A collection of tunes with groove at its synthetic heart. [Apr 2021, p.83]

Laus's writing is maturing, Real Man and tie My Shows surprisingly country-folk, while elsewhere there's bell-clear acoustic pop. Any occasional sameness is offset by existential stingers. [Oct 2024, p.90]

Pang! doesn't just look forward to a blazing global meltdown. Beneath the modernist sheen, Rhys roots these songs in something older and wiser. [Oct 2019, p.83]

A title that came to John Darnielle in a dream vividly interpreted as the score for a musical. [Feb 2026, p.90]

At times it's spellbinding. [Dec 2006, p.118]

They sing beautifully together and play everything. [Mar 2023, p.83]

If you like Papa M and Nic Jones, prepare to be delighted. [Feb 2025, p.87]

Much of Give A Glimpse has the warm familiarity of a beloved sweater, but none of it sounds rote or autopilot. Mascis might be tending the same patch, but there's fresh flowers sprouting from that soil. [Sep 2016, p.88]

Less electronic than the albums he made under his King Biscuit Time and Black Affair aliases, it's Mason's best post-Beta Band work. [Jun 2010, p.98]

A record of startling breadth. [Feb 2003, p.96]

Has a pronounced acoustic bent. [May 2003, p.95]

The tribute album of the year, a cavalcade of orch-pop joy, an object lesson in songwriting smarts. [Dec 2003, p.106]

Rice establishes an extraordinary intimacy here. [Oct 2003, p.107]

This is largely a quality-controlled treat. [Jan 2007, p.112]

This record is way better than we had any right to expect. [Oct 2009, p.99]

A picaresque journey through the cosmos. [Feb 2013, p.86]

Their relentless attack is deadly serious. [Jan 2014, p.104]

Not so bad as to frighten connoisseurs of, say, Dub Housing's post-industrial emptiness passages, but, yes, it's a "difficult" listen. [Nov 2014, p.98]

Taylor's balm-like burr delivers a blissful moment of healing. [Aug 2021, p.81]

C'est La Vie is as potent, visceral and concise a sonic expression of this act of courage [step up and be an adult] as you could hope to find. [Nov 2018, p.87]

It exudes an organic, direct feel from which it gains its considerable charm. [Feb 2008, p.112]

NxWorries spread their undoubted talents thinly across an offering several chillies shy of the full enchilada. [Dec 2016, p.93]

Bracing, yet insidiously melodic. [Jan 2012, p.97]

The Center Won't Hold sounds like a band urgently resetting their course, putting their fury and fear ona war footing. At times., it's on a industrial scale. ... There are gorgeous pop songs here, too. [Sep 2019, p.84]

"Surprised" might not be the answer, but these big, generous songs still land an emotional punch. [Sep 2025, p.79]

Music that's moving, beautiful and uplifting. [Feb 2026, p.83]

Debut arrives fully-formed. [Apr 2026, p.94]

No One Ever Sleeps, even with harmonies from Robin Pecknold, feels not magical, but hollow and sluggish. At the rockier end, Heartbreaker adds Arcade Fire urgency and may score alt-radio love. The rest, however, is lukewarm. [Jul 2012, p.83]