They're still at their best on offbeat musings. [May 2009, p.101]

The group takes aim at the deadening effect of copywriting, the need for bands to "have so many things to sell you" and the conspicuous tastefulness of some online music fans. Unsubtle but often archly funny, this commentary goes down easier thanks to a melodically complex tunefulness that consistently serve up gems. [May 2024, p.82]

[The Inevitable End] overflows with regret and sorrow. [Dec 2014, p.96]

Beyond the dirty talk, this is a beautifully balanced record. [Sep 2009, p.94]

Still very much on the cerebral side of math-pop, Joan Of Arc have rarely sounded so open and welcoming. [Feb 2003, p.91]

Those all curious about CocoRosie should begin here. [Jun 2013, p.88]

The album is at its rawest and most dynamic on such garage tracks as I Gotta Get Shorty Out Of Jail and One-Eyed Jack. [Aug 2012, p.90]

Ultimately The Sea And Cake are just making timeless, faultless pop music.

A joyful, celebratory affair. [Apr 2014, p.92]

Elaborate motorik grooves, dense, post-rock complexity and intricate electronic experimentalism. [Mar 2017, p.94]

Her laconic, absurdist humour gently inflects each track, even when she is singing about intense paranoia and loss. [Dec 2018, p.90]

Wriggins remains his own elusive self, his songs forever moving between the prosaic and the ecstatic. [Sep 2022, p.89]

With smart synths and Young's wry lyricism ensuring a contemporary edge to their retro-leanings, Combat Sports is fizzy fun that won't rot your teeth. [May 2018, p.91]

Such a bad idea. Such a stunning result. [Mar 2008, p.114]

Immensely satisfying. [Jul 2013, p.92]

The result is an unusual and likeable mix of country rock, rockabilly and excellent ballads. [Nov 2007, p.102]

Although it's his longest, it's arguably his least ambitious. [Dec 2012, p.84]

If the original Assault on Precinct 13 soundtrack had been made by a time-shifted Let's Dance Bowie, you'd be most-way there. [Aug. 2011, p. 104]

For once, such a retrogressive and deconstructive approach is strangely thrilling. [May 2009, p.104]

After nearly two decades, this man and this woman still turn heads. [Apr 2009, p.100]

2 is the sound of war, famine and pestilence wiith a spoonful of sexual frustration; often silly but always fun. [Jul 2011, p.106]

They've created a splendidly polite fusion of Fleetwood Mac and the Cocteau Twins. [Sep 2013, p.86]

It's dense and intense digital compositions enter your headspace with stealth or, at other times, occupy it with an assault of breathless beats. [Feb 2017, p.95]

Legendary US photographer employs Korg synths, piano on Home-recorded improvs and covers. [Dec 2017, p.96]

The pick of the Lou-less numbers are Dear Heartbreaker, a marching homage to Tom Petty, and the shuffling, Springsteen-lite Pretty Soon. But the Reed/Lofgren songs muscle their way to the top of the pile. [Jul 2019, p.94]

Gene is not restful, but it displays impressive commitment to following the whorls and helixes of its inner logic. [May 2020, p.86]

Refining rather than redefining. [Jun 2020, p.91]

The arrangements sound less finessed, less "performed" and more file-shared this time out, and you sense Patient Number 9 has known corrective surgery. The great man's ongoing rage against the dying of the light still as its triumphs, though. [Oct 2022, p.85]