Time Flies is a similarly lovely creation, but with this surface gloss also comes a lack of depth and a slight cheesiness to the whole affair. [Aug 2015, p.94]

For all that bombast, though, there's a disappointing, un-Texan restraint. [Feb 2005, p.94]

Even on a transitional work, No Age's spirit of adventure is its own reward. [Sep 2013, 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]

There's a bit of power ballad journeying but taut pop hooks aplenty too. [May 2017, p.98]

While the album has its awkward moments, there are enough slinkily wonderful tunes, gleeful beats and miments of genuine tenderness to make Skinner's transformation not just convincing but also really rather lovely. [Oct 2008, p.100]

If You Asked For A Picture is a zig-zagging combination of gentle (the opening Thumbtack is acoustic guitar plus reverb-y, quivering vocals before muffled drums kick in halfway through) and tempestuous. [Jul 2025, p.79]

Midway, things meander, after Adrianne Lenker's pellucid vocals twists and turns. [Jul 2017, p.96]

Psych-pop and trip-hop revivalism collide with a pleasing consequence. [March 2011, p. 99]

Ultimately, in a sea of indentikit singer-songwriters, Sproule's willingness to push just a little bit further counts far more in her favour than against it. [Jun 2011, p. 102]

Untethered Moon leaves no doubt these guys are on fine form again. [Aug 2015, p.95]

A blend of well-crafted original material alongside several covers. [Mar 2023, p.89]

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]

The multifaceted Mr. Patton turns his hand to Italian-language pop songs. [July 2010, p. 95]

A collection that will have both fans and floating voters scratching their heads. [Nov 2011, p.101]

Candlepower isn't the full picture yet, and it only lasts seven tracks and 19 minutes, but it's a fine start. [Jul 2021, p.81]

Wilson's Raven can sound magpie-like--with jazz-rock joining the classical prog references--but tunes as lovely as Drive Home or the slow-burning title track remind you that he has a vision that's all his own. [Apr 2013, p.94]

At best, Oye and Boe capture loniness in a saue way and both are wonderfully fluid guitarists. But they can also be overly precious. [Nov 2009, p.92]

With self-awareness and personal catharsis equally high on the agenda, everybody's favourite nerdcore veterans may not have grown up just yet, but they've certainly become better at acting their age. [Sep 2016, p.98]

Its largely brooding, contemplative mood raising ghosts and evoking bruised skies. [Mar 2023, p.92]

Big issues... are chewed over with bittersweet humour and musical sophistication. [Nov 2004, p.110]

There are times when their admiration for R.E.M. burns a little too brightly... but overall this marks another step forward. [Mar 2005, p.100]

[Obits] sound ever more like a desiccated AC/DC. [Oct 2013, p.98]

The second half - "a saucy, synth-heavy cabaret" - will undoubtedly lose a few fans, yet Rowland still manages to pull a gem out of the fire with the touching My Submission. [Aug 2023, p.78]

The band's wild woolliness seems strangely AWOL. [Nov 2006, p.118]

From the jaunty beat group undertow counterpointing his melodramatic vocal style on the opening title track, through the almost self-consciously traditional slide guitar and harmonica combination of Devil Got Me, to his most adventurous use of the mouth harp as a bringer of Dionysian frenzy, to the pastoral backwater of the penultimate Sundown--is actually more in keeping with his experimental rock beginnings. [Apr 2019, p.94]

They're all done pretty straight, but then of course eh throws in his trademark "more is More" soloing, all Bluesbreakers-to-Cream-era Eric Clapton-style muscle and intensity. [Nov 2023, p.93]

Perhaps inevitably, given the material's scattered provenance High Hopes lacks the cohesion, both thematic and sonic that characterised Magic and Wrecking Ball. [Feb 2014, p.86]

Too opaque to fully connect, Consummation keeps its mystery high. [Jul 2020, p.85]

There's no doubt Mackenzie Scott never stops moving here, switching between gothic sway, grungy stomp and electro-pop gyration, but it can make it hard to catch her eye in a meaningful way. [Mar 2024, p.86]

