As piano and strings crescendo, concluding Pale Green Ghosts' uncommon vistas of seriousness, levity and disco dancing, you can imagine the singer departing in triumph, and anything but an underdog. [Apr 2013, p.112]

Dalmais's new album arrives wrapped in conceptual packaging and plays beguiling tricks with her remarkable voice, at times airy, at others earthy. [Aug 2017, p.100]

While it might not feature too many songs the faithful will be hollering for at gigs, it's crammed full of ear candy. [Jun 2015, p.98]

Wounded Rhymes is the moment Lykke Liu has edged ahead of the pack. And she still understands the value of a mighty percussive wallop. [Apr 2011, p.100]

It makes for one of the most delicious albums of the year. [Sep 2016, p.113]

Despite its running time and the magpie-like pilfering, on this amusing and bemusing album Mount never seems remotely in danger of repeating himself--or, for that matter, anybody else. [Oct 2019, p.112]

The result is a success as both an artistic statement and a mea culpa. [Nov 2019, p.108]

Shields is part spiralling indie rock, part wistful '60s pop. [Oct 2012, p.102]

This second effort even has the edge on 2012's The Light The Dead See, with an extra-dazzling cinematic sweep to its orchestration, a poleaxing depth to its existential sorrows and a fabulously redemptive uplift in the climatic My Sun. [Dec 2015, p.107]

A graceful, beautiful record. [Nov 2014, p.112]

Irresistible. [Apr 2018, p.112]

There's a welcome '60s pop feel to the material, proof that Lynne doesn't need anyone else to show her how it should be done. [Dec. 2011 p. 129]

Groundbreaking and mind-boggling. [Mar 2012, p.111]

They may be too post-modern for some tastes, but Thurston Moore has his sonic menace back. [Apr 2013, p.97]

As a 36-song sequel, the album drags at times. But there's buried treasure here too. [Apr 2013, p.112]

Bold, ambitious and revelling in the chaos of the age, 21st Century Breakdown is another perfect document of our times. [Jun 2009, p.114]

The star of the show remains the Brummie Everygeezer and his droll, unceremoniously-delivered bars. [Summer 2020, p.100]

An IMAX band in an iPad age, it's there that they'll prosper. [Oct 2012, p.111]

A self-contained gem. [Jul 2005, p.112]

Panhandle Rambler sounds more inspired than anything the 68-year-old's produced in 20 years. [Dec 2015, p.106]

Humor Risk is another casually monumental achievement from one of the great singer-songwriters of the day. [Dec. 2011 p. 130]

Viewed either as an introduction or reinvention, Williams emerges as a formidable solo artist here. [Jul 2020, p.111]

On guard, but never defensive, The Lookout is a wonder--open-hearted, free-thinking and grown-up in all the best ways. [Jun 2018, p.116]

Cover Two shows no dimming of eclectic tastes or interpretive skills. [Jul 2020, p.108]

This mixtape is broad in scope and delirious in flavour. [Jan 2009, p.1222]

This is the sound of RTJ staking their claim as one of the all-time great hip-hop duos. [Aug 2020, p.112]

Paul Kelly still captivates with the strength of his storytelling. [May 2013, p.102]

A record to get lost in. [Jun 2015, p.99]

As ever, the gravel-voiced Lightburn sounds as if singing for his life rather than his supper yet, without sacrificing that epic feel that always set this band apart, he's broadening his horizons. [Apr 2011, p.101]

When he's on this sort of excitable form, no one, Albarn included can keep up. [May 2012, p.108]

There's a human message: No matter where you are, the party's what you make of it. [Jul 2010, p.124]

The Brooklyn trio rein in the misery. [July 2011, p. 106]

Rock heritage fetishism at its finest. [Jul 2014, p.114]

One of the albums of the year to date. [Oct 2014, p.118]

An irresistibly fun-packed career high. [Sep 2014, p.114]

Both [HIM and Pray] perfectly distill the vision and boldness of this return. [Jan 2018, p.115]

