Perhaps they should have been more democratic in the past, because this is a terrific record that plays to The Strokes; Strengths and also adds fresh colour to their palette. [Apr 2011, p.79]

His seventh sees few stylistic changes. [Apr 2011, p.78]

The poacher has turned into a sophisticated gamekeeper, plotting a course on this fine debut between pulsing cosmic electronics and trippy, after-hours pop. [Apr 2011, p.78]

A joyfully inspired album from a band who give pomp a good name. [Apr 2011, p.78]

At 14 tracks, what begins as a demonstration of impressive ambition ends up dragging. [Apr 2011, p.78]

Smith's squeaky, adenoidal vocal, long a barrier to Danielson's popular acceptance, has softened somewhat, while the band are in fine form. [Apr 2011, p.78]

It's Cervenka's superb vocals that make this a carer highlight. [Apr 2011, p.77]

While not quite a handbrake turn, No witch shows a band moving out of the woods into wider spaces. [Apr 2011, p.77]

They've sorted through a kitbag of 80 songs and made good on the potential. [Apr 2011, p.77]

Collapse Into Now can only sound like an afterthought, but it nevertheless one which bristles and fizzes with invigorating qualities of wit and fury. [Apr 2011, p.76]

The sense of naive wonder evident recalls the bewitching power of Sigur Ros. [Apr 2011, p.75]

Her brush with the big boys only appears to have strengthen her resolve on a collection of fierce country rockers. [Apr 2011, p.75]

A dizzying positivity is the constant in this adventure in fractal sonics. [Apr 2011, p.75]

Several tunes put the talents of Bradford-based Hladowski siblings Chris and Stephanie to stunning effect on vocals and amplified bouzouki respectively. [Apr 2011, p.75]

Josh Pearson has gone there so we don't have to--we should be grateful he's returned to tell the tale. [Apr 2011, p.72]

The Leeds-based electro-rock five-piece set their sights shamelessly high on this grandiose second LP, a novelistic collection of characters journeying through a lavish panorama of cinematic sounds. [Mar 2011, p.101]

The Luyas concentrate on sounding endearing rather than epic. [Mar 2011, p.94]

More often than not, Ben appears to be channeling his hero JJ Cale, although the spirited title track doffs a beret in the direction of Richard Thompson. [Mar 2011, p.97]

This is a bleakly beautiful record which unfolds slowly. [Apr 2011, p.87]

There's no grief-striken balladry, though: Michel Poiccard namely sticks to the helium noise vandalism template set by 2008 debut Worldwide, with the addition of some surprisingly winsome pop excursions in a similar vein to The Drums. [Mar 2011, p.86]

All suggest that this band is in the process of remaking itself for a vital midlife. [Mar 2010, p.85]

Fun, but unless you're seven, not essential. [Mar 2011, p.93]

Ringo Deathstarr here reveal their maxi-cranked, MBV/Jesus and Mary Chain adoration in full. [March 2011, p. 99]

Living With Yourself showcases McGuire's playing with minimal adornment. [Nov 2010, p.94]

This, assembled by Menahan Street Band guitarist Tom Brenneck, painstakingly recreates the tropes of classic '60s Southern soul--impassioned vocals, shimmering guitars and fruity horns. [Mar 2010, p.85]

Johns eliminates the melodramatic slow builds and punches up the groove quotient, much as he did for Ryan Adams on the similarly melancholy Heartbreaker. [Mar 2011, p.85]

It finds her singing in an appealing vibrato somewhere between Dolly Parton and Stevie Nicks. Her Aesthetic, though, is a million miles from the lacquered gloss of either as she delivers her lyrics of desperate melancholia over a raw, all-hope-is-gone sound which conjures the emotional brutality of Tonight's The Night. [Feb 2011, p.99]

They've been an oddly schizophrenic beast, vacillating between sparse dronescapes and percussive rock jams conducted with primitive intensity. Peer Amid sits in the latter camp, although it constitutes both a sharpening offocus and a step up in ambition. [Feb 2011, p.99]