Neither MacLean nor vocal foil Nancy Whang has a strong enough voice for pop. Instead it's the surging 10-minute disco epics 'Tonight' and 'Happy House; that impress. [May 2009, p.89]

The lyrics are still all Rennie's, of course, teeming with mysterious metaphors and fantastical flights of fancy. [May 2009, p.90]

The result is a warm, reto-feeling rendering of his brand of mechanical funk and psychedelic hip hop. We've been here before, but it's still a lovely listen. [May 2009, p.95]

Sway, however, doesn't command proceedings quite like Chuck D and the prosaic narratives of tracks like 'That Girl' are no substitute for verbal fireworks. Nearly though. [May 2009, p.101]

Over the course of 80 compelling minutes they roam laggardly through rural post-rock, prog, folk, ambient and doom metal pastures without ever trying your patience. [May 2009, p.80]

Wooden Shjips continue their work in simple but effective grooves, around which the band discursively noodle. [Jun 2009, p.113]

There's a frayed but genuinely exploratory vibe here, that's not afraid to get tough. [Jul 2009, p.91]

Jeniferever rise above cliches with 10 beautiful songs that take the Sigur Rose blueprint and expand on it. [May 2009, p.89]

Though the production has improved, there's still a certain lyrical flimsiness and a sense that, enjoyable and stylish as Two Suns is, it's still just horsing around in the dressing-up box of '80s pop, in a way that's more Might Boosh than Kate Bush. [May 2009, p.77]

Levi's eclectic debut strikes a winning balance between electro-glitch cacophony and shouty grrrl-pop. [Mar 2009, p.92]

By expanding their repertoire, taking a few risks, and nailing those harmonies, they’ve made what feels like the first great British album of 2009.

Jigsaw finds the diminutive London rapper shorter on cheek than on her early singles, and the moments of mischief, when they come, ring a little hollow. [Jun 2009, p.90]

If that person favours the smoking, ragged garage rock that comprises the bulk of Fork In The Road, then you’d have to conclude, job done.

A grown-up record that hints at a more excitable wayward past. [May 2009, p.91]

As a State of the Union address, this bold and often brilliant record is less inclined towards optimism than, say, Springsteen’s admirable "Working On A Dream."

This lolls with a neat mix of languor and subtle urgency through the kind of smart/funk The Beloved mastered 20 years ago. [Jun 2009, p.90]

Now We Can See feels a sunnier listen, bracing indie-rock with few frills but a joyfully juvenile energy and choruses to spare. [Jun 2009, p.103]

Crucially, it always feels as if Crystal Antlers are having a blast, continually cold-shouldering the obvious and pushing each other to the limits of their musicianship and beyond. [May 2009, p.87]

Elliott is better at world-weariness than he is at sass, but has enough guile to mould the songs in his own image.

It resembles The Boredoms in its sense of sonic bravery, although the suspicion lingers that more focus is required before they can produce another record of the calibre of 2002's "Beaches And Canyons." [May 2009, p.79]

Self-indulgent in all the best ways, their third album isn't afraid to explore an idea for nine minutes, locating that revelatory moment when structure caves into soul. [May 2009, p.105]

Lerner's voice--pale and uninteresting, rather than poinant--allow his songs to sag. [Sep 2009, p.96]

A Positive Rage is something of a misnomer, since hardcore fury rates low on the Steady agenda. More crucial is the band’s 3-D storytelling on muscular guitars, and Craig Finn’s traditional chat about joy in the encore.

Swift's stock-in-trade remains droll, gently roistering piano songs, mostly indebted to Harry Nilsson. [May 2009, p.97]

Driven by two drummers they owe much to the styles of Fucked Up, The Dillinger Escape Plan and Torche, but on 'Black Wax' they apply the brakes, revealing a surprising amount of melodic, colle-rock bounce. [May 2009, p.82]

It painstakingly captures the carefree spirit of hard rock as you'd have found it halfway down the bill a Reading Rock, 1998. [Apr 2009, p.78]

Despite its obvious debt to the ’80s and its (appreciated) nods to the trio’s own past, it’s their most modern, innovative record yet.

Together, Harvey and Parish sound confidently experimental, like two soldiers daring each other to ever more stupendous feats of history.

With so many bases cases covered, there's something for young folks and old folks--even if suspicious folks will still need some convincing. [Apr 2009, p.93]

A so-so collection of lushly orchestrated Brazilian bossa novas and ballads that unite Mrs. Costello with Frank Sinatra's arranger claus Ogerman. [Apr 2009, p.82]

Hints of "The Basement Tapes" glimmer through pieces like 'Win Park Slope' or 'Airstream Driver,' while John Martyn and Nick Drake ride again in the mystic folkery of 'Little Pieces.' [May 2009, p.86]

An uncommonly thoughtful victory lap, which deserves--and has received--a handsome recorded memorial.

