Not an easy listen, but admirable. [Nov 2017, p.97]

A little more sonic danger may have roughed-up the pristine veneer that dampens the fun. [Dec 2021, p.89]

It's no double-set, however, its sprawl contained within 10 tracks and 42 minutes. [Dec 2017, p.91]

Production-wise it's the compressed, tidy sound du jour that flattens out dynamics; it would be interesting to hear them recorded on some funky old analogue gear, to add a bit more grit. [Dec 2018, p.92]

While there's a surprisingly low glam quotient, Fudge Sandwich finds odd harmonies between funk and anarcho-punk, plus more predictable psych. [Dec 2018, p.84]

While hats should be tipped for the sentiments expressed, with less urgency to make his point and more time spent on making it listenable the message might have stood a chance of reaching a few more ears. [Jan 2017, p.96]

Holland's singing identity still shifts disconcertingly. [Aug. 2011, p. 92]

Far from sounding like the future, however, Situation is valiantly old school in its belief that the best rap is cultural commentary, poetic and from the heart--the modern blues basically. [Nov 2007, p.108]

Anthrax's energised take, though hardly original, remains forceful and persuasive with each member still delivering with the strength of 10 men. [Apr 2016, p.94]

It's the kind of inimitably throbbing slice of neo-psychedelic unease they've knocked out with biennial constancy since 1999's Internal Wrangler. [May 2008, p.109]

A true, if guilty pleasure. [june 2008, p.103]

Without Marshall, they're less overtly folk-based and on the stand-out Caroline, they're as rewarding as David Gray at his most up-tempo, while Madison Cunningham brings a feminine touch to Blood On The Page. [May 2025, p.87]

Refining rather than redefining. [Jun 2020, p.91]

Tastefully arranged, high-spec country-folk introspection. [Aug 2018, p.96]

There's nothing here to match their gonzo 2003 hit I Believe In A Thing Called Love.... But there's still laugh-out silliness. [Jul 2015, p.92]

In the end, it's surprisingly worth it for the few great, strange tracks.

A sprawling, instrumentally dazzling work which all but spurns pop songwriting. [Jan 2002, p.99]

Konoyo is subtly emotive, its soundscapes cool and tranquil then swallowed up by blossoms of cryptic drama. [Dec 2018, p.93]

Pissed Jeans might deal in uncompromising, near-unlistenable noise, but in a world gone increasingly crazy, their scourging hi-jinks make more and more sense. [Mar 2017, p.94]

Slightly frustratingly, similar changeability [as 2018's Lala Belu] prevails here. [May 2020, p.86]

Insanely ambitious, or just insane; you decide. [Apr 2016, p.90]

Hatfield eschews radical reinventions, but her peeling away of the more finessed layers surrounding Lynne's indestructible melodies/chord sequences works a treat on Can't Get It out Of My head, Strange Magic and Telephone Line. [Nov 2023, p.92]

McGuire's guitar and tape loop examination of his own psycho-dynamics. [Mar 2014, p.96]

Hearing Mahal mimic African Blues players is usually fun, but 'Zanzibar' is underwhelming. But when Ben Harper turns his guitar up, things get interesting. [Nov 2008, p.116]

Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith may not make as many dollars these days, but they still have a winning way with their slouching, filthy funk. [Feb 2009, p.109]

Cohen's sometimes overly mannered, Brett Anderson-echoing vocals won't be for everyone, but nevertheless this is a brave and absorbing statement. [Jun 2016, p.91]

Mostly it rocks. [May 2015, p.99]

As ever with Borrell, it's never less than weirdly, grippingly fascinating. [Sep 2013, p.90]

Mostly it's just business as usual with Van in reasonably good form. [Jun 2005, p.95]

It mostly works but can be breathless. [Dec 2020, p.82]

Department of Disappearance won't surprise or disappoint anyone who loves its 2009 predecessor Yours, Truly, The Commuter. [Nov 2012, p.86]

Harris's spellbinding songs still feel beautifully half-hidden, buried in black space. [Dec 2014, p.92]

Hypnotic channels occasionally, degrade into ruts, but more often this is a fabulous freakout. [Mar 2017, p.98]

