Stuffed with fizzing hooks and brilliantly frank lyrics, Almost Free could be FIDLAR’s best record yet. A blistering collection of eclectic tunes threaded together by punks’ fearless riffs and unguarded admissions, which add even more weight to their sound, it’s a reminder of how much we’ve missed them. Welcome back, lads.

As airbrushed as an Athena poster, 'Alphabetical' is nonetheless an emotional experience. [19 Jun 2004, p.57]

'Let It Come Down' is another towering achievement - both musically and emotionally.... This is music as it's meant to be: raw, colossal and awe-inspiring. No wonder everything else just pales in comparison.

Most of the scattershot pastiches hit their targets.

IX sees the Texans at their most focused and thrilling.

Like all covers albums, the temptation to dig out the originals is not far away, but there’s enough electricity pulsing around these versions to not only justify a charitable contribution but also make it a worthy addition to your record collection.

Destined for the 'obscure, kinda interesting' slot come end-of-year list time.

‘Jesus Is Born’ serves as a gateway into gospel and a fittingly festive listen for this time of year. Praise be.

The result is a bloated, soulless shell that never finds its own voice.

Part of what makes Leave Me Alone such a blast is the impression it gives of Hinds as a tight-knit girl gang, on and off record.

Twin drummers Matthew Clark and Jamie Levinson are oustanding, but it’s Patterson who’s the real star – an all-American frontman whose honey-coated voice is practically begging for adoration.

Gruff's skills as a songwriter married up with his gentle, accommodating tones can, at their best, elicit the fuzzy feeling one gets listening to a Burt Bacharach classic, but this falls short of such lofty comparisons.

Downsides? There really aren’t any. Mount has done it again. He could write music about the impact of Brexit on the UK’s trade with China and make it sound amazing.

Encore essentially mingles mellowed ska and reggae with funk disco, Latin hints and spoken-word pieces.

This is UK bass music at its best.

Harcourt... has done the unthinkable: fallen in love with a laydee and made his "happy" album. Luckily for us, it's the best of his career. [11 Sep 2004, p.55]

Each track on their fourth boasting a captivating blend of experimentalism and depth.

Musically it's the cream of nostalgic pop, and the lyrics exhibit a wafty elan; but in purely conceptual terms, Cults is too busy flying on clouds of giddy adolescent wonder to plunder the depths of its pretensions with conviction.

Tiptoeing through the dark fairytale forests of ‘Sleep Paralysis’ can be fun, but this is so woozy-sounding it should come with a warning not to operate heavy machinery while listening.

This is a rare and wonderful joy: a live album that even non-obsessives should embrace. [12 Nov 2005, p.45

It’s their finest collection of songs to date.

A majority of the songs on ‘Love Sux’ clock in at under three minutes, giving the record a fiery sense of purpose. From the fraught emotion behind the vulnerable, delicate ballad ‘Dare To Love Me’ to the snarling guitars of ‘Déjà Vu’, every moment on the album is deliberately melodramatic.

Ineffectual hippy grumblings that will make you want to sleep. [4 Jun 2005, p.58]

A good debut, if strangely restrained. [2 Apr 2005, p.50]

It’s still a lot like getting hammered in the skull for an hour, but Wrath allows enough range between the power-chug of ‘Grace’ and the forbidding rumblings of ‘Reclamation’ to lift them a long way out of the pits of hell.

It’s a shame the editing isn’t as tight all the way through, but these grooves sure are deep.

Highlight ‘Swamp And Bay’ offers a rare hook-laden respite with a country-ish radio jangle and scuzz-rock climax, but everything stays consistently true to the core of the record: a very human and honest partnership, in a universe all of their own.

The album was recorded in close friend Ben Kramer's house in leafy Massachusetts and is plush with piano, trumpet (from Will Miller of fellow Chicagoans Whitney) and a more mature take on their Rolling Stones obsession. The five-piece have added consideration and restraint to their usual wheezing approach.