The Black Keys are on the cusp of greatness--Attack and Release, produced by Danger Mouse, takes them one step closer, but not quite over the edge.

Accelerate is a simple, pragmatic record built on an uncomfortable truth: sometimes, even the best bands have to retrace their steps, if only to remind themselves what they're really good at.

So far, so agreeable, but a minor niggle is that Morrison evidently continues to favour comfortable rather than challenging accompanists. Then the album hots up.

This blend of Sabbath-inspired riffing, windswept chug and songs called things like 'Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians' has a neat shtick, no particularly awkward edges, and a vague sense of nostalgia for an adolescence maybe you never lived the first time out. [May 2008, p.107]

Few chronicle heartbreak with such methodical, forensic attention. [May 2008, p.111]

There's some shrewd commercial nous behind their retro-wackiness. [Aug 2008, p.85]

In fine and fiesty form, Auchtermuchty's Craig and Charlie Reid effectively slap you round the face with their latest batch of songs. [Nov 2007, p.116]

Less is more, and the Stones are at their best on the spoof country of Faraway Eyes; and Richards’ attack on You Got The Silver, with Ronnie Wood picking holes in an acoustic slide guitar.

Funplex consists largely of a series of witless retreads of school disco hit 'Love Shack,' with Fred Schneider's deadpan "woo!" recalling an increasinglt weary holiday rep. [Apr 2008, p.83]

Pretty.Odd. often tries way too hard to be obtuse, it's true, but you have to admire the band's willingness to grow. [May 2008, p.106

There are moments--notably 'You Can't Count On me'--but the band behind him are wringing diminishing returns from their polished country-rock. [May 2008, p.92]

Twice as long as the band's debut, it's also more than doubly assured. [June 2008, p.99]

It's a modest sampler, with a feel more akin to 1961 than 2008. [May 2008, p.98]

If a few tracks see them flirt with Eno-esque avant garde, thes wayward tendencies are balanced out by pretty folk ballads. [June 2008, p.88]

The Heavy's debut album is a dirty, bluesy, funk rock noise that, on paper, looks deeply uncool but might actually be the album of the year. [Dec 2007, p.97]

A bold leap forwards. [Apr 2008, p.98]

A huge disappointment.

Jemina Pearl's voice is compelling, ensuring Be Your Own Pet sound like a candy-coloured, pocket-sized Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [may 2008, p.87]

Balancing staccato rhythms and itchy guitars with a neat line in woozy, trance-like synthesisers, they have an oblique lyrical bent that's all their own. [Feb 2008, p.80]

The results--notably 'Cheap And Cheerful,' which suggests that Britney Spears' 'Toxic' made quite an impact on them and the chaotic 'Alphabet Pony'--are a revelation.

Bejar's band--either completely at ease with or oblivious to his verbal flights of fancy--play rich, languid, bar-room indie-rock with florid bursts of guitar. [May 2008, p.94]

A Mad & Faithful Telling is an impeccably titled album [Apr 2008, p.88]

The key is a rhythmic edge--be it tribal drumming or waves of sound--that trip these rainbow drones into full-on euphoria. [Apr 2008, p.94]

True, every song here is virtually identical, but at least it's a great song. [Apr 2008, p.94]

Throughout the album, it's a thrill to hear Rhys' mellifluous voice juxtaposed with the music's synthetic thrust.

The result is a milestone in modern psychedelic soul.

Where the album suffers, however--especially in comparision to the Jenny Lewis record--is the absence of any real lyrical verve or personality. [Aug 2008, p.94]

What could be a kitschy nostalgia trip, however, becomes something more thanks to the songs themselves. [Apr 2008, p.94]