Alone, the music feels like a too-long experiment, albeit punctuated by lovely songs. [Oct 2016, p.109]

This is SMD's deepest, moodiest record to date. [Jun 2012, p.85]

Girl Ray's metamorphosis is still ongoing, and that their true final form may resemble something darker and more substantial than Girl's neon reveries, diverting though they are. [Dec 2019, p.94]

These are superior soundtracks for sure, but just a little low on levity. [Dec 2016, p.93]

Barnett doesn't quite equal this deadpan reportage [as Avant Gardener on 2013's A Sea of Split Peas] but navigates similar terrain in charming style. [Apr 2015, p.88]

She takes memories and splashes them around in them, a style she's made her own. Hokey, lo-fi acoustics and a fluid off-key croon add a surreal edge. [Sep 2025, p.86]

This is his first tentative experimentation with some big band backing. [Jun 2015, p.96]

Bayley's lyrics--inspired by fly-on-the-wall over-hearings--add depth. [Oct 2016, p.109]

As with its predecessors, Compulsion Songs is jammed with feedback-laden throwback journeys that still worship respectfully at the altar of Spacemen 3, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Sonic Youth. [Nov 2016, p.93]

As it swivels between rock hymns like the Boss-backed New York comeback and country laments like Jukebox, it becomes a primer for newcomers, not a unified statement on a par with 2020's raw Good Souls Better Angels or the landmark Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. Still, it is a triumph that this exists at all. [Aug 2023, p.80]

Highlights: Tropicalia-Afro-funk fusion Bobbie's Second World; 7th Dynamic Goo's silvery disco. [Apr 2020, p.96]

100% Publishing is brimming with energy and ideas. [Aug. 2011, p. 100]

A sounding board for confessionals too heroically wonky to be dull. [Mar 2013, p.86]

Even six listens in, this record offers few easy hand-holds. [Apr 2015, p.88]

Scream has balls, Cornell vacating his comfort zone with admirable readiness. [Apr 2009, p.98]

The Wiltshire-raised, London-based trio respons with an album that feels utterly vital, but--show no desire to climb out of their own particular furrow. [Apr 2010, p.95]

Slightly mannered vocals; odd but good. [Sep 2018, p.96]

Bare acoustic tracks with fuller band on upbeat tunes all sung in pleasing, husky tones. [Oct 2013, p.98]

Deeper investigations are recommended. [May 2022, p.94]

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

Some of the best covers here are of less overtly politicized Dylan songs. [Feb 2012, p.95]

Even for Ron it makes for downbeat listening, but when it really comes together, such as Lost In Thought, his rock-bottom emotions truly reach for the stars. [Mar 2013, p.87]

There are a lot of moments when - sleeves rolled up, top button undone - it sounds as if they're pouring out their hearts to the same bartender as The National. When they get the detailing right, though, it flies. [Jul 2020, p.78]

Ragan's fifth album is rock as much as roots. [May 2014, p.91]

Cloaked in fuzzy melancholy, Fandango is one for dreamers. [Jun 2013, p.94]

Amnesty's dark, metallic electro-pop creates an overwhelming Strum Und Drang. [Oct 2016, p.99]

Boys Don't Cry is an unashamed stopgap. [Jun 2012, p.86]

This is effectively one long, fuzzily fragile, ever-orbiting tone poem. [Aug 2013, p.91]