His lyrics don't always match his ambition. [Apr 2007, p.108]

The effete Norwegian's music is becoming too unobtrusive for its own good. [Apr 2009, p.103]

Never inept, The Nightingales still remain hard work for precious little gain. [Mar 2009, p.114]

She's simply not being fed the right material, or getting to work with a sympathetic producer. Hudson is a soul singer not a modern R'n'B one. [Jun 2011, p.104]

Monsters Exist feels like a stadium rave washing machine, stuck on infinite cycle. [Oct 2018, p.88]

Unfortunately, Afterglow further embraces, and is overshadowed by, his influences. [Jun 2017, p.91]

The whole sprawl of tooting loops, sawing violins and Pallett's unlovely operatic warbling feels gruelling and indigestible - prog stodge in a dashing post millennial disguise. [Feb 2010, p. 93]

Mostly, she seems so (understandably) lost inside herself you don't know where to find her. [May 2011, p.111]

Spread over a whole CD, there is some worryingly featureless stuff. [Apr 2004, p.102]

You're left with the uncomfortable sensation of having walked in on six serious young men, lost in their own indie-rock majesty. [Jun 2006, p.110]

It's largely horrible, but sometimes impressively so. [Dec 2014, p.94]

The polished arrangements of Heretic Pride do Darnielle's songwriting no favours. [Mar 2008, p.106]

Overall these are bold ideas rather than great songs. [Aug 2016, p.91]

Unfortunately, Sea Sew too often clunks along like its awkwardly punning title. [Jun 2009, p.1010]

The Afro-ising influence of Vampire Weekend on Precisely The Dodos' musical sector leaves them sounding emblematic only of early-Noughties blowsiness--as passe as their name suggests. [Oct 2009, p.108]

Any number of Zutons and Corals have already trod this path, and to keep up Kane will have to try harder than insering words like "insane" and "psychotic" into music that sounds as if it was made by James Shelley's naive young cousins. [July 2008, p.101]

A festival friendly selection of gossamer reggae-lite that even jacks a riff from U2's Bad On I'll Be Waiting, although the mood is more a love up, unplugged Boomtown Rats, with Franti carefully to ensure his unflinching positivity doesn't become too wearing. [Jun 2011, p.104]

The failing voice at its core would clearly be happier in the privacy of lo-fi. [Mar 2003, p.106]

Catchy, undemanding, irksome. [Feb 2018, p.99]

Such earnestness makes for a terrifically hard slog. [Aug 2004, p.93]

While Brothers Of The Sonic Cloth impress with the monolithic power of their noise, there's little else that compels here. [Mar 2015, p.94]

The formula eventually sags. [Oct 2002, p.92]

The results are hardly raw skiffle, more sophisto-shimmery roots. Best on Fleetwood Mac-ish Butter Flutter but over-long and mawkish (SOS, for Syria). [Dec 2017, p.96]

By and large, though, Cajun serve up a smooth, folky breed of indie-rock, only rendered unlovely by Blumberg's histrionic yelping. [Jun 2008, p.103]

It's a shame that their modishness acts against them, but sometimes, playing all the right notes in the right order just isn't enough. [Nov 2011, p.92]

He indulges in too many mudane romantic/spiritual invocations and vague geopolitical maunderings. [June 2008, p.112]

There's little dry about old guy jokes. [Jun 2018, p.97]b

Cook has attempted to vary the Fatboy formula here but it's all gone a bit "mature".