Q Magazine's Scores
- Music
For 8,545 reviews, this publication has graded:
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42% higher than the average critic
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3% same as the average critic
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55% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 5.8 points lower than other critics.
(0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 67
| Highest review score: | A Hero's Death | |
|---|---|---|
| Lowest review score: | Gemstones |
Score distribution:
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Positive: 4,112 out of 8545
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Mixed: 4,355 out of 8545
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Negative: 78 out of 8545
8545
music
reviews
- By Date
- By Critic Score
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- Q Magazine
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- Critic Score
While they haven't lost their taste for repointing American and European folk, there's a brash, stadium-rock dazzle to these songs, proving that The Decemberists, at least, aren't taking the awfulness lying down. [Apr 2018, p.108]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 5, 2018 -
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Everything Not saved is an exercise in artistic liberation. More importantly, perhaps, since it's chock full of tunes, it all comes without them losing the creative ground they've gained, [Apr 2019, p.108]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 1, 2019 -
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All of [the songs] exhibit the unique charms of the Chicago singer/songwriter. [Jun 2020, p.99]- Q Magazine
Posted Apr 23, 2020 -
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The gloom is unyielding, but so is the lightness of touch and few albums will encapsulate 2017 with such elan. [Jun 2017, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Apr 12, 2017 -
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A lush, soulful and joyous debut that should haunt us for years to come. [Mar 2014, p.114]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 14, 2014 -
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A work of astonishing beauty with a time travel concept more out-there than Bjork's ever been. [Dec 2008, p.133]- Q Magazine
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It's when Bubba stays with his Southern roots... that he really shines. [Oct 2003, p.100]- Q Magazine
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[2018's debut's] Rousing tunes and harmony-rich arrangements marked them out as contenders. This second outing delivers on that promise. [Sep 2020, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 27, 2020 -
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There is a wonderful tension on Mangy Love between the pleasure of the music--lush, soulful, spinning out from Elliot Smith or Lambchop--and the often ugly, complex breaks and disturbances in the lyrics. [Sep 2016, p.103]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 16, 2016 -
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An album that advances the sound of LCD Soundsystem and more than justifies their return, while retaining all that was brilliant about them in the first place. [Oct 2017, p.98]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 29, 2017 -
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Their sound is now driven by a tensile energy that sounds like they've been mainlining the early Factory catalogue. [Oct 2017, p.107]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 1, 2017 -
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Occasionally sentimental but always endearing, it's impressive stuff. [Oct 2018, p.116]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 29, 2018 -
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Swinging , both fleet-footed and fingered, and bursting with humour and joy, the brothers ball the jack on what is perhaps their best album yet. [Jul 2014, p.101]- Q Magazine
Posted Jul 2, 2014 -
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The thrilling racket of their live show has been sanded down but not blunted. [Sep 2014, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 28, 2014 -
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Soar finds a happy ground between Dexys' debut and their much-loved but seldom-sold third. [Jul 2012, p.98]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 12, 2012 -
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It is disorientating, but clocking in at just 26 minutes, this is also a tight, brilliantly breathless dispatch of noise. [Apr 2018, p.116]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 21, 2018 -
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For the most part, this is a pastoral, frequently beautiful folk record, spiked with the odd unexpected diversion. [Feb 2013, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 24, 2013 -
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It's this ease of expression, both lyrically and musically, that makes Rewind The Film such a captivating listen. [Oct 2013, p.101]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 27, 2014 -
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Bristling with ideas, it's an album worth getting to grips with. [Mar 2014, p.115]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 14, 2014 -
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Vocal harmonies, graceful pianos and psychedelic guitars keep the eco messages of Light Years and Dreamin persuasive rather than preachy, making Escape 2 Mars an impressive throwback to the "daisy age' of early De La Soul. [Feb 2010, p. 107]- Q Magazine
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- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 27, 2020 -
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All through, the harmonies are urgent, uplifting and unspun, a reminder that not everything needs a recoat to look perfectly at home. [Nov 2017, p.104]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 27, 2017 -
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It's a surprise to have him back, but on the strength of After You, a more than welcome one. [Jan 2020, p.113]- Q Magazine
Posted Dec 3, 2019 -
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He's equally skilled as a stream-of-consciousness philosopher or gripping storyteller. [Jul 2012, p.98]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 12, 2012 -
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Posted Jan 22, 2020 -
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It's a suitably schizophrenic listen, the bubblegum-pop attack of Wasted On You and Move To San Francisco contrasted with the soul-searching anxieties of the album's second half. [May 2020, p.100]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 13, 2020 -
