The first half of the album is techno-pop, finely balancing euphoria and heartache. .... The subsequent ballads' more fragile. [May 2022, p.89]

An open, emotionally congruent record that never tries to be clever and yet rarely seems dull. [Apr 2004, p.99]

It's all oddly refreshing, aurally exciting and a whole lotta fun. [Jun 2019, p.94]

The big screen really suits him. [Jul 2019, p.94]

A gently rambling rumination twinkling with congas, shakers and bird-like flute. [Oct 2019, p.92]

These songs engage on intimate, interior level. [Sep 2021, p.95]

Moves from a first LP of monumental pinguid hypo-groovers to a second of fried-amp creepy-crawl sludge and crude-oil ghost harmonics. [Dec 2021, p.86]

Achieves optimum velocity from the off, and barely settles for less than a vigorous simmer throughout. [Apr 2022, p.85]

13 is a shape-shifting delight sans longueurs. [Jun 2026, p.88]

The best pieces here really are as good as their previous iterations; very occasionally, perhaps even better. [Jun 2026, p.96]

The joy of Steely Dan's early albums was that their superior playing, production and craftsmanship was vibrantly energetic, spiced with rollercoaster twists and turns, and deeply sardonic lyrics... Fagen now lacks those vital extra elements, leaving just craftsmanship with no spark. [Apr 2006, p.104]

Whitmore's sparse new songs brilliantly realised. [Oct 2011, p.105]

The sound might be spacier and more panoramic, but there's still some grit in the mix. [May 2007, p.110]

A personal statement that is simply too accomplished to fall into pastiche. [Apr 2015, p.96]

Danger Mouse's illustrious production CV is a big draw but it's his classy discretion in play here, giving plenty of space for Black Thought. [Sep 2022, p.86]

The languid voiced one has rarely sounded better. [Jun 2012, p.100]

Forsyth's emotional power is entirely here and now. [Feb 2020, p.88]

This sequel traverses reassuringly similar zones, with Tuttle's banjo threading in and out of the FX atmospherics, and an expanded instrumental cast - notably fellow travellers Chuck Johnson and Luke Schneider on pedal steel - operating with equal subtlety. [Sep 2022, p.86]

With echoes of caribou, Chemical Brothers and Underworld also fluttering in the mix, Avery's is a compelling, club-friendly debut with crossover appeal to the headphone set. [Nov 2013, p.89]

Likewise explores empathy's limits and dialogue's importance, Quinlan's densely-packed lyric sheet give anything hackneyed a wide berth. [Feb 2020, p.92]

Oren Ambarchi and several of his distinguished collaborators move from cold pulsing grooves to free electronic jazz freakout in a manner most conductive to euphoria. [Jan 2017, p.97]

Protest songs can be dour, but Bradfield dresses lyrics adapted from the poems of Patrick Jones in his most ornately uplifting arrangements. [Sep 2020, p.85]

Rully Shabara and Wukir Suryadi call spirits from the soil with enough power to trouble the Richter scale. [Feb 2019, p.91]

In the category of great rap reinventions, file it next to Daniel Dumile's post-KMD rebirth as MF Doom and Ultramagnetic's MC Kool Keith re-training as Dr. Octagon. [Aug. 2011, p. 94]

This is Toumani's best work since 200o8's The Mande Variations. [Jul 2014, p.88]

Bowles apples his clawhammer style to reverberating experiments. [Oct 2016, p.100]

With most cuts clocking in under five minutes, Sonancy's austere precision carries right through to its auteur's Chrome-esque robo voicing. [Apr 2022, p.80]

Andorra arrives in reverberant, sun-drenched spumes of falsetto vocals, crunching guitars, pulsating drums, jingling sleigh bells and fluttering flutes. [Sep 2007, p.109]