Consistently entertaining beautifully recorded, enough lyrical Malkmusing to occupy a generation of decoders, plus it rocks. [Sep 2011, p.92]

there's a little too much here that's predictable or worse still, forgettable. [Sep 2011, p.91]

It only really comes alive with an alternate version of "Take Ecstasy With Me," which reminds us that original Magnetic Fields singer Susan Anway is still his definitive interpreter, the Ella to his Cole. [Sep 2011, p.91]

A promising opening gambit. [Sep 2011, p.89]

Amid this poor material, the Chili Peppers still manage t deliver a handful of very very good songs. [Sep 2011, p.86]

The sparkier La Liberacion goes some way to restoring their reputation as festival favourites. [Sep 2011, p.81]

A collection of balmy disco that call to mind some tropical union between Arthur Russell and Prince. [Sep 2011, p.81]

Tinariwen have created an entire genre of desert blues, as young bands like Tamikrest and Terakaft attest, but they remain peerless. [Sep 2011, p.76]

It's an intense, at times crazed live-in-studio session. [Aug 2011, p.104]

The rest is country-tinged "roots-rock" fare, dispatched with an irritatingly blokeish. [Aug 2011, p.100]

His debut illustrates a more prosaic act of creation, in which fastidious study is transformed into compelling new music. [Aug 2011, p.92]

Drums Between The Bells captures Eno in versatile and intricate mode. [Aug 2011, p.82]

Something's happening wherever you turn on tracks that are dense with detail and brilliant accumulations of incident, but never overwrought or too busy, sheer grace their common link. [Sep 2011, p.80]

An austere beauty. [Aug 2011, p.81]

Here, as always, he turns out to be a natural. [Sep 2011, p.81]

The Riptide glides by satisfyingly. [Sep 2011, p.83]

These 10 supple, radiant songs blur the boundaries between African pop an funky American new wave with the same glorious ease as Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues. [Sep 2011, p.84]

FoW's impeccably assembled works rarely stir little more than fond memories of their obvious influences. This is largely true of Sky Full Of Holes, though there are moments of irresistible sticky sweetness. [Sep 2011, p.84]

The rest of Tripper rises to the challenge with nonchalant ease. [Sep 2011, p.87]

A deftly underplayed album. [Sep 2011, p.87]

It's a great combustible mix, a whirlwind of new sounds caught by the tail, diced and dissected and in permanent hectic propulsion. [Sep 2011, p.91]

It's effective, but the lyrics and the slightly mannered vocals never really rise above the level of jokey pastiche. [Sep 2011, p.91]

Biblical parable and bumptious force-of-nature feminism, ensure Better Day fulfills its upbeat mission. [Sep 2011, p.93]

Nothing US wrong reminds you of early Jackson Browne or Jimmy Webb, albeit with a tougher, rootsier swagger. And it's a worthy addition to that fine Californian bloodline. [Sep 2011, p.94]

Excellent and indispensable. [Sep 2011, p.94]

Nashville's elite session men construct an intimate acoustic framework for Souther to cast himself as crooning confidant, but it all feels a little polished and polite. [Sep 2011, p.95]

There is an occasional excess of histrionics, particularly on "Boat Yard," but her teenage talent has found a convincing adult path. [Sep 2011, p.96]

This traverses dancehall, lovers rock and jungle, and adds in more UK-centric bass styles, with some success. [Sep 2011, p.96]