Its instrumental first disc a foreboding seas of sputtering synths, dislocated drums and disorienting ideas. Yet rare moments of beauty peak through. ... A similar wilful primitivism pervades disc two. [Dec 2019, p.95]

Accomplished, shiny, but hard to get excited about. [Nov 2014, p.102]

Tge Waves Pt 1's ebb-and-flow is closer to Phillip Glass's pulsing minimalism than anything calming or restorative. [Jul 2021, p.87]

When the opening track of this third album features CSN-style harmonising about hotel lobbies, you wonder if they're trying a little too hard to sound like a burnt-out folk rock supergroup from 1971. [June 2010, p. 92]

Its facinating music nevertheless and extremely psychedelic, with gospelly backing singers, flutes and guitars reaching the listener through a reverb-heavy haze. [Dec 2008, p.104]

He hops from one musical lilypad to the next--arguably a few too many for comfort. [Aug 2012, p.87]

Girl At The End Of The World lacks the hooky brilliance to be James' best, but it's a Top 3 contender. [Apr 2016, p.90]

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

Her voice packs a punch, her songwriting is solid, and the album--while a little over-polished--is bursting with confidence. [Jul 2010, p.94]

Drake's genuinely fleet-footed flows and sly humour prevent his pained introspection descending into a cheesy whine fest. [Aug 2016, p.95]

Nobody's idea of "the new rock'n'roll," certainly, but it rings seductively true. [Mar 2003, p.109]

This is undoubtedly his best record...

An ecclectic addendum. [Jun 2003, p.113]

It feels hemmed in by its own musical limitations. [Apr 2013, p.94]

A music from within. [Mar 2017, p.93]

Before long, these initially detached settings establish a magnetic, narcotic allure, filled with elliptical hooks and images. [Feb 2018, p.97]

The basic Prinzhorn recipe - extra thick bass-lines and super-primitive stand-up drums, woven together with a lattice of spindly guitar and set off with livid bursts of call-and-response vocal -- remains largely unchanged. [Feb 2012, p.98]

There's nothing indistinct about the more congenial, festival-friendly direction of War Room Stories. [Mar 2014, p.95]

Kelis' involvement in the brooding title track can't save it from its fundamental dullness, warped, tetchy ska of 'Saga' fails to get under your skin, They're better on the camp, ecstatic single 'Raindrops,' and the hollering soul jive of 'She's No good.' [Oct 2009, p.98]

It's hard not to be seduced by the pure enthusiasm the duo have for wailing feedback, white light/white heat and archaic teen rebellion. [Aug 2009, p.103]

Hanna's sub-Kevin Shields guitars and Chikudate's sparkling keyboards eddy across the Blondie-esque layers. [Feb 2009, p.113]

What Turner lacks in lyrical bravura he makes up with arena sized melodic hooks. [Sep 2015, p.95]

Truly devoted fans will certainly savour such standouts as the glistening, blissed-out "Ballad In Urgency" and feel-good bluegrass nugget "Downtown Money Waster," but less patient Crowe-watchers may find this a rather long, just occasionally indulgent goodbye. [Sep 2010, p.98]

Alice still makes Marilyn Manson sound like Mickey Mouse. {Sep 2008, p.112]

[Prey] and the sprawling jazz'n'world beats suite of Magpie Music prove that there's still life left in DJ Food. [Feb 2012, p.98]

Apart from misplacing the detonator for Iggy's Search & Destroy and a version of Neil Young's Rockin' In The Free World that lacks the original's purple-faced fury, Can't Get Enough is the sound of men enjoying the music. [Sep 2013, p.86]

Mick Jones's production captures a vibrant, timeless analogue vibe, particularly on the sister's sassy numbers. [Mar 2015, p.97]

A more structured back to basics approach really works for them. [Sep 2018, p.94]

Comes with the smart lightness of touch that's the Vampire Weekend birthright. [Mar 2021, p.89]

Here, for the first time in years, the primetime Gallagher swagger is back, in a more mature form. [Nov 2011, p.94]

