Hopscotching from arrhythmic electronica to brutal DJ Shadow-style sonic assault and back again, it's a final demonstration that at last Stateless have arrived somewhere they can happily call home. [Mar 2011, p.98]

The way a latent power blends with an occasionally slightly gauche drama suggests early Radiohead. And, as with Radiohead, it feels like the second album could be the key event, deciding whether these collegiate English sounds can enrapture the wider world. [Mar 2011, p.98]

Something Dirty is powerful and multi-textured, but there's less of the studio experimentation that marked 2009's C'est Com...Com...Complique, despite Peron being promisingly credited with flamethrower and goat hooves. [Mar 2011, p.98]

Their strong suits are Nathan Nicholson's forlorn warble and the pop hooks that pepper quiet melodramatic, minor-chord rock songs like Locked In The Basement. [Mar 2011, p.98]

We get strings, care-worn piano, and lots of subtle detail, the last deepening the listener's relationship with the excellent, lyrical mature songs over repeat plays. [Mar 2011, p.97]

It's a fine bookend for a man who defined one parochial corner of the music world. [Mar 2011, p.96]

Don't Look Surprised strays into Killers Territory but the doo-wop strut of Hunger and calypso jangle of Photograph more than make up for it. A life-affirming debut. [Mar 2011, p.95]

Here Tyler not so much steps out of the shadows as over to a slightly less darkened corner on nine delicately plucked acoustic daydreams that also showcase his talent for arrangements. [Mar 2011, p.94]

Just like her collaborator Bon Iver, Lia Ices seems to instinctively know that less is delectably more. [Mar 2011, p.p94]

This is a big album in every way, full of ambitious layers, heavy on piano, strings, brass and drums producing vast soundscapes and lavish arrangements which place strong emphasis on the atmospheric undercurrent of some unerringly dramatic material. [Apr 2011, p.99]

A low-key, highly engaging covers album. [Nov 2010, p.99]

This collection of rarities includes songs from their "mystery year" of 1998, an MOR cover oof Toni Braxton's Unbreak My Heart and on, Turn Up The Radio, a song written as a YouTube collaboration with fans, yet is still stronger than most albums in the current mainstream pop/punk realm. [Jan 2011, p.110]

His modified piano is used sparingly throughout, making its most telling contribution on Mount hood, a smouldering invocation of the misty Oregon peak--but the complex, emotional ensemble arrangement is what impresses most. [Jan 2011, p.105]

Faun Fables do gothic folk with admirable vigour and this is incontrovertible force of nature. [Jan 2011, p.104]

There's no joker in this kind of casual big top tourism, and the album flatly perches in the middle like some neutered, latter-day Green Day. [Jan 2011, p.100]

The One's meditation on the price of fame is especially good value, but the Ace of Base-style of What Do They Know is hard to forgive. [Jan 2011, p.99]

San Franciscan psych moodists here to reclaim independent music. [Jan. 2011, p. 98]

New all-star trio featuring Joseph Arthur, Ben Harper, and George Harrison's son, Dhani. [Jan. 2011, p. 96]

James Jackson Toth aka Wooden Wand is at home on Michael Gira's label. [Jan. 2011, p. 94]

She was born on Christmas Day, but has an unsentimental take on the holiday. [Jan. 2011, p. 94]

This compilation is a reminder of the stillness and quiet power at the heart of his frank, softly sung confessional, of Smith's talent as an arranger and multi-instrumentalist, and of his able, Paul Simon-like finger-picking style. [Dec 2010, p.114]

Ultimately, the official album remains the crucible of the artist who flourishes to this day. [Dec 2010, p.112]

The best tracks see the pair sparring over hymnal slow-burners that feature contributions from Neil Young, Brian Wilson, and Booker T. [Dec 2010, p.108]

Listeners outside their target teen demographic will find all this painfully sincere emoting pretty joyless. [Dec 2010, p.106]

For a man with a suspect hipster mustache and a vast lick of asymmetrical hair, Lewis' music has serious depth. [Dec 2010, p.106]

From One Day's po-sweet surprise to DsharpG's shivery vocal/harmonium drones, each gear shift is proof of a compelling new voice. [Dec 2010, p.100]

Still winging it, still wearing it well. [Dec 2010, p.99]

Mapping the winding path of Chrissie and Jp's relationship as it came unstuck, Fidelity! is brave and tender, tingling and troubling the nerve-endings. [Dec 2010, p.98]