The album is engagingly eclectic, always melodic, sometimes hard and storming, but never quite so sublime [as single "Good Boys"]. [Nov 2004, p.132]

Every one of these 12 self-composed, played and produced tracks is absolutely stickled with hooks. [March 2002, p.108]

Much of the remainder, however, plays a depressingly straight bat with mainstream thrills. [Aug 2015, p.96]

The spell of this balmy Southern atmosphere is only broken when Presley drops the ball on the writing front... but otherwise this is an elegant, beautifully realised work. [Jul 2012, p.88]

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]

We're on such familiar territory here that Wildfire is as much homage as innovation. [Oct 2011, p.105]

Here, he is still the anthem addict of old, but there are softer, subtler electronic textures and a real sense of reflection. [Nov 2005, p.112]

Black Rainbows is a pretty good dress rehearsal. [Oct 2011, p.97]

Unreconstructed rock thrills (produced by Jeff Lyne). [Nov 2015, p.96]

Trials & truths is a diffuse experience. [Feb 2017, p.94]

The brooding Last Night On Earth places Ranaldo in a seductively meditative setting. [Dec 2013, p.88]

This succeeds chiefly because its remixers take such drastic liberties with the source material. [Jan 2013, p.92]

The Jets sound cohesive and settled but losing their saucer-eyed charm can't help but make them a less mesmerising alternative to the competition. [Apr 2008, p.114]

Coherent but properly crackers, this is easily the most delicious post-Trux gumbo so far. [Feb 2012, p.98]

Although this change of surroundings gives the album an uneven feel, the charm of Gideon's Art Brut-like spoken-word missives is ever present, as is their sense of Dadist fun. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Shape of Light harbours hues of Nick Drake, but occasionally Modern Studies' mellow beauty drifts into Enya-land. [Jun 2020, p.90]

Seeger's voice is frail now and he has to rely on an array of accomplished singers to help him deliver his message....Even so, Seeger remains innovative. [Jan 2008, p.100]

Their first full-lengther is a seemless, beat-driven shadowplay, wherein luminescent passages of prog-pop uplift are stalked by eerie, intense atmosphere. [Sep 2008, p.106]

Some have been admirable attempts to anthologise the best of his post-Experience work. others are more dubious. This latest set falls somewhere between the two. [Apr 2013, p.105]

His solo debut is, however, a robust proposition, not as his former band but certainly not the alt country indulgence implied by label and name. [Apr 2009, p.103]

The sprawling opening (title) track commencing with familiarly tremulous, slow-motion synths inexorably rising and falling, oscillating between exquisite consonance and transient dissonance. [May 2016, p.94]

The 13 tracks of this marathon double-album offer surprising rewards. [Oct 2020, p.86]

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

Rolo Tomassi are best when varying the textures. [Aug 2015, p.96]

Shine A Light is a labour of love and a personal indulgence for its two creators, but it's always welcoming. [Oct 2016, p.93]

It's a challenging listen, but more exhilarating than pretentious. [Dec 2019, p.95]

No scrabbling for a shot at Wichita Lineman or Galveston this time out. [Dec 2013, p.88]

The naff raps and Auto-Tuned gloop can't spoil the addictive rush of the air-punching, get-pissed-destroy-a-bus-shelter anthems that abound here. [Jan 2012, p.93]

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

James' final studio album is a sturdy effort that belies the catalog of increasingly serious health issues that have dogged her. [Feb 2012, p.102]

A concept album set in the 1890s, revelling in simplicity. [Oct 2022, p.92]

These sweetly sad songs of grown up, imperfect romance reach their height with a jazzy version of Hawley's own 'Coles Corner,' where dreams and reality intermingle around Sheffield's now-demolished romatic rendezvous of the same name. [Dec 2008, p.100]

At times the central theme, exploring our relationship to Earth and ancestral wisdom, veers into portentousness- but this is undercut by the rich musical mix. [Jul 2025, p.83]

The Scots post-rockers who will outlast them all. [March 2011, p. 100]

The pick of the Lou-less numbers are Dear Heartbreaker, a marching homage to Tom Petty, and the shuffling, Springsteen-lite Pretty Soon. But the Reed/Lofgren songs muscle their way to the top of the pile. [Jul 2019, p.94]

