2 is a special new chapter, inspired and beguiling. [Jul 2025, p.79]

[The Nocturne Diaries] is beautiful. [May 2014, p.91]

The sound quality is akin to a great bootleg – vocals suffer during I Ain’t Got Nobody, the only Sly original here – but the energy and impact of the group is brilliantly intact. [Sep 2025, p.94]

Deceptively simple, Watershed highlights what Lang does best--fulsome ballads sung with precision timing, intelligence and a humourous twist. [Jan 2008, p.100]

It hard not to be engaged by the restless, cerebral daftness--footnotes notwithstanding. [Apr 2019, p.95]

These songs sound like they were made to be played on-stage (other than a few that don't lift off the ground). [Aug 2019, p.95]

They do sound less corporate, more like their original idiosyncratic selves. [Jun 2024, p.90]

Theirs is really a taste worth acquiring. [Sep 2005, p.103]

Visionary, exhausting, Dusk To Dawn is an extraordinary experience. [Jun 2019, p.95]

Earworms abound. [May 2020, p.96]

Confident and expansive, yet intimate and subtle, Bonny Doon are in a good place here. [Aug 2023, p.81]

While her writing is often flattened by the ungainly toil of navvying away for the Big Idea, the flame of toriamosness burns through at times. [Nov 2002, p.114]

Here, the band look to the more languid nod of Spaceman 3 instead. [Jul 2009, p.98]

This is not the James of Sit Down vintage, which means there's still life in the old dogs yet. [Oct 2010, p.103]

His score for this Murakami adaptation is just as striking, referencing Vaughan Williams and Shostakovich in a manner similar to such 20th century Japanese magpie composers as Hayasaka and Hashimoto. [May 2011, p.112]

Unfidelity exhibits sonic DNA from all corners of pioneering electronica. [May 2014, p.93]

At 12 years' distance, these Papists sound anything but straightforward, ably navigating a compositional logic every bit as nutty as Debaser or Cactus, just with the sonic derangement notched down, and the odd deft pedal-steel lick chipped in. [Jun 2015, p.102]

So really, Let The Record Show is a game of two halves, a little jumbled up perhaps, but one in which Rowland ultimately triumphs. [Jun 2016, p.90]

The production ideas and songs, however smart, won't change the world; they will, however, prompt large swathes to sing along. [Dec 2024, p.84]

The former [true gems] are plenty, the latter [filler are] few. [Aug 2012, p.91]

Produced by Tortoise's John McEntire on this, their second outing, BO channel such solitary American composers as Harry Partch and Charles Ives, rattling from distorted second line jazz to mournful Moondog horn stomps and sweet chamber melancholy, creating a claustrophobic city suite that taps into a whole other area of American vernacular music. [Dec 2009, p. 96]

A rarefied exemplar of genteel bliss. [May 2005, p.108]

J's mature-era peak continues. [Sep 2014, p.90]

Casey and collaborator Shawn Creeden deliver a bold album that eschews their previous organic approach in favour of a more electronic direction. The effect is intoxicating. [Apr 2010, p.92]

The result is a warmly autumnal, subtly adventurous set. [Oct 2021, p.90]

The songs remain brilliantly elliptical surveys, often of contemporary America. [Sep 2015, p.103]

Represents a major leap forward. [Nov 2003, p.130]

If harvest Moon ever threatened to melt your teetch, now's the chance to really bite down. If You already love iut, you can get a sugar rush all over again. Win-win. [Feb 2010, p.112]

The greatest thing about this tribute album is that ... the biggest names on it ... all bring their A game. [Apr 2012, p. 88]

MOB sound as electrifying, as curious and as awake as they ever have. [Aug 2012, p.96]

It's all expertly crafted stuff. [Feb 2014, p.94]

He brings an easy empathy to these songs. [Sep 2014, p.96]

Few recent debuts have felt quite so enjoyable. [Sep 2015, p.94]

Richly layered and astutely arranged. [Jul 2017, p.96]

Rousing sedated melodies under a blanket of distortion. [Mar 2019, p.99]

Only the title track's gently jazzy diversion (Pt 1) and surprise operatics (Pt 2) shatter the wellness-retreat politeness. [Apr 2019, p.96]

