While there is no denying the heady rush of the band in full flow, predictability creeps in over 45 minutes. [Apr 2008, p.113]

The songs occasionally thrill but tonally it all becomes just a trifle exhausting about halfway through. [Jun 2015, p.107]

The melodramatic clatter of Corridors and Meridian's airborne melodic spores mark then out as rare species, but their underlying pomposity remains an albatross around their necks. [Mar 2010, p.108]

It's a good move, supercharged power pop melodies and sparky guitars combining to good effect on tracks such as "Gimme The Wire." [Jun 2010, p.127]

It's arty and possibly proggy, but the warmth of Duncan Wallis's voice never lets it get distant. [Feb 2013, p.103]

It's strong medicine for sure, but also an astonishing record that will haunt you long after it's finished playing. [Aug 2013, p.98]

The results are quietly measured and beautifully judged. [Sep 2014, p.115]

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]

In accommodating all those guests Mariam too often has to take a back seat, so destroying much of the couple's special chemistry, the very thing that sets them apart. [May 2012, p.90]

Chaotic and raw, it exemplifies the best of US punk rock. [May 2014, p.116]

A few more laughter-lines wouldn't have gone amiss. [Aug 2014, p.112]

A serious let-down. [Oct 2006, p.119]

This daughter of Missouri has merely up-twanged her still-rockin' sound, and boosted the songs' mom, kids and downhome content and the gritty, often rub-tickling detail in the telling that keeps it real. [Mar 2014, p.111]

He's still in lovely voice... and he deploys it on a selection of material that revels in past glories while showcasing his current triumphs. [May 2005, p.104]

It's no radical departure, the Canadian chanteuse's sensual croon is still a class apart. [Jun 2011, p.124]

She might be too rude for mainstream fame, but the synthesis of blood and electricity is bracing, even if the title's far less funny than previous albums. [Jun 2009, p.130]

It sounds clever, rather than engaging. [May 2012, p.98]

The most impressive moments are when he shifts away from his comfort zone. [Jan 2013, p.111]

A mixed bag, then, but still uniquely one of Herbert's own. [Jul 2015, p.107]

Really, though, he's at his best when he tones down the act. [Nov 2019, p.108]

The significance of their sonic puzzles can remain frustratingly out of reach. [Jul 2014, p.114]

He finally seems to be getting the hang of things. [Oct 2006, p.122]

Not all of it convinces; Buttery's vocals can stray into a chill-out. But this is still an absorbing record that deserves to break hearts beyond the confines of the dubstep scene. [Dec. 2010, p. 108]

Things get really interesting once the early euphoria fades, with Jenny Hval collaboration Bungl (Like A Ghost) stirring eldritch poetry and fractured jazz into an enthralling mix. [Nov 2017, p.111]

Sam Owen's milky vocals give these songs a bloodless, etiolated quality that's as sinister as it is pretty. [Summer 2018, p.114]

Here it seems desperation has resulted in rockier, more rewarding work. [May 2006, p.130]

Ten Thousand and One Injuries works best when the frenetic pace eases up a little. [May 2010, p.122]

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

Their third album presents finely wrought, dramatic indie rock, with dexterous vocalist Finn Andrews. [May 2009, p.119]

There's nothing here to match the heavy thump of his mid-noughties collaborations with the Melvins such as Sieg Howdy!, but it still punches hard. [May 2013, p.95]

Not all the tracks have the same impact, however, and a certain sameness in tone saps thrills. [Jun 2013, p.95]

Not all of it works but tracks such as the duskily euphoric Dojo Rising; Moonrabbit, all sunny, West Coast harmonies; and Ice Age Heatwave, which sparkles on a soundscape of otherworldly guitars, are epic in both sound and ambition. [Nov 2013, p.102]

While William's folk inspirations remain obscure, with talking fish and tortoises featuring as well as birds, her music boasts a striking immediacy. [Apr 2014, p.112]

