A free-floating space jazz run at Joni & Mingus's Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is typical of his approachable fusion. [May 2020, p.96]

White Stuff once again feels like the work of avant-garde self-mythologisers inveigling themselves into the Stones' Nellcote basement. But the riffs, cutting a swathe through dense electronic meltdown, are the strongest they've engineered, together or apart, since 1997's Accelerator. and there's a neww, mature pathos to the likes of Suburban Junkie Lady. [Apr 2019, p.96]

Svelte, mostly acoustic collection is so refreshing. [May 2020, p.94]

The punk grooves of 'Laugh Track' or 'Seeing Hands' and the near-perfect Phnom Pehn pop of 'Mr. Orange' or "Monsoon Of Perfume' bookend a set that grows in strength with each play. [Feb 2008, p.110]

The Unfairground finds Ayers rejuvenated and stands comparison with his best work. [Oct 2007, p.98]

Elephant's songs of love and death are heart-wrenchingly sad, movingly performed and sung in a poignant, luminous voice betwixt pop and country folk-country. [Apr 2009, p.110]

There's so much going on that each sitting reveals new nuances and added twists of slender wonder. [Jul 2020, p.82]

The almost tangible sonic richness, like much here, redolent less of lyrical conservatoire pianism and more of a twitching avant-chamber orchestra co-conducted by Basil Kirchin and Harry Patch. [Apr 2014, p.95]

Two fine records without a duff track between them. [Oct 2009, p.98]

Cathartic, rich and true. [Jul 2017, p.88]

Hot Chip remain ruthlessly consistent and relentlessly reliable. [Jul 2019, p.86]

Dead Man's Bones turns out to be a decidedly beautiful thing. [Nov 2009, p.93]

There's a renewed vigour to its frugging mix of vintage synths, barking-dog bass stabs and jagged electric guitars. [Jun 2014, p.94]

A polished and enjoyable pop-soul confection that transcends its myriad influences. [Jul 2012, p.83]

In the best sense, she ticks boxes. With a slightly kooky voice, the bravery to unconventionally strip things down (the acoustic Dark is propelled by drums), a winning way with a hook (Missing Out swings) and a turn of phrase which veers from acerbic ("She says 'I might be a genius'/Well, she could be a model...") to lovelorn ("I want you to come over/So I can lay in your lap"). [Jul 2024, p.86]

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

In places, it's intense, heavy and oppressive, but Uondapaturu and Skeleton Island pull off the trick of satisfying both party hedonists and those simply seeking gratification within the confines of their headphones. [Aug 2013, p.91]

Another uniquely alluring Luna landing. [Nov 2004, p.110]

Cohen joined by bass, pedal steel, brushed drums, recorder, flute and violin. This, if anything, has made her songs stranger still, breathing life into the ghostly riddles of cold watchmen and voices from the forest and releasing them out into the corporal world. [Nov 2016, p.91]

Part happy break-up LP, part honest look in the mirror, Extreme Witchcraft works magic. [Feb 2022, p.82]

For a record about a lonely planet, it makes all the right connections. [Sept. 2011, p. 96]

More than a curiosity. [Jan 2006, p.131]

Every song on Nothing's About To Happen To Me bears Mitski's distinctive mark. [Apr 2026, p.85]

With his amiable croak and humour warming his observations, Manhattan is no bitter mope. [Dec 2015, p.90]

A feast of sonic juxtapositions, whimsical beats and massed vocal harmonies. [Jan 2018, p.94]

Juliana Giraffe's elastic phrasing on Doctor Says or Wednesday Baby's Carpenters lilt is key to the LA duo's second. [Feb 2021, p.90]

A delectably warm sonic pool that invites frequent plunges. [Feb 2020, p.91]

It makes a terrific album, stronger than Interpol's last two, with enough detail in the arrangement to separate Banks and his day job. [Nov 2012, p.95]

True North feels both stoic and positive in outlook. [Mar 2019, p.91]

