Karate consummately glide through those crisp changes, unleashing wafts of Thin Lizzy swing (Defendants), Hendrix-y picking (Liminal) and stuttering Costello new wave (Rattle The Pipes). Farina’s honey-voiced complaints (see Cannibals’ swingeing cancel-culture takedown) clinch a spicy comeback. [Nov 2024, p.86]

A mighty result. [Dec 2012, p.84]

Ritual Union feels like the point at which Little Dragon's lyrical stride finally gets in step with their musical ambition. [Aug. 2011, p. 93]

Its wintery charms and enervated intrigue are hard to deny. [Feb 2019, p.90]

A stylistic serpentine of an album, it wiggles insouciantly from sugar-rush synthetic pop to harp-caressed ballad. [Dec 2013, p.88]

It’s subtle, it won’t grab you by the lapels, much less the jockstrap or G-string, but it does carry that twangy tang of life.

Victoria's wracked, whispery, smoky rasp exudes her inner suffering. [Apr 2019, p.91]

It's confusing, with flaky endings and mood swings, and an utterly compelling mix of not caring at all and desperately caring. [Apr 2016, p.87]

The songs are beautifully crafted in that Davies/Weller/Doherty English tradition. [Aug 2008, p.103]

Day After Tomorrow finds her in fine form, the famous falsetto is an octave or two down but the conviction that she brings to the songs is as strong as ever. [Oct 2008, p.106]

While not short on garage freakouts there's added twang to Hell In Texas and a spaghetti western shimmer on New day's unheavenly chorus. [Jun 2021, p.90]

These lads really knock together a proper tune. [Oct 2008, p.108]

His songs are simple and instantly seductive. [Mar 2012, p.99]

The Next Day [is] Bowie's most impassioned and convincing work in decades. [Apr 2013, p.84]

This is a triumph of achingly beautiful pop protest music. [Jun 2017, p.94]

Her Dusty-meetsNancy tones glide as imperiously over violin-caressed opener 'French Navy' as on lustrous indie-country upgrade 'You Told A Lie,' reaching sublime lvels of heartache on the Spectoresque title track. [Jun 2009, p.109]

This album more than does him [Vic Chesnutt] justice. [Apr 2011, p.98]

Rendered with a delicate, impressionistic touch, Phasor's dreamlike entreaties cut far deeper than predecessor Far In's lockdown ruminations. [Mar 2024, p.90]

Vanishing Point might be the best of this bunch, the group's B-movie R&B leaner and lairier than ever. [May 2013, p.86]

Graceful and witty with 'Old Wounds' and mordant and terse in the spiky 'St. Albans,' while the sublime 'Mimi' reveals a storyteller's eye for nuance and character. [May 2009, p.102]

And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow again shows Mering's most extraordinary craft. [Dec 2022, p.82]

Slaraffenland are a complete surprise. Unfettered yet poptuneful, they harmonize constantly--with a melodic cool, more churchy than surfy--but plough those vocal lines into dense, dynamic texture with fierce drums marching as to war. [Jun 2010, p.103]

While subsequent albums have traced the faultlines of parenthood, until now on the exquisite Sun On he Square, their teenage kids are leaving home. Everywhere, Peris notes absence. [Aug 2018, p.94]

The seven-minute title track best reflects the fluid magic of the quartet as they travel from deep soul to deep space. [May 2024, p.89]

More symphonic in structure than Herren's previous work and richer in melody and theme, it eschews loops in favor of fuzzy interference and acoustic vibrations. [Jun 2011, p.97]

This is a radical musical departure, certainly, but one that affirms the assured versatility of a singer/songwriter whose talent knows no boundaries. [Jul 2015, p.92]

Music best experienced as the sun drops below the horizon. [Nov 2021, p.91]

If these last two [fire and freshness] are tough to keep up 15 years on, it doesn't show. [Aug 2014, p.93]