Jap noise magus Keiji Haino wenches apocalypse-blues from guitar squall, vocal wail and synth sirens. [Dec 2014, p.102]

Surprises at every turn. [Jan 2013, p.93]

Grand Archives are a modest outfit, never as anthemic as Bridwell's widescreen My Morning Jacket-lite, but with a celestial line in harmonies. [May 2008, p.114]

Hymns is worthy if never quite stratospheric heir. [Feb 2012, p.102]

Though she occasionally loses focus Leila mostly pulls off this ambitious album and ends on a high note with 'Why Should I?' [Aug 2008, p.106]

Fans of mavericks like Mark Stewart, and indeed Mr. Van Vilet, should investigate. [Feb 2009, p.109]

The group have been honing their craft for over 20 years and all their trademarks can be found here. [Jun 2018, p.96]

More than great, this is well worth hearing for the Tex Mex No Way I'll Never Need You, Lone Star barroom rocker Just About Time, beautifully-sung After The Storm, and state-of-the nation border ballad Homeland Refugee. [May 2009, p.101]

Fourth album from the Kensington-born, Georgia-based garage rock queen's latest incarnation. [Jun 2011, p.100]

Unsurprisingly, these aren't in the same league as the Sun stdio classics, but these alternate and usually starker versions do allow us intimate seats at the creation of standards. [Jun 2011, p.114]

Vocally she delivers, Southern fried and passionate. But the songs, ever diverse, lack shape. [Aug 2015, p.98]

Straddles the line between the jackhammer clattering pop of Girls Aloud (Sorry, Etc is almost a facsimile), the elusiveness of Fiona Apple and Chvrches’ own electro backdrop. [Feb 2025, p.88]

A diverting curio, then, rather than essential. [Sep 2022, p.87]

Undeniably grandiose as the Black Angels may be, the unrelenting darkness becomes too claustrophobic; even the Velvets sometimes let the sunshine in. [Aug 2008, p.113]

The atmosphere is generally furtive, and yet the songs are at their best when they tap you on the shoulder with a familiar rough-neck charm. [Feb 2012, p.102]

There, is, alas, something much more formulaic sounding about All That I have Left, but for at least 42 of its 46 minutes, Islands is an invigorating place to be marooned. [Jun 2018, p.94]

Houston has delivered an album that, despite a few middling tracks, is genuinely moving. [Nov 2009, p.95]

Unmap transcends such mood geometrics thanks to Vernon's mostly wordless incantations. [Oct 2009, p.99]

Both men have made better albums and Black Pudding sounds like a couple of guys too deferential to each other to actually raise a challenge and push a boundary or two. [Jun 2013, p.85]

This collection [is] an artful, sweat-free take on eclectic rhythm that heads straight for the dance floor. [Jan 2012, p.93]

Sleepy Eyes is an immediate standout, as is the mellow but life-affirming title song. More playful is the excellent Two And Two Don't Make Five, a kitsch retro-groove spiked with humour and a funky organ solo. [Sep 2016, p.94]

Pare things back to an insistent Banshees-like boom and groove. [Nov 2020, p.90]

A leaner, more radio-friendly effort. [Sep 2015, p.86]

It's no great leap forward, but it's a decent return on the band's early promise. [Oct 2011, p.105]

[Devoldere's] disaffected drawl and seedier impulses are curbed by co-singer/melodic foil Sylvie Kreusch. [Dec 2017, p.96]

He's a master of umbral moods, and in this respect at least, In Our Nature is a worthy successor to the phenomenal "Veneer." [Oct 2007, p102]

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