There is improvement in the songwriting....But halfway through you might well weary at the album's unrelenting, full-bodied tone. [Nov 2012, p.91]

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

Superior crumbs from the captain's table, they will make completists weep. [Aug 2013, p.104]

The 12 songs are dilatant, vibrant. [Oct 2016, p.93]

All told, less might have been more. [Apr 2016, p.96]

A tentative return at best. [Dec 2014, p.89]

He can make a sweet music, as on the soulful warble of 'Georgia,' but on most of the other occasions when Votolato's choppy riffs and off-beam melodies threaten to seduce you, Whitney's caterwaul butts in again. [Sep 2008, p.110]

The identity-crisis themed Camp trumps through whip-smart intelligence, comic brio and bristling malign intent. [Jan 2012, p.90]

Windsor For The Derby have finally planed away the rough edges from their music. [Dec 2002, p.110]

Revives the windswept drama of Porcupine-vintage Echo & The Bunnymen. [Dec 2004, p.99]

Pared-down twinkly electronic pop with arcane instruments alloyed to laptop smarts that chills as it enchants. [Oct 2013, p.98]

At root, it's a heart-warming little curio. [Jul 2014, p.86]

News From Nowhere boosts the levels of electronic warmth, Buttery's unassuming presence adding an extra level of lushness rather than dominating events. [Mar 2013, p.90]

It's no great leap forward, but it's a decent return on the band's early promise. [Oct 2011, p.105]

Dry The River's contradictions result in an almost too-unified second release. [Sep 2014, p.98]

Anyone possessing their previous output will find little in the way of reinvention. [Oct 2006, p.96]

Twelve of the songs here are vintage, unheeded warnings plucked from Ono's catalogue. The finale is Imagine--which now rightly bears a Yoko co-credit. All is transformed by the sparse new arrangements, mostly piano-led with strings, which bring the horrors--and occasionally the hope--closer to home. [Nov 2018, p.94]

This is charming. And uplifting. Happy-sad but impossibly soothing. [Nov 2011, p.92]

Barfly is pithy, punky pop and some of it really shifts. [Jan 2012, p.98]

A slight addition to their catalog. [Nov 2011, p.102]

His whip-smart three-string guitar licks still take centre stage and his banter sizzles with the personality and charm that have won him so many new admirers. [Oct 2008, p.112]

There is a strange and gripping transport to be had in these imaginative flights concerning climbing Mount Everest, the Luftwaffe-bashing Spitfire, and in the Kraftwerk-in-a-garden-shed bango clap-along ROYGIV.[May 2013, p.85]

He likes to throw an occasional hot coal into your lap, such as The Pugilist’s angry strings, and Comfortable Love’s rock torrent, somewhat Jeff Buckley-esque. Yet the naked, tearful Alright and Good Lust cut the deepest, when time seems to stand still in the face of Keaton’s suffering.

The Decemberists' ace and absorbing eighth album is rather more traditionalist than they're letting on. [Apr 2018, p.88]

Considered restraint is a virtue, but Somewhere Else is hazardously polite. [Mar 2013, p.91]

Spry and spontaneous sounding. [Sep 2015, p.87]

An intriguing partnership that fails to entirely live up to expectations. [May 2012, p.86]

Great tunes delivered in ways you'd never dreamed of. [Oct 2001, p.122]

Despite a blip of vital signs, this 4-CD sprawl does The Cure's reputation no real favours. [Feb 2004, p.106]

As a rough cut solo exercise, Rhys has delivered a blinder. [Feb 2005, p.102]

Determinedly singing in her own accent was a wise move. [Oct 2005, p.110]

Another impressive cocktail of Eastern-inflected drones, mantra-like vocals and thick slabs of empyrean noise guitar. [Dec 2007, p.100]

The tone is wistful and serene more than sad and heavy, but principal singer Nona Marie Invie still sounds like a femme fatale, with a coiled, spectral charm that suits the band's name. [Jun 2011, p.104]

Omega Male doesn't stray too far from the day job(s) [of David Best of Fujiya & Miyagi and Sammy Rubin of Project Jenny, Project Jan]. [Dec 2012, p.94]

