It is a pleasure to report that nothing has changed. [Jun 2004, p.108]

This fourth album proper is a stunning return to mind-melting form. [Nov 2008, p.118]

The deadbeat look befits an album that travels from slacker pop to a kind of desolate, beautiful blues in a series of quite astonishing songs. [Oct 2011, p.104]

A joy to behold. [Sep 2021, p.81]

Astronaut..., then, could be King Creosote's finest hour yet. [Oct 2016, p.93]

Resin Pockets plays like a found notebook of rapturous Proustian melancholy, everyday moments of dreamlike revelation assembled into weakly-strummed, frailly-sung almost-pop songs that embrace the beauty of transience and imperfection. [Jul 2017, p.87]

This is a different sounding Billy Childish. Not Radically different, but enough to notice that something's going on. At the root is personal tragedy: he had a nervous breakdown last year, and lyrics, written more like prose than punk missive, deal with mortality and the passing of time. [Sep 2019, p.88]

Go some way to subverting stodgy blues-rock gender cliche on an LP that takes off on the Tom Petty-ish title track. [Aug 2020, p.94]

Baffling excursions into exotica also make Fantasy Island different enough to reignite their "wow" factor. [Nov 2021, p.91]

Charming. [Sep 2022, p.95]

There are 10 songs here, most of them slow; with a smoky nightclub intimacy that makes it a great late-night album. [Jun 2023, p.88]

Death Mask makes for a visceral, at time abrasive listen. [Jul 2025, p.85]

It struts with confidence. [Nov 2025, p.85]

Post Pop Depression is every bit as startling, both in sound, and end-of-days openness. [Apr 2016, p.86]

It's brevity, meanwhile, ensures this sweetly, powerful group don't wear out their welcome. [Aug 2015, p.93]

A blast from start to finish. [Aug 2006, p.102]

A mature work from a fascinating man. [Oct 2005, p.110]

These mostly instrumental voyages speak loudly of no known universe. [Mar 2017, p.98]

The band's sixth album, while still oddly uneven, features some of their finest work to date. [Mar 2019, p.92]

Cooler Returns proves Kiwi Jr have the skills to match their smarts. [Feb 2021, p.86]

While it's the Oldham-penned title track... which will rightly grab all the headlines, Staton's mastery of more traditional material is no less imposing. [Apr 2006, p.88]

Though succinct segues Housing (In) and Housing (Out) have something of the filler about them, State Hospital and December's Traditions are bleakly beautiful portraits of Broken Britain, Hutchinson's fervent vocal letting it all hang out. [Mar 2013, p.86]

Hellfire, for all its sporadic intensity, is less harsh than previous Black Midi records. [Aug 2022, p.83]

'Just Breathe,' 'Amongst The Waves' and 'The End' make this one of Pearl jam's most satisfying albums. [Oct 2009, p.96]

It is Nas's poetic erudition that makes it a stone cold classic. [Mar 2007, p.100]

Land Is Hell is alive with 21st century energy. [Oct 2013, p.96]

Hums with profound, eerie power. [Feb 2025, p.91]

The album burns brightly, like a widescreen musical travelogue. [Feb 2026, p.87]

Schmilco in particular is best consumed as a contemplative whole. [Oct 2016, p.94]

With several songs appearing twice covered by different acts, the malleability and strength of The Midnight Organ Fight material is clear. [Aug 2019, p.88]

The result delivers delightful Dapness. [Jan 2021, p.88]

Western and Middle Eastern influences collide in a glitchy and rhythmically experimental union. [May 2016, p.96]

Psychedelic Country Soul puts them right back at the top of a world they helped create. [Mar 2019, p.91]

This is recycling as artistic endeavour. [Sep 2020, p.91]

[Tony] Rice would have loved it. [Feb 2022, p.86]

With its captivating melodies and sci-fi charm, News Of The Universe is as poignant as it is hopeful. [Jul 2024, p.88]

Wonky, wordy, connective - a Tapestry for the Williamsburg set.[Dec. 2011, p.93]

They might be joyful adventures in the material world, but Matmos have a gift for hinting at something just beyond it. [Aug 2025, p.80]

A worthy addition to the small Boys catalogue. [Dec 2002, p.122]

Neither miraculous nor wholly divine, but it does mark Corgan's return to form. [Mar 2003, p.102]

Grohl's pounding presence throughout lifts Killing Joke right back to the savage intensity of their early records.... The best punk album in years. [Aug 2003, p.106]

Sleepy, certainly, but never tired. [Aug 2004, p.89]

It's faux-naif orch-pop that crashes and thunders. [Feb 2008, p.108]

Those who've found White Denim's previous albums a little too cluttered and clattery for comfort should find that D is a good deal more accessible, yet it also ends up being their most thrillingly off-kilter record to date. [July 2011, p. 112]

Too opaque to fully connect, Consummation keeps its mystery high. [Jul 2020, p.85]

Classic songwriting creatively re-imagined in pulsating, droning, rackety new environs. [Apr 2024, p.89]

On this form, long may Damian Jurado stay lost. [Feb 2014, p.88]

clipping.'s finest refinement yet of their abrasive horror-rap. [Dec 2020, p.87]

It's essentially a particularly dark MSP bravely attempting to go a bit ABBA, failing miserably but in the process creating a skewed but alluring new pop persona. ... A hit. [Oct 2021, p.97]

This suprise follow-up to May's A Bit Of Previous smacks of pressure-off invention, the sense that they know how to do this by now - and have fun doing it - cemented by Late Developers' title. [Mar 2023, p.84]

Canadian indie-songsmith producer, illustrator comes blinking into the sunlight. [July 2011, p. 108]