Rules finds The Whitest Boy Alive turning noticeably paler, peddling a shade of Ralph Lauren yacht-rock that would make Hall & Oates blush. [May 2009, p.105]

This stellar set is anchored by existential bar-band thumper 'Just About Time' and 'homeland Refugees.' [May 2009, p.86]

What Labyrinthes lacks in instant anthems, it makes up for in rich melodies, grand orchestration, and blooming arrangements, that stop short of bombast. [Jun 2009, p.92]

At its peaks, it remains bracing in its intensity. But between climatic passages defined by Nathan Weaver's hoarse roar and stern batteries of kickdrum, the band seems to recede into misty, ambient washes that are engaging in their heavy melancholy. [Apr 2009, p.105]

While too soft for the dancefloor, songs like :weak For me" don't scrimp on the songcraft. [Nov 2009, p.96]

Fans of Iron & Wine and The Acorn take note. [Jun 2009, p.96]

Where Manu Chao might have smoothed off some of the rough edges during his spell as co-producer, this album positively celebrates those grungier moments.

This is an exercise in extravagant claustrophobia, not nostagia. [Apr 2009, p.86]

It will, rightly, go a long way to repairing Pete Doherty's reputation as a singer and songwriter of note. But half of it is a bit boring.

His 2007's "Spiderman Of The Rings" was filled with good ideas but prone to novelty. Bromst goes a long way to reversing this trend. [Apr 2009, p.84]

The album sound stultifying, but this is far from the case, thanks to a steady stream of surprises and a depth of detail that reveals itself incrementally.

The group conjure a brilliantly ludicrous trash-pop poetry, hymning girls with gammy eyes on night buses--all much more seedily evocative and enjoyable than erstwhile Yummy Fur comrades, Franz Ferdinand. [May 2009, p.77]

That spirit of garageland spontaneity pervades Fuckbook. [Apr 2009, p.84]

The lungs are in good shape here. [Sep 2009, p.86]

Every song offers something different, which holds your attention. [Apr 2009, p.101]

There is much, meanwhile, to recommend the O’Brien remix, or “deconstruction” as he puts it. What O’Brien has mostly done is strip away the more ornate layers of the Palmer mix and cutting back on the album’s moments of more florid melodrama.

The result is a record not in step with any particular fashion, but, on songs like 'Talking To The Dog,' you get choppy and catchy with rare raw-knuckle skill. [May 2009, p.92]

Born Like This finds the New York MC triumphing with content rather than form. [Jun 2009, p.85]

It's blend of whispered poesy, free-form rock, and orchestration, by Jean Claude Vannier, is much celebrated and sampled. this reissue provides a definitive account of its making. [May 2009, p.86]

The results is something scrappier, but loveable than Deerhunter's billowing drone. Less sonic cathedrals, more tripping at chapel. [Apr 2009, p.91]

Technicolor Health amply delivers on the promis of their 2007 EP, "Burning Birthdays." [Apr 2009, p.86]

The band’s decampment to Berlin to record has resulted in a concise statement of renewed interest, resulting in a debate between life expectancy and boredom, and a brief mutation into Roxy Music.

The blend of Owen Brinley's choirboy vocals and a raft of prog-tinged riffs is a source of promise, magic and drama. [Mar 2009, p.87]

Still mourning the loss of The Bravery? Look no further. [Feb 2009, p.85]

Beware is a body record,, a playful and intimate piece that lyrically and melodically invites you in, where his remote personae have occasionally served to push one away. [Apr 2009, p.80]

Damned meets JAMC with a snifter of So-Cal pyscho-country-surf--on a series of hip, heady, lo-fi tunes, a large number of which seems to have the word "goth" in the title. [Aug 2009, p.95]

It’s an extravagantly orchestrated set, but with Marc Ribot as lead guitarist and the Dirty Three’s Jim White on drums, the playing remains off-kilter, to quite thrilling effect.

Too often, though, we find shaw sloshing around in cyber-soup, drunk on technology and singing existential love songs in a manner akin to Alexander Armstrong scatting with Squarepusher. [Apr 2009, p.84]

If the odd clunker remains ('Hostage Of Love' could be a Meatloaf out-take) Slipway Fires largely sees a return to the introspection of debut album "Up All Night."

