Myth Of A Man doesn't feel like the whole story yet, but it's getting there. [Feb 2019, p.92]

A "modular synthesis" of indefinable plonking building to bursts of static joy. [Apr 2019, p.96]

If you dug them back then, you'll likely dig them now. [Jun 2019, p.93]

It's a globe-trotting celebration of jerky, angular tempos. [Jul 2019, p.86]

It's a familiar world they inhabit, but still a deeply odd one. [Oct 2019, p.82]

Here he sings, using multiple guitar tunings for the complex arrangements, and his voice is variously a warm croon, sometimes darker but mostly pure and tender. [Feb 2021, p.82]

Roots-rock Zelig with a punk past, the New Yorker's double long-player has Roots Rock and Radical discs. [Nov 2021, p.94]

Weighty subtexts and a consistent mood of restrained portent haven't entirely banished the aforementioned arpeggiated banality here, however, which is a shame, because in places Heather gives rein to an otherwise repressed idiosyncrasy. [May 2022, p.94]

Break Me open doesn't stray too far from his day job. ... When his music rises to match the power of his words - the strings-and-horn-laden crescendo of Crestfallen - the results are stirring. [May 2022, p.90]

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

While ably constructed, particularly on the wistful The Old House, these songs feel slight - a starting point from which Konschuh's own individual voice may blossom. [Oct 2024, p.84]

Inner Day's voyage around the edges of the avant universe might be challenging, but it can also be mesmerising. [Dec 2025, p.83]

If this is a less turbulent FWF manifestation, they're still powerful, churning perilously. [Feb 2026, p.80]

The cumulative result begs a position beyond the band's canon, in an intriguing mini universe of its own. [Mar 2026, p.80]

Frontman Brendan Urie has a knack for jaunty pop but Pretty Odd is too clinical and calculated for one so young. [May 2008, p.102]

This stylish set quantum leaps from the title track's ethereal doom disco to the acid-damaged dreampop of Tokyo Wonderland via robo-glam rave-up Party Boy, and deserves to find these most playful of veterans a wider audience. [Aug. 2011, p. 92]

[Bundick] constructs a wold of dancey digital pop out of low-slung Cali R&B rhythms, blunted hip-hop, Gallic dance pop and quirky house. [Feb 2013, p.91]

Sexsmith's mournful voice and lyrical skills, so admired by the likes of Elvis Costello and Neil Finn, detail a world of love and hopeful expectation. It all makes Exit Staretgy... an almost infinitely rich and subtle album. [Sep 2008, p.98]

Arbouretum have reined in the Crazy Horse-gallop-on-for-hours excesses of earlier outings, for sharper impact. [Jan 2013, p.91]

Thoughtful, slow-burning dream pop. [Apr 2014, p.98]

Hayes's new-found prolificacy certainly hasn't exhausted his gift for timeless pop. [Feb 2015, p.91]

Immersive, but not entirely absorbing. [Aug 2017, p.91]

Too much of the rest meanders through trickling streams of acoustic guitar and somnambulant vocals without ever detaining you for long. [Nov 2009, p.97]

Grand Archives are a modest outfit, never as anthemic as Bridwell's widescreen My Morning Jacket-lite, but with a celestial line in harmonies. [May 2008, p.114]

The group are definitely branching out, but they've not quite reached Zabriskie Point yet. [Nov 2019, p.91]

An album that exudes charm and promise. [Jan 2012, p.96]

[Their] constant supersize-me approach is a bit exhausting, but few albums this year will strive this hard to entertain. [Feb 2012, p.95]

Too much of this double album plods. [May 2017, p.98]

Even with a groundswell of atmospheric guitar sounds and ghostly keyboards,the album's slow-burning style never fully ignites. [Aug 2014, p.91]

Give it time and you'll be rewarded. [Oct 2006, p.102]

A second album every bit as upbeat, funny and furious as their eponymous 2006 debut. [Apr 2008, p.105]

For every shallow, Banks stirs up a hidden depth. [Nov 2016, p.90]

