Tragedy and Geometry is exquisite and detailed to an almost obsessive-compulsive degree. [Jan 2012, p.89]

The first disc of 4CD retrospective of their early mid-90s work is an embarrassment of riches. [Feb 2012, p.84]

The best tracks ooze a kind of drowsy melancholy. [Feb 2012, p.86]

With everything slathered liberally in reverb, Ester is wrong in all the right ways. [Feb 2012, p.90]

Be Strong is warm and easy comfort food for recessionary midlife ravers. [Feb 2012, p.90]

The sound's core remains Matthew Caws' candyfloss voice, but Doug Gillard's guitar adds mettle. [Feb 2012, p.94]

Strange Weekend drifts and delights. [Feb 2012, p.97]

You're left wondering how much more impressive Wilson's stroking pipes might sound with less gauche material. [Feb 2012, p.92]

The content is often too light and derivative to suggest they really are saviors in waiting. [Feb 2012, p.89]

This captures The Cure at their crowd-pleasing best, an ageless band reveling in their past. [Feb 2012, p.83]

There is, as usual, a lot of brass on cake's sixth album, a flourish that seem idiosyncratic 20 years ago but now leaves them sounding a little stale. [Feb 2012, p.83]

An album that pores over the passing and the past with such defiant, deadpan nobility. [Feb 2012, p.78]

This is a more low-key collection. [Feb 2012, p.94]

Unsophisticated but utterly infectious. [Feb 2012, p.102]

A splendid showcase of their cavalier eclecticism, [Feb 2012, p.105]

It's well-crafted, but clunky. [Feb 2012, p.105]

Quality is spotty, though. [Feb 2012, p.106]

Let's Go eat A factory is not a brilliant album and of itself, but it does cast guided By Voices in a slightly different light. [Feb 2012, p.95]

The Little Willies keep things gorgeously spartan, with barely an unnecessary note placed anywhere. [Feb 2012, p.93]

Even at its best, Given To The Wild sounds like British Sea power without the esoteric charm, which is hardly the heartiest of recommendations. [Feb 2012, p.91]

It's hard to conceive of a more thrillingly romantic record than this. [Feb 2012, p.85]

Clear Heart Full Eyes is a low-key triumph, containing some of the most emotionally satisfying work Finn has yet produced. [Feb 2012, p.82]

The album sags in the middle, descending into slick electro-rock territory worryingly reminiscent to Garbage, but the good songs are terrific. [Feb 2012, p.81]

This Is Christmas [is] neither turkey nor cracker but a sweetly silly trifle. [Jan 2012, p.86]

Pleasant, but hardly original. [Dec 2011, p.90]

Altogether, a fascinating portrait of a man making sense of both himself and his times. [Dec 2011, p.94]

As ever with such pumped up reissues, the original album is still where the value does or doesn't lie. Most of Quadrophenia has stood the test of the decades better than might be expected. [Dec 2011, p.97]

It's bookended by two tracks that pastiche liquid funk and jungle with such faithfulness they might seem pointless to anyone but nostalgic former ravers, but in between there's much to love. [Jan 2012, p.104]

All totally fine, of course, but next time a little passion and personality won't go amiss. [Jan 2012, p.103]

It's a sweet-natured and seemingly uncynical exercise which, while pretty enough, brings nothing new to these well-worn ditties. [Jan 2012, p.101]

The proof is in the music; it sounds juts great. [Jan 2012, p.98]

Never did the Pumpkins build more sonically gorgeous than this...For those that haven't plumbed the depths of the Pumpkins catalog, it's a fair brace. [Jan 2012, p.97]

Bob Ludwig's remaster job adds fine detail, and a second CD collects 18 tracks, mostly diverting. [Jan 2012, p.97]

The chronological sequencing, kicking off with the delightfully sloppy "Gardening At night" from the "Chronic Town" EP, charts a course from indie college jangle to pensive AOR, and tracks fro their latter days on the IRS label sparkle with eloquence and grandeur. [Jan 2012, p.96]

