalux is already in the foothills of greatness. [May 2013, p.73]

Pure pleasure for lovers of deep soul music? Absolutely. [May 2013, p.73]

It's very generously produced, with effects bursting from every crevice, but the melodies are (just) strong enough to weather it all. [May 2013, p.73]

With Gotan Project's Philippe Cohen producing, the sixty-something plunges into assorted weirdness here. [May 2013, p.73]

Elsewhere, Garner sounds like he's been spending time with Revolver, while songs like "The Ballad Of Little Jane" and the genial swirling "Lullaby" further the rich tradition of Dutch psychedelic pop. [May 2013, p.71]

There's a twisted melancholy to vocalist Brooks Nielsen's lyrics on this third album. [May 2013, p.71]

In spite (or maybe because) of their flaws, there's a vivid presence to tracks like "Heaven" and "My Little Universe" that fans will flock to and onlookers can't help but smile at. [May 2013, p.69]

This year's Slowhand again, for the most part, delves deep into bygone songbooks, flitting between styles with consummate ease. [May 2013, p.69]

It hard to work out what's more annoying from the rest, be it Dustin Payseur's forgot-my-gym-kit vocals, the self-important but frankly juvenile ambient interludes, otr the neat riffs, which sound like plugins from some indie-pop iPad composition app. [May 2013, p.67]

Despite a tendency to drift slightly, BSP remain a reliably warm-hearted antidote to the bustle of modern life. [May 2013, p.68]

Vanishing Point is a riot of dirty--yet never cluttered--Detroit riffs and Mark Arm's laconically enrage vocals. [May 2013, p.74]

American is seldom better than its title track, searing swamp-punk that recalls Grinderman in its diabolic abandon. [Apr 2013, p.78]

Musically, it is business as usual--out-on-the-floor, stack-heeled indie stompers all the way--but if 2010's stark Losing Sleep was a little on the abrupt side, this is more concise still. [Apr 2013, p.75]

New guitarist Matthew Simms has refreshed Wire's sound. [Apr 2013, p.79]

A bold 10-track classic boasting a deftly modernised '70s-retro feel led by Hobba's clean young voice and dirty, Neil Young-meets-shoegaze guitar. [Apr 2013, p.77]

It attempt to meld guitars with '80s Europop much like Phoenix has done, to the extent that single "One Way Trigger" sounds like A-Ha. The experiment is often successful. [Apr 2013, p.78]

The fizzing alt.rock of the follow-up sounds like a determined effort to be his own man. [Apr 2013, p.77]

A creative triumph out of Mali's darkest hour. [Mar 2013, p.73]

This follow-up to last year's impressive debut, Dear, is no less musically intense or lyrically unflinching, but now Henson's quavering anxiety has flesh on its bones. [Mar 2013, p.]

The seamlessly authentic sound fit his raw and lusty vocalising, and the impressively tailored swagger 'n swing og his band, to a tee. [Mar 2013, p.73]

The murky results are sometimes frustrating. [Apr 2013, p.71]

There's an unwelcome hint of Florence Welch's swollen emotionalism on "Tomorrow," but the surging pop of "Touch" is more successful. [Apr 2013, p.69]

Deptford Goth's ghost R&B keens admiringly in the direction of Bon Iver and Active Child. [Apr 2013, p.69]

It's a credible step back into the ring after years on the ropes. [Apr 2013, p.66]

Her repetitive riff in the early section teeters on the ponderous, and some of the electronic production is mere promotional muzak--but there are stunning passages here. [Apr 2013, p.65]

Sadly, torrid synthesiser and billowing melodrama make it impossible to see any wry glances cast by Exile. [Apr 2013, p.73]

John Rouse's ninth album is a return to the sound that made 2003's 1972 such a gem. [Apr 2013, p.77]

For the most part, there's nothing wrong with the lyrics. "Do Unto Others" is a fine secular hymn, while "January Song" has some smart digs at the Tea Party, but, in both cases, the voice never convinces. [Apr 2013, p.80]

Manicured cuteness, trite melodies and a tendency to banal, genial navelgazing leave an impression of carpet-bagging slackers contriving decorous but vapid Tourist Board pop. [Mar 2013, p.79]

If some of Teena's mid-80s belters betrayed an eagerness to over-emote, her technique here is more restrained, which suits her voyage into Indo-tinged soul and a few delicious slow jamz. [Mar 2013, p.90]

This very fine third album carries much of Okkervil River or The Decemberists in its piquant narratives, though the banjo-led music is more akin to the erudite hillbilly-folk of Jim White or even The Be Good Tanyas. [Apr 2013, p.73]

A soulful, adventurous, state-of-the-nation classic. [Apr 2013, p.73]

Phosphorescent has followed 2010's country-rock homage Here's To Taking It easy with an equally magnificent beast, mixing country jams with claustrophobic electronica and mournful Mariachi horns to create a beautiful but discomforting album. [Apr 2013, p.74]

Awash in plump brass, grainy mandolin and fuzzy warm electric piano, this solid second edges deeper into Fleet Foxes territory. [Apr 2013, p.78]

A thrillingly inventive blend of alt.rock, fingerpicking folk, Latin flavours and--new this--electronic pop. [Apr 2013, p.67]

