MU.ZZ.LE is more crackly, lo-fi trip-hop, like something beamed in from another planet. [Feb 2012, p.110]

Different is Gender's newfound falsetto, but what Throws truly brims with is a freshly cleansed palate. [Sep 2016, p.113]

Quirky nods to power pop, jazz, and even sci-fi dub suggest a restless, Beck-like future. [April 2012, p.107]

A grand vision is hard to discern, but when it comes to bringing the party, Culture II delivers with a scale and swagger that's hard to resist. [Apr 2018, p.117]

Award-winning country from the school of hard knocks. [Oct. 2010, p. 103]

As ever, the gravel-voiced Lightburn sounds as if singing for his life rather than his supper yet, without sacrificing that epic feel that always set this band apart, he's broadening his horizons. [Apr 2011, p.101]

[Sey] struggles to find a style that's truly her own on an album that see-saws between brooding electronic blues and expansive pop ballads. [Dec 2015, p.113]

There are only so many ways to do deep, woozy bass overlaid with gentle harmonies and a clipped beat, and Haelos exhaust them around track seven. [May 2016, p.109]

Revisitations of several Fall tunes, such as Hotel Bloedel from Perverted By Language, allow her glam spirit to shine, minus MES's obfuscation. New compositions are hot too. [Nov 2017, p.104]

Sun Gong is a two-part aural resonance-bath suitable for ultimate relaxation. [Dec 2017, p.106]

William's slick pop-R&B effectively smothers Snoop's signature drawl. [Jul 2015, p.113]

It's the renewed sense of urgency and bubblegum appeal--see Live 'Til I Die--which ensures that Prof Hawkins's musical multiverse is still a thrilling place. [Dec 2019, p.109]

Fizzing with memorable melodies, irrepressible energy and Matthew Caw's heartfelt vocals, this 38-minute set doesn't have a wasted moment on it. [Feb. 2012, p.108]

He remains a maestro at the mixing desk, even as the album's split-down-the-middle concept undermines his genre-splicing strengths. [Jan 2020, p.106]

There are less stirring points--England, for instance, never really seems to move, and album closer Please Let Me Let It Go is a little too somnambulant. [Nov 2014, p.104]

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]

Motion To Join makes the druggiest meanderings of the similar "Spiritulized" sound full of pep. [Dec 2008, p. 126]

He's seldom less than wildly expressive, whether pumping out neon-lit disco or radically rewiring acid electro. [Aug 2012, p.108]

Carefully constructed with plenty of inventive, multi-layered vocals, it works best on the livelier songs. [Apr 2013, p.93]

A characteristically warm and good-natured record, but it's also striking how adventurous and relevant they sound. [Apr 2016, p.108]

Omori hits the sweet spots--butterfly-inducing money notes, wistful minor-key switch-ups--but rarely excites more than cordial admiration. [Sep 2018, p.117]

The 17 loose, grungy guitar-led songs here ... sound full of renewed energy. [May 2012, p.103]

If there's one complaint, its that pop commercialism occasionally gets the better of her. [Aug 2010, p.123]0

Night In the Dark is retrograde, but it's a refinement too. [Apr 2015, p.97]

The middle section boast a tougher, truculent edge reminiscent of last year's mixtape If You're Reading This It's Too Late. But it's during the final sequence that everything clicks. [#361, p.114]

Sounds a lot like a world-weary J Mascis fronting Teenage Fanclub. [Mar 2003, p.108]

A fresh production eye might have rescued its weaker segments - Love Calling Earth or the dull By All Means Necessary - and its surprising lack of overall oomph.

It'd be easy to throw the "emo" tag at them, but Matt Pryor's approach has more in common with the disarming honesty of Weezer's Rivers Cuomo than mere whinging. [Nov 2002, p.100]

Their debut album sits comfortably between the party-heart, old skool shape-throwing of Jurassic Five and the darker weedscapes of Cypress Hill.

