The Kooks, Konk
It's too early to count them out, but they'll need to try harder with album number three.
The Breeders, Mountain Battles
You can't help wondering what kind of blistering gems this lot could have produced if they really let rip in the studio.
The Long Blondes, Couples
The band's second album is not as brilliant as you might hope...
Tapes 'n Tapes, Walk It Off
Walk It Off? More like sleep it off...
REM, Accelerate
We should be thankful, and not a little amazed.
Boy Kill Boy, Stars And The Sea
If nothing else, it's the mark of a band finally ready for the big time.
The Black Keys, Attack & Release
Attack & Release is a remarkably easy album to like.
Nizlopi, Make It Happen
Those who were turned off by the commercial success of The JCB Song may want to give Nizlopi another go.
The Raconteurs, Consolers Of The Lonely
Hardcore Stripes fans may bemoan the 'uncool' sheen of professionalism that coats this album, but this beats Icky Thump by a country mile.
Does It Offend You Yeah?, You Have No Idea What You're Getting Yourself Into
Like a Primark hoodie, it's immaterial whether this record will be remembered fondly in six months.
Foals, Antidotes
Believe the hype, because there won't be a better British debut album this year.
Supergrass, Diamond Hoo Ha
Another jewel in the guitar pop dung heap ? good work fellas.
Guillemots, Red
Red is a frustrating record; for every moment of brilliance you find yourself tearing your hair out at their deliberate obtuesness.
Mystery Jets, Twenty One
At times this makes for rather surreal, though tantalizingly marvelous listening.
Beck, Odelay - Deluxe Edition
If you think you knew him before, just wait 'til you meet him all over again...
Counting Crows, Saturday Nights & Sunday Mornings
One listen to this album shows you, once again, how damned efficient they are at summoning up the spirit of an age that cared more about music than image.
Bryan Adams, 11
The whole of 11 will sound great blasted out amongst his better-known numbers.
Elbow, Seldom Seen Kid
For the most part it's brilliant business as usual.
Operator Please, Yes Yes Vindictive
Operator Please have created some unashamedly sunny music.
Neon Neon, Stainless Style
A post-modern wonder, as sleek as its subject matter.
dEUS, Vantage Point
This might even be the thin edge of the wedge that heralds the return of prog rock.
Crystal Castles, Crystal Castles
With such sublime depth on offer, Crystal Castles marks a nuanced emotional territory that dance music never covered before.
Cajun Dance Party, Colourful Life
Rather than being a masterpiece in itself, it's more a brief ? yet highly effective ? demonstration of genuine potential.
Last Shadow Puppets, Age Of The Understatement
Turner and Kane shake off all those blatant copyists and stay at least three steps ahead of any competition. Wonderful?
Alabama 3, Hits And Exit Wounds
A deadpan and brilliantly realised summary of that rare thing: a unique band.
Jesse Malin, On Your Sleeve
While On Your Sleeve is obviously a labour of love, on the whole it's simply just laboured.
The Courteeners, St Jude
A northern band with a lead singer who has an outspoken opinion?
Feeder, Silent Cry
Feeder have definitely found and settled into their niche sound, though there are some fresh ideas on Silent Cry.
Weezer, The Red Album
The Red Album is quintessentially theirs, but with a somewhat misguided twist
Hot Club De Paris, Live At Deadlake
Liverpool trio Hot Club de Paris' second album trails adolescent awkwardness.
Wild Beasts, Limbo, Panto
This is a fine debut, full of surprises.
The Music, Strength In Numbers
The Music may be taking the long road, but with Strength In Numbers they've started walking it.
Coldplay, Viva La Vida Or Death & All His Friends
Any way you look at it, this is a massive album.
The Sleeping Years, We're Becoming Islands One By One
Dale Grundle has written an album that is well paced and diverse enough to never quite cross the precarious line between gentle subtlety and dullness.
My Morning Jacket, Evil Urges
The sheer amount of choice is befuddling, but somehow, in a strange way, it all works. And it works well.
Joan As Police Woman, To Survive
Joan Wasser had plenty to do to equal the brilliance of her debut, but in To Survive, she has done just that.
Silver Jews, Lookout Mountain Lookout Sea
Perhaps it's enough to say that this is the best album to come out of Tennessee this year; indeed possibly the world.
Motorpsycho, Little Lucid Moments
Little Lucid Moments is a relentless effort from a band making heroic guitar music for the young or dynamic.
The Fratellis, Here We Stand
Here We Stand is a baffling album... really, it's hard to see the point.
The Zutons, You Can Do Anything
The Zutons are, you'll be relieved to know, on fine form.
Adele
Młoda, zdolna i atrakcyjna, nie tylko muzycznie. O kim mowa? Nie o Amy Winehouse ani o Amy MacDonald, ale o Adele....
Górniak Edyta
O Edycie mówi się dużo. O Edycie mówi się różnie. Jedno jest pewne: bez niej polska scena rozrywkowa byłaby o wiele uboższa....