The feel is sweaty, late-night techno, and while the Detroit clatter and acid squelch is more alluring this time around, it's Saoudi's lascivious persona that really pulls yoyu into the album's nether world. [Feb 2025, p.84]

The soundtrack to an imaginary sci-fi flick about a robot astronaut... Smart, rather moving, proggy, psych-electronica. [Aug. 2011, p. 104]

The brooding 'Singing Man' and the euphorically optimistic 'Rising Up' underline that the best hip hop is about taking chances. [July 2008, p.100]

Few albums meld frank postcards from the psyche with such poppy directness. [Apr 2016, p.93]

Grand intermeshing spinneys of lush ambient sound, distant pounding beats, lonesome horns and glimpsed shadows of melody that hint at Beethoven, Mozart and older Teutonic ghosts. [Jun 2017, p.89]

A pleasingly melodious onrush from which a complete absence of rhythmic funk fails to detract. [May 2009, p.108]

Just like her collaborator Bon Iver, Lia Ices seems to instinctively know that less is delectably more. [Mar 2011, p.p94]

Luna's obsessive valve-amp loveliness is here supplanted by a more varied spread. [Apr 2014, p.95]

Oneida may well be evil geniuses in the midst of creating a classic, multi-album masterpiece. [Aug 2009, p.103]

Simon's new music sounds inventive, surprising and catchy to boot. [Jul 2016, p.94]

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

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

Retains the gum-tingling pop harmonies and guitar-throttling riffs of previous albums, but their reedy punk sinew has swollen into rock muscle. [Jun 2004, p.112]

Her torch-song voice is often exposed by spare arrangements - a solemn piano or glowing embers of electric guitar - but songs also burst into euphoric life, like exorcisms. [Jan 2023, p.91]

May's 10 songs are barely there yet carry genuine emotional heft thanks to Voss Romme's tremulous, close-up-and-personal vocal delivery. [Jun 2014, p.94]

This solo instrumental album feels lighter in gates-of-doom atmosphere than previous work, but even so, whispers and echoes start to bounce off this record's walls, promising revelations at every turn. [Nov 2020, p.86]

WIXIW's pop is still complex and affecting and of beguiling substance. [Aug 2012, p.91]

A gorgeously warm, light-footed pop that roams freely. [Aug 2024, p.88]

These veterans are already better than The Funkees. [Oct 2012, p.91]

Baxter's third cracking album in a row. [Jul 2023, p.88]

She might feel her work-life balance is out of whack, but Power's creative scales are perfectly aligned. [Aug 2023, p.80]

It seems that self-examination has taken them to bold, new places. [Apr 2021, p.80]

This latest sheds much of the lo-fi fuzz and spur-of-the-moment sloppiness that characterises previous records, allowing the myriad hooks and melodies to stand out bolder, brighter and all the more pleasing. [Sep 2010, p.106]

If he wasn't there already, Freedom's Goblin puts Segall in the very top flight of late-'teens rock contenders. [Mar 2018, p.90]

While Inspiral Carpet's Clint Boon will surely applaud Monroe's retro organ flair, much of the magic here stems from Like linchpin and Nabokov fan Z Berg, whose literate lyrics and carefully hatched melodies continue to wring intrigue from that hardy perennial, boy trouble. [Sep 2010, p.96]

Like the original, Twin Fantasy 2017 transports us to a unique and fully formed world, where this time the physical geography is still more affecting. [Mar 2018, p.96]

Clever, involving, vital addition to one of the strongest discographies of the last 30 years. [Nov 2023, p.82]

NOW is a pretty intense 31 minutes. But while Locks and co's intent is radical, it's never forbidding. Instead, a punchy accessibility informs even their wildest excursions. [Jun 2021, p.88]

Their sun-baked, lyrically feverish chooglin' is more textured and melodic on these addictive new jams, ripe with Hammond-flavoured funkadelia and visionary gospel-prog. [May 2008, p.111]

These are acutely playful and poignant dissections of his world. [May 2019, p.87]

It is every bit as ace as their debut. [Jan 2008, p.110]

A spectacular step forward. [Mar 2009, p.111]

