From Palm Beach, the new wave of 21st century powerpop. [July 2010, p. 97]

The thread which binds is Merchant's seductive, bittersweet voice, something which quickly finds the richer you, than nourishes it. [Dec 2001, p.104]

While the music is a combination of old Smog and new... there's a freshness here, a sense of change, and most remarkable, a real empathy on display. [May 2003, p.89]

This is music you can lose yourself in. [Oct 2003, p.110]

The Darkness swoop dangerously close to parody, but pull off the dizzying, sublime soprano hi-jinks of I Believe In A Thing Called Love, the deft pop-rock of Friday Night and Love On The Rocks WIth Ice's overbearing machismo with the grace of seasoned circus acrobats. [Aug 2003, p.98]

Brodericks' augmentations tend to eclipse Rngle's sometimes evanescent songwriting. [Jan 2008, p.101]

Lawrence Arabia's world may lean toward Edwardian anachronism, but that echo of simpler times will charm your socks off. [Jan 2010, p.123]

Cat's Eyes are the sound of something beautiful in a state of slow decay. [May 2011, p.104]

The 28 masters perfectly preserve the fight-or-flight cortisone power and tired, forlorn grandeur of late period Elvis. But it's the 27 outtakes that truly startle. [Nov 2013, p.98]

Nutini has grown up, and his music has grown with him: in a world littered with handsome young singer-songwriters who become obsolete some time between their first hit and first album, it's an admirable achievement. [May 2014, p.88]

[A] fine, part-politicised follow-up. [Aug 2017, p.96]

Winter Woma is something of a throwback but all the better for that. [Aug 2017, p.95]

These are gallingly sad, often crudely simple folk songs, interlaced with menace, though her assertions of agency are just as bracing as the dark parts. [Jan 2018, p.105]

This likable debut peaks on Everything Apart's breezy kosmische shuffle, and Lennon-ish I'll Be Alright, but its airiness doesn't always work. [Feb 2019, p.93]

Act as an instrumental coda to 2018's superb There's A Riot Going On. [Oct 2020, p.94]

The vocals are spot-on and so is the musicianship. [Apr 2021, p.82]

Perhaps the most mellow and settled LP of White's career. ... These slow burns seem good for White. [Aug 2022, p.84]

The flittering hooks of Whitty's first solo outing impact with tender grace. [Feb 2023, p.90]

From the get-go, JID022 crackles with a kinetic energy that drives the album's unrelenting, addictive dance pulse. [Dec 2024, p.89]

Hen's Teeth is benchmark roots music from start to finish. [Apr 2026, p.85]

Hood's vision for the band has always been cinematic--never more so than here, in fact--but by mid-album tracks such as "Get Downtown" and "After The Scene Dies," things are becoming sketchy.

Love Is Magic is Grant entertainingly magnified, but the emotional returns comes slightly diminished. [Nov 2018, p.93]

Each time they break free of their own locked groove, achieving mood-elevating uplift via genius structural shifts, or wig-flippin' solos spiritually comparable with Hendrix or Neil young. [Jan 2013, p.98]

That [Psapp] completely circumvent high blood sugar whimsy is testament to the duo's songwriting ingenuity and Durant's silken vocal cords. [Apr 2005, p.89]

She draws in appropriate songs by Merle Haggard, Patty Griffin and Jack Wesley Routh, but excels them all with her own 'Not Enough.' [July 2008, p.104]

There are plenty of cherishable moments to be savoured. [Jan 2015, p.96]

East India Youth has barely tinkered with the formula for his second full-length--a good thing. [May 2015, p.93]

Catches the sense of wistful dislocation that comes with trying to go home again, the after-hours sidewalk cafe intimacy of Manejando Por Pando or Cancion Mama suggesting quiet reckonings and reorientations. [Aug 2025, p.83]