ZZ Top - Eliminator
Artist: ZZ Top Review: Mention dance rock and people think of Franz Ferdinand or Duran Duran. But when it comes to the American edition, nothing matches the ferocity or success of ZZ Top's 1983 Eliminator, a landmark blend of traditional Texan boogie blues, New Wave synths and disco-steady beats that sold over 10 million U.S. units. Yielding the band's sleek pop breakthrough, "Legs," and a slew of similarly strutting rock-radio staples, Eliminator announced a major studio reinvention from a hairy Houston threesome... Rating: 4.5 Stars
Kings Of Caramel
Trzon zespołu Kings Of Caramel tworzą Bogusław Szarmach (bas) oraz znany z ostatniej edycji Ścianki, a przede wszystkim z Kristen - Michał Biela (tu jako gitarzysta, wokalista i autor tekstów). ...
Kimya Dawson - Alphabutt
Artist: Kimya Dawson Review: Solo and as half of Moldy Peaches, Dawson has applied child-like wisdom and humor to adult issues like crack, romantic love, and the Iraq war. So it makes peculiar sense that she'd follow the freak success of the Juno soundtrack, which featured her on seven tracks, with a set of genuine kids songs. (She also recently became a mom.) But by the time she's halfway through the scatological title track — "C is for cat butt, D is for doo-doo" — it's clear this ain't Nickelodeon. Some songs... Rating: 3 Stars
Blake Shelton - Startin' Fires
Artist: Blake Shelton Review: It's not hard to figure out why Blake Shelton is leading country's next generation of stars. He's a blue-eyed CMT dreamboat with a famous girlfriend (Miranda Lambert), and he's equally adept at schmaltz-dipped ballads and laugh-out-loud novelty hits. His fifth album leans toward slow, thoughtful stuff, like "Home Sweet Home," in which Shelton flees the Nashville circus for the comforts of a breadbasket backwater. But he's at his best in funny songs like "Green," a proud-to-be-a-redneck anthem... Rating: 3.5 Stars
Cajun Dance Party, Colourful Life
Rather than being a masterpiece in itself, it's more a brief ? yet highly effective ? demonstration of genuine potential.
The Subways, All Or Nothing
This former buzz band have missed the boat.
Guns N' Roses - Chinese Democracy
Artist: Guns N' Roses Review: Let's get right to it: The first Guns n' Roses album of new, original songs since the first Bush administration is a great, audacious, unhinged and uncompromising hard-rock record. In other words, it sounds a lot like the Guns n' Roses you know. At times, it's the clenched-fist five that made 1987's perfect storm, Appetite for Destruction; more often, it's the one sprawled across the maxed-out CDs of 1991's Use Your Illusion I and II, but here compressed into a convulsive single disc of... Rating: 4 Stars
BB King, Live At The BBC
Neither ropey nor exceptional, this collection inhabits the sturdy middle ground between these extremes.
Toots and the Maytals, Light Your Light
Toots' voice sounds just as captivating as it did in the 60s.
James Hunter, The Hard Way
More blues, maybe? More twanging rock'n'roll, perchance?
Courteeners, The
Na pierwszej próbie spotkali się w 2006 roku. Rok później do mediów trafił ich pierwszy singiel. Po półtorarocznej działalności mają na koncie debiutancki album "St. Jude"....
Charlatans, The
Jeżeli nigdy nie słyszeliście o The Charlatans, to znaczy, że prawdziwe muszą być słowa: są jednym z najbardziej niedocenianych brytyjskich zespołów założonych w latach 90....
The Kooks, Konk
It's too early to count them out, but they'll need to try harder with album number three.
Motley Crue - Saints Of Los Angeles
Artist: Motley Crue Review: All the filth and fury of their Eighties heyday, finally funneled into an album Mötley Cüe have created a cottage industry out of rehashing their excesses: Their tales of debauchery have already fueled dozens of books and a standard-bearing episode of Behind the Music. Now they've woven those stories into their first album in eight years. Inspired by their 2001 sleazeography, The Dirt, Saints of Los Angeles finds Vince Neil flashing back to the band's golden age: gigging on the... Rating: 3 Stars
Van Morrison - Veedon Fleece
Artist: Van Morrison Review: By 1974, Van Morrison was probably exhausted. During the past ten years, the Irish troubadour had morphed from a garage rock king (as the leader of Them) to a pop hit machine to the craftsman of such landmark albums as Astral Weeks and Tupelo Honey. His eighth album, Veedon Fleece, hit stores in late 1974, shortly after the release of those instantly accessible masterpieces — and it was greeted by a collective shrug by the rock critical establishment. Time has proven them wrong. The album... Rating: 4 Stars
Dr. John - City That Care Forgot
Artist: Dr. John Review: He's not talking about Cleveland. City That Care Forgot is the New Orleans soulman's impassioned lament about the natural destruction of Hurricane Katrina and the man-made tragedy of the aftermath. Over ominous funk ("Land Grab"), gospel-inflected blues ("You Might Be Surprised") and horn-boosted R&B ("Time for a Change," featuring Eric Clapton), Dr. John's bourbon-and-sandpaper vocals reflect the bitterness of a man who can sense that "the smell of death still hangs on the honeysuckle vine."... Rating: 3 Stars
Last Shadow Puppets, The
The Last Shadow Puppets to wspólny projekt Alexa Turnera i Milesa Kane?a....
Dion, Son Of Skip James
Son Of Skip James is one for both longtime fans AND blues afficianados alike?