Erick Sermon and Parrish Smith may not make as many dollars these days, but they still have a winning way with their slouching, filthy funk. [Feb 2009, p.109]

Kicks may take its leads from The Rolling Stones, David Bowie and Orange Juice but these songs about Glasgow and girls still manage to invest the skinny-tie shuffle with some fresh contemporary verve. [Apr 2009, p.98]

Digi Snacks is pleasingly lean on fillers , and finds RZA again at his peak as a producer, effortlessly balancing the slow burn bangers wirh tracks of soulful uplit. [Sep 2008, p.110]

The cosy and intimate songs, sung in the disarming, high-pitched tenor so admired by Sufjan Stevens, are pleasant enough, but it isn't until the Cajun-tinged shuffle of Ophelia and late-night bar lament You Belong To Heaven that it gels. [Sep 2011, p.95]

Kiss & Tell, although superbly polished and instrumentally powerful, suffers from a claustrophobic sheen. [Aug 2004, p.99]

Trio from Whittier, south-east Los Angeles, make debut on Britney's label. [Feb. 2011, p. 101]

The sound's good and getting better - a wig-out of surf rock, Stooges-style punk and hardcore thrash, with the occasional Bambi noise of 1960's folk peeping round a tree. [Aug. 2011, p. 106]

On her fourth album, Melua does her damnedest to break out of her self-imposed schmaltz trap. [Jun 2010, p.94]

Highly politicised, yet leavened with deft vocal harmony and potent melodies, the album drips with passion and thoughtfully targeted ire. [Oct 2007, p. 90]

The veteran's authoritive amber croon and psychedelicised, occassionally spectacular axework imbue this mid-tempo set with a grace and economy often lacking in the genre. [Apr 2009, p.107]

The simpler numbers--sun-dappled Dust On The Dancefloor, sweet love ballad Our Hearts Burn Like Damp Matches--are much better. [Jun 2011, p.100]

Although this change of surroundings gives the album an uneven feel, the charm of Gideon's Art Brut-like spoken-word missives is ever present, as is their sense of Dadist fun. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Laurent-Marke's facility for pleasant minor-key ruminations remain her strong suit, but the "stillness" of which she speaks all too often sounds like a stifling lack of urgency. [May 2013, p.85]

While there's nothing here to touch 1999's moving, Cinemascopic downtempo classic Les Nuits, it's an eclectic offering, deliberately in keeping with the Balearic paradigm Evelyn once helped shape. [Oct 2013, p.91]

It's astonishing how lyrical just two guitars can be. [May 2014, p.94]

Gong carry on with positive absurdist elevation via psychedelic jazz rock. [Oct 2016, p.100]

An album that stalks the perpetual gloaming so wholeheartedly, you do rather wish for a ray of sunlight here and there. [Oct 2016, p.98]

The real star is Kingston MC Racquel Jones. [Apr 2017, p.99]

If there isn't a great leap forward, there is progression on assorted fronts, so The Best Is Yet To Come embraces all-out rock, but Scared Of Love suggests acoustic ballads could be an alternative way ahead. [Sep 2023, p.88]

Rodgers wears his now mellower, less macho persona well on Coming Home and Photo Shooter, but the writing input of an Andy Fraser or a Mick Ralphs, say, is sometimes missed. [Nov 2023, p.86]

Klang is a step in the right direction. [May 2009, p.69]

On subsequent listens how little else there is going on becomes perversely thrilling, especially in the car. [Jan 2018, p.91]

This would be a strong set if they culled three tracks, shortened a few others and rearranged the sequencing. As it is, this record suffers from a distinct mid-album crisis. [Dec 2006, p.103]

Paul proves this production pioneer can still turn in brilliant beats when he wants to. [Jul 2003, p.106]

Better records lie in their future, doubtless, but this is a very promising, very charming glimmer. [May 2004, p.104]

A supercharged, hook-heavy pop-metal attack that impresses but rarely convinces. [Oct 2017, p.98]

More than a curiosity. [Jan 2006, p.131]

Lights does have its moments: the strident "Uner The Sheets" and the odd sounds of the Frankmusik-produced "Wish I stayed" stand Out. But when they're placed next to the overwrought, cliched ballad "The Writer" or the dodgy Europop of "I'll Hold My Breath" it adds up to a rather bland listen. [Apr 2010, p.92]