It's difficult to tell how much post-production has been done and how much the record truly reflects Marie's artistic vision. Even so, it's a good listen. [Apr 2013, p.90]

Sarcastic, ironic--and occasionally infuriating. [Jun 2013, p.95]

Despite berry's background in comedy there's definitely more of an air of homage than pastiche to this deliciously chilled album. [Jun 2014, p.90]

The most maligned period of his career, the 80s still served up the odd Dylan gem and 17 are re-ignited here. [Jul 2014, p.96]

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

While Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth impress with the monolithic power of their noise, there's little else that compels here. [Mar 2015, p.94]

The intensity of MC Dalek's worldly-wise apocalyptic wordplay on Guaranteed Struggle and Masked Laughter (Nothing's Left) help reinvent their trademark sound without sacrificing its essence. [Aug 2016, p.95]

A solid 11-song set. [May 2017, p.92]

Inspired by a tumultuous period in his life, the 13th album from the guitar virtuoso has distinct shades of dark and light, making for some of his most interesting work to date. [Oct 2018, p.88]

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

Ayers is a lovely singer in both English and Spanish; he rather less so on the London homage It's Another Night or the gently barbed I've Never Had A Good Time.... In Paris. When they harmonise on Room At The Top, though, they're a joy. [Jun 2023, p.89]

Sure, the age is clear in the voices of Matt Piucci and Steven Roback, but so is the honesty inside songs that mine lost brothers, opportunities, and time. [Jul 2023, p.86]

It really shouldn't work, but like much of It Leads To This, it does. [Mar 2024, p.91]

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]

The four-piece line-up allows for some breathing space amid the existential shitstorm. [Dec 2008, p.101]

Sometimes it works but often it just feels odd. [Apr 2014, p.105]

'I Remember' and 'My Dearest Friend' are intimate, sad and soft.... More songs like these, and he would have a classic album on his hands. [Oct 2007, p.98]

Wildewoman is more of a patchwork quilt. [May 2014, p.94]

By turns squally and bleepy, poppy and droney, the music here is too unfocused to really hit home. Again, just like old times. [Jan 2014, p.97]

Experimental longueurs and lack of vocals mean this trip's not for everyone, but out-rock fans should get on board. [Aug 2005, p.109]

Forget Me Not may echo Dancing In The Dark's intro, but it's bouncy energy is pure Ready Steady Go!, while the crisp, finger-poppin' stomp of If Your Prayers Don't Get To Heaven evokes gospel-tinged Motown. ... However, an ensuing sequence of stodgy ballads and grunty blue-collar rockers kill that aspiration, underscored by dreary production from Ted Hutt. [Mar 2018, p.92]

An album of abundant, aberrant fun. [May 2005, p.102]

His third album in as many years, while not among his most consequential, proves that, at 71, Morrison can still perform with gusto. [Nov 2017, p.98]

Longtime fans might be appeased. Others may find themselves a trifle bored. [May 2011, p.104]

A more elemental approach to dance music. [Oct 2014, p.93]

Existing fans are well served. [Jun 2007, p.112]

Extra bass and echo enhance it reality-subverting agenda. [Feb 2013, p.98]

Much is intimate and seductive, but Undress emphasizes the feeling Hoop is in a holding pattern which is increasingly hard to escape. [May 2014, p.91]

Absolute Truth rights the ship with enough whistling milkman melodies to sink the Titanic. [Sep 2016, p.95]

It's certainly brave. Whoosh! is superior when guitarist Steve Morse and keyboard player Don Airey slip their leashes. [Sep 2020, p.85]

The finest track is Lukas's high tenor take on George Harrison's All Things Must Pass, a hymn to wisdom and humility its timelessness reinforced as a country song. [Jan 2022, p.82]

Dreams On Toast's music is much less nuanced and thought-provoking - but that's no slur. [May 2025, p.86]

A riotous union of scabrous '60s punk, resonant surf licks and grimy, narcotic song-craft. [Oct 2014, p.94]

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