It's a near-total reinvention, and a triumph. [Apr 2011, p.98]

The deep soulfulness that always set The Afghan Whigs apart from the pack was no mirage, and on Do To The Beast, it has matured with grace and power. [May 2014, p.86]

The Black Keys’ raw edges are retained amid the Hendrix fuzz of Man On A Mission, while on the slick, Philly-shaped soul standout Make You Mine, the pair soar to new poppy heights. [Sep 2025, p.79]

Far from the title's implied despair, Wit's End sounds more like home, sweet home. [May 2011, p.111]

Loyalty retains the humble immediacy of its predecessors. [Jul 2015, p.90]

There's an undeniable zip to these. [Jun 2024, p.82]

Probably his most varied album. ... The extremes work better still, be it Cyrus's eyebrow-raising raw trawl through Metallica's Nothing Else Matters or the vocal pyrotechnics which course through Young Thug & Nicki Minaj's Always Love You. [Dec 2021, p.87]

On these dozen tracks, Washington creates a playground and invites friends in to be themselves, shaping a dizzying crosshatch of ideas where George Clinton’s lounge croon sets up a trumpet-chased pep talk from rapper D Smoke, or André 3000 slips – with flutes in hand – into a nocturnal haze that feels like some futuristic Debussy state of bliss. [Jun 2024, p.85]

An album of lightness and substance, in perfectly observed amounts. [Oct 2005, p.114]

Strange Pleasures is a lush, intoxicating place to drift away in. [Jul 2013, p.86]

Dickinson is the singer's best foil since Bernard Butler, spinning a kaleidoscope of suave, modernist soul-pop. [Mar 2023, p.87]

Sparer but equally powerful record [to U.F.O.F.]. [Nov 2019, p.90]

Bob Mould's been hereabouts before, of course, but The Tubs' tightly-wound songs are good enough to transcend the concept. [May 2023, p.95]

They've perfected their emo pop. [Jan 2006, p.132]

It is a hazy path through a dusty landscape of sadness and enlightenment that never arrives at answers or certainties, but shimmers with an eternal mystery. [Dec 2019, p.90]

There’s an irresistibly slinky Stones groove to Boom Boom Back (Beck Hansen yelps mid-chorus), while Fontaines D.C.’s Grian Chatten guests on the smouldering Stranger. Throughout, Cosials and Perrote joyfully excel. [Oct 2024, p.88]

It really is good. [Jul 2005, p.99]

With Kilo, Vainio returns to sub-bass layers and industrial scree to create a dark minimal techno with strange internal narrative. [May 2013, p.95]

Annual waft of immersive drones, synthscaped romance, glassy yogic remixes. [Feb 2017, p.99]

Debut album from an eclectic yet melodic Omaha band. [July 2010, p. 97]

[Introducing] contains her best songs and most relaxed, assured performances. [May 2007, p.112]

Now, by trying something a little different, he's mustered a late-career triumph. [May 2010, p. 92]

The Weeknd starts here. Jan 2013, p.108]

Make Me Feel Alright is a joyous call and response; Souled Out On You a heartbreaker with deep feeling; Country Child, meanwhile, is pure Hill Country hypnotic boogie. [Jun 2021, p.89]

He and his songs sound beautifully close-knit. [May 2020, p.89]

Heroic in its scope and shifting moods, it's more performance piece than repeated listen. [May 2025, p.93]

With Willie, his son Lukas's band and Neville helping out elsewhere, there is audiable love in the room. Three final, reflective and intimately presented Rebennack originals shin, but best of all, perhaps, is his take on The Traveling Wilburys' End Of The Line.[Oct 2022, p.90]

This is the work of an artist who, seemingly despite himself, has turned into a major contender. [May 2016, p.93]