Astonishingly, her own production makes much of this guff zing along with dirty guitars or big drum beats and improbably insinuating choruses. [Apr 2002, p.100]

The melodies are sunny, but Red Kite glimpses the brilliant glare of summer through a morning fog which stubbornly refuses to clear. [Aug 2015, p.94]

The thrill lies in eavesdropping on experiments-in-progress, ad as much in the quest itself as in the flashes of genius that occasionally arise. [May 2022, p.106]

On the downside, Razorlight is lyrically hamstrung. [Aug 2006, p.104]

Their peppy, sensual synth-pop has merit. [Oct 2012, p.95]

The first side's carnal workouts are muscular of beat, but let down by Common's awkward dirty-talk....The more 'conscious' ssecond half plays better. [Feb 2009, p.106]

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

Duets with Stevie Nicks and the latest country sensation, Colbie Caillat, lift the proceedings--but the tracks that stand out are those where he sings with more personal reflection. [Jul 2011, p.114

Listeners long-attuned to Gordon's avant excursions will find much here that satisfies. [Oct 2013, p.94]

The LP does feel monotonous after a while, the tunnel vision metaphor ultimately extending to the listener's experience. Keep the great frames, Agnes, but next time, try the varifocals. [Mar 2020, p.88]

Sonically never less than knowingly enormous, but concise at eight tracks, Walk Between Worlds is sure and strong. [Mar 2018, p.91]

The dozen songs, recorded in one take, make for an uncomfortable but absorbing trip. [Jan 2013, p.92]

Broadly, his remains the church of raucous or jangling indie-guitar with quirks (unexpected strings at the end of I Couldn't See The Light; clunking smartphone recording The Well Known Soldier), but Universe Room rewards the patient. [Mar 2025, p.92]

What Pony can't disguise is its influences: Orbison, Presley and Morrissey at their most doleful and camp, channelled through a similarly luscious baritone. [May 2019, p.91]

Ramona has a very on-Broadway energy. There are occasional Blue Hotel lapses, but I'm Getting Married To The War or A Precious Thing come across like a rock opera Aldous Harding, while title track - inspired by Bob Dylan's 1964 song To Ramona - is the third curtain-call Patti Smith. The force of her voice alone earths these songs. [May 2024, p.86]

Melodic snap and guileless sentiments. [Nov 2020, p.90]

Not quite magic but an impressive attempt at experimental spell-weaving. [Mar 2004, p.101]

Its dense analogue assault envelopes you like a pea-souper. [Oct 2018, p.87]

[A] curious but very listenable LP. [Nov 2011, p.99]

Eventually Janka Nabay's updating of Sierra Leone's bubu beats gets under the skin. [May 2017, p.95]

This is room-shaking, gut-quaking stuff. [Apr 2009, p.106]

Plenty of good listening here. [Jun 2009, p.105]

While the lilting melodies suggest south-east Asia - as do, explicitly, a couple of spoken word passages - a wandering, spidery guitar generates an off-balance flavour. [Jul 2020, p.81]

Cex moves slightly away from his former snot and swagger towards more humble inflection. [Jun 2003, p.108]

2017's TLC are clearly more comfortable reminiscing, making their good-natured fifth less futureshock, more time machine. [Aug 2017, p.89]

While he's putting love into these rippling, galloping beats, the vocal melodies get a little samey. [Apr 2010, p.103]

Great in places, but somehow not quite Ron. [Dec 2002, p.122]

There's a Paul Simon acuity to Up With The Jones, a look at living beyond your means, going bust and being free. Wisdom Of The World steps right out of line, a feedbacky Hendrix-style howl that resolves into mellow catharsis. [Nov 2020, p.89]

2015's Tape Hiss, Rats On Rafts were as unrelenting. Now they've added impenetrability to the armoury. [Mar 2021, p.86]

On subsequent listens how little else there is going on becomes perversely thrilling, especially in the car. [Jan 2018, p.91]

There’s nothing here to startle, just further confirmation that Cantrell remains a force to be reckoned with. [Dec 2024, p.84]

Never one for youthful giddiness, her third album is strikingly authoritative, tending towards the imperious even when expressing vulnerability yet rarely coming over as soullessly efficient.