An astonishing cohesive record. [Dec 2015, p.107]

There are a couple of mildly sludgy moments.... But otherwise, it's a perfectly calibrated record. [Nov 2014, p.113]

This ends up as a thrilling victory of an album because at its heart it has the same great swirling mass of melancholic energy that drove their debut. [Nov 2012, p.88]

The next crossover metal band has arrived. [Nov 2013, p.101]

When Green is good here, he is very good, and the mis-steps are minor niggles.[Dec. 2011 p. 132]

Rather than sounding like musical magpies, The Fratellis are always their own men. [July 2008, p.100]

Elson's theatrical but appealing voice adds genuine drama to the darkly brooding Stolen Roses, while the title track is a handsome murder ballad. [Jul 2010, p.133]

The fifth outing as Immersion finds the couple at their most sumptuous. [Summer 2018, p.110]

Their prog-packaged second LP, split between six duo tracks and nine augmented by stellar sax, trumpet, harp, tabla and drums maestri, will indeed unite you with the cosmos but you can't help moving to the groove too. [Sep 2017, p.106]

There's a lightness of touch from Turner and his band (and producer Catherine Marks) that makes No Man's Land a welcome diversion. [Sep 2019, p.116]

Thankfully... this reissue comes with a bonus instrumental disc, allowing the orchestral menace to speak for itself. [Oct 2003, p.127]

These records might not eclipse Channel Orange, but they have their own mercurial gleam, mapping the spaces between people, reaching for a hazy intimacy that almost feels real. [Nov 2016, p.112]

A set of songs so cockle-warmingly familiar that you're left scanning the credits to see who did them the first time. [Oct 2002, p.118]

The vocalist work fine but instrumentals like Tempest and Velcro demonstrate that Rustie's personality is plenty big enough on its own. [Oct 2014, p.118]

Two Vines is a leap forward for pop's most enchanting odd couple. [Dec 2016, p.102]

The real surprises come when they sound relaxed, even delicate. [Oct 2012, p.92]

Perfectamundo explodes into glorious Technicolor. [Dec 2015, p.107]

Top-tier comp. ... A near-perfect musical expression of escape. [Apr 2020, p.118]

Fallen Empires is typically and unashamedly arena-friendly bombast ... leavened by leader Gary Lightbody's often appealing insecurity.[Dec. 2011 p. 134]

This definitive 77-track anthology favours the early years, illustrating how quickly Stone and his multiracial crew evolved from a decent R&B outfit into a trailblazing psychedelic-soul gang show, [Oct 2013, p.117]

This is a beautiful album that counterpoints Banhart's boundless and surreal imagination against a newly-discovered depth and sincerity. [Apr 2013, p.105]

It's a record which ultimately leaves you cleansed. [May 2015, p.108]

Why Make Sense? is a meaty electro-grooving celebration of love, hope, dancing. [Jun 2015, p.101]

Impressive and increasingly accessible, this is the sound of a major talent developing. [Jun 2015, p.104]

The Fall contains more than a few copper-bottomed classics: the languid and steamy I Wouldn't Need You, the Ryan Adams co-write Light As A Feather, and Chasing Pirates, a near-perfect two-and-half minute study of the racing thoughts that get in the way of sleep. [Dec 2009, p. 114]

At 38, Rufus's star moment appears to have finally arrived. [May 2012, p.108]

Bibio's Warp debut, Ambivalence Avenue, is one of the stealth albums of 2009, its pastoral psychedelia reminiscent of Super Furry Animals idly punting with Boards of Canada. [Jan 10, p. 118]

All compensate in quality for what they lack in originality. [Aug 2014, p.107]

These records might not eclipse Channel Orange, but they have their own mercurial gleam, mapping the spaces between people, reaching for a hazy intimacy that almost feels real. [Nov 2016, p.112]

Put the whole bag of tricks together and Pulled Apart By Horses have captured their own genie. [Oct 2014, p.118]

