With elements of synth-pop, new wave and blue-eyed soul distilled into a succession of heart-beating hits, Trial Of The Century is a record that gets better with each listen. [Dec 2004, p.99]

At its best, Weather Diaries rejuvenates their burn-it-down guitars ad pretty vacancy. ... But some of the old problems remain: a thin lyrical wash, an occasional plod. [Jul 2017, p.86]

Buckingham's pop ear is still highly attuned. [Oct 2011, p.106]

Dour, sub-Velvets melodies and droll, haiku-like lyrics tinged with desperation. [Sep 2001, p.110]

There are times... when the stripping-down of The Jayhawks' aesthetic reveals [Gary Louris'] designs to be uncomfortably slight. [Apr 2003, p.92]

Every one of these 12 self-composed, played and produced tracks is absolutely stickled with hooks. [March 2002, p.108]

Listening to Bob Wratten is as necessary as a good cry. [Jan 2002, p.91]

No huge amounts of new ground broken... but even a mediocre Kraftwerk album is still a work of near-genius. [Sep 2003, p.101]

Charitable largesse aside, it's a must-have for fans of anyone involved. [Sep 2009, p.98]

Skittery clicks and manipulated samples add heat and light to plucked guitar and breathy voice on songs that evolve in space-time. [Mar 2013, p.98]

The best songs here--the loose, Blaxploitation soul groove Bones; the Cat Stevens-like Deeper And Deeper--are those on which Harper sounds most relaxed and contemplative. [May 2016, p.86]

On the third Uni long-player--a series designed, unlike his starker glitch compositions, to work in dance clubs--the 52-yar-old's signature techno pulses and liminal keyboard clouds enmesh with comparative generosity. [May 2018, p.93]

Multi-layered backing vocals and summery hooks tickle the spine with every listen. [Aug 2006, p.90]

A splendid corollary to Mercury Rev's 1998 pastoral masterpiece, Deserter's Songs. [Jan 2005, p.94]

It really is good. [Jul 2005, p.99]

The Cumbrian art-rockers go out on this crisp, thoroughly engaging high: a live in the studio, Boy King-heavy stroll through some of their big-hitters recorded at RAK in London over two days last summer. [Mar 2018, p.96]

Neil Hagerty in the producer's chair is a good fit for an album that deliberately blurs the pre- and post-Nirvana boundaries. [Aug 2013, p.92]

He serves us a telling portion of autobiographical, Nashville-flavoured Americana. [Nov 2014, p.96]

Spektor delivers everything with such guileless brio that you never notice the join [between troubadour style to chrome-clean hip hop].

Unbalanced and unrelenting, it's a fascinating album, if difficult to enjoy. [Apr 2013, p.90]

If anything, it's darker [than Fenster's debut album], like clotted blood. [Apr 2014, p.97]

Although the album's emphasis is on electronica--some of which is distinctly Balearic--these characteristically hymnal songs suggest fluid boundaries between each entity. [Dec 2017, p.90]

Teamed, the trio's rich vocal-blend and sometimes sparkling, sometimes scruffed modern country is deeply impressive. [Jan 2025, p.84]

Bold, colorful creations. Surf is most definitely up. [Jan 2012, p.93]

While Perhacs' lyrics sometimes lapse into "I want to be free" hippy anachronism, only a churl would begrudge the still angelically-voiced 70-yeear-old her fealty to the Aquarian spirit. [Apr 2014, p.90]

The Visitor is curiously passionless and on occassion, too closely tied to its background music references to get excited about. [Nov 2009, p.102]

III is third time lucky in all senses other than sadly-departed guitar visionary David Hackney being around to share in the joy it brings. [May 2014, p.87]

Rebooted with tender opulence, affectionate awe, and full commitment o a widescreen, almost transcendental experience. [Mar 2019, p.94]

Their fusion of Franklin James Fisher's gospel howl and post-industrial beats has grown into something searing and infernal. [Feb 2020, p.90]

Hall explores his anger and depression through mostly downbeat but frequently beautiful ballads. [Feb 2022, p.87]

