Webb has an eclectic Thomas Dolby-style approach and he's not totally successful. ... But that doesn't matter because when he hits it, the song rises with glorious abandon. [Mar 2019, p.98]

The use of borowed items invites comparisons, not only with the originals but also with other versions of the same song. And there Moorer fails the test. [Apr 2008, p.102]

Hard Islands is evolution. But some will hanker for Fake's fluffier vintage. [Jun 2009, p.102]

Uneven but exceptionally inventive. [Sep 2005, p.92]

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

Decamping to Mexico with a gang of musician friends and collaborating in songwriting as well as performance has made for Conor Oberst's most colourful, upbeat record so far. [Jun 2009, p.100]

Lamb offer the perfect antidote to all manner of vapid pop-cultural vomitus without sounding pretentious or preachy. [Dec 2003, p.118]

Not their masterpiece, but a sizeable effort nonetheless. [Apr 2006, p.100]

He hones in on what he does best, and improves it. [Nov 2008, p.109]

Graceful and witty with 'Old Wounds' and mordant and terse in the spiky 'St. Albans,' while the sublime 'Mimi' reveals a storyteller's eye for nuance and character. [May 2009, p.102]

Black's chops and tunes suggest he won't stay underground. [Aug 2009, p.99]

This debut feels more about high budget pop aspirations than the vintage rock'n'roll doo wop influences and 'soul' which Brown has been talking up in interviews. [Aug 2009, p.94]

In short, this is exceptionally good contemporary pop. [Jun 2009, p.109]

The themes are familiar, yet still captivating, as rock's most misanthropic man sings about a world of emotional retardation and alienation. [Dec 2009, p.111]

Lostprophets neuter any genuine bite their music may have had with slick, histrionic choruses that render them as impotent as the dozens of other MTV-worshiping derivatives. [Feb 2010, p. 92]

It's out with the neon-fugged, reverb-soaked beats of 2009's Seek Magic and in with straight-up, catchy tunes. [Aug. 2011, p. 100]

The album's varying emotions and mutations are part of its unexpected strength. [Nov 2011, p.102]

Ortega's voice cuts like cheesewire, every word kicking the beat and the story both. [Oct 2011, p. 100]

It can perfectly capture the film's conflicted moods of sadness and euphoria, but just as easily turn cloying and sickly. [Jun 2012, p.87]

There's no question that it's his most appealing work for ages, but still one wishes that the chilly spark on title track and Hey Little Bruiser could have been sustained throughout. [Mar 2013, p.94]

The songs inside are equally well groomed, yet it is a shame that the singer--not generally a man to take the easiest path--hasn't frayed their edges a little more. [Dec 2013, p.85]

None The Wiser is as poppy a set as they have made to date. [Feb 2014, p.94]

Live Rain is a concert album like they used to be: prime Howlin Rain, only longer, louder and more full-blooded. [Jun 2014, p.92]

For unswerving fans only, and not of Pink Floyd. [Feb 2015, p.96]

We get tracks like Old De Spain and Driving After You, bare-bones blues whose satisfying menace echoes To Bring You My Love. In between, we're back to hillbilly hoots, jigs and Corrs-style ballads. [Apr 2015, p.96]

Rooted in dubby pop and embellished with punchy horns, it captures the Birmingham group's maiden rebel sound. [Oct 2016, p.98]

The Pace of The Passing is, ultimately, oddly inscrutable, a musical ghosting, seductive, meticulous textures elegant compensation for the lack of a strong centre. [Feb 2017, p.90]

Wonky fuzz-pop duo from Leeds weird out a little on follow-up to 2015's Ratworld. [May 2017, p.98]