Pleasant but faintly drippy folk-pop. [Dec 2012, p.65]

Mystic Pinball is another assemblage of breezy balladry and snarling storytelling, delivered in the familiar Cookie Monster drawl. [Nov 2012, p.75]

Hayes sounds comfortably cocooned in her familiar musical skin with little need to venture outside the safety zone. [Nov 2012, p.75]

Their terrific Wilco-esque third album, the emphasis is on storytelling. [Nov 2012, p.73]

Every note, lick, snarl and spit on this album is precisely no more and no less than might be expected of a Lynyrd Skynyrd album. [Oct 2012, p.84]

It's confident work, with faith in the power of a few elements. [Oct 2012, p.79]

His fourth solo album is structurally ambitious, obtuse and occasionally brilliant. [Nov 2012, p.83]

If there is a more beautiful and ambitious song this year than "White Foxes"... well, there just isn't. [Nov 2012, p.83]

[This LP] is rammed with coming-of-age songs masquerading as outlaw tales, driven by Smith's happy knack for finely chiseled narratives and a great blustery voice that roars through bluegrass shanties. [Nov 2012, p.85]

After the lackluster Touch, Mantasy at least captures the bonhomie that permeates the best releases from his house and techno label. [Nov 2012, p.77]

To some, Psychedelic Pill will seem like a monumental work of self-indulgence. To others, though, its heft and eccentricity make it one of the purest expressions of Young's genius to date.

The standout tracks here are the most melancholy and experimental. [Nov 2012, p.71]

Smart, elegant and affecting, this is surely her best yet. [Nov 2012, p.85]

Inventively employing computer "tweakery," Lytle concocts synthesized symphonies and celestial chorales, with emotional charged results. [Nov 2012, p.77]

Donald's back in his self-referencing sweet-spot, and all's right with the world. [Nov 2012, p.69]

Bugg's references are strictly retro, but his debut boasts a pleasing absence of stodge. [Nov 2012, p.71]

The Haunted Man she's exorcised some of those ghosts and gone some way to becoming her own woman. [Nov 2012, p.70]

All in all, an interesting exercise, far less arch and shamateurish than Kisses On The Bottom. [Nov 2012, p.74]

Like Golightly's solid output since burying Thee Headcoatees in the late '90s, Sunday revolves around amped-up reinventions of mid-century hillbilly, honky-tonk, blues and country. [Nov 2012, p.75]

Tempest explores electro-dub and Four Tet-like glitch. [Oct 2012, p.87]

With its mix of electric piano and harp, gospel choir, distorted bass and rap, Halcyon seems uncertain where it belongs--low-lit lounge or heaving club. [Nov 2012, p.75]

His keen-eared blending of Beatles-style melodies and psych jangle with the snarling attitude of Mudhoney and Melvins' malevolent heaviness is oddly invigorating. [Nov 2012, p.81]

The addition of Ethiopian singer Cabra Casay evens up things on "Ane Nahatka," otherwise this prove a collaboration too far. [Nov 2012, p.85]

Fletcher's three-chord trick comes up trumps once more, every sha-la-la-la, every woah-woah. [Nov 2012, p.85]

Together they achieve a level of fervent interplay that's exhilarating to hear. [Nov 2012, p.81]

The album's only real flaw is a penchant for sketchy, banal lyrics that can jar with the imaginative and highly polished musical backdrop. [Oct 2012, p.71]

An obsessively dark record. [Oct 2012, p.79]

There are a few too many tracks here that don't quite achieve lift-off. [Oct 2012, p.74]

It is readymade for a kegger; the problem is, on this, their third LP, they have yet to shape their influences into a sound they can call their own. [Oct 2012, p.77]

He can be relied upon to sprinkle a few brilliant tunes on each release, and this is no exception. [Oct 2012, p.81]

Amos teams up with the Metropole Orchestra to revisit songs from her '92 debut onward, adding sumptuous, bejewelled dimension to the rich expressive like of "Precious Things" and the conceptual epic "Yes, Anastasia."[Nov 2012, p.69]

The results are lively and irreverent. [Nov 2012, p.77]

