The highlights: beautiful 'Hemingway's Whiskey;' spooky 'The Guitar;' and his moving, midtempo, backporchy cover of best friend Townes' 'If I Needed You.'

High Society [proves] Schmersal capable of a good, straight-forward pop song. [July 2002, p.100]

Specialists in Transatlantica hone their songcraft. [July 2011, p. 100]

Away is a looser and more poignant than the band's previous releases ever hinted. [Oct 2016, p.95]

While never the greatest singer, Escovedo's lyrics more than compensate. [Oct 2018, p.91]

Some structural confusion aside, it's easy to embrace his Johnny-Flynn-does-indie songs. [Oct 2015, p.98]

Their mellowest ever high. [Oct 2015, p.92]

Tobin's songs offer a more lucid warmth. [Jul 2014, p.96]

On Requiem, they invert proportions, taking a variety of folk and world sounds as base ingredients and embellishing those with rock noise. Whether that's a more intriguing approach depends on if you prefer relentless musical phrases delivered on pan flute or distorted guitar. [Nov 2016, p.91]

His macabre tendency has evolved further into a kind of disaster romanticism on his 21st album. [Mar 2020, p.89]

NehruvianDoom might be slight, but it deftly whets the appetite for more. [Nov 2014, p.89]

If the alcoholic's lament Death Came teeters close to parody, then the bare-boned country pop of Place In My Heart and Bitter Memory offer some much needed respite. [Feb 2016, p.90]

The rolling melodies, stately pace and closed-miked, out of phase vocals result in an off-kilter whole, tempered by contributions from the Gothenburg Symphony Orchestra. [July 2008, p.111]

Nothing here is ever structurally predictable, nor is it all cacophonous. [Mar 2014, p.98]

A logical next step then, which stays the right side of MOR. [Mar 2013, p.96]

A third Rick Rubin-produced album -- cover versions but the comeback continues. [Jan. 2011, p. 97]

New ground is not broken, but happily, neither are they. [Jan 2024, p.86]

A pea souper of an album, beneath which there is some gold. [Feb 2011, p.104]

Opening and closing tracks Begin and Oh Men are breezy, playful electro pop, but for the most Gordon creates a variety of grand soundscapes to which the singer adds gentle, disembodied vocals. [Oct 2016, p.99]

This debut captures their explosive energy and thunder; this is a band, that when it's found its own voice, will definitely go the distance. [Mar 2012, p.921]

This sounds raw and mighty, but somewhat same-old. [Dec 2019, p.94]

The bursts of industrial trash, though dexterous, feel superfluous. [Sep 2014, p.98]

Spencer build this world of thrift-store influences and acid wit, and he sounds happy there. [Dec 2018, p.88]

Vessel creates a sense of immersion and collapsing boundaries. [Jan 2018, p.89]

The Fratellis' third album is simple and uncomplicated. [Nov 2013, p.94]

Daft, overblown and sometimes unintentionally hilarious. [Nov 2014, p.90]

Hither he thunders, with an excellent 11-track battery co-produced by super-sticksman Jim Keltner in Memphis. [Nov 2014, p.90]

Cute, but tiring over a whole LP. [Apr 2018, p.96]

Though a very beautiful whole, the mid-tempo Picture You is samey and only breaks its mood on Fryshusfunk. [Mar 2014, p.98]

The instrumental work is impressive throughout, but Gidden's vocals are the main attraction. [Apr 2012, p.88]

A beautiful, eerie thing. [Apr 2012, p.95]

It would be easy to write off the album as pastiche but a confessional, honky-tonk-styled "Cigarettes," and the grit Merriweather puts into the immaculately fashioned grooves, show he's more about feel than fashion. [Jul 2009, p.95]

There was mmuch to anticipate, but it falls short of the promise. [May 2011, p.114]

Fans are well served, but newcomers might tire waiting for the group's charms to percolate. [Feb 2002, p.93]

Kveikur largely conforms to existing Sigur Ros templates, and though the quirky rhythms and ethereal vocals of Isjaki spawn a certain magic, something is audibly lacking here. [Jul 2013, p.82]

Radical tech rockers' microshift to the center ground. [July 2011, p. 100]

Rattle's haunting weird-pop stands out like ghosts in the daytime. Spread over an album, truthfully, it's a trying listen. [Sep 2016, p.93]