Despite some interesting -co-writes with the likes of Walter Becker, it never achieves lift-off. [Apr 2009, p.82]

Apparently Stith shied away from any musical expression for years--in which case Heavy Ghost represents a quite spectacular plunge. [Apr 2009, p.87]

The band push their mathematical lines into some great perverse shapes that occasionally remind of Fugazi, and even Yes. [May 2009, p.85]

The result, inevitably, feels much more like a live band at work. [May 2009, p.95]

The ebb and flow of Arbouretum's music, still rooted in folk but flaring into twin-guitar noise-rock, is often astounding. [Apr 2009, p.90]

Their first album doesn't quite match the hype, but is still an appealing piece of go-ahead indie-[pop, with a certain charismatic bagginess and wit that points to a bright future. [Apr 2009, p.91]

It's diverting enough. [Apr 2009, p.82]

Her lyrics remain to-the-point, just more upbeat, with her wispy, whimsical vocals sitting snugly on top of crunchy guitars. [May 2009, p.85]

Clanging rockers, elegant ballads, and yearning epics are testement to their diversity, while James Walsh has almost managed to lose the bleat in his voice that used to drive Starsailor's critics to distraction. [Apr 2009, p.99]

Laced with grime squelches, riot-inducing raps and dark dub, it tackles gun crime, political deceit and terrorism--but also features enough tunes to sugar the pill. [Mar 2009, p.87]

In the ugliest way possible Invaders Must Die shows that the Prodigy have still got it.

M Ward and Garth Hudson, members of Giant Sand, Los Lobos and Calexico are all present and correct on Middle Cyclone lending their distinctive instrumental hands--but this ultimately Case’s tour de force, and hers alone.

It's U2's least immediate album--but there's something about it that suggests it may be one of their most enduring.

Though Lucky One is his first collection of orginal material in seven years, it's still rooted firmly in Malo's familiar enthusiasms. [Apr 2009, p.91]

It's the range of styles that impress most, from slow cowboy ballads and Western swing to full-throated honky-tonk, Tin Pan Alley and exquisite break-up songs. [May 2009, p.90]

The album's ersatz old school mode inevitably pales when judged against the revolutionary Flash asides. [Mar 2009, p86]

Despite a few rote movements, becomes an early contender for 2009 Top 10 lists. [Mar 2009, p.92]

From present to future at Warp factor. [Mar 2009, p.86]

This follow-up tries too hard to prolong the high. [Apr 2009, p.80]

The surprise of C'est Com...Com...Complique is not that Faust continue, four decades after their inception, but that they do so with such inventiveness and sense of play. [May 2009, p.85]

The clumsy pot-banging campfire folk of his backing band doesn't help make it all any more listenable. Great lyrics, though. [Mar 2009, p.92]

Boden is a true original who has crafted an engaging album that's no easy listen, but worth sticking with. [May 2009, p.79]

For the most part, For Now is characterised by a lack of personality and charm. [Apr 2009, p.80]

This album is uneven, undisciplined and overlong, but much the same could be said or Lloyd's sporadically brilliant career. [Apr 2009, p.95]

He pulls it off in style. [Apr 2009, p.91]

This great LP is best seen as their Desert Island Discs, a statement of things the band can't do without. [May 2009, p.79]

This is vintage front-porch Cale. [May 2009, p.79]

The many highlights on this big name covers album include Lily Allen--sounding like Kate Nash impersonating Lily Allen--locating the wobbly charm in Joe Strummer's 'Straight To Hell,' Elbow's adding a shabby grandeur to U2's 'Running To Stand Still,' and Rufus Wainwright bringing his heavenly voice to Brian Wilson's 'Wonderful.'

The efforts are inconsistent, though, and his affinity with the fun and doom of '50s R'n'R is mostly lost to the demands of commercial bombast. [Jun 2009, p.88]

Here We Go Magic's faintly tropical, fuzzy, circular grooves are beguiling, if a little slight. [Aug 2009, p.92]

For all the perversity, tracks like 'Stumble Out Of Bed' would ignite any dancefloor. [Apr 2009, p.80]

It may be no great leap forward, but on this showing Nelson can still produce graceful electronica with a rare poise and reserve. [Mar 2009, p.95]

The beauty of those opening moments suggests that Condon's future really does lie in soundtracks, where you can imagine him collaborating with and finding inspiration in the baroque visual inventions of an Anderson or a Gondry, and where his restless musical wandererings might yet chance upon the truly undiscovered countries of the imagination.

The album's leitmotif is a lush, dreamy string sections, which bring a gorgeous poignancy not only to the metaphysical songs, but also his radical reworkings of a pair of '50s rockers. [Mar 2009, p.81]

Records as bright and occasionally beautiful as Years Of Refusal make us forgive Morrissey (the artist) even his most juvenile foibles.

A familiar sound predominates: an impressive fanfare for a royal procession that never quite arrives. [Apr 2009, p.78]

This is best thought of as ‘country soul’. Isbell’s words, in style and content, are old-school tears-in-the-beer laments, deftly lightened by exquisite deadpan payoffs.