Forty albums into his career, Morrison might just be summoning a new creative burst. [Feb 2019, p.115]

Fearless strides forth from Neil's number one son. [Aug. 2011, p. 119]

Tobacco keeps things instrumental, lathering on freakish analogue effects but rejecting dance music's stylistic tics in favour of a pleasingly warped relative of space rock. [Aug 2009, p.112]

For Polica, chilling out means going way below zero, resulting in an icy glitter that is seductive but ultimately freezes you out. [Dec 2013, p.112]

Bell has an instinctive feel for sound but, as Freak's teeth-grinding acid house nostalgia underlines, he won't find a new audience with this. [Oct 2003, p.108]

Finisterre distills their Mellotrons, strummed guitars and electronic beats to a fine essence. [Oct 2002, p.114]

As synth-rock rebirths go, it's highly convincing. [Jun 2003, p.95]

If you were charmed by early Gorky's Zygotic Mynci, or simply fancy a bonkers tune-fest, this inspired, lo-fi rock is for you. [Apr 2004, p.114]

Finds GBV playing to their long-standing strengths. [Oct 2004, p.124]

His witty baritone flow is more than a match for his masters. [Dec 2003, p.139]

An inspired, invigorating concoction. [Feb 2002, p.108]

'Treshold Apprehension' features his best screaming since the Pixies' heyday, while 'Test Pilot Blues' and 'Your Mouth Into Mine' capture his imagination at its padded-cell best. [Oct 2007, p.94]

Since reforming in 1990, founder Jean-Herve Peron and Werner Diermaier have been prolific, touring the world and recording a series of albums that have never quite scaled the heights of those early works. Cest Com... is no exception, though it's best moments provide a showcase for Diermaier's extraordinary percussion. [May 2009, p.112]

For the listener wanting a more reflective experience, 50 sometimes enthralling minutes await. [May 2013, p.94]

The manic arrangements sometimes overwhelm, but there are worse places to drown than Baths' ball-pit of an imagination. [Jan 2018, p.106]

Clever, if a little monotonous; very much an LP for our times. [Nov 2019, p.112]

The envelope-pushing gets a bit much at times. [Feb 2020, p.116]

Both instantly appealing and dazzling inventive. [Apr 2020, p.113]

Subtle contributions from left-field electronic artists like The Books and Broadcast add variety, but at 21 tracks, it's still a marathon. [Apr 2005, p.126]

There's a little more in the mix here [than in her solo debut album], dabs of lap steel on Babylon and elsewhere, gentle harp flourishes on Song For Next Summer, but this is barely less lovely than its predecessor. [Nov. 2011, p. 127]

Robyn Hitcock, My Morning Jacket's Jim James and, taking the female characters' voices, Becky Stark and Shara Worden, are among those fleshing out the band, but all are no more than support to Colin Meloy and his very singular vision--and what a glorious big, bold and entirely bonkers one it is. [Apr 2009, p.104]

It might sound a bit much on paper, but Leschper's thought processes result in fantastic music--think Warpaint gone deconstructivism-crazy. [Oct 2018, p.115]

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]

While it's impossible to shrug off the feeling they've been here before, [Inside The Ships] remains involving. [Nov. 2011, p. 140]

Some of it is beautiful, but perhaps they should've enlisted the help of their offbeat brother Rufus to add a bit more colour to the canvas. [Jan 2016, p.115]

Style and contentment. [Jul 2020, p.104]

The results are mixed. [Jul 2020, p.104]

Entertaining and informative. [Jan 2018, p.117]

It combines psychedelic elevation with a curious sense of order. [May 2018, p.107]

Like his dad, he's more of a declaimer than a singer, but that's still plenty good enough to get his politicised sloganeering across. [Dec 2008, p.130]

While some of it is great, much of Francis Trouble chugs amiably along without really sinking its teeth in. [May 2018, p.111]

Articulate and thoughtful as Kweli's rhymrs are, few of the star producers he's invited along rise to the occasion. [Sep 2007, p.95]

Impressively reconfirms why she's alt-country's brightest rising star. [May 2005, p.111]

Emotional debris permeates almost every song here, but so assured are producer Butch Vig's pop touch and Cooper's harmonies that these pop-punk nuggests sound as sunny as anything on their debut. [Aug 2008, p.143]

Tell Me is produced by The Black Keys' Dan Auerbach, an arrangement that suits her lean, unsentimental alt-country just fine. [Mar 2011, p.116]

It obeys no single genre but it sounds like 20 years of London at night. [Mar 2013, p.98]

It's a transformation that makes the delicate beauty of what comes before even more startling. [Mar 2013, p.102]

The further you get into Mythologies, the further off-piste Cheatahs go. [Nov 2015, p.106]

It feels like an exercise in stretching the spirit of the first album as far as it will go, its urgency and menace dissolving into static down a long-distance line. [Mar 2017, p.111]

Growing up is hard to do, but Bruland has clawed some fabulously uneasy songs from the process. [Jan 2018, p.109]

A minor work from a mighty band. [Jan 2019, p.110]

They've mercifully scraped away some of the abrasiveness on their fifth record--even taking the drastic step of recording in a real studio. It's a move that skillfully exposes their inner charms while preserving their lo-fi cool. [Jun 2011, p.123]

His first album in seven years is vigorously diverse. [Nov 2012, p.90]

This Gift rattles along in the finest punk tradition, even usefully recycling The Damned's 'Neat Neat Neat' riff on the title track. [Feb 2008, p.1000]

Relentlessly entertaining--a vessel for the impressive vim and vigour of an artist who is many things, but never a bore. [Mar 2020, p.115]

It blows hot and cold. [Oct 2005, p.110]

It's cute--like a super furry animal, perhaps. [Jan 2006, p.127]