Most of I Have Notes is a shop window for Gouldman’s songwriting craft. [Sep 2024, p.87]

When he's good (Con Conn Was Impatient, B'n'D) he's sublime. [Nov 2018, p.96]

Based on what's here, it's impossible to guess which could follow next. [Jul 2023, p.84]

[A] confusing, sprawling grab-bag. [Nov 2014, p.90]

Setting out its wares most convincingly with dreamy weighlessness of The Gaudy Side Of Town. Relayted gives a nod to its influences with a cough syrup slow rendition of Godly & Creame's '80s classic Cry before drifting off into a heavy-lidded haze punctuated by the occasional flurry of woozy dub and ethereal funk. [Jul 2010, p.92]

Earnestness often rules. ... They're better at slushy, Radio 1 epics and louder, brasher tracks. [Jul 2020, p.78]

Howl is most powerful on the aptly titled Everything Is Happening At The Same Time and the Yearning Strange Beauty. Seeing him play these songs live might flesh-out Howl's sometimes too-deliberate feel. [Jun 2020, p.94]

The Errant Charm lacks the edge needed to be more than a counter-cultural accessory. [July 2011, p. 102]

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]

They may occasionally press autopilot but the unexpected sound of Blythe singing for the first time ever on Overlord proves their willingness to suppress a few decibels for the sake of progress. It suits them. [Oct 2015, p.90]

PlectrumElectrum, the band set, although rockier and fuller, is just as random [as Art Official Age]. [Nov 2014, p.90]

You kind of know what to expect from a Kristin Hersh solo album, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. [Mar 2007, p.102]

The Final Frontier, its scratchy, clattering intro resembling The Mars Volta and signifying that this national institution's quest for adventure remains unabated. [Sept. 2010, p.98]

As was the case on 2013's Until In Excess, Imperceptible UFO, seem poised equidistant between the mellifluousness of '70s Beach Boys and prog rock opacity. [Feb 2016, p.93]

Experimental pop that feels for the warm electronic pulse of '80s futurism. [Mar 2016, p.100]

[Harcourt whets] our curiosity with this six-tracker which goes to the brink but never quite falls over the edge. [Feb 2014, p.96]

Though still in thrall to the synthetic '80s new wave ttemplate as perfected by Devo, Fasciination is nevertheless the sound of a band who've finally found the space to nail their own sound. [Nov 2008, p.119]

Nobody's expecting Steve Earle & The Dukes to break new ground, but when they break sweat, Terraplane comes to life. [Mar 2014, p.100]

Convocations - conceived in lockdown and isolation - represents anguish and discombobulation, without having yet reached acceptance. [Aug 2021, p.84]

The opening futurefunk salvo gives way to some soulful ballads. [Mar 2014, p.96]

The writing on this third album's greatest strength. [Feb 2009, p.109]

His vocable chants on You Can't Remain Here and purposefully awkward intoning for Detachment dance on the edge of parody. Yet the baroque sharp-tuned dances he weaves around the gothic gloom-chorales of Wisconsin-raised dark-pop enigma Zola Jesus possess an occult delicate beauty. [May 2016, p.91]

It's a highly-strung record--tiringly so sometimes--but The Dears walk its emotional tightrope with an acrobat's grace. [Aug 2017, p.93]

Nicks co-produces with Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard. [July 2011, p. 102]

Nothing on The Spine drills into your cerebral cortex and demands to be whistled on public transport like earlier hits, but the tunes are agreeable enough. [Aug 2004, p.99]

The techno seedlings that before poked through the soil sporadically now burst into full bloom. [Sep 2015, p.93]

Walsh's facility for approximating his soft-rock heroes is impressive; likewise DLM's sensitivity to the sport's uniquely philosophical undertow. [Aug 2013, p.89]

Celebrating both Big Bill and the Alvins' shared boyhood, this genial collaboration throws a warm light on both. [Jul 2014, p.89]

Track by track, these are nuggets of brilliance. As a whole, it's baffingly eclectic. [Sept. 2011, p. 106]

Studded with occasional gems...it's also weighed down by a handful of jokey throwaways and partially realised pop numbers among its 24 tracks. [Oct 2011, p.94]

The continuing resemblance of their lyrics to motivational speeches may still grate on non-fans. [Oct 2013, p.88]