The wild rhythms, unusual arrangements and often manic energy of the selections here still resonate. [Jan 2006, p.139]

Peaking Lights have sacrificed some of their uniqueness for added lovability. But their hypno-pop still sways to a rhythm entirely of its own. [Nov 2014, p.116]

This thoughtfully constructed and often enchanting record manages to mark itself out from the crowd. [Feb 2019, p.110]

Comicopera is a cornicopia. [Nov 2007, p.148]

The sheer volume of ideas bustles everything along. [Mar 2012, p.113]

The world isn't short of observational singer-songwriters, but when the work is of this calibre it's pretty hard to resist. [Aug 2020, p.107]

If Fake Sugar lands, the mainstream's in for a sweet treat. [Aug 2017, p.103]

Little Sparrow mixes its trad tendencies with tunes, lovely instruments, and best of all, Parton's personality.

A clever marriage of weighty words and sonic delight. [Summer 2019, p.115]

Complex listening that never gets too wrapped up in its own ideas, Braids here discover a perfect balance. [Jun 2015, p.102]

Mostly brilliant and, most surprising of all, never pretentious. [Oct 2003, p.102]

The Wisconsin outsider stretches horizons on mesmeric second album. [July 2011, p. 108]

Finds Gough at his most stylistically promiscuous to date. [Nov 2002, p.102]

It's a record that demands you get to know it inside out. [Jul 2014, p.101]

Eve is a hip-hop delight. [Nov 2019, p.115]

As giant a leap on from the lo-fi oddness of 2009's Gather, Form & Fly as it was possible to make. [Oct 2011, p.124]

Alone In The Universe is warm-hearted, consummate, just about perfect. [Dec 2015, p.110]

Too Bright finds him more sparky and more mettled. [Nov 2014, p.116]

This is great music for driving. In a hovercraft. With someone chasing you. [Dec 2015, p.111]

To no-frills, English Velvet Underground-style indie pop, this seasoned, perceptive narrator also turns his gaze on dilemmas including the plight of the still-game senior rocker (Mr. Music), bewildering transience (There It Goes) and, seemingly, divorce (Good Enough), lightly wearing life experience without sacrificing impact. [Feb 2016, p.107]

Each of these tracks makes the case for Foo Fighters' horizons successfully expanding, in the way the acoustic side of "In Your Honor" didn't. [Oct 2007, p.87]

A charming little diversion from the cares of the modern world. [Dec. 2011 p. 135]

[Producer Andrew Weatherall] helped bring out a kind of claustrophobic, harmonic distortion. [Mar 2012, p.113]

Ultimately, there's something delicious and monumental about Hurts.[Apr 2013, p.106]

A high-risk strategy, then, but one that largely succeeds thanks to Fink's languid delivery. [Apr 2011, p.103]

Perhaps Codes And Keys's seemingly illogical sequencing of songs makes sense if they wish to lure their audience into thinking it's as-you-were. But it's not: things are different and better. [July 2011, p. 110]

What at first, certainly compared to its startling predecessor, feels like a retreat from modern music’s radical frontline (nasty jazz, electronica, noise) gradually unfolds to offer equally interesting new ways of hearing.

As the final stitch in their sprawling psychedelic tapestry ... Universe is a perfectly haphazard send-off. [Jun 2012, p.111]

A thing of meditative beauty. [Nov 2019, p.115]

Weighty stuff, but tungsten-strength tunes, a lush orchestral feel and Friday's laconic delivery make for a winning combination. [Jun 2011, p.114]

Ou Va Le Monde is twanging Tarantino-bait, Tatiana is a thumping, technophile take on The Velvet Underground, Le Chemin is gloriously woozy and Exorciseur is Gainsbourg-esque. But they're all eclipsed by the closing Vagues, a 13-minute psychodyssey. [Nov 2016, p.108]

Here's a band on top of the world, and on top of their game. [Oct 2012, p.98]