It is still familiar as an Interpol album, but it's certainly their most refined, elegant and frightening release. [Oct 2010, p.97]

Lewis' piano still sounds as urgent and uncontained as it did whrn rock'n'roll was invented on it, and his insouciant snarl remains thrillingly feral. [Nov 2010, p.93]

Old Punch Card is surprising and, at points, quite brilliant--it'll make your ears double-take. [Nov 2010, p.97]

Their slick, synth-heavy commuter pop is rendered faintly exotic only because you never imagine anyone wanting to make pop music as frigidly bombastic as this again. [Sep 2010, p.90]

Dream Attic has the brio that matches any of Thompson's past few studio albums. [Sep 2010, p.84]

The ubiquitous use of the hang, a sophisticated modern take on the old-fashioned steel pan, gives a distinctive sound to this east London quartet. It's a surprisingly versatile instrument from which Nick Mulvey and Duncan Bellamy coax melodic and rhythmic patterns to complement Jack Wylie's inventive sax riffing. [Nov 2009, p.99]

A couple of tracks suggest exits from the familiar labyrinth. [Oct 2010, p.88]

T Bone's unfussy production is key, allowing Bingham's rusted voice to take stage centre. [Oct 2010, p.89]

Red Velvet Car finds Heart holding back on the lacquer. [Oct 2010, p.94]

The results, while hardly ground-breaking, are moving and accomplished. [Sep 2010, p.102]

The group's fourth, recorded in Berlin, pulls a few new shapes but a lack of any truly transcendent moments suggests a group destined to remain middleweights. [Sep 2010, p.83]

The results shimmer like rivers at dusk. [Sep 2010, p.111]

"Lately" is a wonderfully uplifting finale to a finely conceived record, an eloquent testament to an unlikely partnership that's only now delivering its full potential. [Sep 2010, p.97]

It turns out that this consistently astonishing writer chronicles happiness as astutely as he evokes its opposite. [Sep 2010, p.92]

Sugar, by comparison [to "Wrecking Ball"], feels laboured. [Sep 2010, p.91]

It's hard to imagine anyone but the previously committed fan will be signing up here. [Sep 2010, p.99]

Like Arthur Russell, he marries such influences [of Steve Reich and Terry Riley] with an off-kilter pop sensibility. [Oct 2010, p.87]

The album is carpeted with generic riffage, shredding and mouldy memories of heavy rock's past. [Oct 2010, p.106]

There's a brooding undercurrent to their upbeat sound that echoes what darkwave scenesters like The xx are currently doing. [Nov 2010, p.90]

Fidelity's default setting of mid-tempo, mid-'80s rock isn't remotely revolutionary, but there's no mistaking the power and passion driving it. [Nov 2010, p.93]

The result can be a thrilling hybrid of Muse and Magazine, but also a bit of a dog's dinner. [Sep 2010, p.96]

There's shades of both Stevie Nicks and Neko Case in Lissie's voice, a resplendent instrument that's both husky and mellow, attuned equally to the epic and the intimate. But Really the sound and songs here are a testament to her unaffected individuality. [Aug 2010, p.86]

Alive As You Are, then recalls a lot from the past, and recent past, but beyond that is simply crammed with great tunes like "Split Minute" and 18th Street Shuffle," the benign spell of which is more than the sum if the material's 1960s parts. [Sep 2010, p.91]

That a curdled, unifying groove undulates throughout this perverse collection is testament to Dear's abundant skills. [Sep 2010, p.91]

There are moments where the strings and backing vocals lurch into sickly sweet. But at least half of this album successfully unites two of America's greatest songwriters. [Oct 2010, p.109]

He's rarely sounded so utterly engaged. [Oct 2010, p.99]

Pleasant enough, but The Magic Numbers do this stuff for warm-ups. [Sep 2010, p.87]

Opener "Satellite 15" might hint at something dark and abrasive, but they're soon back on track, rattling through robust, enjoyable nonsense like the multi-part epic "When The Wild Wind Blows." [Nov 2010, p.93]