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This is music of incredible warmth, where melody and emotion come before science. [Mar 2013, p.107]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 11, 2013 -
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Here the melodies are a forum for a lovely, charismatic voice and some artful, memorable lyrics. [Mar 2014, p.119]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 14, 2014 -
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They've crucially learned that musical light and shade need not only be flaring explosions, but melodic sunrises too. [Jul 2003, p.109]- Q Magazine
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It's a predictable sound, though there's a thrilling intensity here. [Jul 2013, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 17, 2013 -
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The spirit of Thom Yorke hovers over the proceedings in places, but ultimately those pining for the still missing-in-action Bon Iver should find some comfort here. [Sep 2015, p.109]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 3, 2015 -
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There is much to savour here. If this is a swansong, it's most definitely a worthy one. [Nov 2017, p.104]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 27, 2017 -
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This is a charming side-step from a significant latterday voice of America. [Sep 2014, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 28, 2014 -
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The whole album yields a little more magic with each play. [Feb 2016, p.118]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 28, 2016 -
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Though a little limited on variation, 6 Feet Beneath The Moon's careful balance between comedown cook and genuine emotion suggests a new king for both club kids and guitar vets has (finally) arisen. [Oct 2013, p.105]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 27, 2014 -
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The guitar may intrude a little more but Emmaar is still built around gnarled guitar, harmonised chants, hyperspeed percussion and the sense that this music is as relentless as the Sahara sun. [Mar 2014, p.121]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 14, 2014 -
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Rainy's debut ends up as a near-perfect album from an approaching summer. [Apr 2014, p.117]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 26, 2014 -
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At a safe distance from Britpop's glare, Midlife justly represents Blur as national treasures, as emotionally rich and hungry for progress as ardiohead, only catchier. [Aug 2009, p.116]- Q Magazine
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Her marriage of musical gentleness and raw despair takes her to a whole new level. [Nov 2017, p.104]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 27, 2017 -
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Posted Aug 16, 2011 -
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Few singers examine the pathology of heartbreak so expertly. [Nov 2016, p.102]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 29, 2016 -
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Posted Oct 5, 2016 -
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Go places they do, whether its Comin' On's sweetly dumb pop, the garage chug of Lose Myself In Sound or the dense yet loose Crazy Horse-style feedback and riffing of Crow and Dropper. [Oct 2014, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 3, 2014 -
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It's to Russell and Albarn's eternal credit, then, that they not only noticed but reach out and made this wonderful record happen. [Jul 2012, p.99]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 12, 2012 -
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Posted Nov 20, 2018 -
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It is, as always, complicated, but addictively, intriguingly so. [Apr 2017, p.111]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 17, 2017 -
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Lady From Shanghai laughs in the face of chart pop, but the listener can't help cackling along. [Feb 2013, p.108]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 24, 2013 -
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Alienation, restlessness and lovelorn angst abound here, and Veronica Falls have lost none of their knack for blithely morbid romance. [Feb 2013, p.113]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 28, 2013 -
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Posted Feb 14, 2014 -
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A moody, sensual record that unwraps its pleasures slowly. [May 2015, p.111]- Q Magazine
Posted Apr 14, 2015 -
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Help Us Stranger is Jack White and Brendan Benson's love letter to classic rock. [Summer 2019, p.114]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 12, 2019 -
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Remedy follows a growing list of albums born of an infectious energy and bubbling belief that, dance-wise these days, almost anything goes.- Q Magazine
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Posted Jun 19, 2019 -
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Posted Apr 23, 2014 -
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Kanye West's debut aside, it's the essential hip hop album of the year so far. [Jun 2004, p.102]- Q Magazine
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Seductive, breathy and forlorn, [Trebeljahr] sounds like a more ethereal Sarah Cracknell. Oh, and the songs are top drawer, too. [May 2004, p.104]- Q Magazine
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They're at their most effective when they ease back on the aggro, as on the luminous Side Effects or the '60s-garage pop-influenced Two Birds. [Nov 2017, p.107]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 27, 2017 -
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Cellar Door is so gorgeous it could persuade the most hardened clubber to give it all up for a hammock and a cool breeze. [Aug 2012, p.100]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 22, 2012 -
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Four Of Arrows is proof the band can turn on a dime--perhaps they needn't worry about their best songs being ahead of them. [Dec 2019, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 25, 2019 -
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Posted Aug 28, 2014 -
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An album rich in swirling emotions, backed by inspired productions from electronica virtuosos Arca and London-based Jam City. [Dec 2017, p.106]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 24, 2017 -
