The Breeders - Mountain Battles

4 Stars

Long may they continue, even if we do have to wait another five long years for the next instalment…

4th April 2008

Navvy - 4 Songs

4 Stars

The lyrics make no sense, but once the call-and-response shared girl/​boy vocal duties kick in, it’s not going to budge.

31st March 2008

The Raconteurs - Consolers Of The Lonely

4 Stars

Songs of such epic grandeur the BBC would consider casting a new member in a prime-time Saturday night television slot.

25th March 2008

Hercules and Love Affair - Hercules and Love Affair

4 Stars

When was the last time that you heard a record that made you feel, made you think and made you want to dance at the same time?

10th March 2008

The Kills - Midnight Boom

4 Stars

‘Midnight Boom’ is, in short, a deliciously juicy record, which thankfully might just last the attention spans of their league of newly-found fly-by-night fans.

10th March 2008

Sine Star Project - Building Humans

4 Stars

Think of it not as an album, but an adventure; albeit a scary one.

10th March 2008

Bauhaus - Go Away White

4 Stars

Probably the last album from a so typically post-punk and new-wave band.

3rd March 2008

The Ruby Suns - Sea Lion

4 Stars

This is an immaculately executed and rewarding record that never threatens to grow old.

3rd March 2008

Los Campesinos! - Hold On Now, Youngster

4 Stars

You come crashing in with armfuls of cymbals and cocktail umbrellas and you challenge us not to love you.

25th February 2008

Antarctica Takes It! - The Penguin League

4 Stars

At times as lo-fi as Daniel Johnston, early Pavement, or anything off the Rough Trade indie-pop compilation.

11th February 2008

The Mae Shi - Hlllyh

4 Stars

‘Hlllyh’ is a wonderful album. With bits of songs mashed together until they just about fit.

11th February 2008

These New Puritans - Beat Pyramid

4 Stars

One could be forgiven for thinking that this release would initiate their consignment to indie iniquity; but nothing could be further from the truth.

28th January 2008

Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

4 Stars

We’re not quite sure when ​‘Greensleeves’ became so undeliberately cool.

28th January 2008

MGMT - Oracular Spectacular

4 Stars

One of the best and most unexpectedly accomplished records Brooklyn has produced in ages.

22nd January 2008

Cat Power - Jukebox

4 Stars

Re-interpreting and creating re-workings that seem to unearth forgotten meanings, is an art-form in itself.

21st January 2008

Clark - Turning Dragon

4 Stars

If you only buy one example of a genre you never really knew existed this year, make sure it’s not Burial. Make sure it’s this.

21st January 2008

The Magnetic Fields - Distortion

4 Stars

For those unfamiliar with The Magnetic Fields it’s the ideal place to start; for the more obsessive, it’s the continuation of something quite brilliant.

15th January 2008

Girls Aloud - Tangled Up

4 Stars

Xenomania are, of course, responsible for the ridiculously high standard maintained, and for three songs in particular they’ve outdone themselves.

19th November 2007

The Wombats - A Guide To Love, Loss and Desperation

4 Stars

Fluffy tales of youthful innocence and discovery, delivered via a power pop punch of sing-a-long choruses and jittery guitar tunes.

5th November 2007

Holy Fuck – LP

4 Stars

They’re the evil twins of Chk Chk Chk, with less sex and more death, interrupting the family reunion with krautrockers Neu! and Can with a succession of hammers, tribal rhythms and ultra-distorted Casio instruments.

22nd October 2007

Yeasayer - All Hour Cymbals

4 Stars

Admirable in its leanings, ​‘All Hour Cymbals’ isn’t just another record, Yeasayer not just another Brooklyn band. Hurrah for that.

22nd October 2007

The Fiery Furnaces - Widow City

4 Stars

‘Widow City’ proves that the Friedbergers are still an experimental indie force to be reckoned with.

15th October 2007

The Undertones - Dig Yourself Deep

4 Stars

The Undertones are part of the musical furniture – you just can’t imagine them not being there cos they’ve been around so long.

15th October 2007

PJ Harvey - White Chalk

4 Stars

If it’s balls out, howling at the moon, twisted rocker Polly Harvey you’re after then ​‘White Chalk’ will come as something of a shock.

24th September 2007