Inji is great fun, offering new surprises with every listen. [Aug 2015, p.92]

Her uncompromising politics never come at the expense of the music. [Oct 2022, p.87]

Freeman has emerged from Ween with his mojo intact, and less inclined to platy the joker this time around. [Nov 2014, p.99]

Not all [are] successful, but the extent of her ambition cannot be faulted. [Oct 2015, p.90]

A misbegotten romance plays out across the album in disturbing, always enthralling fashion. [Jul 2018, p.98]

Ash's cover of Teenage Kicks itself is on the limited-edition 3-CD version, alongside the likes of a cover of Buzzcocks' Everybody's Happy Nowadays, making this the best buy. [Mar 2020, p.101]

What separates this album from the 14 he's made before is the involvement of Adam Granduciel, who produces luminously, plays guitar, synths and more, and enlists his bandmates for much of the remaining instrumentation. [May 2025, p.87]

It's a less alien, less disturbed and thoroughly lighter record. [Nov 2005, p.104]

Grief therapy has rarely sounded so groovy. [Jul 2013, p.85]

Lyrically he's as pleasingly obtuse as ever. [Jul 2006, p.101]

Both otherworldly and intensely human, it's hard to resist THEESatisfaction's singular charms. [Apr 2015, p.95]

There's no white-hot creative explosion, just a gentle simmer. [May 2016, p.88]

The considered Heba is not immediate, but it worms its way in. [Apr 2017, p.95]

Aching, poetically quotidian observations permeate Universal Themes. [Aug 2015, p.89]

An epic, cataclysmic set playing host to moments of magnificent Strum-und-Drang. [Sep 2015, p.92]

Everything feels tactile rather than crowded. [Apr 2016, p.92]

The foundations--the Latin rhythm section--remain solid, and wandering freely around is saxophonist Issa Cissoko, who, spiritually and musically, is to Baobab what Keith is to the Stones and Bez to the Mondays. Still a bit special. [May 2017, p.95]

Another point of reference is Gorky's Zygotic Mynic and it's Girl Ray's appropriation of their scherzo sensibility lifts the three-piece beyond pastiche, feeding songs such as Don't Go Back St Ten and Where Am I Now with a musical strangeness that's totally alluring. [Sep 2017, p.90]

Lapalux has joined the ranks of contemporary electronica's finest, like Flo Lo himself. [Apr 2013, p.95]

The Way I See It is refreshingly different, eminently listenable. [Apr 2009, p.110]

There's not a note put out of place as they invite us to enjoy the good natured be-in. [Apr 2011, p.104]

There's no danger of Wanderer outstaying its welcome, but while it's a brilliant return, it wouldn't be quite right too claim it as a triumph. Not because of the quality of these songs but because Wanderer is a record that know the cost of living and the price of losing all too well. [Oct 2018, p.82]

The album is mainly archetypal Forster. [Oct 2015, p.92]

Emanon is unequivocally a visual treat but in purely musical terms, it's nothing less than stunningly breathtaking. [Oct 2018, p.88]

Nothing is ever explained, but ambiguity only reinforces Sorry's wonderfully slippery presence. [Apr 2020, p.95]

As it swivels between rock hymns like the Boss-backed New York comeback and country laments like Jukebox, it becomes a primer for newcomers, not a unified statement on a par with 2020's raw Good Souls Better Angels or the landmark Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. Still, it is a triumph that this exists at all. [Aug 2023, p.80]

His nicotine-gritted , hurt-strained voice finds a honeyed foil in Dave Amels' swirling organ, while rhythm section David Wayne Gay and Lance Willie provide R&B warmth and swinging, bar-band stomp. [Dec 2009, p. 96]

Hollow Meadows carries his usual stamp of songwriting quality, but rather than further develop these new sonics and dynamics it feels more like a retrenchment. [Oct 2015, p.88]

Middle Cyclone never lets go enough to take flight; nor does it too quickly wear out its welcome. [Apr 2009, p.110]

In short, it's the kind of pop music that works in any era. [Aug 2013, p.89]

Some of the lyrics that should sound like cliche feel more legit as we hear Segall wade earnestly into the aches and joys of existence. [Sep 2019, p.90]

For all of its gentle yet intense reflection, it's never overtly maudlin. [Mar 2012, p.92]

There's little discernable rhyme or reason holding it all together. [Oct 2006, p.110]

That's the master interpreter, though older and creakier. He brings the song to you in detail. [Apr 2010, p.93]

A bewitching record. [Aug 2006, p.96]

On Blessed she finds the perfect balance between the sweet and the sour. [Apr 2011, p.98]

Soft-focus memories echo through all 88 minutes. [Dec 2012, p.89]

Hayden's delicate little songs are potent, precious things indeed. [Oct 2004, p.110]

Faced with the Kings of Leon's musical savvy, however, it's easy to believe the hype. [Sep 2003, p.104]

A classic Fannies record with scant regard for prescribed notions of cool. [Jun 2005, p.104]

As with previous album "Songs III," this us an enchanting record. [Apr 2009, p.109]

Makes for a cheeky, unerringly upbeat celebration of [London's] party scene. [Feb 2012, p. 94]

Even those wearied by Oldham's avalanche of releases should investigate. [May 2012, p.87]

Some are great. Some are thinner--but James's new groove has big promise. [Feb 2013, p.97]

Drummer Ulysses Owens Jr displays the kind of tidy time and delirious brushwork you might have thought went out with Ed Thigpen, while McBride drives the whole with a mighty, old-school righteousness. [Dec 2013, p.87]

These are epic soundtracks for the lost adventurer within us all. [Jun 2014, p.91]

It ain't light listening but its emotions run deep. [Sep 2014, p.95]