Braxton ventures far from the strictures of traditional rock. Indeed, he's cleared passport control and stepped into the realms of modern classical music. [Oct 2009, p.103]

This is warm, analogue-smudged R&B that blossoms with repeated plays. [Jun 2019, p.95]

WE is Arcade fire's best album since 2010's The Suburbs. By circling back, they've once again moving forward. [Jun 2022, p.86]

The concept is a bit arch and it's easy to get overly trainspotterish with this kind of venture.... apart frim some obviously recognisable moments it sounded like a quality Yo La Tengo album. [Sep 2015, p.88]

Highway Companion abounds with Dylanesque first-, second- and third-person stories of rolling stones with no direction home, and how wear and tear is grinding them to a halt. [Sep 2006, p.90]

Pure gonzo blues-rock boogie. [Mar 2006, p.94]

Black Lips conjure not only the riffs of the early garage squallers, but their very spirit. [Dec 2007, p.108]

Te brushed drums, vintage electronics and hushed vocals on Memory Of a Cut Off Head play like they were recorded in a bunker under siege. [Dec 2017, p.94]

Esteemed Cologne unit corrals a trans-global selection of the dancefloor's most revered. [Sep 2015, p.95]

Stewart sets about pushing up the earth under these delicate folk orchestrations and prog madrigals with subversive skill. [Dec 2022, p.91]

This is a shape-shifting beast, its classic pop sensibilities leavened with occasional samples or stretched into epic, groove-based jams. [Apr 2007, p.96]

Oneida may well be evil geniuses in the midst of creating a classic, multi-album masterpiece. [Aug 2009, p.103]

Cute, but tiring over a whole LP. [Apr 2018, p.96]

It's the sound of a band on a roll. [Jun 2006, p.110]

[Pinback's] blend of warm and wistful is almost impossible to resist. [Jan 2005, p.104]

It finds the group's estimable strengths consolidated as never before. [Jun 2005, p.112]

From Mason Dixon's struttin' Southern boogie and the title track's exhilarating echo of the Stones' Soul Survivor, through to the adorably vulnerable Quiet Person--what a hoot. [Jun 2011, p.92]

II offers a litany of brief, mellifluous, vaguely jazzy mood sketches, fluidly mapping a terrain both playful and emotionally resonant like the missing link between Eric Satie's Gymnopedies and Everybody Digs Bill Evans. [Sep 2012, p.88]

Literate, thoughtful and rhythmic, and with Sullivan unveiling a rich baritone croon, Between Dog And Wolf marks something of a late-in-the-day career high. [Sep 2013, p.88]

The injection of vintage jewels that worked so well in-concert doesn't necessarily make for a coherent listen here. [Dec 2015, p.90]

The result is a funk-filled bundle of fun populated by a polyphony of farcical political figures, where anger is tempered by something more potent: satire. [Sep 2019, p.88]

There's a Paul Simon acuity to Up With The Jones, a look at living beyond your means, going bust and being free. Wisdom Of The World steps right out of line, a feedbacky Hendrix-style howl that resolves into mellow catharsis. [Nov 2020, p.89]

Pale Blue Eyes' debut album deftly executes a type of electro-inclined pop which initially surfaced as the edges of post-punk softened to embrace melody over angularity. [Sep 2022, p.94]

It's impressive stuff, full of craft and invention, but there are moments when there could be more mellow - and a touch less pyrotechnic indie-rock Roman candle. [Sep 2024, p.91]

Each song feels handmade, having the precise airiness or density it requires. [Jan 2007, p.112]

This time around, the Gizz's experiments have resulted in a compelling macrame of blues, rock, electronica, country and more besides. [Jun 2019, p.90]

The immediately obvious aspect of Magic is there hasn't been such a musically dramatic Springsteen album since "Born In The USA;" and like that album, this is a State of the Union address disguised as a pop record. [Nov 2007, p.88]

The devil's in the details, be it the drum machine patterns that propel Church or the lush pedal-augmented textures of Medieval, while the instrumentals that open and close the album aren't simple throwaways but highlights. [Sep 2015, p.86]