An instantly loveable collection of sky-punching, new wave pop glory. [May 2005, p.117]

It's very diversity makes it a little impersonal and even arch, but there are strong songs here and a retrospective disc shows there's plenty more where they came from. [Jan 2013, p.102]

The Growlers might just be on to something here. [May 2013, p.101]

His songs are funny clever, rather than funny ha-ha, making Dad Country a serious business. [Jul 2013, p.105]

Season Sun aims to evoke the spirit of travel using the same dream-pop template as The Soundcarriers. Only occasionally, however, do they achieve it. [Sep 2014, p.109]

More a holding album than a great step up. [Aug 2015, p.111]

The results range from extraordinary to bemused but they are never dull. [Summer 2019, p.111]

A pretty but very conventional collection of love song. [Sep 2019, p.112]

It's an impressive return. [Sep 2019, p.111]

A little more thematic variation would be welcome, but there are worse soundtracks to the chaos of the new decade. [Apr 2020, p.114]

There's... plenty for the merely curious to enjoy. [Aug 2005, p.142]

The airy-fairy aggression sometimes misses the mark. [Oct 2012, p.112]

This is a record of towering acoustic-based songwriting. [Sep 2005, p.114]

Many of [the debut's] ragged edges have been smoothed out, and in the process some of The Zutons' collective personality has gone. [May 2006, p.122]

An intriguing, if not quite essential, addition to the Maus canon. [Jul 2018, p.115]

Get cherry-picking. [Oct 2013, p.116]

At The Drive-In's astringent, scouring return doesn't feel so much like a blast from the past, as one aimed right at the heart of the present. [Jun 2017, p.108]

The problem lies in Conn himself, a mannered vocalist whose lyrics aren't as funny or provocative as he thinks. [Mar 2007, p.111]

Into The Diamond Sun takes a fistful of seemingly incongruous influences and hammers them into something akin to pop music. [Oct 2012, p.111]

There's an Iberian undertow to the gorgeous You Sigh and the upbeat Answers. Yet, when he goes for beauty, he strikes gold and propelled by an earworm melody, Lights Out distills all that's right about Cunningham. [Mar 2017, p.107]

This is Madonna on top of the world, looking down on creation, God complex at cruising attitude. [Summer 2019, p.110]

While these 12 tracks occasionally meld into one [an]other a little too easily, there are many moments of promise. [Jul 2018, p.111]

Halfway through, though, Gonzalez's self-indulgence gets the better of him and you're left with half-baked ideas and little else. [June 2008, p.145]

Its surreal mix of chamber-pop, electro-funk and avant-garde noise is well executed, but it's so scatter shot, that, ultimately, it frustrates. [Nov 2007, p.137]

In a world where Interpol already exist, it's hard to get too excited about the twitchy Anglophilia here. [Dec 2004, p.136]

There's little here that lingers. [Jun 2005, p.111]

It's what Spiritualized might sound like before Jason Pierce sprinkles his gospel fairy dust on them. [Oct 2010, p.104]

You could forgive the incoherence if every song punched its weight, but too often design-by-committee dilutes rather than enhances individual strengths, producing generic electro-pop filler. [Oct 2010, p.106]

It's... strangely coy, preferring to camp it up than give in to full-on indecency. Which isn't to say it doesn't have its moments. [Jul 2003, p.101]

Tom Jenkinson shares Aphex Twin's mischievous way with a beat but lacks his respect for melody. [Aug 2001, p.141]

A real disappointment. [Apr 2004, p.118]

Lostprophets inhabit that old-fashioned place where the young are alright and must overcome the cynicism of the jaded oldster at all costs. [Feb 2004, p.104]

[The songs are] bereft of the joy and pain that made her name. [Oct 2004, p.128]

Shows he still has few peers when whipping up a likeable mix of energy, melody and glistening harmonies. [May 2005, p.117]

An album largely split between moments of hushed intimacy and gonzoid rocksers that tend to pitch themselves between The Replacements, Tom Petty and -- presumably unwittingly -- U2 circa War. [Oct 2002, p.101]

A set of forward-thinking pop reminiscent of Sign O' The Times-era Prince. [Oct 2006, p.115]

Off With Their Heads affirms the undying pleasures of smart, catchy pop music does well. [Oct 2008, p.137]

A mixed bag. [Apr 2007, p.117]

There's little spark, despite her admirable willingness to take chances. [Nov 3007, p.147]

Scialfa has surrendered and retreated into singer-songwriter orthodoxy, despite the appealing doo-wop backing vocals of 'Like Any Woman Would' and the lyrical twists of 'Black Ladder.' [Oct 2007, p.105]

This is an assured solo debut from the MC. [Oct 2009, p.111]

Rizzle Kicks are a pop prospect with a winning charm you just can't teach. [Dec. 2011 p. 137]

A rather lovely bedtime listen. [Jan 2013, p.101]

It strips away their epic rock to reveal something more direct and emotionally satisfying. [Dec 2015, p.115]

His first LP of originals since the '80s is thrillingly belligerent, bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Dylan Howe supplying a muscular foundation to Johnson's machete guitar, a combination more than compensating for the star's lack of vocal prowess. [Summer 2018, p.110]

If, after a while, it just hangs there like a low mist, Noctunes is still a thing of impressive substance made by a very striking somebody. [Oct 2015, p.102]

With Valhalla Dancehall, it's time to laud British Sea Power for attaining greatness strictly on their own terms. [Feb. 2011, p. 116]

Fans of Prefab Sprout, The Go-Betweens and Saint Etienne could do a lot worse than give their cerebral Canadian counterparts a go. [Jan 2013, p.110]

While there are some fine original songs, it's Harvey's choice of covers and collaborations that are most telling. [Jun 2013, p.98]

