So much here seems big and bright, but underneath there's a greyer area to explore. [June 2019, p.116]

It's a flinty rock record that lets Cocker's inner guitar beast out. [Jun 2009, p.118]

They're still here and they're still very good. [May 2013, p.93]

For both Grohl and Homme, Them Crooked Vultures isn't a supergroup pitched at the world's stadia, but rather a pressure release valve from their highly successful day jobs, an opportunity to kick out the jams - this is very much an album based around heads-down, brain-disengaged, rock 'n' roll boogie jamming - and revisit the classic hard rock sounds they were reared upon. [Jan 2010, p. 114]

If there is a highlight on this surprisingly dog-free set it's Fight For This Love, where soaring melody piles upon soaring melody without sacrificing its subtle grace. [Dec 2009, p. 121]

If you can cope with the intensity, tracks such as Done and the almost unbearably sombre $20 draw a mesmerising beauty from their anguish. [May 2011, p.119]

It's hard to quarrel with the 27-minute running time when every second is irresisitible. [Jun 2010, p.124]

At a time when Fatboy Slim has gone chill-out, Orbital have gone noodly, and Underworld, nd Prodigy seem to have just gone somewhere else, Basement Jaxx are, happily, on hand with another brilliantly messy blueprint for UK dance music - and dance music that you can actually dance to, at that.

Let Them Eat Chaos is masterful. [Nov 2016, p.107]

The results can veer wildly from the alluring to the downright alarming. Yet Gately's ear for melody holds it all together. [Dec 2016, p.106]

Amor's debut is a collaborative exercise that plays to each memeber's individual strengths. [Jan 2019, p.106]

His seventh album bristles with ambition, merging influences ranging from hair metal and Merseybeat. [Jul 2010, p.136]

So far, so US-obsessed, but scratch below the surface and there's a charismatic quirkiness to Tinie, that makes him an artist apart from his contemporaries. [Dec 2013, p.113]

At 69 White has no need to prove himself, so be grateful he feels the desire to do it anyway. [Oct 2013, p.99]

Here he revisits an early interest in exotica, the '50s faux-tropical lounge style, creating mood music with a global twist. [Jul 2020, p.110]

Jurado has an eagerness to experiment and independence of thought that spills into his characters, and it's very good look on them all. [Feb 2014, p.116]

Essentially, it's post rock without the waiting around - all the songs here are straight arrowed and straight-forward, but never predictable. [Oct 2011, p. 125]

Angular and unpredictable, their intricate interplay makes for enthralling listening. [Aug 2009, p.107]

Possibly the greatest campfire singalong ever. [Dec 2009, p. 113]

Hard, reverb-heavy, yet fluent guitar arabesques topped by husky, yearning, sorely troubled vocals. [Nov 2000, p.110]

Gabriel is mesmerising, his plaintive rasp never more gorgeous. [Oct 2002, p.107]

It's a glorious return; joyous, enraged and exciting. [Aug 2017, p.103]

Be More Kind strikes a balance between the personal and the political. [Jun 2018, p.116]

A gorgeous, near-religious record. [Feb 2004, p.100]

Songwriting thus warm and wise can't be as easy as Musgraves makes it sound. [Jul 2013, p.108]

Spacehopper is out there, yes, but not so out there that you can't still admire it from Earth. [Aug 2013, p.106]

Chrissie Hynde still answers to no one and it's a glorious sound. [Dec 2016, p.107]

A return to his best work. [Apr 2006, p.116]

It sounds like [he's having a lark]. [Jul 2012, p.108]

This is music that hovers at the edges of modern life, out of time but in its own glorious world. [Dec 2013, p.116]

A surprisingly easy album to enjoy. [Mar 2013, p.105]

{Awayland} is not blessed with the stark folkloric purity of Becoming A Jackal. It still confirms, however, that O'Brien is a songwriter out of step, out of time, and when he hits his lyrical stride, out of this world. [Feb 2013, p.110]

They're all set to limber pop that draws on the more understated aspects of both indie rock and dance, with Li's one-off personality a delight throughout. [July 2008, p.107]

Marling's seventh solo LP has the clarity, mastery and quiet strength of a folk-rock classic. [Jul 2020, p.110]

They sound leaner and more quietly aggressive than ever--a streamlined, seething version of themselves. [Feb 2014, p.118]

The Canadians [Badbadnotgood] deliver in spades.... Even when Ghostface doesn't bring his A game, he gets by with a little help from his friends. [Mar 2015, p.108]

While Hinton's selections vary wildly in style, the production is both fluid and empathic. [May 2016, p.114]

Liars' untidy room remains a wonderful place to visit. [Apr 2014, p.113]

The six tracks on Take care... are beautifully realised mini-symphonies that invite comparisons with a leaner Godspeed You! Black Emperor, all defined by epic, awe-inspiring crescendos. [May 2011, p.115]

It never tries to blow the house down. Rather, the soloists take turns to dance around each other, creating a supple and mellifluous air. [Sep 2019, p.115]

The result is a more polished sound that lets Nau's '60s/'70s-echoing songs shine. [Sep 2018, p.117]

Tinariwen's most intoxicating record yet. [Oct 2019, p.113]

He's on top form here: still damaged, still brilliant, still floating in a musical galaxy entirely of his own creation. [Oct 2018, p.114]

It all serve to confirm Cutler as one of contemporary electronica's most gifted and distinctive sonic manipulators. [Aug 2014, p.110]

This second effort duly ushers in a greater sophistication, with near Kinksian observations of the waster mindset, set to a broader musical spread, laced with monster Who-y riffs and tinges of neo-psych. [Oct 2015, p.107]

Nicholls has regained his muse in spectacular style. [May 2006, p.129]