It's heavy stuff, but reliably gorgeous musically. [Nov 2022, p.82]

Instead of dynamism there is a defiantly "demos" feel to tracks that makes for a charming, fat-free album. [Apr 2014, p.96]

Neilson's own reedy but elemental voice is the perfect foil to this, and the myriad musical ideas are nailed down by classic, disciplined songwriting. [May 2009, p.108]

Mostly these provoke wows and crikeys of crooked pleasure. [Jan 2010, p.93]

Her voice is pure enough and boasts the necessary dash of grit for her to rise above mere MOR blandness. [Apr 2012, p.84]

There's something likable and everyman about his voice, which sits easily with the variety of vintage country styles on these 14 new songs. [Sep 2020, p.87]

Aural absinthe. [Jul 2003, p.115]

Showcases her passionate and bittersweet voice in a stripped-down atmosphere. [Aug 2002, p.104]

Mostly, Suit Yourself matches its predecessor's brilliance. [Jul 2005, p.100]

Further evidence who believe Coxon is the most creatively restless member of Blur. [Aug 2001, p.98]

The seemingly effortless confidence displayed throughout is startling. [Apr 2002, p.108]

These 10 tracks positively bristle with feral, street fighter 'tude. [May 2003, p.97]

A vast, often splendid affair that recalls the lavish expanse of Roger Waters-era Pink Floyd alongside the psychedelic crash of The Who. [Dec 2003, p.122]

Corgan allows a surprisingly vulnerable side to appear. [Jul 2005, p.96]

This is fine singer-songwriter Americana, particularly good on the ballads. [May 2006, p.100]

Their candour is as refreshing as it is revealing. [May 2005, p.108]

Consider this a Zen disc: sit with it awhile, and it will come to you. [Nov 2002, p.105]

In many ways, My Love is an excessive, ludicrous - no, make that brazen, unapologetic - record; vital because it wasn't born out of a painfully self-conscious view of its maker's place in the world.

Not exactly a comfortable listen, but Darnielle's candour can't be faulted. [Jun 2005, p.109]

While this delicately wistful set is hardly a great leap forward for Zero 7, one thing is certain: you'll be hearing it everywhere this year. [Mar 2004, p.104]

As for her voice, that's still a remarkably sassy tool. [Nov 2004, p.108]

On a couple of tracks neither hard-working studio team nor visiting vocalist get it right, but the impression is of all ego finally set aside in favour of engaging musical honesty.

A Healthy Distrust turns his scouring insight upon America's turbulent recent history, the response of a vulnerable, impassioned, imperfect man. [Mar 2005, p.106]

An album ragged with last-ditch lunges of fuzz-noise and burnished vocals. [Feb 2004, p.99]

Hiatt's misfortune is your guaranteed entertainment.

Given her almost unremittingly bleak subject matter, it helps enormously that she's blessed with a unique voice. [Oct 2005, p.108]

An engaging genre exercise. [Dec 2003, p.112]

Finds [Wolf] firmly ensconced within a four-piece-band format, but still coming up with the lyrical goods on a regular basis. [Dec 2005, p.102]

Their most challenging record to date. [Nov 2004, p.102]

It's business as usual. [Mar 2005, p.106]

Ambitious in scope and abundantly stocked with viral melody, Silent Alarm is hugely impressive--flawed certainly... but nonetheless blessed with outbreaks of great flair. [Mar 2005, p.100]

This is the far meaner, angrier and punkier [of the two post-Libertines albums] [Jun 2006, p.98]

Bold, stirring and so unfashionable it just might work. [Mar 2003, p.114]

This is music you can lose yourself in. [Oct 2003, p.110]

These gradual pleasures fly in the face of today's pop/rock hardsell, for sure, but inexorably you are drawn into Kurt's world. [Mar 2002, p.100]

Hilarious, stoned hip hop drooling with ideas. [Feb 2005, p.100]

Typically, there are also infuriating moments... but overall, this marks a welcome return to form. [Jun 2005, p.106]