Blom hits all the alt-rock pleasure centres. [Jul 2019, p.96]

Transistor Radio's songs do lack the shirtfront-clenching grip of Ward's Transfiguration of Vincent set. But shapeless and misty atmospherics have their shadowy power too. [Mar 2005, p.92]

Much looser and more interpretative than its predecessor. [Jan 2008, p.111]

With enough disco detonators aboard for three Top 5 albums, here's the feel-good hit album of 2022. [May 2022, p.95]

Though some Lemon Twigs fans might miss Michael's edgier, thornier songwriting, big bro's serial melodicism and multi-instrumentalist nous across everything from penny whistle to cello slays. [Apr 2025, p.80]

Coming Home has a timeless quality. [Jul 2015, p.87]

[An] engrossing paean to wrestling's heyday.[Dec. 2011, p.93]

Wabi-Sabi is as becalmed and warm as it's wracked and haunted. [Feb 2016, p.94]

Kurt Vile's slacker star continues to rise on Bottle It In. [Nov 2018, p.89]

An epic ambition that bolster Nona Marie Levine's lightly burnished vocals. [Nov 2012, p.96]

10 well-crafted, progressive rock tracks that transcend schlock-rock trappings. [Oct 2015, p.98]

For all their assiduous construction and heartfelt subject matter, Sheff's songs struggle to match the abundant hook-line quotient of his youthful influences and inspiration. [Nov 2013, p.88]

Another damn good album from the Texan, as convincing on songs of country heartache as on roadhouse swagger. [Aug. 2011, p. 97]

For every infectious pop song, there's a lengthy, piano-and-synth-based epic, and everywhere a lust for life. [Oct 2012, p.83]

Moving from deliciously tense cop-show rhythms to echoing guitar feedback and pure-signal electronic buzz. [Jan 2013, p.98]

Hiatt sounds throughout as if gargling a box of frogs in some eternal late-night New Orleans backroom. And it's glorious. [Aug 2014, p.90]

It's an album of soothing '80s-style motorik synth-pop given just enough bite from contemporary dance music to avoid becoming pastiche. [Mar 2015, p.97]

Hackney Diamonds feels like a self-aware, historically mindful party, Jagger’s remarkable vocal thrust utterly unimpaired.

Homme has gone on to make sexier records, but for sheer creepy sensuality QOTSA is the definitive article. [Apr 2011, p.112]

Their sixth album shows them shaping the grim thoughts of The Animals and The Island into poised, potent songs. [Mar 2019, p.96]

Polar Bear remain gratifyingly dislocated from the mainstream. [Apr 2014, p.91]

Impressive, beautifully poised stuff. [Jun 2014, p.93]

Pleasing, odd. [Apr 2015, p.98]

Joe Henry's production is spot on, giving Crowell's vocals ample breathing room while acknowledging his excellent support team. [Oct 2008, p.106]

To Believe doesn't rush along the cutting edge, but after 12 years absent, it hits this particular spot in time and space: sombre, tense, watchful, looking for calm, but gathering storms. [Apr 2019, p.92]

Asgeir's voice is the first thing that grabs you. [Feb 2014, p.91]

Payseur's vocals might still sound diaphanous, his lyrics still concerned with small moments of sadness and pleasure, but there is now a structured professionalism here that will delight and confound others. [Jul 2023, p.82]

Sisterworld's art-pop is perhaps more accessible than much of Liars' discography, but it's a sound this most restless group will likely tire of long before you do. [Mar 2010, p.98]