This album pursues a theme of escape from the more lurid temptations of early adulthood, and Darnielle locates an aptly urgent yet reflective tone. [Nov 2012, p.79]

The further Merritt strays from her default setting, the more affecting she is. [Nov 2012, p.79]

Thankfully, more often than not Eitzel is on great form. [Nov 2012, p.82]

A scene of glorious, twilit devastation. [Oct 2012, p.75]

The result is a high;y accomplished and warmly uplifting country-soul album that easily holds its own amid both musicians' back catalogues. [Oct 2012, p.73]

The sense throughout is of awesome power, as effective simmering as it is unleashed. [Nov 2012, p.85]

The pram is in the hall, perhaps, but the art remains in the right place. [Nov 2012, p.85]

Fuzz and reverb are everywhere, but The Soft Pack are also refreshingly unafraid of the sax solo. [Nov 2012, p.81]

She's at her best on the lachrymose likes of "Close To The Edge" and "Just A Dream," less successful when angling for Grand Ole Opery classicism or-- as on "Un-Break"--flirting with funk-metal pop. [Nov 2012, p.81]

Muse redeem high-camp absurdity with a genius for sumptuous arrangements, mighty pop hooks and irresistible melodrama. [Nov 2012, p.79]

[Their indulgences] can be tiresome--"People On Strong Stuff" plods without purpose--but equally provides passages of uncontained elation. [Nov 2012, p.79]

Silver Age revisits Sugar's thick-set pop style. [Nov 2012, p.79]

The sheer velocity with which they throw ideas out makes this a mighty exhilarating record. [Nov 2012, p.77]

Mala finds his skills somewhat exposed across a whole album as he seeks to balance frisky Cuban percussion with his own muscular poise. [Nov 2012, p.77]

Producer Craig Street's customary forte is smoothness but the grittier Muscle Shoals influence he's channeled here is perfectly tailored. [Nov 2012, p.77]

The album, reminiscent of Jon Spencer at times, exudes a deep love of rock 'n' roll on each track. [Nov 2012, p.77]

Aiming for Springsteen-like glory, they settle instead for overcooked melodrama on parade of would-be anthems sufficiently over the top to make Muse envious. [Nov 2012, p.76]

An intriguing new artist has found his voice. [Nov 2012, p.76]

This 12-song return tones down the pomp, in favour for a return to the band's breathless takes on Ramones/Buzzcocks pop-punk formula. [Nov 2012, p.75]

Where Flying Lotus scatterbrain brings emotive grooves out of madness, GLK can only manage ugly, mostly boring sketches. [Nov 2012, p.75]

It's hard to shake the sensation that the band have become rather more ordinary as a result [of the departure of Frank Carter.] [Nov 2012, p.73]

Folds stays true to his career-long mission to whisk up a melting pot of musical styles. [Nov 2012, p.73]

It is often reminiscent of auntie's work, but with a solid beat underpinning. [Nov 2012, p.73]

Breakup Song is all right, but ultimately, it's an unnecessary listen. [Nov 2012, p.72]

A discreet, quietly rapturous record. [Nov 2012, p.72]

A collection that feels more art project than album. [Nov 2012, p.71]

The country shadings are less obvious, but the mood has darkened, with cinematic strings wrapping themselves around the pedal steel. [Sep 2012, p.80]

Under the deft guidance of Alabama Shakes producer Andrija Tokic, even her tendency to outbreaks of over-shrill soprano trilling sounds strangely compelling. [Oct 2012, p.79]

Tasteful without being sterile, diverse but grounded in Knopfler's melancholy mumble and quicksilver guitar, Privateering is a quietly soulful triumph. [Oct 2012, p.83]

Frivolous fun, if that's allowed. [Oct 2012, p.86]

[The album] churns and lumbers with ominous, swampy certainty. [Oct 2012, p.83]

A perfect introduction to a musician currently in full stride. [Oct 2012, p.71]

Bingham's steak-potatoes-and whiskey voice hardly makes for a smooth listen, but he pours plenty of passion and desperate visions into his ragged working-class grooves. [Oct 2012, p.73]

the focus on matters of the heart is limiting, reducing the genre to the level of rusticised boy-band pop. [Oct 2012, p.84]