Languid, warm, West Coast psych set. [Oct 2017, p.98]

This collection suffers slightly from inconsistency--possibly because it's cut from several different shows. [Jan 2016, p.90]

While a smidgen of originality wouldn't go amiss, there's plenty to compensate for it in the way of exuberance and humour. [Feb 2019, p.88]

O'Brien prowls around angular guitar and drums. Imagine a Kim Gordon-fronted PiL. [Jul 2022, p.97]

Each song seems like an effort to atomise their grief and frustration, with frequently clarity amid icy electronic noir. [Mar 2019, p.99]

Of seven swing covers and duets, only the high camp title track with Rufus Wainwright sparkles. [Dec 2013, p.92]

As always, S&R stress character studies, from the envious and deluded guy in Mississippi Nuthin' to the broke-down elder in Hammer. [May 2019, p.94]

Death Mask makes for a visceral, at time abrasive listen. [Jul 2025, p.85]

Opener Habub Faye is a lovely slice of sophisticated pop, as are the rootsier Macoumba and Ay Coono La. ... Yet there is still space for two absolute clunkers. [Aug 2019, p.97]

Musically slick but unpredictable, Only Revolutions is the stuff of stadia; a more obstreperous Foo Fighters; if you like. [Dec 2009, p. 92]

The opening Witness introduces philosophical detachment which anchors Oliver's sceptical worldview throughout as he hovers between the sanguine and the sly on rousing yet playful anthems like the title track or the funky The Trick.[Sep 2025, p.84]

A chequered beast swiveling between ill-fitting newe adventures in growling rock electronica and hazy, '80s-throwback dram pop. It's somewhere between that Safe Place seem happiest, Eternal Recurrence, Jump Jet and End Game revisiting hazy, propulsive Ride territory of old--complete with the odd crap lyric--but the laidback, Syd Barrett-like Dial Up and arrhythmic, big-sounding In This Room show they still have genuine class. [Sep 2019, p.86]

Donelly's wild, sweet tones are the perfect counterpoint to Hersh's cajoling banshee of a voice. [Apr 2003, p.97]

Three songs clearly outstrip the others. [Aug 2015, p.89]

Lazy vocals, euphoric hooks and volleys of digital drums. [Aug 2013, p.98]

Sometimes, as on Hold Me In The Fire, they unashamedly chase Chasing Cars’ modern-day-standard template. At others, like restive prisoners looking to try new ideas on the outside, they break out, hence the electro-percussive, choral title track. [Oct 2024, p.88]

It's really hard not to feel the absence of David Crosby's harmonies. [Jun 2023, 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]

A few missteps, but horn-pumped soul-rocker Love Again is a happy return for the Jersey Shore prince. [Aug 2019, p.98]

A slightly awkward but ambitious beginning.

A quirky collision of funk, pop, blues, Bowie-esque rock and electro, it'll perturb traditional soul fans--some of his cross-genre experimentation is weirdly unsettling--but there are several ear-catching gems. [Aug 2015, p.92]

Starts strong and finishes weak, but it's forgivable considering the gems contained in this 12-song set. [May 2004, p.97]

It's still summer music, but The Only Place captures that moment when it's time to wrap a cardigan around your shoulders against the chill. [Jun 2012, p.83]

Gravity the Seducer aims to be the great leap forward but still falls a little short. [Oct 2011, p.98]

Dad is no longer the singer he was, which of course makes Cat Stevens’ title track all the more poignant. .... Junior does most of the heavy vocal lifting and it is he, you suspect, who suggested Ph.D.’s I Won’t Let You Down and Eurythmics’ Here Comes The Rain Again, both of which turn out to be highlights. [Jan 2025, p.82]

Hymns resembles a settling breath. [Feb 2016, p.94]

Prince's 26th album will be remembered more for its method of distribution--a reactionary tabloid's covermount CD--than for being tighter and more tuneful than 2004's "Musicology" and last year's "3121." [Sep 2007, p.113]

The years haven't deadened Lucero's spirit: indeed, that experience only lends their ballads and brawlers a weightier punch. [Jan 2013, p.90]

Although on occasion Simon verges on a tinkly supper club sound, these awkward moments are thankfully outweighed by her rich melodies and candid lyrics. [July 2008, p.101]

While beats like 'Shine All Day's' electronic bounce feel odd at first, they gradually begin to make sense, while KRS-One's 'What If?' and the Supernatural-helmed 'Tribute To The Breakdancer' will keep the most ardent old-schoooler happy. [Apr 2009, p.108]

But those with the gumption to take this record on will certainly come out of it knowing they've listened to something, and you can't fault Malone for putting himself out there. [Dec 2009, p. 94]

Ringgo Ancheta continues on a liquid ambient-funk, gliding across a set of between album one-offs and remixes. [Aug 2019, p.98]

