Dreams On Toast's music is much less nuanced and thought-provoking - but that's no slur. [May 2025, p.86]

Truly cinematic and imbued with humour and pathos, popcorn not included. [Apr 2013, p.94]

The group's double-messages coalesce most finely on the few occasions they pause for ballads, like th aching I Can Change. But the nostalgic melodicism, and relentless pep, of the rest will thrill even those who miss what lies below. [Jun 2018, p.91]

Super Furry frontman's third solo venture, its title inspired by hair product freebies. [March 2011, p. 98]

With its meticulous ebb and flow, Time Is Glass is best approached in a single sitting. [May 2024, p.86]

A welcome return to the comfort zone of their first two releases after the dreary mid-tempo rock of 2013's Stories Don't End. [Aug 2015, p.93]

Moon-June-balloon lyricism can let him down, but when he;s good (see Smiths-ish portrait song John) he's great. [Dec 2018, p.94]

Anyone craving Smith/Kramer’s piledriving interlocked guitars, or Tyner’s ramalama stoner poetry, will not find them on Heavy Lifting. Get past the branding issue, however, and there’s a great deal to love about this full-blooded, riotous and often deliciously funky record. [Nov 2024, p.82]

Bear witness to the city's enduringly restless guitar-led, predominantly white male aesthetic - obnoxious, inventive, middle finger raised. [Mar 2026, p.95]

A debut packed with infectious fun. [Feb 2016, p.94]

This worthy and humane sequel lacks only the original's pioneering force. [May 2021, p.85]

His singing, always restrained, is so low-key that it risks losing the listener's attention, but the playing supplies the feeling. [Aug 2022, p.95]

Despite its lulls, Ashes & Fire sounds like a new beginning. [Nov 2011, p.101]

The idea remains more brilliant than the performance can hope to be; because Wainwright is very good but Judy ia unassailable. [Feb 2008, p.98]

It's a free-wheeling surge of glitchy beats and fizzing, ravey energy, with the wobbly UK garage underpinnings of Echo Party a notable standout. [Oct 2022, p.86]

At best the new songs are bright, '70s soulful confections but too much will give you toothache. [Apr 2013, p.98]

Unsurprisingly, it flies the Wire and Minutemen flags high. More surprising are the occasional nods to funk and '60s bubblegum. [Jun 2018, p.95]

Third, and finest, brew of Seattle trio's fever-folk moonshine. [March 2011, p. 99]

She breathes the vocals as if she were drifting in and out of death's door. [May 2003, p.95]

Relative to her potential, she remains an underachiever, straitjacketed by Nashville craftsmanship in writing and arrangement. [Oct 2002, p.104]

Time Flies is a similarly lovely creation, but with this surface gloss also comes a lack of depth and a slight cheesiness to the whole affair. [Aug 2015, p.94]

For all that bombast, though, there's a disappointing, un-Texan restraint. [Feb 2005, p.94]

Even on a transitional work, No Age's spirit of adventure is its own reward. [Sep 2013, p.89]

Sure, the age is clear in the voices of Matt Piucci and Steven Roback, but so is the honesty inside songs that mine lost brothers, opportunities, and time. [Jul 2023, p.86]

There's a bit of power ballad journeying but taut pop hooks aplenty too. [May 2017, p.98]

While the album has its awkward moments, there are enough slinkily wonderful tunes, gleeful beats and miments of genuine tenderness to make Skinner's transformation not just convincing but also really rather lovely. [Oct 2008, p.100]

If You Asked For A Picture is a zig-zagging combination of gentle (the opening Thumbtack is acoustic guitar plus reverb-y, quivering vocals before muffled drums kick in halfway through) and tempestuous. [Jul 2025, p.79]

Midway, things meander, after Adrianne Lenker's pellucid vocals twists and turns. [Jul 2017, p.96]