La Futura sounds at times overly relaxed, but never less than a fun, frill-free ride. [Dec 2012, p.79]

The three-disc set brings the artist's life and times into sharp focus. [Dec 2012, p.87]

[An] affectionate charity project to benefit the victims of floods and fires in Tennessee and Texas. [Dec 2012, p.95]

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]