He dissects his 20-something malaise with a dry and eloquent wit like a K-Mart Morrissey. [6 May 2006, p.33]

The frame is there, there's just not enough meat on the muscles of their Euro-jitter-pop.

While debut album 'Faded Seaside Glamour' suffered from a mild dose of ADD, sprawling and meandering into atmospheric noodling between its smatter of acid-in-your-candyfloss pop hits, with 'You See Colours' Gilbert has sharpened his pop stiletto blade.

If there's a lesson to be learned from 'Making Dens', it's that there's nothing to be feared from pushing the pop envelope that little bit further.

Clever and memorable--an electrifying frisson of underground meets overground, punk purism meets pop perfection, artistic integrity meets not minding too much if more than five people like you. [11 Jun 2005, p.65]

But just before sheen threatens to turn to smarm, The Research acknowledge twee works best when a dark side lurks just beneath the surface.

This is an album that leaves you in absolutely no doubt that, at the very least, Pascal Arbez-Nicolas is the best thing to come out of France since Daft Punk. [30 Apr 2005, p.63]

A masterpiece.

Even if you've been fortunate enough to live with these tracks over the last year or so, they still sound more vital, more likely to make you form your own band than anything else out there.

In among the usual awkward, bad sex and sharp-yet-jaundiced eye on what others settle for, there's something unusual for this pair: hope. [12 Nov 2005, p.45]

Truly a master-class in beat-science from start to finish. [28 Jan 2006, p.34]

A not-bad record. [11 Mar 2006, p.43]

A great record. A great work.

Just when you're starting to worry some of the cancer vibes might rub off, he'll crack that underdog grin and knock out a number like 'Hey Man (Now You're Really Living)', backed by a bunch of cheerleaders. [18 Feb 2006, p.36]

So exciting that it should come with a precautionary bottle of Prozac. [6 May 2006, p.33]

There's a 10 out of 10 album that's been thrown away here; as it is, it's the best demo you'll hear all year. [12 Nov 2005, p.41]

A mini-classic of magpie pop. [21 Jan 2006, p.35]

You can't help but feel The Subways are stuck between rock and a slightly harder place, and are just a bit confused. [9 Jul 2005, p.57]

But while 'Dear Catastrophe Waitress' delivered an aural punch above B&S's usual weight, it wasn't quite the return to form many claimed. That return is delivered here, on 'The Life Pursuit', Belle And Sebastian's seventh album and their best since '...Sinister'.

Maybe Beth Orton, unlike some of her still-desperate-for-kudos contemporaries, is merely growing old gracefully, but clearly gracefully aging doesn't necessarily make for great records.

Overloaded with laugh-out-loud lyrical gobbets, intelligent production and tunes that straddle commerciality and the street. [28 Jan 2006, p.34]

Sadly, the energy and abandon that has made Tiga's recent remixes so essential is largely absent. [4 Feb 2006, p.29]

Succinct, tiny pop gems like 'Milk Bottle Symphony' and 'Relocate' are beautifully realised. [11 Jun 2005, p.67]

For a genre that once sounded astonishingly futuristic, it is quite remarkable how tired and old house sounds now.

Not quite the greatest per se, but bloody close. [21 Jan 2006, p.33]

Dithers between drone rock and harmonica-driven indie-strut. [14 Jan 2006, p.33]

Twist[s] both the ultra-familiar and the obscure into awkward new shapes. [21 Jan 2006, p.35]

This is a record that wipes the board clean. It's a record that will invigorate and re-energise.