Albarn seems bent on exploring unsettling moods and shuffling rhythms rather than gleaming melodies and addictive choruses. [Feb 2007, p.94]

As the title promises, it's not so much a departure as a significant advancement of a career-long mission. [July 2010, p. 130]

A moving reflection of his own life, family and home, it's the sound of Dave Hause getting to grips with himself. [Mar 2017, p.111]

This fifth record sees them step up from mere underground ambition. [Mar 2018, p.115]

The presence of tamp Impala's Kevin Parker in the producer's chair ensures that the sonic differences with his own band's sun-dried sci-fidelia are Rizla thin. However, frontman Nick Allbrook's rapier-sharp lyrics ensure that they still have their own livewire personality. [Apr 2019, p.114]

The pair mesh with ease. [Jul 2017, p.112]

An album of rich, subtle melodies, championship-level guitar playing and lyrical depth. [Sep 2002, p.115]

The results are rich in impact and surprise. [Sep 2017, p.113]

There's a raw urgency to the album that belies its dated influences. [Oct 2003, p.108]

On this third album the four-piece are now an accomplished if spiky group at home whether playing rough-edged guitars or glockenspiels. [Aug 2012, p.100]

The new "proper band" architecture well suits these touching, often funny songs. [Apr 2002, p.119]

The sound of a man taking his giant leap forwards. They're out of the indie ghetto forever now. [Dec 2016, p.104]

A true coming together. [Mar 2018, p.113]

An utter gem. [Apr 2017, p.110]

Made up of Coombes's most beautiful compositions yet. [Feb 2015, p.116]

The slacker boy wonder has grown up to be a man on a new mission. [Aug 2008, p.134]

This matches some of their best work. [Jun 2017, p.103]

Big Bad Luv ramps up Moreland's passion for mainstream melody without compromising any of the heartache that sets him apart. [Jul 2017, p.111]

Get Guilty bursts with dazzling tunes and--for him--relatively simple arrangements. [Apr 2009, p.108]

What makes this record so impressive is how effortlessly he has claimed his big pop moment without sounding compromised, and how easily he makes his producers bend to his strengths instead of vice versa. [Jan 2011, p.132]

It's a restrained record that doesn't suffocate its epic songs with epic instrumentation. [Jul 2019, p.114]

The 32-year-old's always-phenomenal flow is now matched by weighty content. [Sep 2017, p.112]

In size and texture it's closer to 1980's The River than anything since. [Sep 2002, p.111]

What elevates The Veils above pleasant distraction... is [Andrews'] extraordinary, chameleon-like voice. [Mar 2004, p.113]

Shows [Lanegan] to be more alive and more vital than ever. [Sep 2004, p.121]

Hotspot sounds anything but anachronistic and yet, brushing shoulders against, say, the Europop grandeur of Will-O-The-Wisp, the tender intimacies dispensed in Only The Dark or a beautiful existential audit called Burning The Heather, it's also a record on which such classics such as Left To My Own Devices or Rent wouldn't sound especially out of place. [Mar 2020, p.123]

One for heartbroken dreamers. [Jan 2013, p.105]

A superb solo effort. [Dec 2013, p.105]

EarthEE finds that magic spot where the feet are grounded but the head's floating on a cloud. [Apr 2015, p.111]

This sequel journeys into the light. [Jul 2017, p.111]

A rhythmic assurance helps Muggs navigate the flabby portentousness that has hampered Massive Attack of late. [Apr 2003, p.113]

Fever Dream is a dizzying rush of exuberance and emotion. [Aug 2019, p.115]

V feels bigger than its predecessors, but it still disturbs. [Oct 2017, p.105]

Sugar may have lacked the outsider appeal and cataclysmic cultural impact of Nirvana but he furnace-forged guitar pop of 1992 debut Copper Blue was a handsome match for Nevermind. [Aug 2012, p.114]

The songs, driven by their charismatic duets, mix inventive brass grooves with playfully indelible melodies. [Oct 2012, 94]

It's the anti-hygge of records: cold, hard, and anything but comfortable. [Feb 2017, p.111]

Brush off the buzzing novelty, though, and there is much to admire. [Nov 2013, p.118]

A grand vision is hard to discern, but when it comes to bringing the party, Culture II delivers with a scale and swagger that's hard to resist. [Apr 2018, p.117]

Visuals spatters Mew's art-rock sensibilities on a pop canvas. [Jul 2017, p.111]

Post-hardcore pioneers Thursday have responded to the end of their major-label adventure by producing their most consistent body of work to date. [Mar 2009, p.93]

This is a heady journey through excess, absurdity and 21st century mores from arguably the world's most eloquent singer-songwriter, which seems to take us that bit closer to who he really is. [Jul 2018, p.117]

Almost every track on this fifth LP is thematically inspired by a historical figure, which intrudes in the spoken passages of Sunday Neurosis, but otherwise inspires some of their most exciting music to date. [Jun 2014, p.119]

Retro, sure, but all the better for it. [Oct 2019, p.109]

A spiralling blend of infectious psychedelic pop that froths and fuzzes for a noisy hour. [Jul 2004, p.122]

Confrontational yet communal. It's what his fans adore the most and, more than any of his previous five studio albums, Positive Songs For Negative People has it in spades. [Sep 2015, p.115]

Rock N Roll Animals is a particularly curdled creation. [Sep 2013, p.104]

Rework is a must for toe-dippers and Glassheads alike. [Dec 2012, p.120]

Going Back Home packs all the vital joy that R&B-powered rock'n'roll should, but rarely does. [Apr 2014, p.118]