Konkoma's sound is rooted in 1970s Afrobeat, complete with blasting horn section and gloriously fuzzy organ, but shot through with touches of highlife, funk and rock. [Aug 2012, p.75]

West is far from rap's deftest lyricist but his neurotic grandstanding is compelling and often pretty funny to boot. [Feb 2011, p.84]

Her split personality makes for an oddly polarised debut. [Feb 2011, p.84]

The fault lies in the lightweight material. [Feb 2011, p.84]

{A] far superior effort [than Rebirth]. [Feb 2011, p.84]

A cycle of slushy but well-written R&B ballads which pay tribute to his soul heroes. [Feb 2011, p.84]

Charmer plies the familiar recipe on a bed of pealing guitars and burbling synths. [Oct 2012, p.84]

It includes great music, but it still has that hairy, unpredictable, somewhat demented aspect that gives the Blues Explosion its unique spark. [Oct 2012, p.72]

Snatches of flute, sax, and female vocal harmony vocals add sympathetic colour to these sad yet inquisitive songs. [Oct 2012, p.83]

If their painstaking studiocraft has in the past seemed over-refined or even fussy, here they've discovered a new wildness, a liberating sense of drama. [Oct 2012, p.70]

There's uncommon immediacy to Crazy Horse-style bashers like "Knock Knock" and "How To Live," as well as big-sky ballads like "Long Vows." [Oct 2012, p.73]

The duo's artfully woven sonic tapestry is somewhat spoiled by the po-faced new age banalities of their lyrics. [Oct 2012, p.74]

That the album never loses it s way is testament to Deacons' fearless approach, his mastery of different genres and from the thrilling sense of urgency that propels it all forward. [Oct 2012, p.75]

An affecting, lyrical record that makes you feel blessed for not having lived through it, but wiser, so graceful for the ride. [Oct 2012, p.74]

The most infectiously tricked-out rock LP since El Camino. [Oct 2012, p.77]

"Don't Pretend You Didn't Know" is a one-off messing with their recipe, still as compelling a mix of hardcore, jangle-pop, country and speed-metal as it was 25 years ago. [Oct 2012, p.77]

Coexist is a masterpiece. [Oct 2012, p.80]

Much of what is great about Stockholm's Holograms can be located in their debut single "ABC City," a testament of the "desolation" of the grim suburbs of their home city delivered in a rowdy street-punk sneer. [Oct 2012, p.81]

The samey pace and understated mood can drag, but Pena strikes gold with the light-touch dance-pop arrangements. [Oct 2012, p.81]

This is creating at its most creative as he thrillingly twists the blues into phantasmagorical new shapes with an almost Beefheartian sense of adventure. [Oct 2012, p.83]

Damon Albarn and Portishead's Beth Gibbons drop by to provide some haunting counterpoint to DOOM's gruff verbal gymnastics. [Oct 2012, p.83]

For My Parents is an sentimental as it is majestic. [Oct 2012, p.84]

Mostly, though, Morrisette succumbs to her dual predilections for quasi-spirituality and stultifying sappiness. [Oct 2012, p.84]

This, then, is a rich and strange new sound for Marshall. [Oct 2012, p.85]

The remainder of In Limbo colonises the liminal space between harmony pop and spacecraft noise with giddy style. [Oct 2012, p.86]

This compellingly skewed mix of '60s neat, garage psych and country folk is business as (un)usual. [Oct 2012, p.86]

Sumptuous and sprawling, his major label debut comfortably backs up the hype. [Oct 2012, p.86]

More of this arch British sourness next time. Please. [Oct 2012, p.86]

Drew's desire to be all things to all 'hoods is the weakness of the soundtrack to his debut movie. [Oct 2012, p.86]

The Ethan Johns-produced follow-up sees their punky, Spectorish pop continue to evolve.[Oct 2012, p.87]

Number 14 sees them rejigged as a quintet, allowing their reverb-drenched sounds to spread where they will. [Oct 2012, p.87]

"The Reason Why" and "Motoring" swath Tom Dougall's sighed vocal in sheets of Ride-like guitar. [Oct 2012, p.87]