It can all be a bit hazy and formless, but when sweeping the sky for sounds on the ominous prog-drift of Body Studies or bathing in the light cast by Loveless on Deu, Colleran shows his skill at controlling the most nebulous sounds. [May 2016, p.112]

This is intelligent pop freighted with emotional complexity. [Jan 2017, p.108]

Surprisingly muted, sophisticated synth-pop that lowers its eyes and keeps to the shadows, a glint of hi-tech disco chrome occasionally catching the light. [Feb 2018, p.116]

This is a refreshingly dark take on a tired format. [Feb 2019, p.112]

What remains is a skeletal approach to production, all spare pulses and baleful samples channeled echo-chambered effects. It turns out, thought, that Mitchell also has a feel for deceptively simple melodies. [Jan 2015, p.129]

His second LP plays to his familiar strength--that lightly Auto-Tuned voice--and a batch of R&B-friendly tunes with minimal instrumentation, the echoing paranoia of Watch Who You Tell and Call Me's sunny clatter being particular highlights. [Aug 2018, p.114]

It's liable to tail off in trippier moments, but Kazuashita is magical enough to reward its hyperactive ambition. [Summer 2018, p.109]

Overall the glory years seem a long way off and metal fatigue sets in long before the end of its 63 minutes. [Aug 2014, p.108]

Shine is a work of subtlety and hushed intimacy that, at times, barely seems to exist at all. [May 2003, p.109]

Assured and dignified. [May 2002, p.119]

[There's] a raw, anxious quality reminiscent of '80s US cult favourites Violent Femmes. [May 2004, p.104]

All hail the new Johnny Cash. [Oct 2004, p.132]

It's when the rappers stand down that it hits its stride. [Jun 2012, p.108]

Ian Bavitz delivers some typically extravagant wordplay. [Oct 2007, p.101]

No One Is Lost is the closest they've come to fulfilling their potential. [Jan 2015, p.132]

The result may be less straightforward to dance to, but can play dizzying tricks on the ears. [Dec 2012, p.108]

It's quirky without being kitsch, and another fine addition to Smith's varied back catalog. [Aug 2013, p.105]

The only sticking point is frontman Carson Cox's vocals. He's so curiously low in the mix at times that it gives the impression of a man absentmindedly wandering through his own songs. [Sep 2014, p.111]

Comes across like a refresher of the best mood music of the last 40 years. [Aug 2006, p.110]

Battered by love yet ever hopeful, and with a fetching drawl to match, her story songs might occupy familar alt-country terrain, but surrounding herself with some top LA session men helps give Asking For Flowers that extra bit of class. [May 2008, p.130]

Short, but extremely sharp. [Feb 2010, p.104]

Infectious and effective as it is, Moderat II is never quite as overwhelming as it threatens to be. [Sep 2013, p.106]

It's on the conceptual pair of tracks 45s (c.69) and 45s (c.14), where he contrasts two generations of hipsters hanging outside the same club 45 years apart, that his imagination really takes flight, though, giving an exciting glimpse of where “tradition” folk rock might go. [Jun 2014, p.108]

A feat of ideas. [Nov 2014, p.117]

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

There's something pleasingly nostalgic about this second LP from the Wirral's Hooton Tennis Club. [Dec 2016, p.1109]

There are moments on Could Be Worse and Money where melodic punch is lacking, but, overall, this new softer persona suits LTA well. [Apr 2017, p.115]

Williams and Hugo's unerring ability to transform a few notes into a sharply mesmeric riff laces their most experimental work yet with immediacy. Alive and well, N.E.R.D. have come back swinging. [Jan 2018, p.111]

A rousing debut. [Aug 2005, p.123]

When the formula gels, it can make for a potent cocktail, even if the arrestingly noirish production and twisted production often turn out to be more striking than the songs. [Aug 2014, p.112]

It's a welcome return. [Jul 2012, p.104]

