Disappointingly straight-laced. [Jul 2003, p.104]

Lamb have finally perfected the trip hop/classical fusion they discovered on their career-high Gorecki, though the beatific sumptuousness of their sound can be overwhelming.

The tracks featuring Prince soundalike vocalist Harrison Crump are as fine as ever - dreamy, melodic, melancholy.... The trouble is, elsewhere, this ladies man seems convinced that a woman talking (especially in a European accent) is all the melody anyone could possibly need.

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

Mclusky are unique and getting better. [Jul 2004, p.118]

Those lying closest to their own unsubtle ouevre, ie the Minor Threat and Cypress Hill tracks, are as crunching as die-hards could hope for. But the arch sneer of The Rolling Stones' Street Fighting Man and Bob Dylan's Maggie's Farm are predictably reduced to chalkboard lessons in "angry".

A familiar bag of tricks. [Sep 2003, p.101]

Though Strange Sensation guitarist Liam "Skin" Tyson is no Jimmy Page, Plant can still strut with the vigour of a man half his age. [May 2005, p.114]

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

System Of A Down remains the one metal band non-metalheads can enjoy. [Dec 2005, p.156]

A pointed dig at modern Nashville's dull production line, Sleepless Nights is a collection of covers from a lost era of Patsy Cline and The Everly Brothers, Loveless's classic voice knocking pretenders into a cocked Stetson. [Jan 2009, p.120]

As ever, the subtlety and naturalness of his approach belies a craftman's attention to detail. [May 2009, p.110]

It works surprising well. [Apr 2010, p.120]

Peepers mostly whizzes by in a heady blur, but when they paise for thought, a whole new layer of depth and intrigue emerges. [Apr 2010, p.116]

An oddly addictive hip hop concoction of self-doubt and dread, set against a minimalist, almost jazzy backdrop that's also a bit Tricky, too. [Mar 2011, p.116]

The effect is evocative if nothing less than a 21st-century Caledonian Spirit Of Eden. [May 2011, p.119]

A bright and breezy sophomore that occasionally hints at darker themes. [Dec. 2001 p. 127]

Foster's voice sounds as beautifully eerie as ever; imagine a ghost from a Deep South 78 brought back from the dead. Little else here, however, sounds avant-garde. [Jun 2012, p.101]

It's sometimes harrowing, sometimes beautiful and quite often both. [Jun 2012, p.105]

They already had the style, but with this bold step Elliott Brood now have the songs. [Nov 2012, p.95]

It's furious stuff. [Mar 2013, p.101]

If some of these drifting, piano-rich tunes aren't reworked into dream-state Ibiza sunset bangers by next summer then, frankly, the world is dancing to the wrong beat. [Mar 2013, p.98]

They are by turns wistful, quirky and very, very beautiful. [Aug 2013, p.100]

Her peculiar melodies weave their way around rugged pirate radio house/grime grooves in a manner that flirts with silliness but manages to stay intriguing and enticing instead. [Sep 2013, p.104]

At times they pull in too many directions at once. [Jun 2015, p.116]

At its best it's irresistible.... Elsewhere, more conventional material, including bluesy Internet ruminator Atacama and the oddly inclusive, cutlery-rattling Galapagos, sound like they were more fun to make than they are to listen to. [Jul 2014, p.112]

This career-best seventh album seeps into your head and stays there. [Sep 2014, p.110]

Carr retains enough left-field eccentricities, such as the Casiotone keyboard of I Don't Think I'll Make It, to make The Breaks a true indie-rock gem. [Nov 2014, p.108]

It's definitely soul [Vic Godard's] way. [Nov 2014, p.111]

It's not quite the perfect wave that was Tame Impala's Lonerism, but it's certainly not far behind. [Feb 2015, p.113]

Surf's up, and deservedly so. [May 2015, p.112]

[An] entertaining tribute to the supreme genius if baroque music. [Oct 2015, p.108]

Still scabrous, sardonic and singular. [Jun 2015, p.109]

A rebirth that's actually been worth the wait. [Jan 2016, p.]

Unforced and rewarding. [Feb 2016, p.119]

The whole album yields a little more magic with each play. [Feb 2016, p.118]

Barry Adamson has often broadcast his affinity with tortured individuals at breaking point. This has found raw expression in his solo work, and Know Where To Run does not deviate from the script. [Mar 2016, p.105]

The mix is full of voices, all snipped up in fragments or rendered as blurred tones. The results lends his exquisite productions a haunting emotional resonance. [#361, p.115]

Deftly deploying percolating electronica, natural instruments and overlapping vocal lines all the more emotionally gripping for the studied semi-affectlessness of Georgas's intimate delivery, Walsh transforms good songs into a great record. [Aug 2016, p.112]

An LP that strikes a perfect balance between desparate sides of Jamie T's personality. [Oct 2016, p.108]

The real highlights are when the orchestra are left to fly, communicating the powerful feeling underpinning a reunion that was clearly as poignant as it was joyful. [Jan 2017, p.104]

The band's simmering anger are leavened by a sophisticated musical backdrop utilising brass and keyboards. [Sep 2017, p.109]

Their latest is in constant motion. [Mar 2018, p.108]

A pleasingly, gently adventurous collection. [May 2018, p.104]

A debut that should be enjoyed in sweaty, late-night dance caverns. [Aug 2018, p.116]