A close encounter with mortality via the deaths and serious illness of a number of friends and relative infuses the drunken beats, fractured samples and sweet-smelling melodies with a mood of melancholia. [Dec 2013, p.89]

Like a turbo industrial Tears For Fears. [Mar 2016, p.98]

Hazy, heart-broken boy/girl indie-rock reveries.[Dec. 2011 pg. 96]

The shimmering finger-picking and angelic backing vocals of Old Pine build a cosy fireside vibe, but elsewhere the upbeat hoedowns are less impressive. [Nov 2011, p. 92]

Blue Eyed Hexe makes occultish overtures; Magdalena is a great, aberrant love song. [Mar 2014, p.96]

Sweet and to the point. [Mar 2012, p.97]

Though there are also moments when TDD's seemingly random amalgam of influences and styles doesn't quite work, Fuckarias rocks like a bastard and frontwoman Linnea Jonsson has all the poise and tone required of a top-notch pop singer. [Apr 2011, p.97]

An exotic and exuberant affair with hard-rock, electronica and symphonic elements. ... Some might find the afterlife that Farrell's Kind Heaven promises a little daunting, ultimately. There's a helluva lot going on all the time. [Jul 2019, p.89]

Walk This Road glides between cheerful boogies and sunny R&N vamps, luxuriating in the relaxed chemistry of the four surviving members. [Jul 2025, p.86]

Polished and platitude-laden but hugely effective. [May 2015, p.100]

Vision Fortune and then Spectres themselves serve up two slices of white noise, and even the hardiest listener may question the necessity of any further submissions. More substantial things arrive further on. [Jul 2016, p.93]

Perversely, however, amid the overbearing production values, it's that grizzled, needling voice that keeps matters connected to the street, where Little Steven's heart truly belongs. [Aug 2017, p.95]

This is real chase-the-devil-out revival with Reed's cut-throat scream and bluesy guitar playing pinned to an anything-goes-in-the-name-of-the-spirit backbeat. [Jul 2016, p.90]

A meditative, inward-looking affair, Freeze, Melt is best heard after a big night in. [Sep 2020, p.91]

Sumptuous, but still challenging. [Jul 2015, p.92]

Ultimately hit and miss, Justice's gift for arena-friendly hooks remains undimmed. [May 2024, p.86]

These songs are solid. [Sep 2018, p.90]

Kingdoms In Colour is a bright, pan-global musical jaunt delivered as a glitter cannon explosion. [Oct 2018, p.87]

Not quite enough to give Win Butler the vapours, but not far off it. [Sep 2013, p.90]

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

There are moments of real beauty, and Air may well prick up the ears of film producers looking for new scoring talent, but as a listening experience in itself, it's often heavy-going. [Jul 2022, p.90]

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

Her impact remains astounding, but a The Sporting Life-style left-turn is long overdue. [May 2017, p.95]

Like all tribute albums it's a mixed bag. [Jul 2025, p.92]

The sequel to 2006's Gamelan Into The Mink Supernatural lays needling waves of in-the-red euphoria and cymbal-saturated pummeling, with the occasional scenic feedback plateau to catch one's breath. [Apr 2011, p.97]

Quietly thrilling pop noir. [May 2015, p.100]

It's the quality of the material--not just the three vocal takes each by Jack White and Norah Jones, but also the supple and atmospheric instrumental interludes-- that elevates Rome beyond Pastiche and into the realm of cinematic enchantment. [May 2011, p.105]

Treetop Flyers have perhaps wisely chosen to avoid Mumfords' bombastic path for an altogether sunnier route. [Jun 2013, p.88]

Mollestad confirms her love of The Melvins, Sonny Sharrock and six-string gymnastics. [Jun 2013, p.95]

OOIOO create a continually changing mandala of sounds somewhere between Boredom's sky-high orchestrations, Can's idiosyncratic ethno-experiements and the world-jazz fusions of Don Cherry. [Aug 2014, p.88]

Across a double album, Clarke's songwriting landscape can start to feel featureless, his big-sky country demanding tighter focus, more interesting rock formations. [Dec 2020, p.88]

Thrice Woven stirs in Norse and Gaelic legend into a bewitching barrage of arboreal-metal fury and black-winged flight, somewhere between early Darkthrone and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. [Oct 2017, p.93]