Overall, Endless Scroll feels self-righteous and misses the crucial idea that insurrection can actually be fun. [Jul 2018, p.108]

This album [is] good fun. [Feb 2013, p.103]

Gary Clark, Jr merges smooth vocals with economical guitar wizardry and makes it all sound less wearyingly pub-rock by embracing the 21st century. [Mar 2013, p.95]

Overall Lionheart is an uneven listen, with some of the quieter songs blending a little too politely into the background. [Feb 2018, p.112]

It's their most melodically accomplished and wide-ranging effort yet. [Apr 2009, p.111]

Songs such as the Psychedelic Furs-recalling The Second Summer Of Love and the Bowie-like Sell Your Soul show McBean's keener on examining his adolescence in the alternative '80s,, alongside other rock'n'roll mythology. [Jun 2014, p.118]

Alicia Bognanno's diary-like vocals still slide from ingenue-like to raging screams and back again but now her delivery is a little more taut. It makes the bits where she loses control feel very real. [Dec 2017, p.102]

Comes laden with flashy A-list cameos. [Jun 2003, p.96]

Bowie's best music since Scary Monsters. [Oct 2003, p.101]

Intriguing, ambitious, but flawed. [Apr 2006, p.116]

All told, a successful modernisation of an old formula. [May 2009, p.118]

They have expanded their joint sabbatical into an album that ram-raids its way through baroque pop, garage rock and Byrdsian harmonies. [Feb 2011, p.118]

Anyone able to go to sleep without checking the wardrobe for monsters is unlikely to find much of interest here. [Dec. 2011 p. 137]

There are some exquisite songs here. [Nov 2016, p.111]

Snow Bound continues to showcase a jangled set of nerves and guitars. [Nov 2018, p.105]

It's full of compact songs that steal your heart and leave. [Dec 2018, p.107]

On it's own terms--striving to be more interesting than the standard album--Hvarf-Heim is clearly a success. [Dec 2007, p.114]

You leave the record feeling a bit like you've visited a museum. [May 2014, p.116]

Uptempo grooves such as Bobcat Gold Wraith may be too workmanlike to build up much momentum, but there are some lovely moments here. [Jul 2010, p.128]

What really matters here is texture, delivered in abundance as she plucks and picks her way around harps, guitars and all manner of acoustic backing, her celestial freak-folk voice bewitching the listener. [Oct 2010, p.103]

A straightforward, warm-sounding album. [Dec 2004, p.138]

That's not to say these 11 tracks lack merit, just impact, such highly-strung, right-angled songs as Right In Time frequently becoming bogged down in experimentation. [Jun 2003, p.96]

Trouble feels like a multi-faceted, compound eye of a record, picking up different sides to every story and blending them into a smooth, undeniably odd whole. [Mar 2014, p.113]

An acquired taste, but an enjoyable one. [May 2013, p.94]

It swaps the ramped-up volume of the past for a jittery urgency that mirrors 21st-century urban Britain. [Nov 2017, p.108]

This is a starkly beautiful suite of music by a band who--after two decades--just keeping growing in stature. [Oct 2018, p.115]

He's enjoying his music far too much to stop now. And so, for the matter, are we. [Oct 2018, p.106]

The singer hits new highs and broadens her pop horizons. [Mar 2014, p.118]

Heralds a move from mine-shaft fug to West Coast freeway haze. [Jun 2005, p.120]

His imaginative, smartly delivered lyrics hold the attention during those moments when producer Lewis's beats don't quite match them for sparkle. [Apr 2013, p.94]

Part Of The Light finds him in dream-like mode, and though he'll never rival Guy Garvey for loquacity, he's so comfortable in his own skin that To The Sea details a cheery trip to the seaside and his voice soars where it once growled. [Jul 2018, p.112]

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

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

It's Hynde who steals the show with her lip-curling vibrato, part Elvis, part Dusty, never more intoxicating than on the seductive 'Almost Perfect.' [Jul 2009, p.129]