VANT have ensured their music has the same capacity to move and intrigue as their subject matter. [Apr 2017, p.118]

Make Way For Love is a brooding and soulful offering from an artist keen to burst expectations. [Apr 2018, p.116]

There are clear parallels with Factory Floor, Mica Levi and early Grimes, but Owens has clearly found her calling. [Jul 2017, p.111]

There are less arresting moments--the pensive The Silence In Between, for example--but they are the eye of an impressive electronic storm. [Jul 2019, p.110]

Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. [May 2012, p.94]

Pure quality, from start to finish. [Aug 2017, p.109]

This is no Loveless but it is lovely. [Jun 2013, p.93]

It might not be new, but Wolf's delicate delivery ensures that it's never anything anything less than irresistibly romantic. [Jun 2011, p125]

Spikily brilliant. [Apr 2003, p.111]

The irrepressible bounce of these tracks outweigh the poignancy, though. Viola Beach have a debut their families can be proud of. [Sep 2016, p.114]

[The title track] like the rest of this exceptional LP, works fine as one chapter in an elaborate concept opus, but is just as satisfying for those with both feet in reality. [Jul 2013, p.98]

Melodies take shape and dissolve, musical reference points blend unexpectedly but the effect, though disorientating, is always accessible. [Jun 2011, p.110]

It shouldn't work, but it does and Harrison's melancholic melodies floating above the sonic swamps of London Water and Summertime Police prove that he's operating in no one's shadow. [Nov 2017, p.108]

Hynes, it seems, can get away with more than most. [Sept. 2011, p. 103]

They've produced a demanding slice of music, brilliantly out of sync in an age of quick fixes and plummeting attention spans.

All in all, Algiers showcases a band utterly assured and fully aware of their intoxicating potency. [Oct 2012, p.95]

Even three decade on, the era's best moments resonate with invention and imagination. [Sep 2019, p.118]

Collisions marks Calla as an enchanting secret. [Mar 2006, p.106]

Tunstall has Norah Jones's throaty catch, Dido's warmth, plus a winning way with a soaring chorus. [Jan 2005, p.130]

Last Night makes for a perfect farewell, with tracks from across the band's career. [Apr 2018, p.116]

Pieced together over a two-year period, the results are often stunning. [Oct 2010, p.104]

Washington Square Serenade is prime Americana. [Nov 2007, p.137]

Davies's melodic gifts remain bulletproof/ In fact, he hasn't sounded more creatively alive in years. [Jun 2017, p.106]

Eloquent, revelatory and moving. [Jul 2017, p.111]

This fourth album finally hits the spot. [Jun 2013, p.93]

While it's not always clear what's on offer amid the density, there's always a sweetener on top to keep you coming back. [Sep 2020, p.111]

Stylistically, Lynne steps out in several directions and gives the impression that she could succeed in any of them: the warm caress of her voice and the cool, cutting edge of her songs suggest great things.

A bold step, especially as the songs slow-burn rather than star-burst. [Jul 2015, p.105]

Anyone expecting an album of unchallenging fodder is in for a shock. Like the voyage faced by its desperate, stateless subjects, I Tell A Fly is no easy ride. [Oct 2017, p.101]

The personal trauma behind pony was evidently tough, but hope has rarely sounded so fresh. [Dec 2019, p.110]

Ling's unhinged bluestocking vocals lift strange images out of the volatile electronica. [Dec 2018, p.104]

Its wilful lack of song structure may make for a think-piece album rather than a jukebox favourite, but it's hard to deny its still-powerful magic. [May 2006, p.137]

Kozelek is typically raw, grouchy and funny, and his words find meaning in the minutiae of his own behavior and the lives of others. [Nov 2013, p.109]

What Is Love? is a superior compilation, but it's held together by Clean Bandit's winning way with a catchy, wistful tune. [Feb 2019, p.111]

He might be a man out of time, but his music's timeless. [Mar 2007, p.114]

Throughout, Man Of The Woods seesaws brilliantly between pop and country. [Apr 2018, p.116]

The title track of their fourth album actually begins with a similarly buoyant vein. [Feb 2013, p.107]

These songs sparkle with a gentle joy, their warm softness as alluring as a swimming pool on a hot afternoon. [Jul 2019, p.109]

Deftly blending the celebratory and contemplative, Bainbridge has created a dance album that works as much on the mind as on the body. [Apr 2012, p.99]

Bolstered by members of Dylan's band, the songs are built on buoyant '60s pop and Beach Boys harmonies soar alongside lively brass. [May 2013, p.103]

They mesh exquisitely here. [Jul 2015, p.105]

The Wonder Show of the World turns over life's topsoil to find the truths beneath. [May 2010, p.122]

While their previous albums have always had great songs, with this latest set they've managed to place them in the right order, creating a truly impressive journey...

Safe to say, it's one reassuringly cosmic listening experience. [August 2011, p. 113]

It emerges as its own beguiling, brilliant listen. [Sep 2011, p.106]

By turns eerie and enthralling, it's the kind of experiment [John] Cage would surely applaud. [Dec 2018, p.111]

Gleaming with instant hooks, this is a uniformly radio-friendly album. It's also a hugely addictive and likeable one. [Mar 2007, p.108]

I Am Arrows finds Burrows ploughing a fuzzy acoustic furrow to delight fans of summery '70s pop. [Aug 2010, p.120]

Even when it perilously strays into minefields of muso, Side Effects is never forbidding math rock, thanks to its playful and sterling grooves. [May 2019, p.116]

[Pure Love] spiritedly serves up a full album's worth of way-above-par songs, which are radio friendly. [Mar 2013, p.109]