La Radiolina reaches out beyond it's core audience to a universal constituency, not so much a world music record as a global-rock mission statement.

As an exercise in historical re-enactment it works just fine, but not everyone will want to stick around until Going Way Out...comes around again. [Nov 2007, p.104]

Scialfa's third is the most complete and satisfying of her career, the lyrical candor matched by the open-ended optimism of the band which weaves doo wop, gospel and rockabilly influences into a convincing whole. [Oct 2007, p.102]

Best of all are the lyrics, with fragments of nursery rhymes, playground chants, witty wordplay and light hearted braggadocio which, rather like The Go! Team, will leave you with a big, stupid smile on your face. [Oct 2007, p.101]

A glorious blend of wired energy and sullen attitude.

She twangs the boundaries of taste both lyrically ("Take me on a genocide tour/Take me on a trip to Darfur") and musically. But a knockout's a knockout, however messy the bout.

Under The Blacklight is by far and away the most accessible album that Rilo Kiley have ever made.

Kweli, whose wordy rhymes can often read better than they flow, sounds nimble and at ease most of the time. [Oct 2007, p.96]

It's quite fun picking off the trio's various folk-pop influences, with traces of The Mamas & The Papas, Astrud Gilberto and Natalie Merchant filtering through the mix. [Jan 2008, p.90]

The Josh Ritter who appears here is primarily a writer of quality pop songs.

If at times it's a little too knowing for its own good, the music itself is less claustrophobic than before. [Nov 2007, p.121]

Even by his prolific standards, Sojourner is impressive. [Oct 2007, p.99]

While they sound no less vital than their infuriatingly profitable contemporaries, they sound no more, either. [Oct 2007, p.101]

Ackerman's psych-mangling songs covers a riveting emotional and sonic range. [Dec 2008, p.92]

The band’s decision to keep things on more orthodox tap seems to have been accomplished at the expense of some of their spirit.

A couple of sweaty, sybaritic slowjams prove that his libido hasn't waned, but his mojo undoubtedly has. [Oct 2007, p.101]

Remarkably extending to 18 tracks, Absolute… traces the discography from the wide-screen Mary Chain of 'Only Happy When It Rains' to the Bond theme 'The World Is Not Enough' and the Spectorish strings of this year’s comeback, 'Tell Me Where it Hurts'--though 2001’s cute 'Androgyny' is an odd omission.

Canada's Quin twins fairly blaze through The Con's 14 compact, supercharged tracks. [Oct 2007, p.109]

Just as the record threatens to flatten into artifice, they bust out their best Clash and Cheap Trick moves on 'Middle Management,' gleefully shattering the porcelain into smithereens. [Jan 2008, p.82]

Rather than producing themselves, they could benefit from a wise head adding a touch of reverb, a sting of echo.

The Brothers prove they can still poleaxe a dancefloor with a well-aimed barrage of strobe-ing electro-house.

Avoiding the ponderous repetition that dragged down songs like “Bullets” on the first record, they concoct a gentler, dreamier atmosphere with less apparent anxiety, and create a shadowy veil of sadness, shot through with hopeful transcendence.

Zeitgeist comes on with a vicious energy, a jugular-grabbing intensity.

It’s a majestic, grandiose, machine-tooled album, subtly orchestrated with gothic pianos and doomy organs.

“Waters Of Nazareth” yawns like a car crusher, mashing hip-hop, electro and funk into gleaming slabs of sound, while “D.A.N.C.E” displays a lighter touch, channelling Chic disco in a whirl of sugary keyboards and euphoric violin stabs.

The fact that Time On Earth takes several listens to sink in practically ensures that it will be undervalued, if not ignored, which is a shame, because this taut album possesses the immersive qualities and cumulative impact of a good novel.

Overall, Sirens… may be a bit of a stylistic scattershot, but the Muscle Shoals foundation and Isbell’s razor-sharp songwriting mark it as an auspicious debut.

Her debut British release showcases a vivid and fully formed talent clearly versed in quirky, often humourous songcraft. [Nov 2007, p.125]