Trad-indie may be flailing but Barat's belief is persuasive. [Apr 2015, p.92]

The way a latent power blends with an occasionally slightly gauche drama suggests early Radiohead. And, as with Radiohead, it feels like the second album could be the key event, deciding whether these collegiate English sounds can enrapture the wider world. [Mar 2011, p.98]

Akin to career suicide, it's admirably bonkers but overlong. [Oct 2009, p.108]

[An] impressive return from the veteran doyens of acid jazz. [Jun 2013, p.95]

Technically striking, yet for all its precision sounds oddly sanitised. [Jan 2017, p.104]

While the song selections are unimpeachable, the execution varies massively. [May 2026, p.101]

It's beautiful throughout, but more ice or fire is sometimes required. [Mar 2018, p.91]

Samurai is a cheesy teen ballad similar to those written by David lynch and Angelo Badlamenti, where Vega gives us bulletins on the Magi and unsolved murders. It's typically unsettling and helps give the album some welcome structure. [May 2021, p.87]

It resets her musical dial by abandoning the borderline Nick Cave-isms of Welcome... to amp up the rock dynamism which first won her attention.[Mar 2019, p.92]

His risk-taking is admirable but "abandon," perfect or other-wise, is not his optimum look. [May 2015, p.91]

When Jones starts singing about Clapham over the clipped, welter-weight indie of this quartet's second studio album it begins to seem a curiously south-eastern English rock vision - the clean guitars and Cure-style vocals suggesting a lighter shade of Bloc Party. [Feb 2010, p. 92]

He reinterprets key moments from his back catalogue. [Oct 2025, p.87]

Baobab fans will love this, though the Massako tracks have audible distortion. [Sep 2015, p.101]

California five-piece coming soon to a stadium near you. [Sept. 2011, p. 100]

The Unfolding is an inventive and accessible mix of acoustic instrumentals and electronics with an elemental atmosphere. [May 2022, p.92]

The Pet Parade is calmer, folkier, and more accommodating to Johnson's pinched nasal tones. [Apr 2021, p.84]

A fun day out only slightly marred by clinical execution that lacks the emotional tug that lovers of this vintage seek. [May 2008, p.102]

Gone is the Fisher Price-redolent instrumentation and found--sounds, in their place something more measured and radio friendly. [Jun 2009, p.98]

Anyone who blanched at Herrema's strychnine sandpaper vocals won't be seduced by this set, however, and Hagerty only rarely scale the truly sublime heights of harmololdic skronk within his reach. [Jul 2017, p.90]

She sounds a tad daft masquerading as a feisty Harlem mama on the Pharrell-produced I Can't rely On You, but her uber-gutsy delivery still charms. [Apr 2014, p.90]

A dauntless spirit permeates; and while there's only fleeting evidence of Berman's later literary wit, or Makmus' skewed rock swagger... [several songs] hint at the riches to come. [Jul 2012, p.101]

The more successful versions tend to be of recent, less iconic songs--John The Revelator, Fragile Tension--but, despite the invention throughout hours of listening, not one version matches the original. [Jul 2011, p.112]

The "dark sunshine" sound Hersh says she's courting is sometimes a little alienating but there are some fine melodies beneath the rubble. [Nov 2018, p.86]

This eighth album is very much business as usual. [Dec 2016, p.92]

Largely an album of blues covers that isn't terrible just, well, perfunctory. [Apr 2026, p.84]

The disc as a whole is never quite as gripping as its conceptual predecessors. [Jun 2006, p.112]

Singer Ann's third solo LP is her most Heart-like, cruising between drivetime and blues-rock. [Jun 2022, p.89]

Existing fans are well served. [Jun 2007, p.112]