Dreamers Are waiting is possibly the most Crowded House-sounding album crowded House have made since their Crowded debut. [Jul 2021, p.83]

More cohesive and less Britpop than 2018's Brickbat. More trenchant too. [Aug 2021, p.87]

Ian Devaney's tremulous tones and Michael Sue-Poi's melodic bass lines cutting deep on heartbroken ballads. [Dec 2021, p.94]

After 2008's The Hungry Saw simmered with a new, diehard energy, Falling Down A Mountain is more like climbing up. [Feb 2010, p. 103]

Brandon Flowers' commercial appeal holds steady on Imploding The Mirage under producers 13 and 14 Shawn Everett and Jonathan Rado, who lather fidgety single Caution and When The Dreams Run Dry in fine '80s studio-wash. [Oct 2020, p.84]

It's lots of fun, a whirlwind romp through grubby rock landmarks. [May 2012, p.84]

The dozen songs, recorded in one take, make for an uncomfortable but absorbing trip. [Jan 2013, p.92]

You've heard it all before, but rarely done so well. [Mar 2014, p.98]

Much like Dirty Projectors, it takes an adventurous soul to absorb much of this. [Mar 2019, p.93]

It's pleasant but ultimately inessential stuff. Way better are the tunes where the tape echo effects kick in. [Oct 2019, p.82]

This isn't a great departure from The Coral but mainman James Skelly's increasingly witty words and ear for a killer jig put this in a loveable place of its own. [Aug 2003, p.95]

Espers III is brilliantly atmospheric, more chilling than chilled but also, frequently, very beautiful. [Dec 2009. p. 94]

While Two Suns almost inevitably finds Natasha Khan caught between the rock of artistic muse and the hard place of major label rockability, there's still invention and charisma enough here to keep both leftfield chin-stroker and ingenue fan onside for now. [Apr 2009, p.106]

The trade-off for this grandiloquent approach is that some of the songcraft has been swept away in the surge. [Nov 2011, p.93]

There is humour to the harsh, spangly electropop of tracks like Feel For You and Vampires, but in places the concept is a little too arch and pumped up, sounding like a teen Netflix drama. [Oct 2019, p.82]

Household Name is their Cannonball moment, supercharged pop that also acknowledges Smashing Pumpkins and Veruca Salt. Momma wear it well; celebrating, not denying, their inspiration. [Aug 2022, p.91]

She has found a new confidence in her sound. [Feb 2023, p.92]

If Bruce Springsteen or Steve Earle had created these blue-collar character sketches Here We Rest would be a return to their very best. At 32, however, Isbell seems to be just warming up. [Jul 2011, p.107]

You're left feeling less !!! than ??? [Apr 2007, p.102]

Five albums in, his music finally sounds as threadbare as his chosen eulogy, dropping any evidence of the richer--if still ragged--arrangements that launched his deeply affecting six-track debut. [Jul 2009, p.107

There are comeback and then there's the new Cult album opener. [Jun 2012, p.88]

Expands Casiotone For The Painfully Alone's frighteningly austere template to an almost symphonic level of opulence. [Jul 2006, p.102]

His spark remains undimmed. [Jul 2013, p.87]

[A] wonderfully scrappy debut. [Feb 2015, p.95]

This second LP moves country into enterprising, occasionally spooked spaces. [Nov 2019, p.96]

Their ninth record proves their distinctive spirit is still unbroken. The mood is knowingly mordant. [Jul 2024, p.84]

Frisell's braided guitar work creates a complex, nocturnal mood, while Parks' weeping accordion and sweeping string arrangements heighten the inherent drama. [May 2005, p.104]

The forensic approach to recreating the airbrushed sounds of '70s AM pop ahs paid off--there's not a single weak track on this addictive, exceptionally polished LP. [Apr 2010, p.98]

Alongside The Miracle 3's rich, roughneck guitar grind, Wynn's odd perspective gathers strength on two songs that involve gatecrashing private homes or events. [Feb 2011, p.107]

The spring in their step has a dangerously sharp point to increase Never's allure. [Aug 2012, p.87]

A powerful intoxicant rather than just another retro genre exercise. [Sep 2016, p.92]

It proves to be an oblique, sometimes outre, but always artistic reinvestigation rather than an indulgent lap of honour around erstwhile glories. [Feb 2016, p.94]

