We’re all for people celebrating the music they love free from boundaries of race and that, but there’s something inescapably grating about hearing a German/English newspaper heiress wittering on about fucking Babylon in thick patois. Crushingly disappointing.

Communion takes no risks and says nothing.

At least once they had a snappy poetic sensibility and an admirable interest in history. Unfortunately, now they are pure turgid Americana pastiche.

There’s something to be said for creating music exclusively for the club or to be bumped in car stereos in the summer, but with a bland, out-dated musical architecture, The WIZRD doesn’t even offer that. I

Ultimately it feels short on substance, with the sort of atmosphere that can drain through your fingers.

The record lurches between cliched harpsichord-driven ditties and cringeworthy soft-rock pop songs that rely on the inventiveness of their concept over the originality of their music.

Tides is ambient in the same way as a water feature in a garden: soothing at a glance, but ultimately boring.

This is a further stumble away from the glory days of 'Ten'. [29 Apr 2006, p.39]

‘CLB’ sounds jaded and dull, as if it was a chore to make. It’s certainly a chore to listen to. ... It offers nothing new to the rapper’s canon, merely going through the motions on his old formulas instead.

11 tracks of the same old maudlin balladry.

It batters through good taste, though its reggae-lite template is musically forgettable.

What should have been a worldly record of peace ends up limping with musical dissatisfaction that outweighs its virtue. [29 Jul 2006, p.31]

‘The Balcony’ is informed both by their struggle and their noughties indie elders. All this adds up to a dated sound.

Cash deserves better than this. In fact, he deserves to be left in peace. Some things should just be left alone.

‘The Battle at Garden’s Gate’ is a mixed bag of heavy metaphor and lazy observation.

Despite his surprisingly palatable baritone, this remains an album you won't want to listen to more than once.

For the most part, The Stoop is a tuneful if beige Ronson-esque production, set against clever-lyrics-for-stupid-people.

Pleasantly tuneful pop-punk. [23 Oct 2004, p.51]

Within the first four songs, 5SOS shout out underachievers, college dropouts and kids battling low self-esteem. They do so with winning sincerity, but even that can’t quite make up for the record’s derivative sound.

He's only gone and come back. And improved, actually: we counted two more hits than "Back To Bedlam." Be very afraid.

Morning View's insurmountable flaw is that Incubus sell themselves as an Intelligent and Sensitive rock band, without actually appearing especially intelligent or sensitive.

What's left of the genius glam-punksters has returned in the guise of an above-average pub-rock band. [22 Jul 2006, p.31]

‘Changes’ is a knackering listen. Overly reliant on trendy production and profound(ish) romantic proclamations, it’s a disappointing comeback from an artist who has a track record in creating hits.

The abstract hip-hop guru’s fifth full-length offering, in the tradition of wayward cut-and-paste instrumentalism, is one almighty mess.

Myths 004 certainly hits the mark for “embracing the chaos” as a “crude holiday scrapbook”, as they promised in a release accompanying the EP. But is it actually an enjoyable listen? Not really.

Not so much leaping between time-signatures as entire time-zones, the gristly riffs and ambient metal meanderings of ‘Sonder’ strive for a kind of stoic, sombre enormity, but they clash badly with Tompkins’ often slick pop vocals.

The effort in attempting to redefine their sound and head back to the ’80s is clear, but it’s sorely undermined by a lack of originality and ideas.

More often than not on Future Dust, they find themselves adopting a tame version of what they could produce. Limp and lifeless, Future Dust is an album from a band who can give much, much more.