Mostly loose and warm more than heart-stopping. [Apr 2006, p.104]

Passionoia doesn't quite match [The Facts of Life], but the best bits are immaculate. [Mar 2003, p.109]

This is accessible, if sometimes austere, modern electronica, distinguished by passages of unmitigated prettiness. [May 2003, p.108]

Winds the clock back to a mid-'80s electro-soundworld in which melodies are crafted alongside beats, rather than crushed by them, and the tinkle of a keyboard carries a sinister air of mystery. [Mar 2002, p.104]

Occasionally gestures towards greatness, but remains earthbound for the most part. [Sep 2003, p.112]

An extended groove workout, akin to Erykah Badu's Worldwide Underground EP. [Jan 2004, p.102]

Conor Oberst regroups with the band that made him. [March 2011, p. 94]

If the album's (mostly) feral guitars and off-mike whoops conjure a band keen to re-harness the pluck of 2003's Youth & young Manhood, in places, the enormodome-courting trappings of recent years linger on. [Oct 2013, p.94]

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

An unfussy affair. [Jun 2005, p.108]

Though her fellow Willies may not possess her audience-pulling ability, they lack nothing in the way of talent. [Feb 2012, p.94]

The album ebbs and flows with a winning fluidity. [Sep 2017, p.86]

Even where Sounds Of The Universe resembles a self-help manual, it does so with commanding tunes and a ring of truth. [May 2009, p.102]

Any goth undertow is easily outweighed by post-rock grandeur. [Nov 2004, p.95]

Brion's 3/4 step-step micro-cues--for Greta Gerwig's perfect comedy drama--come with the necessary sprinkling of inexplicable sadness. [Apr 2018, p.89]

Some of the 22 tracks teeter on the edge of pure corn. [May 2026, p.86]

She's clearly still diamond sharp, with a larynx to match. [Aug 2009, p.103]

Pretty road ruminations. [Jul 2015, p.96]

There are good songs here, but it sometimes sounds like Sheryl is trying too hard to turn back the clock. [Jun 2017, p.87]

He delivers another strange and beautiful record, retooling is soporific folk sound with synths and experimental soundscapes. [Apr 2021, p.81]

It's good to hear him outfront, vivid, quirky, and unconfined. [Feb 2012, p.95]

Creativity sometimes croaks when domestic bliss walks in, but not here. [Sep 2010, p.96]

Grace only had 10 songs, and though it seems tiresome to sit through multiple live versions of 'So Real,' the title song, 'Hallelujah' et al, it's not. [Aug 2009, p.118]

Soulful, moving music. [Apr 2012, p.91]

Ultimately, it's the combined sound of - there's no getting away from the word - ethereal vocals and cavernous, sometimes even martial dance rock that appeals rather than the detail. [Apr 2012, p.86]

Windy City is a rather safe album. [Apr 2017, p.90]

He wastes half his solo debut dishing out second rate filler. Thankfully, his true colours shine through on I Still Wanna, Raid and Trouble On My Mind ... although they're frustrating glimpses of a potent artist coasting too readily on past glories. [Jan 2012, p.99]

With tensions at its core, Pre Language fuses white light with the darkness of anxiety. [Mar 2012, p.102]

Smoke Fairies still possess great harmonies and sweet melodies, but they now come steel clad. [Jun 2012, p.92]

A girl on fire? Now and then--and inbetween times, she smoulders as well as ever. [Jan 2013, p.95]

Death And Vanilla lack only a little warmth to make submersion in their pre-digital pool irresistible. [Jun 2015, p.92]

It could sound outdated, but instead, done with such panache and passion, it's very much alive. [Sep 2016, p.96]

Psych instincts and gas-weight vibes avoid modern psych's retro slavishness, but its lightweight sound can feel insubstantial. [Nov 2018, p.96]

The pieces here are teeming with small melodic and rhythmic details across a range of textures. [Mar 2019, p.87]

For the most part, Haim remain drive-time ear candy, undeniably slick and effervescent. [Aug 2017, p.88]

It's surprising how straight down the line this album is. [Jul 2009, p.94]