At times, it's a frustrating, self-absorbing listen. [Oct 2014, p.110]

It's a record that manages to find hope among the uncertainties. [Jan 2018, p.113]

It's wilfully rough around the edges. [Summer 2020, p.101]

Monuments is an enjoyably straightforward rock album. [Jan 2015, p.128]

Harmless fun. [Nov 2006, p.149]

Their 11th LP will remind newcomers of Metallica's buffed-up chugga-chugga, but also, a trifle disappointingly, of late-era Iron Maiden's blanded-out chest-beating anthemics. [Apr 2016, p.101]

While it doesn't always hit its mark, people after some cartoon-rock fun with great tunes will find this their most consistently satisfying set of songs since 2009's West Ryder Pauper Lunatic Asylum. [Jun 2017, p.100]

As always, Scott overdoes it--and frequently--but when Modern Blues is good, it's very good indeed. [Feb 2015, p.117]

Zeroes QC bristles with ideas, assimilating elements of Krautrock, electronica and post-punk to dazzling effect. [Feb 2011, p.124]

It might well be their best album yet. [Sep 2019, p.116]

This is no dour social critique. In fact, his seventh album finds him energised following a period as a soundtrack hack in Los Angeles. [Aug 2008, p.145]

Disappointing return from orchestral indie types. [July 2011, p. 117]

Georgia electro-popper emerges as the first star of "chillwave". [Aug. 2011, p. 122]

The Death Cab For Cutie man turned his vision to a series of alternate realities. [Dec 2012, p.105]

Danger Days doesn't sound like the future, but it does sound like the sate of My Chemical Romance's art. [Dec 2010, p.102]

Troy and Edwards bring some bite to the Lips' experimentation, keeping their more wayward indulgences in check while they do it. There's still a stellar breadth of sound and colour on offer. [May 2020, p.104]

MG is a frequently intriguing set of intimate modernist atmospherics. [Jun 2015, p.108]

Beck thrills tot he max--and Loud Hailer hits career peaks of tough, funky belligerence. [Sep 2016, p.102]

Amen & Goodbye is an all-on-black attempt to rediscover their mojo. By and large, it's successful... The only minor caveat is that in the search for sonic and lyric transcendence, the band give off the slight air of Christina rock project. [May 2016, p.104]

Well worth the wait. [Jun 2020, p.105]

Full of irresistible choruses and quirky surprises, it's the sound of a band fully deserving of star billing. [Sep 2007, p.90]

If you're eager for a record that eats its influences raw in order to fuel a whole new world you'd better look elsewhere. [Apr 2015, p.112]

Tracks like Sorry and the brainiac funk of Mind Control show that the same sparky formula can stretch over a whole record. [Jul 2012, p.100]

By turns magical and maddening, it's with the house-tinged ambience of singles Breath and Love Can Damage Your Health that they excel.

Despite the rollercoaster ride, there are intense moments of pop wonder and cartoon hilarity. [Sep 2004, p.120]

Neil Finn's gift for driving songs remains as strong as ever. [Sep 2004, p.118]

Clever, but not clever-clever. [Nov 2012, p98]

It's on the mighty 'Collemboles,' however, that all the angles, time-signature switches and gigantic choruses come togerther, and it's the finest moment on an album packed with delights. [May 2009, p.115]

The album is a pleasing companion in its own right. [Nov 2009, p.111]

[Her] reinvention, no matter how calculated, has worked wonders. [Aug 2005, p.127]

A quietly accomplished record, just not the one people were expecting. [Jun 2011, p.125]

The 10-minute 'Midnight Surprise' is the album's sprawling, beguiling centrepeice, but 'Everyone I Know Is Listening To Crunk' is its bewildered, adorable heartbeat. [Feb 2008, p.96]

Too much of the material is ponderous and plodding. [Jun 2009, p.128]

It's a dazzling trip. [Jul 2015, p.108]

Mesmerising. [May 2012, p.96]

Sistrionix doesn't always keep up the consistency, but Deap Vally have enough swagger to fill in the gaps. [Aug 2013, p.96]

Sorrowful dance and defiant house beats wind throughout, bringing unity to the scattered sounds. [Oct 2019, p.109]

While there is plenty to admire in the ambition, there's little to love, as memorable hooks prove to be at a premium. [Oct 2009, p.116]

It's breathless and occasionally shallow, but never less than entertaining. [Summer 2018, p.114]

At times, Leaneagh and Ryan Olson, her co-conspirator, glance off power-balladry, but when they ditch the linear, Poliça find their true form. [Mar 2020, p.119]

It's chillingly powerful, but the band sell short their cinematic ambitions with just 33 minutes of music. [Aug 2014, p.102]

Solid, but a little more derangement would have been welcome. [May 2017, p.107]

He's hardly renowned as a pin-up, which lends his fourth album's Prince-ly fixation with carnal knowledge a touch of the absurd.... Still, it's delivered with panache, thanks to Thicke's versatile pop-soul vocals and some slick production work. [Jun 2010, p.131]

The follow-up is far more coherent, as passionate but resisting the temptation to press the button marked "Gotterdammerung" with quite such abandon. [Dec 2010, p.103]

Functional but fun. [May 2010, p.122]

The title track sets the tone with its exploration of heroin addiction as a metaphor for relationships, but it's "The American Scream"--a gritty, neo-gothic parable--that best illustrates Alkaline Trio's unique take on three chords and the truth. [Mar 201, p.97]

The infinitely superior Cope might expand their reach further still. [May 2014, p.114]

The fire dies down as the album progresses, but the infectious melodies remain. [May 2016, p.104]

Opting to name your album Magnifique certainly suggests a renewed confidence and the music here largely supports that. [Sep 2015, p.115]