Thirty years, 170 shows, a repertoire of 400 songs in 3,509 performances: from that motherlode we have 48 nuggets chronicling the live career of the South's Bruce Springsteen. [Dec 2009, p. 111]

While Maltese's playfulness extends to queasily imagining Theresa May and Donald Trump in flagrante as a nuclear holocaust rages on As The World Caves In, both Less and Less and doomy ballad Mortals prove he can deliver without relying on irony as a crutch. [Aug 2018, p.89]

Heaps more respect's due for the full-bloodedness of rippers like Frenzy, Modern Day Rip Iff and Neo Punk. ... Four-letter lyricism and dumb-ass riffing, however, leave you craving the substance of '16's Homme-guided Post Pop Depression. [Feb 2023, p.85]

The sextet returning to their complex basics. ... They still struggle for hooks, though. [Mar 2022, p.83]

Instead of a bona fide entry in either band's catalogue, chalk this up as a Dungen sidebar. [Apr 2018, p.89]

Pay No Mind plays appealingly like The Jesus And Mary Chain slowed to 16 rpm. Then, just as you're settling into drowsy twilight, out of nowhere, a lyric smacks like citrus on the tongue. [Jun 2018, p.89]

Slick and melodic but more Placebo than Pumpkins. [Aug 2019, p.98]

Creating a feel that blissfully reminiscent of Bruce Langhorne's instrumental score for Peter Fonda's 1971 western, The Hired Hand. [Aug 2020, p.89]

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

There are few moments where Director's Cut offers anything close to a bold deconstruction. [Jun 2011, p.95]

Alegrias bends gems from his Byzantine catalogue into new shapes. [Jun 2011, p.97]

The results career from interesting to neglibile. [Aug 2003, p.95]

Whikle the quintet can comfortably do sincere and introverted on tracks like A Thing Like This and Proud/Ashamed, their speciality indisputably lies in lo-fi revelry, as showcased in Friend Crush. [Jul 2012, p.88]

They haven't really been missed, yet it's good to have them back. [Jun 2012, p.83]

There are ravishing moments and startling lines, but these 10 tracks collectively plod, the band's early sugar-rush sophistication never returning to grace this deliberate growth. [May 2023, p.88]

Rainbow is bleak. [Jun 2023, p.105]

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

Truly cinematic and imbued with humour and pathos, popcorn not included. [Apr 2013, p.94]

The group's double-messages coalesce most finely on the few occasions they pause for ballads, like th aching I Can Change. But the nostalgic melodicism, and relentless pep, of the rest will thrill even those who miss what lies below. [Jun 2018, p.91]

Super Furry frontman's third solo venture, its title inspired by hair product freebies. [March 2011, p. 98]

With its meticulous ebb and flow, Time Is Glass is best approached in a single sitting. [May 2024, p.86]

A welcome return to the comfort zone of their first two releases after the dreary mid-tempo rock of 2013's Stories Don't End. [Aug 2015, p.93]

Moon-June-balloon lyricism can let him down, but when he;s good (see Smiths-ish portrait song John) he's great. [Dec 2018, p.94]

Anyone craving Smith/Kramer’s piledriving interlocked guitars, or Tyner’s ramalama stoner poetry, will not find them on Heavy Lifting. Get past the branding issue, however, and there’s a great deal to love about this full-blooded, riotous and often deliciously funky record. [Nov 2024, p.82]

Bear witness to the city's enduringly restless guitar-led, predominantly white male aesthetic - obnoxious, inventive, middle finger raised. [Mar 2026, p.95]

A debut packed with infectious fun. [Feb 2016, p.94]

This worthy and humane sequel lacks only the original's pioneering force. [May 2021, p.85]

His singing, always restrained, is so low-key that it risks losing the listener's attention, but the playing supplies the feeling. [Aug 2022, p.95]

Despite its lulls, Ashes & Fire sounds like a new beginning. [Nov 2011, p.101]

The idea remains more brilliant than the performance can hope to be; because Wainwright is very good but Judy ia unassailable. [Feb 2008, p.98]

It's a free-wheeling surge of glitchy beats and fizzing, ravey energy, with the wobbly UK garage underpinnings of Echo Party a notable standout. [Oct 2022, p.86]

At best the new songs are bright, '70s soulful confections but too much will give you toothache. [Apr 2013, p.98]

Unsurprisingly, it flies the Wire and Minutemen flags high. More surprising are the occasional nods to funk and '60s bubblegum. [Jun 2018, p.95]

Third, and finest, brew of Seattle trio's fever-folk moonshine. [March 2011, p. 99]