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In spite of an occasional sense of deja vu, this is a spacious, raw record that sees Tonra trying something new while holding on to the core that's propelled her thus far. [Feb 2019, p.111]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 2, 2019 -
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Posted Mar 20, 2020 -
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It's not quite the perfect wave that was Tame Impala's Lonerism, but it's certainly not far behind. [Feb 2015, p.113]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 8, 2015 -
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But it's the art-punk sense of fearless invention that makes...Bobby Dee a winning album in praise of life's losers. [Feb 2010, p. 105]- Q Magazine
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A record lyrically concerned with trying to find inner peace and a sense of community within a troubled wider world. Perfect sounds and sentiments for these times, then. [Summer 2020, p.98]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 25, 2020 -
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Nothing quite matches that burst of bile ['Crying Blood'], but the title track--choir and all--is heavenly. [Jul 2009, p.118]- Q Magazine
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This career-best seventh album seeps into your head and stays there. [Sep 2014, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 28, 2014 -
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Posted Mar 2, 2020 -
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To Survive, however, ignites enough fireworks of its own. [July 2008, p.1112]- Q Magazine
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This restless duo have never sounded so much like themselves, and the result is spellbinding. [Oct 2013, p.107]- Q Magazine
Posted Jan 27, 2014 -
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Much of Greatest Hits will be familiar to people who've never heard a Foo Fighters album before: indeed, these are precisely the people it's aimed at. Like all such, Greatest Hits fulfills a function for fans too. [Dec 2009, p.134]- Q Magazine
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Rarely do teenage kicks result in such eloquent, nuanced records as this. [May 2011, p.118]- Q Magazine
Posted May 18, 2011 -
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Posted Aug 1, 2019 -
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Between The Walls is a fascinating insight into the creative process that crackles electrically between Taylor, John Coxon, Charles Hayward, and Pat Thomas. [Aug 2013, p.93]- Q Magazine
Posted Jul 10, 2013 -
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Hallelujah Anyhow is the sound of a man happy in his own skin. [Nov 2017, p.108]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 27, 2017 -
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Posted Sep 4, 2014 -
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Their third album reins in the sonic restlessness with impressive results, making it easily their most coherent and melodically enjoyable record to date. [Nov 2013, p.105]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 25, 2013 -
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[Glass's] lyrics are often buried in the mix, but no amount of production occultation can hide the fact that the likes of Plague are excelsior anthems for the End Times. [Jan 2013, p.103]- Q Magazine
Posted Dec 11, 2012 -
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Existential fatigue and self-interrogation--these themes and more are all, somehow, transmitted by her lullaby-soft delivery without ever having their intensity muted. It's a neat trick, and one that Mothers do better than most. [Apr 2016, p.111]- Q Magazine
Posted Feb 23, 2016 -
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Chai specialise in indie-pop confections, but lean in close and you're swept into an anarchic whirlwind. [May 2019, p.108]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 13, 2019 -
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Here, as elsewhere, Thing of the Past is as educational as it is delightful. [June 2008, p.148]- Q Magazine
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This is Madonna on top of the world, looking down on creation, God complex at cruising attitude. [Summer 2019, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Jun 6, 2019 -
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Posted May 28, 2014 -
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These ate anthemic, headlining songs from a band that is fast becoming one of our finest. [Nov 2017, p.110]- Q Magazine
Posted Sep 27, 2017 -
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Growing confidence as a songwriter, arrangements that push the boundaries of Americana, even an unlikely Captain Beefheart cover make Stranger Me, her third release, extra rewarding. [Aug 2011, p.126]- Q Magazine
Posted Aug 9, 2011 -
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The Ooz can be dark and difficult. But it is also ambitious and delightful, reaffirming the delightful, reaffirming the delicate boundary between beauty and ruin. [Dec 2017, p.103]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 24, 2017 -
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Inventive and technical, it's death metal with a brain. [Jul 2012, p.102]- Q Magazine
Posted Oct 12, 2012 -
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[Secret Machines] have pruned back the vast sonic expanses of 2004's full-length debut album, focusing instead on brevity and melody. [Apr 2006, p.120]- Q Magazine
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Here their sound is largely sharpened and polished by their unmistakable anger. [May 2017, p.98]- Q Magazine
Posted Mar 14, 2017 -
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From start to finish, an impressive piece of work. [Jul 2019, p.114]- Q Magazine
Posted May 17, 2019 -
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He's not the first person to have exploited the uranium half-life of the '80s but on Confetti's doomy missile-silo clang and the brassy Robert Smith jive of Alchemy And You, he customises it smartly for a newly paranoid generation. [May 2011, p.112]- Q Magazine
Posted May 17, 2011 -
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His second album evokes blade Runner's stylish futurism, populating it with Spaceape's paranoid poetry and drowning clean lines in tape crackle. [May 2011, p.119]- Q Magazine
Posted May 18, 2011 -
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Grandaddy sound like a lo-fi ELO and, in frontman Jason Lytle, possess an admirably unusual songwriter. Sophtware Slump is more coherent than their 1997 debut Under The Western Freeway, Lytle having settled on a theme: knackered electronics.... Cheap, cheerful and utterly charming.- Q Magazine
- Read full review