This whets the appetitie for whatever Stevens' formidable talent fixes upon next. [Aug 2006, p.96]

The only unsatisfactory element of The Ballad of Dood & Juanita is that it's too short. [Oct 2021, p.92]

What Yes, I'm A Witch proves, above all else, is that the world is at last catching up with Ono. [Mar 2007, p.92]

Within its luxuriance of old, within its dreamscapes Fitzgerald's often Kitchens-sink observations and harsh, bloke-from-Editors singing voice remain naggingly terrestrial, dragging the listener down to earth, when everything else is straining heavenwards. [Dec 2013, p.90]

Flight b741 feels like the doozy Primal Scream aspired to circa Give Out But Don’t Give Up. Turns out you don’t have to fly to Memphis to shine. [Sep 2024, p.88]

There's a peculiar tension in the way the stripped down electronic and acoustic percussion and Shemie's reverby incantations work together. [Mar 2013, p.89]

Real Emotional Trash conjures a virtuoso meld of folk rock, prog and cosmic blues tropes, all filtered through the ex-pavement frontman's tradmark arch surrealism. [Apr 2008, p. 101]

The interplay between their vocals is tense and compelling, suggesting early Blonde Redhead. Their lyrics, meanwhile, are mysterious knots of angst. [Jul 2023, p.87]

Guitars, sounding like synths, soar into the stratosphere, and intense crescendos linger over delicate, breathy passages. [Aug 2005, p.94]

His songs are hypnotic but oddly clunky vocals keep it earthbound. [Jun 2014, p.98]

Songwriter is indeed a by-product of music rendered on a digital frontier; it is a worthy effort because it reinforces the humanity of a star who, in his last days, could seem like some untouchable god. [Aug 2024, p.78]

Chelsea Light Moving's sound and fury certainly thrill. [Apr 2013, p.88]

This delicate, intricate web of sounds asks you to lean in to appreciate it. [Nov 2018, p.84]

She's still the bedsit heartbreak queen for pop fans of a certain age. [Jul 2026, p.83]

The razor-wire riffs some of their best. [May 2015, p.98]

Musically, the influence of dubstep is readily apparent. [Dec. 2010, p. 99]

An immersive, deeply satisfying work that doubles down on the experimentalism he brought to The Frames. [May 2019, p.93]

Stirring stuff, but a little goes a long way. [Jun 2019, p.96]

Clarietta is no routine homage, more a gripping twist on a timeless classic. [Jun 2013, p.88]

The ’70s resonate within the 10 exquisitely crafted tracks.

Echoboy nonchalantly pits twittering electronica and filmic ambiences against garage guitar riffing and sugary Europop: the result is an unpredictable 45-minute journey in sound. And it's an alluring trip for the most part.

Unlike many of dance culture's dedicated dilettantes, theirs is a smooth and millifluous whole, underpinned by the gentle pulsing of liquid bass lines.... Delightful. [Sep 2000, p.94]

As a singer, the South Dakota-born, Ontario and Illinois-raised Colvin occupies a niche between pensive Sheryl Crow and pre-jazz Joni Mitchell: no histrionics but a telling, often moving restraint.

Donelly's wild, sweet tones are the perfect counterpoint to Hersh's cajoling banshee of a voice. [Apr 2003, p.97]

In replacing the stark natural timbre of recent albums with layers of reverb and oblique orchestration, the pure heart of the songs has been obscured, if not lost. [Oct 2002, p.96]

All this ambitioin coagulates into an irresistible, tumbling, tune-filled whole. [Dec 2006, p.118]

Booker responds with young and evergreen playing, a typically euphonious mixture of economy, precision, warmth, color and melody on tight groovin' instrumentals. [Jun 2011, p.101]

He is so clearly in his element that you can just hand over the controls. [Oct 2019, p.97]

This is Sign 'O' The Times territory. ... When Prince wanders from the funk path the results are more mixed. ... Yet there's strength in Welcome 2 America's commitment to the idea of the Classic Prince Album. [Sep 2021, p.93]

Though the percussive, struck guitar strings interlude Zilch is perhaps an inquiry too far, caroline's flair for conjuring the liminal space between sleep and wakefulness frequently enchants. [Apr 2022, p.89]