This My Bloody Valentine

from Amazon: "Point is the long-awaited full-length follow-up to Fantasma, and it does not disappoint. Cornelius–a.k.a. Japanese pop auteur and clothing designer Keigo Oyamada–thrilled the world with his '97 international debut, a breezy blend of electronica that melded the thick, soupy guitar feedback of My Bloody Valentine to the gorgeous harmonies of the Beach Boys, and fed it all through a peculiarly kitschy Japanese bubblegum pop filter. On Point, the crystal-clear "Smoke" weaves a tangle of jerky new wave guitar over clip-clopping electronic beats and the raw clatter of percussion, while the heavenly "Tone Twilight Zone" elegantly demonstrates that even the most ornate, maximal production can be imbued with calm. Perhaps the album's greatest success is the way that it presents ambient cliché–the gurgle of running water, the breaking of waves, the chirruping of crickets–as just another form of instrumentation. The precise rhythms and harmonies of this enchanting, psychedelic journey into stereophonic sound confirm Oyamada's studio mastery. No one on earth is making music quite like this. –Louis Pattison"

The heaps of praise during 2000 surrounding 1999's Ágatis Byrjun brought surprisingly little attention to Sigur Rós' first record, released in 1997. Remaining available only through the band's Icelandic label, it took some effort to obtain, but those who did get a copy probably found it to be just as adventurous as Agatis. Though darker and more fractured than the string-laden nooks of the follow-up, it's just as sprawling and outright bombastic. It's remarkable that such a young band would be this experimental at this stage in their lifespan, but the sheer breadth gets to be an albatross. Poking fun at '70s prog rock is just as easy as shooting at cement gargoyles on a suburban rooftop, especially when you're an indie kid or a fan of post-rock.

The amount of hype that greeted this album upon release was notable even by U.K. press terms, leading to quite an unexpected amount of overall attention upon the band's second release. Justified? Not quite – it's important to approach this CD on its own terms, and on that level it's a good album, but not a great one. Claimed goals at being inspired by Primal Scream's Screamadelica aside, Contino doesn't achieve anything near the same sense of reach and sweep as that album did, not to releases like My Bloody Valentine's Loveless and other cited role models.

Happily settled on Creation Records – their understandable spiritual home, given the My Bloody Valentine connection - on their second album, the Boos create a fine but limited ode to the icons of fuzzpedals, melancholy and hooks. At the time of release, Forever seemed little more than yet another blissout-by-numbers, but looking back on it there's more here than on first blush. Still, Forever is more an anticipatory release, signaling the great leaps forward to come rather than standing on its own. Carr in particular is still clearly enthralled by Kevin Shields' groundbreaking guitar work, with queasy riffs and shadings plentiful throughout.

MantaRay is an album by Siouxsie Sioux. It is her first full-length solo studio album after a 30-year music career as the frontwoman for Siouxsie and the Banshees and The Creatures. Limited-edition version, encased in a tri-fold Digipak which included three exclusive postcards and a fold-out poster.

Singles 93–03 is a compilation album by The Chemical Brothers and was released on September 22, 2003. It is a collection of singles published by the band from 1993 to 2003 (though not all the singles are included), plus new songs "Get Yourself High" and "The Golden Path". Early copies of the CD came with a bonus CD. To remain relevant after a decade in the music industry is rare indeed; for a dance act, it's virtually unique. Singles 93-03 ably demonstrates how the Chemical Brothers have managed it. Having first carved a reputation as DJs the Dust Brothers in the early 1990s, the two history graduates narrowly avoided calling themselves the London Dust Explosion before spearheading big beat, becoming a huge live draw, collaborating with Noel Gallagher and having Glastonbury Festival founder Michael Eavis play "Hey Boy, Hey Girl" at his wedding. It's been 10 years of fun, frolics, and gigantean left-field beats for Ed Simmons and Tom Rowland and, as this faultless singles collection testifies, continual reinvention.