So, ‘Clor’: an antidote, should you want one, to the let-it-all-out emotional blokeism of Oasis and the oak-lined authenticity of The White Stripes; the sound of a group goofing off because sometimes that’s what life demands.

[He] flips his hip-hop, rave and reggae on their head, using them to produce cute, beautiful tracks rather than ear-shattering junglist uproar. [20 Aug 2005, p.58]

Elegantly-strummed slices of lo-fi Americana.

Like Sabbath in a washing machine during a power surge. [16 Jul 2005, p.50]

Gorgeous.

Farrar has the passion to carry the songs beyond any hackneyed themes. [6 Aug 2005, p.56]

This is one helluva party LP.

Too gloopily uniform. [16 Jul 2005, p.50]

It’s his masterpiece so far; a staggering collection of unspeakably precious music.

Some of 'Free The Bees' could have been recorded 40 years ago and some of it could have been beamed down from an orbiting space station 3,000 years further along the pipe than us. [26 Jun 2004, p.54]

His skill rests in the realisation that you can't airbrush soul: so, instead of smoothing rough edges, these cuts of cyborg funk fidget with digital tics and gasps. [11 Jun 2005, p.67]

A veritable swoon of a record. [7 Jan 2006, p.28]

Manages to contain enough surprise turns and twists... to keep you interested. [25 Jun 2005, p.64]

He continues his obsession with broken-hearted collages and interstellar folk music. [25 Jun 2005, p.64]

In their relentless slavery to the groove, the songs fall hopelessly flat. [12 Feb 2005, p.51]

It's all as comfortable as a favourite battered chair, but give it a chance and you'll discover a gem of a record. [2 Jul 2005, p.64]

Lyrically lucid and sonically exciting. [11 Jun 2005, p.67]

The thing that's not missing here is songs. [18 Jun 2005]

This is big, epic, widescreen music, albeit wonderfully understated. [5 Mar 2005, p.51]

As if the macho posturing wasn't bad enough, 'Haunted Cities' is also a mess musically. [2 Jul 2005, p.64]

Had the entirety of ‘Brassbound’ been as polished as these final two tracks, the Boys would be closer to the promise they exhibited on their debut. Instead, they’ve produced – and have the frightening candour to admit to – their “second debut”.

DB's spry, Breeders-style way of recasting '60s and '70s rawk is enough to rescue it--and us--from tedium. [23 Jul 2005, p.50]

Feels a bit like your bedroom partner trying on all kinds of flash costumes and gadgets to try and excite you, and the realisation that it wasn’t really necessary and they wouldn’t have had to bother had you just shown them a little more love in the first place.

Somewhere between a funk soul Killers and an Interpol with lyrics that actually make sense. [11 Jun 2005, p.67]

Confident, bold, ambitious, bunged with singles and impossible to contain, ‘X&Y’ doesn’t reinvent the wheel but it does reinforce Coldplay as the band of their time.

Ultimately, the album is weighed down by its very gentleness. [30 Apr 2005, p.64]

A very strange album, which shreds the old White Stripes rulebook (no bass, just guitar and drums) and pushes into territories way beyond the blues and rock of their previous four records.

One of the best live albums that NME has ever heard.