The strung-out meanderings of Doggy or De Soto De Son veer equally toward indulgent and the cosmic. [Feb 2010, p.112]

Recent electric songs mix well with country ballads. [Aug 2015, p.98]

The 2CD "best of" is a strong cherry-pick of his catalogue. [Oct 2012, p.102]

It can be vague on the details, but Baker's songwriting is smart and serious enough to keep Little Oblivions from burning out entirely. [Apr 2021, p.86]

Those who like their Dave in lane will prefer the recently released, quintessentially post-rocking Aerial M Peel Session Andrew Perry from 1998. Fans of unpredictable Pajo should feast here. [Jan 2025, p.89]

Jap noise magus Keiji Haino wenches apocalypse-blues from guitar squall, vocal wail and synth sirens. [Dec 2014, p.102]

Surprises at every turn. [Jan 2013, p.93]

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]

Hymns is worthy if never quite stratospheric heir. [Feb 2012, p.102]

Though she occasionally loses focus Leila mostly pulls off this ambitious album and ends on a high note with 'Why Should I?' [Aug 2008, p.106]

Fans of mavericks like Mark Stewart, and indeed Mr. Van Vilet, should investigate. [Feb 2009, p.109]

The group have been honing their craft for over 20 years and all their trademarks can be found here. [Jun 2018, p.96]

More than great, this is well worth hearing for the Tex Mex No Way I'll Never Need You, Lone Star barroom rocker Just About Time, beautifully-sung After The Storm, and state-of-the nation border ballad Homeland Refugee. [May 2009, p.101]

Fourth album from the Kensington-born, Georgia-based garage rock queen's latest incarnation. [Jun 2011, p.100]

Unsurprisingly, these aren't in the same league as the Sun stdio classics, but these alternate and usually starker versions do allow us intimate seats at the creation of standards. [Jun 2011, p.114]

Vocally she delivers, Southern fried and passionate. But the songs, ever diverse, lack shape. [Aug 2015, p.98]

Straddles the line between the jackhammer clattering pop of Girls Aloud (Sorry, Etc is almost a facsimile), the elusiveness of Fiona Apple and Chvrches’ own electro backdrop. [Feb 2025, p.88]

A diverting curio, then, rather than essential. [Sep 2022, p.87]

Undeniably grandiose as the Black Angels may be, the unrelenting darkness becomes too claustrophobic; even the Velvets sometimes let the sunshine in. [Aug 2008, p.113]

The atmosphere is generally furtive, and yet the songs are at their best when they tap you on the shoulder with a familiar rough-neck charm. [Feb 2012, p.102]

There, is, alas, something much more formulaic sounding about All That I have Left, but for at least 42 of its 46 minutes, Islands is an invigorating place to be marooned. [Jun 2018, p.94]

Houston has delivered an album that, despite a few middling tracks, is genuinely moving. [Nov 2009, p.95]

Unmap transcends such mood geometrics thanks to Vernon's mostly wordless incantations. [Oct 2009, p.99]

Both men have made better albums and Black Pudding sounds like a couple of guys too deferential to each other to actually raise a challenge and push a boundary or two. [Jun 2013, p.85]

This collection [is] an artful, sweat-free take on eclectic rhythm that heads straight for the dance floor. [Jan 2012, p.93]

Sleepy Eyes is an immediate standout, as is the mellow but life-affirming title song. More playful is the excellent Two And Two Don't Make Five, a kitsch retro-groove spiked with humour and a funky organ solo. [Sep 2016, p.94]

Pare things back to an insistent Banshees-like boom and groove. [Nov 2020, p.90]

A leaner, more radio-friendly effort. [Sep 2015, p.86]

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

[Devoldere's] disaffected drawl and seedier impulses are curbed by co-singer/melodic foil Sylvie Kreusch. [Dec 2017, p.96]

He's a master of umbral moods, and in this respect at least, In Our Nature is a worthy successor to the phenomenal "Veneer." [Oct 2007, p102]

The album's varying emotions and mutations are part of its unexpected strength. [Nov 2011, p.102]