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]

The most peculiar aspect here is the sound of Oldham shaking off his customary moroseness in "Poems, Prayers and Promises" and "Milk Train" and positively radiating joie de vivre. [Mar 2013, p.75]

For all the baubles and padding presented with this definitive edition, the disc you’ll turn to again and again is the one you’ve been playing all your life.

Out Of Touch may be sophisticated and complex, but it's also damned groovy, hugely heartfelt and packed ti the gunwales with fizzing tunes. [Feb 2013, p.71]

A second LP that builds on the promise of their 2009 debut, Harum Scarum. [Mar 2013, p.72]

Hammer Down may just be their best yet, the quintet's intense mix of mandolin, banjo and fiddle given added zest by a recent shake-up in personnel. [Feb 2013, p.79]

There's much to admire here, but Flume needs to fix his identity. [Mar 2013, p.72]

Blue Hawaii are more about atmosphere than impact, with the production clearly influenced by Cowan's time in Germany studying at the university if Kompakt. [Mar 2013, p.68]

It's a guarded affair, drawing from the same muted palette of emotions throughout. [Mar 2013, p.73]

Though Mitchell and Hamer avoid the kind of astringent vocal blends favoured by most British singers of these ballads, there's still an intriguing piquancy to their harmonies, with Mitchell's girlish timbre resting against Hamer's milder, warmer tones.

Some stunning inventive improvisation, with pianist Danilo Perez sounding like 10 excited monkeys jumping up and down on the keys. In a good way. [Mar 2013, p.76]

At times the pace crawls, but James' supple, intimate vocals are engaging, and the sonic palette shimmers inventively. [Mar 2013, p.73]

There's something deeply satisfying about the way the songs fit together as an album, their sequence strengthened both by the homogenous tone of the music with its air of wistful melancholy, and by the way each song seems to push the next one forward. [Mar 2013, p.61]

White-knuckle anthemicism is order of the day, and vocalist Elias Bender Ronnenfelt seem to gave grown into his skin. [Mar 2013, p.73]

For all the stray premonitions of patchouli-scented funk-rock, these are less jazz-rock meltdowns and more muscular free improv sessions, ones which suggest a very different direction from Bitches Brew. [Mar 2013, p.89]

The Messenger isn't an album that will blow any non-believer away. It is old fashioned, in many ways. [Mar 2013, p.65]

This seamless synthesis of sinew and silicon is crucial to the album's slippery feel: there's a pleasing fluidity and crooked funkiness to the arrangements that Yorke sometimes struggled to achieve on The Eraser. [Mar 2013, p.66]

Deez's second album ups the wonky'n'witty ante with out sacrificing heart or tunes. [Mar 2013, p.70]

Ives Sepulveda's vocals can be a little puny, but the music is full of clever twists and suddenly blossoming choruses. [Mar 2013, p.73]

A glorious album. [Mar 2013, p.76]

The album is dominated by her fine, Jolie Holland-style whimsical vocals, backed by gorgeous arrangements from the mulch-instrumental band. [Mar 2013, p.70]

Other than the limp "Money," they ["Lose Control" and "Push Yourself"] pull these off pretty well--they're certainly more memorable than bog-standard guitar anthem "welcome To The Rave." [Mar 2013, p.69]

It's a vibrant set with a live feel, alternating between rowdy folk-rockers and some of Thompson's most poignant ballads. [Mar 2013, p.77]

12 pummeling songs of Black Flag-like thump, laced with bleak humour. [Mar 2013, p.76]

Country Sleep will never get a party swinging, but if you're in the mood to have your heart ripped out, it does the job beautifully. [Mar 2013, p.75]

The quality zigzags, but Doughty maintains an agreeably impish spirit. [Mar 2013, p.70]

James Devlin adds orchestral strings and cinematic melodrama to his hard-edged urban rhymes on this cluttered second album. [Mar 2013, p.70]

Holy Fire doesn't quite unfurl its devil horns.... But the production heft from Flood and Alan Moulder, as well as the shameless but satisfying amount of delayed guitar, means it all has serious stadium credentials. [Mar 2013, p.72]

At their best, they sound like a still-warm, half-remembered dream. [Feb 2013, p.79]

The bucolic reverie can't mask the suspicion that something vital is missing. [Mar 2013, p.69]

The songs, musically dazzling with strings and fetching arrangements, sometimes organise themselves into forceful hooks. [Mar 2013, p.77]

A delicate, moving album. [Mar 2013, p.80]

Depleted, but not defeated. [Mar 2013, p.92]

Increasingly straight, maybe, but Wooden Wand still possess a magic touch. [Mar 2013, p.79]

It's a record packed with earworms and a deliciously deadpan charm. [Mar 2013, p.79]

A thrilling, surprisingly melodic dialogue. [Mar 2013, p.77]

The scratchy lo-fi production doubles its mystery, resulting in an album of sensual pleasures and magical power. [Mar 2013, p.77]

A well-rounded triumph. [Mar 2013, p.76]

The songs are all traditional but are given a cool Scandinavian edge. [Mar 2013, p.75]

Wonderful, Glorious sounds, throughout, overwhelmingly like an Eels album.... This consistency has to be admired as testament to the robustness of E's vision. [Mar 2013, p.74]