Back catalogue: Rock (All)

Review: Second time around for the Bees' terrific debut album, Sunshine Hit Me, which wowed critics and buyers alike on its initial release way back in 2001. The epitome of a surprise hit with admirably DIY roots - the duo behind it, Paul Butler and Aaron Fletcher, famously recorded it in a limited home studio built in the back garden of a residential house on the Isle of Wight - the album has lost none of its allure all these years on. Woozy, summery and lo-fi, with hazy horns and glassy-eyed vocals rising above backing tracks that variously doff a cap to soul, rocksteady, ska, 1960s dream pop, psychedelia and a wealth of subtle global musical influences, Sunshine Hit Me is a warming, smile-inducing treat. This edition also boasts a sextet of bonus cuts, which seem to be a mixture of B-sides and tracks plucked from the pair's archives.

Review: 30th Anniversary Edition of the Cure's best-selling, Grammy-nominated album 'WISH.' This deluxe 45 track edition - compiled by Robert Smith - features 24 previously unreleased tracks & 4 new to CD tracks across three discs. And that's not to mention their four tracks that appeared exclusively on the mail-order cassette 'Lost Wishes', released in 1993, which have never appeared on CD or digitally, the previously unreleased song 'A Wendy Band', a previously unheard mix of the epic fan favourite 'From The Edge Of The Deep Green Sea', five rare 12" mixes, and an unheard live version of 'End' from Paris Bercy in October 1992.

Review: When Eskimo first invited New York-born, Berlin-based Curses to compile Next Wave Acid Punx, they might not have known what they were letting themselves in for. As we reach part Deux, there's no doubt they signed up to sift through a staggering volume of EBM, industrial, minimal wave and electro from the darker side of the dancefloor. Taking in 49 tracks in total, this authoritative collection spreads across three CDs and features old legends like Throbbing Gristle alongside newer wave sonic deviants like The Hacker, with so much more ground covered in between. Consider this monumental compilation a homing beacon for all creatures of the night.

Review: Malian singer, songwriter and instrumentalist Fatoumata Diawara has enjoyed a highly successful career, not just as a musician but also as an actor. Even so, it has taken a string of collaborations - including an appearance on Gorillaz album Song Machine, Season One: Strange Timez - to bring her to a wider audience. London Ko, officially her third solo album, successfully highlights the open-minded, internationalist nature of her work, offering superb, immaculately produced songs that blend her Malian vocals, instrumentation and jangly guitar playing with nods to synth-pop, deep house, electronica, r&b and downtempo beats. Naturally, the album boasts several notable collaborations, with Damon Albarn guesting on 'Nesra', New York hip-hop-turned-soul queen Angie Stone lighting up 'Somaw', and Alberto Fomesca enhancing CD highlight 'Massa Den'.

Review: While it would be fair to say that My Bloody Valentine's most celebrated works are by and large albums, their EPs - and particularly the four released between 1988 and '91 - are every bit as alluring and ground-breaking. For proof, check this fine collection, which not only gathers them together but also adds rare tracks and deep cuts that have long been fan favourites (see the full, 10-minute version of 'Glider', a cacophonous but strangely addictive psychedelic soundscape, and the baggy-but-ghostly 'Instrumental No. 2'). Over the course of the two discs, it's possible to chart the pioneering band's sonic development over a three-year period in which they went from visionary alt-rockers to a band that not only defied categorization, but also played by different rules to their contemporaries.

Review: The 21st Century has been quiet thus far for New Order, with only two full albums to date, and only an out-takes compilation in the last decade. Moreover, 'Music Complete' marks their first album to date without founding bassist Peter Hook, and the return of Gillian Gilbert to the ranks. Yet from this turbulence and inertia they've somehow managed to create a collection of songs that rank as their strongest set since 'Technique' in 1989. VIbrant, upbeat and colourful, yet driven by the same mix of electronic experimentation and effortless pop suss that characterised their '80s heyday, 'Music Complete' is the sound of a timeless and unique force newly revitalised.

Review: There was naturally much excitement when A Moon Shaped Pool, Radiohead's surprise ninth studio set, popped up on streaming and download services back in May. Here it gets a CD release, offering those who prefer physical products a chance to bathe in its' woozy eccentricities. Seen by some as a return to their arty rock roots following an extended period spend exploring electronics, the album's 11 tracks draw on a variety of influences (krautrock, ambient, Pavement, James Blake, Stockhausen, intense melancholia etc.), with predictably impressive results. Occasionally elegant, string-laden and grandiose, always beautiful, and sometimes intensely moving, A Moon Shaped Pool is undeniably up there with the band's best work.

Review: Just when you thought all hope was lost along come The Strokes to fulfil the promises they made way, way back with their startling debut 'Is This It'. That was 17 years ago, and while the outfit have made plenty worthy of note in the years between then and now, we'd be surprised if we're the only ones thinking this latest is their best effort since that inaugural outing. Confident but also hungry, rather than bloated and lazy, there's plenty here that you won't be able to get away from in a hurry. 'Brooklyn Bridge To Chorus' might define the package best, delivering some powerful pop energy in an all-round homage to and critique of the 1980s, an era revisited again on 'Bad Decisions', which owes plenty to Billy Idol's Generation X classic, 'Dancing With Myself', with tracks like 'Why Are Sundays So Depressing' diverting to a synthdom route and 'Not The Same Anymore' throwing crooner styles into the mix. Exceptional stuff.