Deeper investigations are recommended. [May 2022, p.94]

Odd, occasionally unsettling, always memorable. [Mar 2015, p.97]

While focus isn't really his thing, when Presley and his minimal combo cohere, they're scratchily persuasive. [Oct 2016, p.97]

More honed and richly-textured than former offerings. [Apr 2005, p.101]

It isn't as urgent as Crazy rhythms, but follows from 1986's The Good Earth with a sparkling, rolling and guitar strum-driven understatement between third and fourth LP Velvets, a minimalist Neil Young and their cheerleaders R.E.M. [Jun 2011, p.105]

The honesty of these performances infinitely more important than any finessing. [Oc 2009, p.108]

Their third album is a confident return with staccato guitar/vocal interplay re-infused with wit and mechanical melodies. [June 2008, p.106]

Mapping the winding path of Chrissie and Jp's relationship as it came unstuck, Fidelity! is brave and tender, tingling and troubling the nerve-endings. [Dec 2010, p.98]

It stretches out the crashed edits of 20120's Suburban Tours, to something more diffuse and soulful. [Feb 2012, p.97]

Too much of this album, while pleasant enough, melts into a low-key blur of whispered, introspective nothings. [Jun 2012, p.85]

Miami's best tracks remain (twisted) dancefloor friendly. [Apr 2013, p.95]

Blues Of Depression picks up from where that album [2014's Different Shades Of Blue] left off, allowing the fretboard wizard to demonstrate that he can write good tunes as well as produce a seemingly endless supply of molten solos. [May 2016, p.92]

The falsetto vocals can sound glibly glossy, but as mainstream alternative to Animal Collective they'll go far. [Sep 2016, p.99]

She stands sonically naked, palettes limited and claustrophobic in their unrelenting mono-focus, in this fascinating but demanding debut. [Feb 2019, p.91]

Exudes confidence as it cleverly tweaks harmonic principles and discreetly unveils its dramatic arc. [Nov 2019, p.93]

If midlife crisis haunts the 40-year-old Skinner, encroaching mortality is re-energised by juniors like neo-soul sister Greentea Peng's soporific vibrations on I Wish You Loved You As Much As You Love Him. [Aug 2020, p.93]

It's an even more pop-centric prism of West Coast folky radiance. [Oct 2014, p.92]

Quietly dazzling. [Nov 2009, p.100]

Seems largely unable to go far beyond generic musical stylings and rather lifeless, matt[e]-finish reportage. [Nov 2005, p.97]

The stylistic shifts mean The Tarnished Gold doesn't hang together--it lacks the luster of real gold. [Aug 2012, p.85]

Occasionally things get laboured or dull; still, a powerful new direction. [Apr 2017, p.93]

The strongest parts of this record have a yearning, almost devotional quality which can unlock something in the patient listeners. [Aug 2009, p.96]

This is nihilistic pop at its finest. [Jun 2003, p.113]

Sounds surprisingly traditional. [Jul 2003, p.115]

Cruel, sexy and offhand by turns. [Jun 2004, p.114]

It's impressive, but heavy going, with scant trace of 50's acerbic humour. [Apr 2003, p.114]

Its mercurial art-pop is dotted with contrary pulses and unexpected detours. [Sep 2022, p.96]

This album comes with a strong sense of fantasy: authors can be rock stars, “unknowns” can become known and Stevie Wonder is right over there. What is solid, however, is Ronson’s ability to throw a swell party.

