Peaks on Witchcraft, a perfect Bikini Kill-Pendle Witch coven induction song. [Apr 2018, p.96]

Unsurprisingly, Necessary Evil falls short of her prime's pop perfection, yet it provides a fair compendium of her career. [Oct 2007, p.90]

The odd saccharine lyrics loses them a fourth star. [Jan 2013, p.102]

Their sixth album doesn't veer too wildly from it [their MO]--lashing Krautrock grooves to a broad cross-section of dance music tropes, and embellished with Best's labuorous, conversational vocal style. [May 2017, p.91]

It's at once plush and anodyne, both insatiable and confined. [Dec 2008, p.100]

A single-minded, yet ultimately baffling experience. [Apr 2014, p.95]

Double Life, a thoughtful country-blues, is actually deeply touching, and Night At Lake Unknown is a soft, sweet Hank Williams Lament. the rest can be broadly summerised as Eeyore on Quaaludes. [Jun 2014, p.94]

Swing Lo works best at arm's length, admired like a diamond rather than held like a carbon-based life-form. [Aug 2012, p.91]

Hypnotic Eye mostly returns to their earliest days of razor-edged guitars and garage rock.... The listless You Get Me High and Burnt Out Town's clunky blues may let the side down, but it feels good to finally have the real Heartbreakers back. [Aug 2014, p.94]

If your perfect musical Venn diagram contains Oneohtrix Point Never, Machinedrum and Terry Riley, Suicideyear will satisfy your equation. [Oct 2014, p.93]

A rare beacon of quality amid the shoddy posthumous rap parade. [Feb 2020, p.91]

Certainly the most accessible [album] of their career. [Jun 2006, p.99]

Chromatics fans will fine much to love, but the eeriness that made Carpenter's reputation is mostly lacking because he doesn't need to soundtrack a shock or its aftermath. [May 2016, p.89]

There is a grab-bag of variety. [May 2020, p.93]

An ongoing reconnection with the experimental dandy in the mirror lends his latest work's stylistic pinballing a fun quotient that compensates for it's unevenness. [Apr 2012, p.84]

An off-the-mark stab at Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen vocals casting a grim shadow over what was a slow burning lament. Thankfully, Wildness's remaining portfolio is stuffed with hooky but soul-bruised cuts. [Jul 2018, p.96]

But, for all the technical proficiency, there's a sense of nobody ushing themselves too hard. [Mar 2024, p.91]

Much of Hum has a brooding, measured Nick Drake-ish intensity, driven by fast, intricate folky picking. [Sep 2020, p.92]

Slightly fey at the start, this album gets better as it goes on. [Aug 2016, p.96]

ACR Loco lives up to its title. [Nov 2020, p.83]

With his chosen genre being synonymous with timeless, classic pop, these songs need to be unforgettable to really stand out. Instead they're merely good. [Jul 2013, p.88]

Quietly turn[s] into a rather good record as it goes along. [Jun 2004, p.116]

A meld of punk brio and grunge licks. [Oct 2014, p.96]

She sings of global suffering, emotional loss and female power in a way that's occasionally overwrought--but always packs a punch. [Oct 2007, p.92]

Sometimes there's a danger that comes with being too damn clever, namely that the melodies at the heart of songs can suffer or a feeling of too much fiddling around. [Apr 2008, p.104]

Gene is not restful, but it displays impressive commitment to following the whorls and helixes of its inner logic. [May 2020, p.86]

There is a slight trophy cupboard quality to Ronson's accumulation of contributors but the conception, if not the feeling, is impeccable as ever. [Jul 2019, p.93]

The LA portion of the album is a noticeably better recording - the drum sound has improved for a start - and it's a high energy show featuring William Bell and Carla Thomas. [Oct 2025, p.94]