With You Are Free it feels like she's reached some kind of accomodation between a celebration of her vocal gift and a context within with she can happily offer it to everyone else. [Mar 2003, p.102]

Some may bemoan the lack of scope in these hushed meditations.... But more will find comfort in the warm surrender of The Clientele's aesthetic. [Sep 2003, p.113]

No great surprises, then, but as aurally seductive as ever. [Mar 2004, p.101]

The Lemonheads have never sounded so feral yet so tight. [Oct 2006, p.104]

Using jaunty jigs and marches, [Matmos] mishandle flutes, bagpipes, violins and God knows what else to illustrate the mid-1800s battlefield. [Oct 2003, p.111]

There's enough happening here to perk up demanding ears. [June 2002, p.106]

Generally rawer than it's predecessor Home, Under Cold Blue Stars is as evocative as Rouse's much-lauded debut Dressed Up Like Nebraska, while reaching still further from the twang of his adopted Nashville. [Mar 2002, p.100]

[Ladytron] have evolved into a dark behemoth, trading much of their Moogy plinky-plonk poise and gentle subversion for ominous rock thunder. [Sep 2005, p.96]

[A] confident follow-up. [Jul 2006, p.106]

Harper offers nice lines in homages to Marley, Basement Tapes Dylan, and funky James Brown. [Apr 2003, p.106]

For the most part it's a genuinely thrilling, energy-charged adventure. [Feb 2002, p.98]

The danger with this kind of project is sounding like a '70s revue, but Rouse avoids that with his intimate vocal style and quirky songwriting. [Sep 2003, p.104]

These songs cut too deep to be pastiche.... A lovely record of enormous warmth. [Jun 2003, p.101]

Their unique pop panache saves the proceedings from simple retread. [May 2006, p.102]

McBean remains a fascinating prospect. [Apr 2006, p.100]

Winds the clock back to a mid-'80s electro-soundworld in which melodies are crafted alongside beats, rather than crushed by them, and the tinkle of a keyboard carries a sinister air of mystery. [Mar 2002, p.104]

While Kenny still sounds like he's mumbling mantras to himself, the band's soft-focus allure remains undiminished. [Oct 2005, p.102]

This whets the appetitie for whatever Stevens' formidable talent fixes upon next. [Aug 2006, p.96]

Brakes give the likeable impression of being a jokey jamming session at a party that got out of hand. [Aug 2005, p.98]

A swaggering, intoxicating tight-but-loose debut. [Jun 2004, p.107]

If it weren't all so damn happy this would be the most terrifying music in existence. [Aug 2004, p.98]

A return to basics--14 meticulously sculpted, wordless vignettes tricked out in blurry beats, subtle digital daubs and mellifluous bass counterpoints. [May 2004, p.104]

An eccentric, genre-hopping tribute to the mutability of song-craft. [Mar 2002, p.101]

This one's got a whiff of the Stones' Black And Blue about it. [May 2006, p.98]

Stereolab had similar starting blocks--there's no reason why Fujiya & Miyagi shouldn't become as notable. [Jan 2007, p.110]

Santana plays gloriously throughout. [Jan 2003, p.97]

The recorded-live-by-candlelight performances documented herein aren't short on the kind of clamorous foreboding and twisted pop nous a fan of Disintegration or The Head On The Door might hope for. [Aug 2004, p.87]

As Mayaer talks himself in circles you hear an artist facing massive success, and retreating from it. [Dec 2003, p.112]