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

Jaded & Faded offers a series of fleetingly thrilling, anti-everything songs that pulse with the kinetic energy of New York street life. [Aug 2014, p.92]

What more than saves the day here is a better-than-good melodic performance from Elton, and an outstanding set of lyrics by Bernie Taupin. [Oct 2006, p.98]

It's difficult to judge on one listen. [May 2006, p.104]

At the heart of this overgrown squall of a record, there's a sense that The Strokes feel they have something to prove. If only they'd been able to decide upon what that is with greater clarity. [Feb 2006, p.88]

You have wit, wisdom, and yet another Adamson sonic script you wish someone would film. [Oct 2002, p.100]

The aural palette is as wide as ever... but in the service of songs that might be sung on the morning train, under stars on a moonless night or even in the bath. [Apr 2002, p.116]

This is classic Cure. Three listens and you'll love it.

They've made their finest LP since 1995's "The Charlantans." [June 2008, p.112]

Deliberately nostalgic. Musically, however, it sounds fresh-packed. [Aug 2017, p.97]

Boldness has its own reward in the big grime beats, tension-filled horns and cold self-loathing of Mercury. [Nov 2008, p.104]

But judicious daubs of strings, piano, female backing vocals and even a band (on Roll On, a surprise boisterous finale) reach out and the lyrics follow suit - venturing out into snow is a metaphor for change. [Jan 2010, p. 104]

This is a pure genre exercise but done well. [Feb 2017, p.92]

If he fits a lot into a brief span, it can also seem like a selection of raw sketches for works still to be fully realized. [Mar 2012, p.103]

Genders' decision to forsake his husky tones for a forthright falsetto immediately adds an unsettling nuance to Throws' twisting tales and burrowing melodies. [Jul 2016, p.93]

Beck-assisted psychedelic electronica from Black Moth Super Rainbowman. [July 2010, p. 98]

Her more organic songs stand out melodically amid layers of modern production mulch. [Sep 2017, p.96]

Fifth, and best, album from Montreal's big dreamers. [Apr. 2011, p. 94]

Slightly fey at the start, this album gets better as it goes on. [Aug 2016, p.96]

A couple of cracking originals of his own and beautiful production. You have to doff your cap. [Oct 2017, p.95]

Part 2 wins with the garage-guitar-pop of Hollywood and the hard edged though sugary Teflon. In keeping with Brix's own memoir, Part 2 suggests that pasts remain unpurged. [Nov 2017, p.100]

The end result is dark and desolate, but also profound and provocative. [May 2019, p.86]

While showcasing a further surfeit of talents - Zongo Brigade's K.O.G., Ghanaian singer Pat Thomas, a rap-happy Soweto Kinch - could make Freedom Fables feel like a compilation, a wide streak of jazz connects the dots. [Mar 2021, p.90]

There are moments where the charts could bear being much edgier, and the guest spots are variable. ... In the midst of it, Weller himself sails regally on, in fine-grained voice, and the songs are happily, bomb(ast)-proof. [Feb 2022, p.87]

A massive step away from his band's sound and more towards that of his friend and touring partner Nathaniel Rateliff. No one could dismiss Mumford as a lightweight folk tourist after this. [Nov 2022, p.86]

Asher steers The Secret Of Life toward familiar traditional-pop territory. The Placid setting brings out the politeness in Streisand's guests. [Aug 2025, p.76]

LLFR! is a skiffle-ish, gung-ho affair built upon driving acoustic guitar and organ. [May 2009, p.102]

Listen too close to the lyrics and you'll often detect a dispiritingly autopilot misanthropy.... Lose yourself in the music, though, and Cherry Bomb reveals a fevered charm. [Jul 2015, p.89]

Though brief nautical ballad Deck Chair is a skit too far here, there's a great bubblegum-pop song fighting its way through the exploded theatrics of Heavy Metal Lover, while silly song of thanks for the six-string We Are The Guitar Men is a virtuosic hoot. [Nov 2019, p.89]

A few clunky lyrics take the shine off. [Feb 2012, p.95]