Mission statement from feted San Franciscan droners. [Sept. 2011, p. 119]

His debut solo LP nods more to the latter [Cracker rather than Camper Van Beethoven]. [Jun 2011, p.119]

He's turned his back on electro flourishes in favour of a melodic approach... It works. [Dec. 2001 p. 126]

Holly balances a nostalgic timelessness and modern, urgent emotions. [May 2014, p.120]

59:59 wanders prettily yet aimlessly through the atmospheric post-rock undergrowth. [June 2008, p.149]

Ephyra sees them merge their blissful tendencies with the chutzpah and restless creativity of '80s new wave, mixing in retro-futurist synths, mannered vocals, disco beats and erudite lyricism. [Apr 2019, p.118]

You come to see the The Lovely Eggs are an act of fine calibration of noise and sweetness, of intelligence and brutish mettle. [Jun 2020, p.102]

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

This final testament is all the more heart-breaking for the fact we'll never hear from Campbell again. [Oct 2013, p.99]

The lean on their punk metal roots as rawness and straightforward riffing dominate in an album that, despite missing Keenan, does recall their early-'80s heft. [Mar 2012, p.105]

The results are vintage sounding yet wholly fresh. [Feb 2003, p.98]

Were they anything but Gallic, this approach would doubtless sound corny and contrived.

His first proper UK release is a treat, at times conjuring the beautiful, stark bleakness of Nick Drake, elsewhere not afraid to crank things up. [Feb 2009, p.119]

[He's tempered] his earlier frat-boy laddishness with some gentler introspection and a keen ear for beats. [Sep 2013, p.107]

Old and new reflect off each other, their currents and clashes creating an intriguing weather system that's Anno's alone. [Oct 2018, p.115]

The a capella tracks remain their USP, but when they stretch out into the acoustic guitar balladry of the Joanna Newsom-sih Fish, they shine even brighter. [Oct 2018, p.115]

Newton's ups and downs might not always be fun, but they make for gripping listening. [May 2019, p.108]

While there's plenty to admire, Magic Chairs feels like th work of a band who can't quite allow themselves to make the anthemic indie-rock of which they're clearly capable. [Mar 2010, p.101]

Mulberry Violence is uniquely unhinged. [Sep 2018, p.117]

Her giggly peers will find she speaks their language, while grown-ups will prefer her to keep quiet. [Apr 2009, p.110]

The musical collage approach, is the starting point for a captivating album of pop electronica. [Mar 2013, p.101]

A dense, innovative follow-up to Canadian MC Rollie Pemberton's promising 2005 debut. [Apr 2008, p. 112]

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]

There's a focus here that would have your average Grateful Dead fan running screaming for the hills. And that in itself is a triumph. [Oct 2010, p.112]

Their [stardom] has been a slow rise. The ascent continues apace. [Mar 2014, p.108]

Sadly, bland harmonies and bloodless production blunt the impact. [Oct 2005, p.117]

Their forays into electronica work best.... Sadly, there are too many one-dimensional guitar-pop songs that expose Jackson's flat, robotic voice. [May 2008, p.136]

It's difficult to sit through, yes, but that could well be Herbert's smartest reflection of the times. [May 2019, p.112]

With songs this weak, Randall's Norfolk-flat voice has nowhere to hide. [Oct 2013, p.107]

Previously hushed, hymnal recordings are twisted into warming rock'n'roll. [Dec 2005, p.149]

Mostly it's quality urban pop that achieves its goal, but by sacrificing her personality. [Apr 2008, p.107]

The fluid blend of tracks makes it more of a single piece than a series of highlights and also-rans. [Feb 2013, p.108]

For all the troubled lyrics, these songs pack punches. [Jun 2011, p.111]

Though bereft of the drama and surprise with which a top production can transform a song into cap-R Record, her ninth album is a ton of fun. [Feb 2013, p.104]

They retain enough of their own identity to sound fresh. [Nov 2013, p.114]

At times, effortless winsome... yet it comes with enough textural twitches and scuffs to underline its well-developed sense of wary melancholy. [Feb 2015, p.106]

Starcrawler might be known as a great live band, with de Wilde spitting, screaming and high-kicking her way through their confrontational gigs, but with Devour You prove they're every bit as impressive on record too. [Nov 2019, p.116]

Legrand and Scally have wisely not radically tinkered with their hypnotic formula. Everything is dreamily understated. [Mar 2008, p.100]

[Myela] descends into a bit of a toe-curlingly worthy WOMAD sing-along. More subtle and far better are gentle ballad When the Body Is Gone and lovely closer Infinite Trees. [Oct 2017, p.107]

The lyrical flash and chop-socky samples signify business as usual, but at heart 8 Diagrams is a bold move into deeper, mellower terrritory, and certainly a vast improvement on 2001's "Iron Flag." [Feb 2008, p.93]

It doesn't hold back on the lysergic craziness. [Aug 2017, p.106]

Think Spiritualized with a Native American obsession. [Dec 2006, p.133]

It's a glum, muted collection of songs, but Giannascoli knows how to party like it's 1994: alone in the kitchen, feeling miserable. [Nov 2015, p.110]

Ultimately, Futures is Bleed American Part Two. [Nov 2004, p.118]

By avoiding a quick fix, The Vaccines have made their most complete album yet. [Jun 2015, p.113]

This is the sound of a band hitting their stride, albeit belatedly. [#361, p.116]

Most... is either shapeless mush or verging on self-parody. [Apr 2006, p.116]

The lack of uptightness suits them. [Feb 2016, p.118]

It's still a quietly engaguing offering blessed with a lyrical lightness and organic Tucker Martine production. [Jul 2010, p.135]

Weber's trademark fusion of cascading chimes and subdued yet propulsive rhythm has expanded radically in scope. [Jul 2016, p.113]