Like Weimar cabaret Gilbert & Sullivan. [Apr 2006, p.104]

Tremulous covers from the '60s, '70s, US Westerns and beyond. [Jan 2018, p.93]

One off-putting aspect: a vague sense of cocky over-cleverness. [Jun 2006, p.108]

Mehldau sounds at home on folksy rambles like Tallahassee Junction while Thile imbues the jazz standard I Cover The Waterfront with a desolate tone, his plaintive vocals accompanied by suspenseful mandolin tremolos. [Feb 2017, p.90]

The follow-up to 2020's When We Stay Alive continues that LP's fragile introspection. [Jul 2022, p.97]

These guileless, well-hemmed songs could use a few more frayed edges. [Dec 2012, p.96]

A fine album is in here, but on this evidence, embracing the instinctive over the reflective might have been a better strategy. [Apr 2020, p.89]

With too many pastel-shaded instrumentals, the album lacks the previous album's molten touch and her live show's surging spirit. [June 2008, p.114]

In the main, conjure strange, eerie atmospheres filled with ghostly spirits like those inhabiting the recordings of Del Shannon and Joe Meek. [Oct 2021, p.95]

Stitched together with a number of spoken word excerpts from the likes of neo-shaman Terence McKenna, it's music rooted in the early UK rave scene. [May 2016, p.91]

A skittering show-reel of outer-space advert indents that flit from dying hard-drive porn disco to sweetly-warped On-U dub lullabies. [May 2012, p.89]

This album isn't shy, but the jittery electro-pomp and lyrical cleverness can feel off-puttingly arch. [Aug 2016, p.90]

With its onus on hooks, the result is an enjoyable, lightweight pop album. [May 2011, p.104]

It's an honourable outcome for such overreaching ambition to fall inevitably short, but not flat on its face. [Oct 2003, p.110]

Armstrong continues to lean on lyrical phases that sound clever but don't say much. Still, the album includes several strong character sketches. [Nov 2016, p.88]

Morcheeba's lightly shaken, hardly stirring sounds will doubtless satisfy fans, band and record company. [Aug 2002, p.104]

For the time being Palms are holding fast to a distinctly high-flying trajectory. [Oct 2013, p.90]

Holds together as a coherent statement, offering - like its predecessor, 2015's Right On! - a more modest, bare-bones vision of the spectral, goth-adjacent dark pop of her day job. [Jun 2022, p.86]

"Hesitant" is the right word for his attempt at creative rebirth. [Nov 2014, p.92]

Smith is occasionally stodgy, but when he's good, he cuts to the heart. [Apr 2021, p.84]

These 21 carefully edited electronic jams have a distinctly new age feel, glacier-sized slabs of ambience occasionally disrupted by undulating or cluttering beats. [May 2020, p.89]

An endearingly dog-eared weirdness to their idiosyncratic country rock, a charm to their off-kilter harmonies and a mystery within Curt's songwriting that ensures Dusty Notes is craftmanlike, rather than workmanlike. [Apr 2019, p.91]

Ortega's voice cuts like cheesewire, every word kicking the beat and the story both. [Oct 2011, p. 100]

On the whole, they succeed by taking a careful layered approach. [Mar 2014, p.100]

'Love Runs Deeper' is vintage Buckingham soft rock, while the barmy title track recalls the new wave-inspired weirdness of 'Tusk.' [Nov 2008, p.118]

Idol's rebel yell still has snarl and charisma, but some of these songs (Wildside; Too Much Fun) feel like pop-punk makeweights included to get Dream Into It up to 35 minutes. [Jun 2025, p.82]

A bustling, concise and sunny affair. [Apr 2012, p.88]

It's early days, but given everything is self-played, and the guitars are as deftly layered as they are swiftly shedding, Baldi might rise to something magnificent once the hormones have been expunged. [Feb 2011, p.107

Pierced Arrow's 10 tracks range from strutting, power-chord anthems and barroom boogies to riff-driven shuffles. [Jun 2016, p.91]

Their fifth album still features plenty of trademark thrills - Brian Chippendale drumming junglist breakbeats at heart-attack velocity, bassist Brian Gibbon's' riffs sounding like a grindcore group playing gabba - while the bark-spitting tempo-shifts of opener Sound Guardians wouldn't alienate the Metallica set. [Jan 2010, p. 96]