Even though the Neptunes have long gone off the boil, their contributions are so much better than those of the other assembled "star" producers. [Jan 2012, p.96]

Mailman offers an insider's glimpse into his beginnings--a spirited 1970s club set and a priceless disc of stripped-down, gloss-free demos. [Jan 2012, p.96]

If the second stash contains a suspicion that the best stuff got smoked first time around, the spirit and energy of the first record are still here in abundance. [Jan 2012, p.95]

Highlights include the waltzing "About As Helpful As You Can Be Without Being Any Help At All" and a breathless canter through the Broken Social Scene stylings of "Post-War Blues." [Jan 2012, p.93]

Severant works better than you'd think, and at its best it is breathtaking. [Jan 2012, p.90]

This release compiles non-album tracks, remixes and a couple of new tunes, but it feels like a perfectly focused set of retro-modernist dance. [Jan 2012, p.90]

It's Hit-and-miss but lots of fun, with real skill and joie de vivre behind the incessant experimentation. [Jan 2012, p.90]

A supremely sassy swansong. [Jan 2012, p.90]

Producer Ludwig Goransson imbues the beats with a comparable degree of pomp, although we could have done without diversions into cheesy Swede-pop. [Jan 2012 p.88]

If the Plastic Beach-era material gets a bit bogged down in the concept, it's not without its moments. [Jan 2012, p.86]

If rock is indeed dead, then albums like thus are its extended intelligent coda, its sustained afterburn. [Jan 2012, p.82]

Gleefully adulterated here with generous slugs of dubstep, dancehall, rock, R&B, baile funk and anything else that fits the fervent party mood. [Jan 2012, p.82]

Most of it so beautiful and effortless and easy, and no matter how much you want to look for ghoulish clues, it sounds like a great new record by someone spectacularly alive. [Jan 2012, p.83]

Brun's vocals can be spine-tinglingly gorgeous and annoyingly mannered, often in the same song. [Jan 2012, p.81]

The results are impressive. [Jan 2012, p.81]

Music For Confluence lacks imagination and dynamic, with gentle fuzz and weak violin failing to conjure any sort of atmosphere. [Jan 2012, p.81]

Last Day Of Summer is as good as anything White Denim have ever done. [Jan 2011, p.80]

Dreamy, classic-sounding pop nuggets, sung by Cox with a wry, casual authority. [Jan 2011, p.79]

El Camino feels like the dawn of greatness. [Jan 2012, p.76]

The retro flavours are only one strand of an alert, impressive collaboration. [Dec 2011, p.104]

The Rifles' standard formula is cliche-ridden but effective. [Dec 2011, p.95]

The synergy between electronics and organic instrumentation, sometimes an arid and baffling blend in improv, makes this a thrilling listen. [Dec 2011, p.87]

This terrific sequel feels bigger and better. [Dec 2011, p.81]

For the most part this is worthy of a half-decent coffeehouse open mic night, nothing more. [Dec 2011, p.79]

Invoking and evoking just about all the spontaneity and scariness that you'd want from rock'n'roll, Tago Mago can offer experiences as spellbinding as the sequence that originally comprised side one ("Paperhouse", "Mushroom", "Oh Yeah"), or can be so extreme that you feel yourself under attack by maniacs.

The bangles here right the ship. [Dec 2011, p.79]

It's electro adventurism aligns him with John Maus and White Rainbow,m but Nick Cave and Berlin-era Bowie hover nearby. [Dec 2011, p.79]

Bob Rock's big production ladles on the reverb, merely emphasizing hollowness at the core. [Dec 2011, p.81]

The best moments [from The King Is Dead] are woefully unlucky not to have made the cut.