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

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

None of it will scare the horses, but it's certainly the right side of unexpected. [Oct 2019, p.113]

Olsen's approach often defies logic, but the result is a dizzying leap into the unknown. [Oct 2019, p.110]

She's delivered an intimate record tailor-made for long wintry nights. [Jan 2020, p.106]

There's a new-found clarity and sense of purpose here. [Feb 2020, p.113]

Effectively a double album proving that time hasn't blunted Heaton's lyrical sharpness. [May 2020, p.108]

The Chatham Singers furnish these 12 tracks of street crackle and pop with skeletal verve. [Jun 2020, p.94]

If you've ever half-enjoyed an Eels album, What's New, Tomboy? will make you swoon. [Jul 2020, p.109]

The songwriting here is just undeniably strong and direct. [Jul 2020, p.107]

This enthralling, enigmatic statement conjures a mood that's all its own. [May 2015, p.108]

A murkily enveloping record, but one that occasionally misses its predecessor's gonzo sense of fun. [Mar 2013, p.110]

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

These dreamy but ambivalent folk and pop pieces have an incantatory quality. [Sep 2017, p.116]

The Western Lands is a little like My Bloody Valentine with the sound down low. [Oct 2007, p.109]

Its riveting, yarn-spinning intimacy enhanced by the singer's dry patter. [Feb 2014, p.113]

An album of hidden depth, then, even if some of them require firm resolve on the listener's part. [Jun 2017, p.105]

Sounds so sure and committed that it could be the work of a new band. [Nov 2005, p.127]

Less lush than their previous affairs, but still rich in Beach Boys-like vocal harmonies. [Jul 2005, p.120]

Precise, tough, tuneful, ambitious and sexy as hell. [Apr 2005, p.112]

The qualities that make M.I.A. a tough sell is the same one that fuels her restless, hungry, inspirational music. [Dec 2013, p.100]

The River In Reverse's soulful arrangements and warm textures are no surprise. [Jul 2006, p.113]

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]

Zach Condon's troupe emerge from indie safe house on triumphant third. [Sept. 2011, p. 109]

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

Warm, welcoming and dazzling. [Sep 2012, p.100]

Worthy of far more than 15 minutes of fame. [Aug 2017, p.110]

Fallon's grizzly vocals are both his strength (they ooze commitment) and weakness (he'll always sound like The Gaslight Anthem) and they're Painkiller's strength and weakness too. [Apr 2015, p.105]

While that may sound par for techno course, it's shot through with discordant sonics and a bubbling surface that makes even the most wildly different moments feel like part of the same voyage. [Dec 2013, p.107]

While unmistakably Scottish leader Scott Hutchison has taken a great songwriting leap forward, the more ingredients his group throws in, the more effecctive and more inspiring the Selkirkers are. [Mar 2010, p.102]

It's about 15 minutes and three songs too long. [May 2007, p.117]

Though this is a return to Matthews's more meandering ways, some lessons about conciseness have plainly been learned. [Nov 2002, p.108]

Finds his muse back in rudest health after the relative disappointment of Rock N Roll. [Feb 2004, p.98]

Verity Susman's wayward, fragile Nico-lite vocals will either delight you or drive you nuts. [Mar 2003, p.102]

Cornershop have clearly been biding their time, not squandering it, returning with the kind of meaty, substantial, truly multi-dimensional project they've long been working towards.

Sparklehorse's resulting leap transports the group away from gloomy country to a modern psychedelia that achieves its creator's ambition of "making Kid A with choruses." [Oct 2006, p.120]

A gloriously adrenalised return to form. [Dec 2019, p.106]

Seriously good stuff. [Jun 20009, p.134]

Two good albums, then--but more editing could have produced a single excellent one. [May 2017, p.104]

Not all of the dream-influenced Gold Past Life is sharp enough around the edges to propel Johnson away from cultdom, but the high-definition poignancy of Drawn Away and the title track's aggressive Bee Gees pastiche show him decisively pushing at the walls. [Aug 2019, p.111]

Comfortably their finest outing since 1982's Forever Now. [Sep 2020, p.113]

This is certainly no party album, and its colours are almost exclusively monochrome, but its majesty reigns supreme. [Sep 2005, p.112]

It's not his strongest, but facinating none the less. [Nov 2009, p.110]

If there's nothing on Lovers Rock as naggingly memorable as past triumphs Diamond Life or Your Love Is King, then the refined ache and minimalist chic of By Your Side and Somebody Already Broke My Heart are persuasive enough.

The album plays its best cards early. [Aug 2017, p.112]

Ash have turned in a bullish and cocksure fifth studio album to delight the faithful. [Jun 2004, p.95]

More of the same, then, but such cold-blooded consistency should be commended. [Dec 2009, p. 126]

Techno meets dubstep in this dark twist on electronica. [Dec. 2011, p. 126]

Q's energetic, exuberant delivery is frames by some impressive and varied production throughout. [Jun 2012, p.108]

A much more focused and funky set than Embrya. [Oct 2001, p.127]

Transnormal Skiperoo is as quietly joyful as its title. [Nov 2007, p.148]

The results are spooky, poignant and impressively unique. [Apr 2010, p.111]

In upbeat pop mode, the quintet are impressive, but when slipping downtempo into ballads, Camera Obscura are in a league of their own. [Jul 2013, p.100]