Hallelujah Anyhow needs a shade more definition to cut through the reassuring vintage fug. [Nov 2017, p.94]

Her tendency to over-infuse them with the weepies neuters what otherwise be gleaming moments. [Sep 2012, p.94]

It's a few tracks too long, but it's easy to get lost in its smoked-out haze. [Apr 2005, p.89]

There is much melancholy here, but he sounds comfortable singing songs that carry the weight of experience. [Oct 2013, p.87]

The album's substantial rewards lie in the unorthodox rhythms of drummer Matt Tong. [Mar 2007, p.102]

Caramel consists of weightless, non-danceable funk, drifting in from the edge of consciousness like a vaporised, enervated Scritti Politti. [Dec 2013, p.89]

The follow-up to 2003's "The Diary Of Alicia Keys" has lots of confidence and volume, but less of the shades in between. [Dec 2007, p.98]

As intriguing as it is, it's of course lacking the focus of Neilson's brilliant songwriting and characterful voice, while likely offering him vital creative inspiration for his next record proper. [May 2025, p.91]

This bombastic, cacophonic, but endlessly impressive set would make a fine soundtrack for dancing madly among the wreckage [of capitalism]. [Feb 2009, p.113]

A polished affair, it cannot but fail to eschew their naive early '80s glory. [May 2015, p.100]

The music is charming, if a little simplistic at times. [Aug 2017, p.94]

Familiar elements (Nancy Wang's cheerleading vocals, sparse instrumentation colliding, lyrical misanthropy) are present and correct, but everything is bolder and deeper. [June 2010, p. 93]

The blend of lushness and rusticity is beguiling. ... Still, for all its accomplished loveliness, there's also a suggestion that Nash's sense of wonder is a little less wild eyed than it once was. [Sep 2018, p.89]

A lovely album, but not one which lingers. [Jan 2026, p.87]

The animals are well cast as they orbit Magic Town. [Sep 2013, p.91]

The bonus material features a first release for the fabled "Mustique Demos": just Noel, a drum machine and Owen Morris's portastudio in the Caribbean, suggesting a humbler alternative might have been possible, had reality not intruded. [Nov 2016, p.102]

The delivery is folk emo. [Dec 2017, p.92]

This album is partisan, powerful and controversial. [Dec 2017, p.87]

If The Way's latter stages descend into lumpy Who-y rawk, the earlier auditory apparition of Buzzcocks in tuneful excelsis will always be welcome. [Dec 2014, p.89]

Downstate's a more focused listen. [Mar 2025, p.93]

With smart synths and Young's wry lyricism ensuring a contemporary edge to their retro-leanings, Combat Sports is fizzy fun that won't rot your teeth. [May 2018, p.91]

There's no question that it's his most appealing work for ages, but still one wishes that the chilly spark on title track and Hey Little Bruiser could have been sustained throughout. [Mar 2013, p.94]

Hardcore fans will be sold on the passion, others may struggle. [Jul 2021, p.86]

Pale Green Ghosts is both novel and familiar. [Apr 2013, p.86]

Kicks may take its leads from The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Orange Juice but these songs about Glasgow and girls still manage to invest the skinny-tie shuffle with some fresh contemporary verve. [Apr 2009, p.98]

The simpler numbers--sun-dappled Dust On The Dancefloor, sweet love ballad Our Hearts Burn Like Damp Matches--are much better. [Jun 2011, p.100]

This is less organic, more brittle, and electronic than before and begs to be opened out in a live setting. [Jul 2015, p.93]

[The album is] spare, poignant, dark and dry. [Jul 2013, p.92]

Occasionally, the album threatens to go Spinal Tap-ish. ... But when Dwyer steeps the prog in garage frenzy, the pot boils. [Sep 2018, p.92]

A varied, febrile affair more often than not in pursuit of the lunatic. [Feb 2004, p.93]

The more experimental efforts have a real impact. [Sep 2012, p.97]

In spite of its two-headed musical harmony, the personal disharmony in The Civil Wars is all too evident. [Sep 2013, p.94]

More tension in the style of Fumbling Prayer's churchy organ and escalating coda might have widened Unfurl's visceral impact, but as music-for-bedroom goes, Ry X is king. [Mar 2018, p.91]