[rating=4]
Released on March 1, 2010

Surprising and impressive, Sharleen Spiteri’s The Movie Songbook is a hit.

She has proven with this album that she can more than handle formerly unexplored territory. The incredible, aching vocal on ‘Windmills Of Your Mind’ is the perfect foreground for the bossa-nova beat underpinning the track.

[rating=5]
Released on November 16, 2009

A seasonal album that captures all the magic and resists the sentimentality.

Hot on the heels of the uncompromising Abnormally Attracted To Sin, the luminous Midwinter Graces forms a cleansing antithesis to the former’s disenchantment.

[rating=3]
Released on September 28, 209

A varied affair that, whilst having its moments, does not quite gel together.

Their potency seems to still lie in the downbeat, trip-hop, ambient arena. The album has divided critics, but there are some real creative fires crackling whenever Mtungwazi guests and she truly lends a vibrancy to her tracks.

[rating=4]
Released August 3rd, 2009

Something ’80s, and something new, the Frankmusik album impresses Arthur Pocket.

Although 2009 has already seen a glut of individual electro-pop artists, Frankmusik is surely ranked up there with La Roux for sheer originality, casting aside with talented ease the obvious frippery of Lady Gaga and the overcooked Little Boots.

[rating=5]
Released on June 9th, 2009

A rich, varied, and gratifying debut.

Taller Children is an extremely confident and satisfyingly complex album. It boasts some of the boldest music production I have heard in recent years.

[rating=5]
Released on June 1st, 2009

A masterful album from a first-rate storyteller. Wolf is one of the most original singer-songwriters out there.

Wolf’s ability to forge the traditional with the contemporary renders his work with a timeless quality, and The Bachelor is an album which will undoubtedly endure.

[rating=4]
Released on May 18th, 2009

A wide-ranging album of diverse songs that explore the idea of what constitutes sin. Another remarkable outing from Tori Amos.

Abnormally Attracted to Sin is marked by songs that slowly build and gather a momentum to create a powerful, forceful statement. This is more of a noticeable trend than on any of Amos’ previous records. The soundscape she is creating is built around the message.

[rating=4]
Released on March 23rd, 2009

The Pet Shop Boys return with a contemporary and accessible album.

If the album’s common sound is mesmerizing techno-pop, then the common subject matter is not unlike any other Pet Shop Boys endeavour. Yes sees Tennant and Lowe wax lyrical about excessive materialism, inane celebrity, climate change and love.

[rating=5]
UK: 90 min • BandStock.com • Heaven, London

The maestro Patrick Wolf delivers an electric performance.

Patrick Wolf has all the charisma of the great ‘70s glam rock stars with the sensibility of a troubadour, and like all troubadours he has a tale or two to tell.

[rating=5]
Released on January 26th, 2009

Franz Ferdinand on superb form and moving in a “slightly new” direction.

There is evidence in some of the new tracks of their moving in a slightly new direction – let’s say a slightly more experimental, slightly more mature, & slightly sexier Franz Ferdinand. Note the heavy use of the word ‘slightly’.