A slushfest it isn't....Melodically sussed, wryly observed post-60s pop nuggets are humorous, trenchant and reflective. [Nov 2008, p.104]

It's as though they've kept the whole catch, driftwood, prize-fish and all, rather than sorting through it. [Oct 2008, p.100]

Buoyed with emotional heft and supernova guitar riffs, their second album is wired around a maturing songcraft and the studio savvy of grunge producer Butch Vig. [Aug 2008, p.112]

It's not a groundbreaking record, largely because Tricky himself broke most of the ground here 13 years ago. [Aug 2008, p.103]

With 15 tracks, there a good deal to like. [Oct 2008, p.112]

Day After Tomorrow finds her in fine form, the famous falsetto is an octave or two down but the conviction that she brings to the songs is as strong as ever. [Oct 2008, p.106]

At their indie-disco feyest they can elicit comparisons with Hot Chip, but Lightbulbs trips the dark fantastic in its own deadpan style. [Sep 2008, p.110]

She gives each song an unforced intimacy. [Feb 2009, p.115]

It's full-bodied baroque. [Oct 2008, p.109]

Brodericks' augmentations tend to eclipse Rngle's sometimes evanescent songwriting. [Jan 2008, p.101]

Here nothing has changed as she melds all these influences ub a tribute to her now beloved New York. [Dec 2008, p. 100]

Let It Die's first six tracks find The Shaky Hands joyously rocking it up - like the less self-consciously arty Wilco, pre-Yankee Hotel Foxtrot - while the more reflective mood that settles over the album's second half is a wistful reverie rather than a spiritual malaise. [Feb 2010, p. 102]

It's a beautifully rounded affair though--sometimes elegiac, at others uplifting, no matter how dark its heart. [Dec 2008, p.112]

Emiliana is blessed in her musical collaborator Dan Carey, with whom she calibrates an acoustic-led chamber trip-hop with plenty of room for her voice to breathe. [Nov 2008, p.111]

The band sound like they're striding into the mainstream, leaving Desveaux sounding more of a sweet, upbeat pop-rock songstress than she should. [Apr 2009, p.109]

At its best, as on 'Heartbreaker,' the singing has the deadpan charm of Talking Heads or Kraftwerk, adding to the likeability of men who know its better to be a robot than a hippy. [Oct 2008, p.108]

Instrumentals with texture and surface but not much substance make the LP trail off in a sequence make the LP trail off in a sequence of audio watercolours possibly in need of a big screen and some diverting pictures. [Nov 2008, p.112]

That Lucky Old Sun is easily Brian Wilson's most consistently enjoyable, moving solo albums; indeed you have to go back to "Surf's Up" itrself to hear a Beach Boys long-player as good. [Spe 2008, p.99]

Only a fraction of the songs here reach a truly memerizing apex. [Sep 2008, p.110]

Joe Henry's production is spot on, giving Crowell's vocals ample breathing room while acknowledging his excellent support team. [Oct 2008, p.106]

The cover of P.J. Harvey's 'The Desperate Kingdon Of Love' encapsulates the album--restful, intoxicating, sounding gorgeous. [Oct 2008, p.102]

Slime & Reason practically revels in its juicy sense of freedom. [Sep 2008, p.112]

The Peth prove they're no mere cracked actors. [Oct 2008, p.110]

In Anderson's own context, it's slight, awkward stuff. [Oct 2008, p.110]

Forth is a good, but not great Verve album, then, its glimmers of brillance all too brief. [Sep 2008, p.98]

So far they make phrases rather than lyrics and sounds rather than songs, but they have a nice semi-chaotic way about them. [Sep 2008, p.108]

In these crop-to-fit times, omnivorous, visionary pop is at a premium, and there's all the more reason to prize an omnivorous visionary pop record like the Week That Was. [Sep 2008, p.96]

There's little original in the likes of 'Psychosocial' 'Snuff' or "All Hope is Gone,' but the bludgeoning guitars are crisp, the overload of percussion suitably crunchy and a sense of bravura and commitment that's lacking in many of today's metal bands runs throughout. [Nov 2008, p.118]