This is menacing, magical stuff. [Apr 2018, p.116]

Overall Operator is headlong, upbeat and punchy. [Mar 2016, p.115]

The music here is more than arresting enough. [Jul 2020, p.113]

Unquestionably his finest album to date. [Apr 2015, p.113]

A much stronger set of songs. Her debut album's primary coloured backdrop having been swapped out for a richer, more nuanced palette. [Jul 2018, p.119]

Mirror's In The Sky's bewitching yet minimal folktronica [is] dominated by the most rudimentary of beats and weird little keyboards. [Apr 2014, p.109]

Revitalises originals such as Hejira and For The Roses while staying faithful to them. [Jan 2003, p.120]

It is the quieter songs, like the beautiful Throwing Stones, that make this record the most charming Rubin has produced since Donovan's comeback. [May 2003, p.111]

A record that's been worth the wait, it's the sound of music made by true originals. [Jul 2013, p.109]

The Felice Brothers return bigger, better and full of surprises on their fourth UK release. [July 2011, p. 120]

Most riveting are the ballads, where he conveys a devastating truth with conversational ease.

The album does see them traveling further afield. [Aug 2014, p.110]

Captures her in full, unrepentant swing. [Jun 2005, p.111]

A pleasure, featuring some of his most winging music since [Roisin] Murphy's Ruby Blue. [Jul 2006, p.118]

Throughout, there's a warmth to the songwriting that seems at odds with an album released in January. A genuine joy. [Feb 2016, p.116]

Walker distinguishes himself from the herd with the frenetic, chest-beating chorus to the mighty Dominoes; the shyly addictive duet with Zara Larsson, Now You're gone, co-written by Fulham FC Women striker Chelcee Grimes, and the bereft Angels, all of which sparkle in very different, yet equally beguiling ways. [May 2018, p.116]

It's the sound of grand ambition realised. [Jun 2020, p.98]

It's fantastically alive, electrifying and witty stuff, the sound of something fresh and thrilling occurring. [May 2018, p.109]

This beautifully-packaged set certainly provides the perfect overview of that fine series of records. [Feb 2014, p.125]

S&P might not have rewritten the dub rulebook here, but they've certainly minted a thrilling new chapter. [Mar 2015, p.116]

It really is an indie-pop romp to die for. [Apr 2015, p.105]

Ribbons feels almost like a homecoming. [Jul 2019, p.106]

It's a record for dusk, for dawn, and for all of the dark corners in which you might find yourself in between. [Apr 2014, p.109]

An album that spins and lurches with impressive dexterity. [Aug 2009, p.104]

The overall effect is of a band who have experienced life's slings and arrows but now exude both tenderness and wisdom. [Jul 2016, p.106]

There is a prevailing, bleary charm in its warmest moments - Eveningness, White Galactic One - that make Lockett's latest well worth investing in. [May 2012, p.101]

Mostly this debut sidesteps the freakish in favour of pop immediacy. [Jul 2015, p.113]

Infinite Arms benefits from a mixture of expansive pondering--Factory, for example, coul easily become a staple of emotive TV dramas--and such lonely romance as Way Back Home, which twinkles like fireflies. [Jun 2010, p.129]

Without a single piece of filler here, this is the musical equivalent of meeting a stranger you feel you've known all your life. [Nov 2001, p.128]

Easily his best work since Babylon's ubiquity. [Aug 2014, p.106]

Work every bit as lush as that which recently propelled Rufus Wainwright to stardom. [Sep 2005, p.119]

If there's a better little band in America right now, they're keeping very quiet. [Feb 2007, p.104]

A wealth of imaginative arrangements make for a genuinely unique debut album. [May 2017, p.103]

There's a potent '80s smoke machine-ambiance wafting through the plush, slow-fizz synths and padded percussion that fill their debut full-length. [Oct 2013, p.100]

The panoramic melancholy may lack variety for some, but sorrow rarely sparkles this wonderfully. [Feb 2014, p.112]

The Black Lips are on consistent and disreputable form throughout. [Apr 2014, p.104]

It's a record that turned out exactly as Hutchison intended. [Aug 2019, p.111]

She might not be as well known, but at times she really is that good. [Jun 2013, p.109]

Mixed by Philippe Zdar of Cassius fame, the whole record feels bright, poppy and fresh. [Jun 2011, p.105]

It's all linked by a sense of dignity, wisely chosen collaborators and David Hidalgo's voice. [Aug 2004, p.115]

Their best yet. [May 2003, p.102]

Each songwriter is honored, and often improved by Rumer's thoughtful readings. [Jul 2012, p.109]

Hang is brilliantly ludicrous and ludicrously brilliant. [Mar 2017, p.106]

Expect to be lulled into a contented sonic stupor. [May 2017, p.100]

Everything is supercharged and melodic, like a poppy version of Nirvana. [July 2008, p.111]

Atmospheric and unsettling, it's a thrilling, long dark night of the soul. [Feb 2014, p.116]

[An] accomplished work of depth and distinction. [April 2012, p.88]

At times it's almost too much to take in, the album's secrets and flavours gradually revealing themselves on the third or fourth listen. [May 2014, p.112]

The trio's lyrical style is woven into a bewitching mesh of soul, funk and psychedlia by cut-and-paste guru Madlib. [Mar 2010, p.98]

Hard to get a handle, but easy to love. [May 2011, p.119]

There's a woozy psychedelic spirit behind the gently orchestrated title track and Dream Song's sleepy haze, lending Rault's classicist songwriting an outsider edge. But he never drifts completely free of his moorings. [Sep 2018, p.117]

Gurnsey has pushed his ghost disco to its exhilarating limits. [Aug 2018, p.109]