McCulloch's misplaced his mystique, and resembles a pub singer with an over-extended tab, while Sergeant's guitar lines settle lazily at long-drawn borders. [Oct 2005, p.94]

Another blast of super-slick soul. [Aug 2005, p.102]

Every element of Certified is exaggerated.... It frequently makes for energised hip hop. [Jan 2006, p.105]

Stupendously silly but... indisputably proficient. [Nov 2005, p.103]

His is a gentler, pastoral treat. [Nov 2005, p.111]

A sweatstorm of strum and twang. [Dec 2005, p.106]

If there's a signpost that Cripple Crow isn't quite the record it could've been, it's that the most engaging moments here recall Banhart records past. [Oct 2005, p.96]

Brakes sound like The Jesus & Mary Chain with Tourette's. [Aug 2005, p.102]

If you're a fan, Where You Live is classic Chapman. [Oct 2005, p.94]

Adds extra confidence and clarity to the same basic ingredients. [Oct 2005, p.107]

A murky return to the denim'n'leather heartlands of 2000's Thirteen Tales. [Oct 2005, p.96]

Feels timid and trite. [Oct 2005, p.98]

With Calexico's sensitive muting of colour, Beam is clearly thriving throughout. [Nov 2005, p.112]

The band's blend of psychedelia and angular guitar menace is invigorating. [Jan 2006, p.112]

These are McCartney's most arresting songs for a long, long while. [Oct 2005, p.94]

Some fascinating music but... you suspect Parish's talents are best utilised as a collaborator. [Oct 2005, p.111]

Sigur Ros' alien beauty prescribes its own definition. [Oct 2005, p.112]

Rather desperately impersonates The Killers. [Mar 2006, p.94]

Super Furry Animals have just made perhaps the defining record of their career. [Sep 2005, p.100]

Rammed with stinging hooks and ringing harmonies. [Oct 2005, p.112]

Once you've digested the background information, tracks that seem slightly twee and aloof spring into focus. [Sep 2005, p.100]

A joyous, uninhibited and painlessly adventurous ride. [Oct 2005, p.124]

An understated, often truly lovely debut. [Apr 2006, p.106]

The success rate is variable. [Oct 2005, p.94]

Hawley resurrects ghosts of music past and breathes new, poignant life into their forms. [Oct 2005, p.110]

It's not their reworkings of songs by Charley Patton, Fred McDowell and RL Burnside that impress most here, but rather their own compositions. [Apr 2006, p.114]

There are some outstanding songs here, and Jagger turns in a series of performances that are their match, full of much defiant flouncing, strutting bitchiness, preening arrogance, snarling haughtiness and a typically provocative misogyny. [Album of the Month, Oct 2005, p.92]

The funk-noir backing means that Dulli is able to purr lyrics about "sexy ladies", debilitating cocaine habits and your standard-issue emotionally violent love affairs without sounding as trite as he perhaps should. [Mar 2006, p.104]