It is arguably more satisfying [than his debut, Queen of Denmark], in its artistic courage, its refusal to meet expectations and its willingness to paint a brand new picture of gay demi-monde where the triumphs and tragedies have a deeper resonance than simple melodrama or camp. [Apr 2013, p.70]

A cracking selection of scuzzy, fuzzy, psych-rock songs that recall Royal Trux and Sonic Youth. [Apr 2013]

Guests Toy do their best to push things forward, but their propulsive ways merely emphasise Zeffira's absent voice. [Jan 2013, p.83]

The follow-up to 2010's Innundir Skinni is an even more intimate affair. [Feb 2013, p.67]

What raises Between Places above simple pastiche are the electronic flourishes and surges of pounding drums that pepper the album. [Apr 2013, p.79]

Sparse instrumentation, with Ritter's deftly picked acoustic to the fore, keeps the focus on the lyrics, the post-mortem honesty of which amuse, astonish and occasionally unsettle. [Apr 2013, p.77]

Unvarnished and unpredictable, then, but in the grand Slits/Raincoats tradition, Nash is no-one's little girl. [Apr 2013, p.74]

Fiction's first album is comprised of sweet things shamelessly pilfered from the early '80s pop pick'n'mix. [Apr 2013, p.71]

Like Bryan Ferry aglow after the best afternoon stroll of his life, stylish and uncharacteristically serene. [Apr 2013, p.72]

Cohesion, The Men have clearly decided, is not their bag. [Apr 2013, p.73]

No real lost treasure, then, but some interesting baubles. [Apr 2013, p.89]

[Almanac is] pleasantly dreamy for a while, but over the course of 40 minutes feels just a little insubstantial. [Apr 2013, p.79]

Homosapien sees an intriguing reinvention via more conventional song structure. [Apr 2013, p.77]

Awkward moments of not, this group moves as one. [Apr 2013, p.76]

Oak Island does for Chicago what Panda Bear's Personal Pitch did for The Beach Boys. [Apr 2013, p.74]

Their debut reveals a talent for taut, punkish, pivot-on-a-penny songs that cemented their live reputation before they'd even recorded a note. [Apr 2013, p.74]

Glorious polyglot. [Apr 2013, p.73]

The result is digital psychedelia with eyedrop clarity. [Apr 2013, p.71]

Lightly experimental and laced with playful wit, this is quality gear from a seasoned elder statesman. [Apr 2013, p.71]

Old Yellow Moon is not, however, a sombre anticipation of mortality akin to the American Recordings series of Crowell's one-time father-in-law Johnny Cash. The general tone of Old Yellow Moon is of faintly rueful happiness at being here, doing this. [Apr 2013, p.68]

Anxiety's blend of heaviness and gloss is unexpectedly affecting. [Apr 2013, p.67]

This two-hour epic very occasionally rests on its laurels by using sounds from past palettes, but is characteristically rich and adventurous. [Apr 2013, p.67]

The partners deftly sustain a mood of languor through a dozen tracks of varying tone and texture. [Apr 2013, p.67]

Overall, then, mbv is more of a time capsule than a box of surprises, but the contents have survived in immaculate condition. [Apr 2013, p.64]

The fact that Parker sings five of eleven tracks is The Invisible Way's other obvious point of departure, and one of its great strengths. [Apr 2013, p.61]

Jones' considerable composing,guitar and vocal strengths are marshalled effectively. [Apr 2013, p.78]

There's little that veers from the template but it's largely done well. [Apr 2013, p.72]

It would be nice to see Dido with more adventurous producers. [Apr 2013, p.69]

His partnership with young producer Benge has seen Foxx release his best music since the glory days of early Ultravox and debut album Metamatic, and Evidence is even more brimful of sci-fi sensuality than last year's The Shape Of Things. [Mar 2013, p.72]

Lambert sings his heart out over finger-picked electro-folk, odd industrial interludes and exhilarating, jittery pop. [Feb 2013, p.75]

The performances are ahead of the songwriting at this early stage, but the loping "Trojans," the rip-roaring "Electric" and the Police-like "Centered On You" engagingly introduce Atlas Genius' genetically taut sound. [Mar 2013, p.67]

It might skirt the edges of twee but the follow-up to 2010's Die Stadt Muzikanten darkens and deepens as it unfolds. [Mar 2013, p.79]

These nine brief songs weave together to create a bewitching, moonlit spell. [Feb 2013, p.78]

Throughout the mammoth album, barely a minute is wasted as Endless Boogie superimpose wild guitars on even wilder ones. [Mar 2013, p.78]

The Stand-In has everything that made its predecessor special--big voice, expertly crafted tunes, clever backings, a deft mix of stridency and restraint--but is definitely a step up.

Sally Shapiro continues to revel in this cheesy yet faintly psychedelic sound. [Mar 2013, p.76]

With Rough Carpenters, the pickers are deeply respectful of the revenant forms they're extending, but the music is never leaden. [Mar 2013, p.67]

[Like Rats proved] Kozelek could turn his wry tone to any old thing and make it lovely. [Mar 2013, p.73]

His talent remains unquestionable, even when drawing on a six-hour, piano dominated Abbey Road session. [Mar 2013, p.72]

The roller-disco gallop of "Wallpaper" epitomises Be Your Own King's catwalk-sang-froid and quiet Joie de Vivre. [Mar 2013, p.69]