Malakian's Scars On Braodway further explore his love of machine gun guitars, bongs for breakfast, scatological lyrics and permeating sense of paranoia. [Sep 2008, p.108]

Even without explicit elegies, there's a sense Morby is permanently watching something sink into the horizon, suspending what's left in beautiful songwriting amber. [Nov 2020, p.80]

It's all wonderful stuff here. [Dec 2012, p.85]

This is a record that manages to feel both trapped and rootless. [Aug 2018, p.90]

Alluring, if more cold brewed latte than electric kool aid. [Mar 2016, p.100]

Adventurous of chord-voicing but never showy, the band nail most of their zesty songs in well under three minutes. [Mar 2006, p.92]

An exercise in monolithic heaviness. [May 2006, p.98]

Guest appearances from the venerated likes of Percee P and M.E.D. and Mr Lif & Edan prove these Brothers' breakbeats more than pass muster. But it's the more adventurous instrumentals that impress most. [Mar 2010, p.92]

It is William's ever-distinctive voice, allied to a line in unfailingly attractive material that provides this release with a patina of timelessness. [Jul 2012, p.82]

Charmer is in essence an Americana and power-pop confection with piano and tasteful guitars swaddled in the choicest vintage tones. [Oct 2012, p.83]

Sung tentatively, a la Randy Newman. [Jun 2014, p.98]

Of the 12 heat-seeking tunes, Daughters sounds the best bets. [Mar 2016, p.100]

Muezzin duels with fellow tenorist Shabaka Hutchings hit the spot. [Jun 2016, p.97]

[Weatherall] indulges in more motorik rhythms, frazzled post-rock and glam rock beats. [Nov 2017, p.103]

There's a surfeit of hushed intros building to emotional crescendos, but the feeling is all real. [Nov 2019, p.96]

If Man Alive! treads a post-Ooz water, it's deep enough not to matter. [Apr 2020, p.95]

The boogie imperative on Knuckleball Express is less deconstructed than usual. [Jul 2020, p.84]

His retro-pop stylings are just as keenly observed and affable. [May 2025, p.93]

This is easily Battles' best album to date, the one you've always hoped they would make. [Oct 2015, p.95]

This is mature, tuneful and utterly approachable album. [Mar 2013, p.87]

This is a rariety--bright, soulful and (yes) clever pop. [Mar 2009, p.114]

Rather than delivering a post-modern mishmash, they effortlessly synthesise these elements, making themselves a candidate for the quintessential 21st century pop group. [Aug 2009, p.102]

Its loose theme is authority: on Curfew and Battery, beats hit like police baton rounds, sirens wail and every chord feels significant. [May 2016, p.91]

Stamey makes the most of a limited vocal range. [Mar 2005, p.104]

This successor is strings-free, but goes further still [than 2014's This Is My Hand]. [Apr 2019, p.94]

[A] hazy smoked-out amalgam of shoegaze, analogue synths and surf-pop harmonies. [Sep 2013, p.95]

Against this highly contemporary but ever-wacko sonic backdrop, the Upsetter orates magisterially. [Sep 2008, p.98]

This is a formidable leap forward. [Dec 2012, p.90]

Bumpy at times, but worth the effort. [Jun 2013, p.92]

Although there is much that's familiar to Jem, Carroll and Delap bring it all together with a self-confidence that swiftly envelopes. [Jun 2015, p.91]

A sweetly-rendered set of originals. Sometimes, though, even if it drips with Nashville authenticity, it's all a bit too sugary. [May 2016, p.90]

[A] polished second set by the Swedish '70s-inspired blues-psych outfit. [Sep 2016, p.99]

The alternative takes are uniformly excellent, with studio chat, and even a stray telephone interrupting Bitter They Are, Harder They Fall. Above all, In The Jungle Room revels once again how superb his voice remained to the very end. [Oct 2016, p.110]

Rousing, otherworldly, outlandish. [Jan 2017, p.104]

Beneath the surface sheen, Resistance Is Futile is a complex, multi-layer work. [May 2018, p.88]

Packs intelligence, colour and melody. [Mar 2020, p.93]

Shape of Light harbours hues of Nick Drake, but occasionally Modern Studies' mellow beauty drifts into Enya-land. [Jun 2020, p.90]

Eno has rarely sounded so luminous and wistful, evoking alongside Wolfe a desert sunset that makes you excited to be alive but sad to have only so long left. [Jul 2025, p.83]

Tricky's 14th long-player somehow matches anything in his catalogue. [Oct 2020, p.91]

Sun-scorched heavy blues rock from Cosmic Californians. [July 2010, p. 94]