This is a vital reimagining, not a retro homage. [Dec 2011, p.81]

Just when you thought Bjork had plumbed and conquered every depth and summit of her range, Dirty Projectors have shepherded her to newer pastures. [Dec 2011, p.81]

The Less you know is a rather ponderous return to form. [Dec 2011, p.81]

This is a dark and heartfelt affair. [Dec 2011, p.82]

Shadowed by a might past, in Ersatz GB, this is a strictly prefabricated Fall. [Dec 2011, p.82]

New collaborations from Noah & The Whale to Conor O'Brien, are worth the price of admission. [Dec 2011, p.82]

While his lyrics crackle, the music seems like an afterthought. [Dec 2011, p.84]

Harding here ups the comeback ante with a baker dozen of frothy, breezily melodic gems. [Dec 2011, p.84]

Primal yet precise, these obliques beats and blocky grooves loom out of the lush ambient foliage like the crown of a Mayan temple in the Yucatan jungle. [Dec 2011, p.87]

This US trio make a more than decent fist of their upbeat retro-music without ever quite shaking off the scent of pastiche. [Dec 2011, p.87]

The Vision unveils a colorful, sensualist take on the dubstep sound, flexing basslines set into relief by twinkling R&B melodies and a host of guest vocalists. [Dec 2011, p.87]

Soul Time! is another thrilling homage to the glory days of Motown and Stax. [Dec 2011, p.87]

The lo-fi production means it can all sound a bit shrill. [Dec 2011, p.88]

If is deeply lovely music, born of a tenderly weighted sensibility. [Dec 2011, p.88]

Overall, the album feels insular and stultifying introspective, despite the undeniable earnestness of Lee's intent and the passion fueling his ambition. [Dec 2011, p.89]

Keene's career-best album. [Dec 2011, p.89]

The band strike a neat balance between chunky Pavement guitar scrawl and sombre orchestrals. [Dec 2011, p.89]

Solid, competent stuff, but it's difficult, but it's difficult to imagine anyone wanting to listen to this in isolation. [Dec 2011, p.89]

The whole oddball exercise is almost rescued by "Pinky's Dream." [Dec 2011, p.89]

Still one of America's most unique and affecting songwriters. [Dec 2011, p.90]

Howard Devoto's arch art-rockers deliver a fresh set of oddball studies. [Dec 2011, p.90]

Some old punk hands (notably erstwhile Black Flag guitarist Dez Caden) conjure up some acceptable punk bubblegum. [Dec 2011, p.90]

Replica feels less dreamy, more disquieting. [Dec 2011, p.92]

The result is rather tiring. [Dec 2011, p.95]

The end result is a rich, luxurious take on bass music that could probably have only been made by outsiders. [Dec 2011, p.96]

This is a colorful mix of styles, filled with feedback, mangled solos and manic vocals, and rocking like The Cramps on a good night. [Dec 2011, p.100]

From austere, absurd materials, the cumulative effect is remarkable. [Dec 2011, p.76]

There are echoes of Jenny Lewis or perhaps the Swedish pop of Hello Saferide, but the mix of sass and vulnerability adds a melancholy air to the understated twang of "It's Our Time." [Nov 2011, p.94]

This, their sole album, is a curious beast, reminiscent of The Lounge Lizards or Devo, but defiantly its own thing. [Nov 2011, p.98]

Icy washes and brittle synth clanks complement the pair's wintery vocals. [Nov 2011, p.107]

Banjos, acoustic guitar, pedal steel and piano arrangements honour the songs' origins and add lilting texture to an album that will charm those who hear it, irrespective of their age. [Dec 2011, p.104]

He still produces beautiful albums of impeccable tone and fine songs. [Dec 2011, p.96]

The quartet are once again playing it safe with their crowd-pleasing formula of surging riffs, queasily memorable choruses and lyrics which, like Mystic Meg horoscopes burn with portent while saying nothing. [Dec 2011, p.96]

These are great songs, but Believers is all about the whole: a beautifully paced and structural album, with a powerfully singular mood. [Dec 2011, p.91]

The result is exhausting, an album of songs that all want to be showstoppers. [Dec 2011, p.86]