Tyson Smith's debut album comes about after a fair bit of traveling and he alludes to its intercontinental feel with the image on the cover.

It starts very distinctively Kate Nash: all pretty piano, stirring strings, claps, and her voice - sweet as pain au chocolate.

Recent Sub Pop recruits Dum Dum Girls reference the Iggy Pop's track in their name and, it's a good starting point to their sound.

There's a toughness to Lewis McCallum's music that makes it resonate and shine.

Not since Shihad's Killjoy has a New Zealand album - or many other albums for that matter - lurched with the power, brutality and beauty that Arc Of Ascent's Circle of the Sun does.

After the mediocre solo outing of 2004's American Sweetheart, Courtney Love is back with her band Hole for their fourth album.

On Everything P-Money takes off into an oonst-driven dance direction.

Mark E. Smith of Britain's marathon-running post-punk agit-prop outfit The Fall, is nothing if not consistent.

Singer Sharon Jones and band the Dap-Kings have made a name for themselves by reviving the essence of funk and soul music's heyday from the 60s and 70s.

Originally from capital city Freetown, Allstars founder Reuben M. Koroma and his wife found themselves in a refugee camp in neighbouring Guinea during the late 90s.

On his seventh album Nathan Haines is a hardened jazz head, a seasoned rump shaker, and sometimes, a purveyor of fine elevator jazz.

All systems go on solo outing by Sigur Ros frontman.

Infectious US guitar pop-rock which connects with Dunedin and elsewhere.

Grand ambition, okay songs from Aussie guitar hero.

A rare singer-songwriter who can be elegant or erotic with ease.

Take a freaky spin on a carousel.

The second part of hip-hop-soul diva Erykah Badu's New Amerykah series is a far more soulful and subtle offering than 2008's 4th World War.

Opening with a quick tempo and dusty vocals that could have been plucked from a 60s track, It's Working is the first sign MGMT no longer see themselves as a New York pop duo on a sugar-high.

Still sounding like AC/DC, with hints of Iron Maiden and Motorhead, and a small dash of sweaty Australians, Cold Chisel and the Angels.

There was a time when Black Rebel Motorcycle Club were a hazy and psychedelic rock band, then they became porch song bluesmen on Howl before ramping it up again on Baby 81.

After a string of EPs and vinyl releases, globe-trotting Wellington four-piece So So Modern - who recently completed a six-week jaunt around Europe - have come up with their debut album.

For an album with such promising name, Dane Rumble's album is not exactly experimental

If you were swept away by the broadcast of the Metropolitan Opera La Boheme, then Gerald Finley's Marcello may have been one reason for the intensity of your pleasure.

Scott Kara reviews new album Rocksteady: The Roots of Reggae