At first, Fade sounds like more of the same--which is no bad thing. Stick with it, and the influence of producer (Tortoise') John McEntire becomes apparent. [Feb 2013, p.81]

He's continuing his romp through totally unfashionable styles, armed with his endearingly earnest voice and a lot of flutes. [Feb 2013, p.77]

The outcome never exceeds the sum of its parts. [Feb 2013, p.73]

Last original member standing David Thomas remains inscrutable, defining Lady from Shanghai as an album of dance music. [Feb 2013, p.78]

Hills and valleys, warts and all, Complete Columbia is simply a singular, staggering body of work, throwing down challenges in all directions.

It's a reflective set, enlivened by joyous offerings from The Civil Wars and Carolina Chocolate Drops. [Feb 2013, p.75]

The expanded set illustrates the inventiveness of their playing and the original template of their sound was a strong one--these were louder protest songs for a louder time. [Feb 2013, p.94]

The production is beautifully OTT, with everything stretched and digital, zeroes and ones working binary overtime to warp some of Herrema and Hagerty's greatest anthems into robotic rock mantras. [Feb 2013, p.94]

Its cavernous production, Massed campfire guitars and rolling melodies conjure prairies, river and mountains from shore to shining shore. [Feb 2013, p.75]

Though feisty honky-tonk numbers like "I Don't Do Windows" shimmer, the worldweary ballads--especially the Johnson/Alison Krauss duet "Make The World Go Away"--are Sublime. [Feb 2013, p.74]

Ferraro pulls off the trick of sounding cheap and luxurious all at once. [Feb 2013, p.73]

Utterly self-contained, 10cc's collision of Brill Building Craft, Beatles hooks and proggish daring still sounds, for the most part at least, curiously modern. [Jan 2013, p.89]

It may just be a hobby or distraction, but on this showing they've got serious legs. [Jan 2013, p.80]

This is music that continually slips away from you even as you chase down its essence. [Jan 2013, p.80]

It doubtless works best heard in the cinema or the home theatre, and especially in the context of Julian House's beautifully lurid title sequence.

There is no better evocation of the dawn of a new, more questing consciousness than Joni's early albums.... Unfortunately, Joni's Jazz Odyssey leads her into less agreeable territory on the double-album Don Juan's Reckless Daughter and Mingus, the tribute album of songs co-written with the late Charles Mingus.

It is not the truly transcendent album some may have read in the runes, but it contains several hints that such greatness may, finally, be within his grasp once more.

With Bergsman's dourly dreamy voice and wistful songcraft, it's recognisably indiepop, but sent delightfully pie-eyed on Blur Hawaiians. [Dec 2012, p.77]

Ultimately, it's that compassionate vision of song that resonates through Life Is People, as Fay observes the passing of the days with redemption in mind.

Cut The World blow Hegarty's songs to grander scales. [Sep 2012, p.73]

This is a good, not great record, which you probably don't need to hear, unless you're already immersed in Fennesz's world. [Oct 2012, p.79]

He decided to record the constant cacophony of construction in his Prenzlauer Berg district, reassembling the treated drilling and grinding into haunting ambient pieces. [Dec 2012, p.76]

Blur have released three compilation albums, but none of them point up the band's engagingly contrary creativity and elastic pop nous quite like these two discs.

Fair to say, you won't hear anything like it. [Nov 2012, p.79]

From the Top of Willamette Mountain sounds more confident than the UK debut he released earlier this year.

Desertshore is really only the jumping-off point (Beachy Head?) for an album of ultimately rather bleak electronic songs.... The strongest performances, in fact, come on the two tracks vocalled by Cosey herself.

The uninitiated will find it a good place to start. [Jan 2013, p.81]

Dirty Glow is packed with playful, occasionally disorienting tracks. [Jan 2013, p.80]