Their former group's artful exuberance and awkward edges may have been sawn off to create a more grungy rasp, but there's still plenty of angst on show. [Oct 2002, p.117]

Life after Defo occasionally feels like flicking through someone's heartbreak diaries. [Apr 2013, p.99]

Instrumental, but wholly lyrical. [Apr 2017, p.116]

It starts promisingly ... but 43 minutes of joyless hectoring becomes an endurance test. [Feb 2012, 110]

so far, so arty. [Mar 2014, p.108]

Simon Ratcliffe and Felix Buxton have retrenched, recruited a slew of vocalists and made the sort of uptempo record they were doing at the turn of the century. [Oct 2009, p.107]

Choruses fizzle, lyrics fail to engage and every song is at least a minute too long. [Jun 2013, p.102]

Mostly Strapped is unified by a fuggy atmosphere, likeably odd guitar details and some immediate choruses. [Nov 2012, p.105]

They remain most compelling when Hanna lets rip, as on the propulsive, grinding 'Me & Mary.' [Mar 2009, p.93]

Confrontational yet communal. It's what his fans adore the most and, more than any of his previous five studio albums, Positive Songs For Negative People has it in spades. [Sep 2015, p.115]

The abundance of weird instrumentals and scattershot doodles suggest that quality control remains an alien concept. [Mar 2006, p.108]

Thier relentless pursuit of "the craic" is wearing, evocative song titles not hiding the fact Dublin-native Dave King's lyrics lack the romanticism of Shane MacGowan. [June 2008, p.138]

A functional quality is leavened by guest voices. [Feb 2012, p.104]

Laughing Party proves a pleasing surprise. [Jun 2012, p. 104]

A weapons-grade blast from start to finish. [Jan 2013, p.113]

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

The broadening of the palate is certainly welcome but there still remains a nagging sense that, over a whole album, a lack of emotional heft renders them as frothy as ever. [Mar 2015, p.110]

Animal Wisdom is pretty enough, while drone epic Silent Stream nails his Velvets fetish. But to call the other Nuggets-style fodder here "something else" is overstating it. [Summer 2018, p.109]

Formerly one of the finest melodicists of his generation, this assured debut secures his position as one of our finest artists. [Nov. 2011, p. 124]

Halcyon casts a formidable spell. [Nov 2012, p.96]

In time-honored fashion it rattles through a dozen tracks in a shade over 30 minutes, never getting close to overstaying its welcome. [Mar 2011, p.116]

They appear to have tired of Love and have been listening to far more Velvet Underground. [Oct 2016, p.105]

It's all a disarmingly easy listen, even if their sugar-spun harmonies at times prove a touch too sweet. [Dec 2015, p.112]

More of the same, then. [Apr 2016, p.117]

Unfortunately, aside from Stranger's Kiss, the overall level of artifice here is simply too steep to surmount. [Oct 2017, p.100]

Impressive though it is, however, there's a lurking feeling that it could have been released any time in the past 10 years. [Mar 2010, p.97]

Paring down the roster to give more space to standout performers would have made this hit-and-miss debut fell less like a lucky dip. [Mar 2015, p.106]

This Is... Icona Pop does contain some enjoyable moments, but it's a hollow victory. [Nov 2013, p.117]

Glover's wit and dexterity confirm he's the real deal. [Jan. 2012 p. 119]

Stylish nightlife pop. [Dec 2004, p.148]

There's still the odd detour into eerie atmospherics, but essentially this is electronica for people who fine The Knife hard going, with recent Kylie collaboration, Whistle, providing a final dusting of pop sugar. [Oct 2013, p.106]

It's a curious artifact for sure, but it casts a unique spell. [Jul 2014, p.111]

The tempo seldom rises beyond a twitch, or Buttery's voice above a murmur, News From Nowhere is warm and confident. [Apr 2013, p.99]

They make a decent stab at it. But with such an overfamiliar sound, it smacks too much of the World Cup exit montage. [Oct 2011, p.117]

Liddle's earthy vocal wobble remains central, but this time it's married to such strident, straightforward rock that no one's going to compare them with Mumfords again. [Oct 2014, p.109]

There is too little variety on show and the lack of breathing space is more likely to induce mild claustrophobia than any genuine excitement. [May 2016, p.118]

The Black Keys may have as much in common with the conventional '70s blues-rock of Canned Heat and Free as they do with the more left-field THe White Stripes. [Oct 2006, p.118]

The sunny hooks of the title track and Disco Kid's funky backsbeat display similar flair, though indulgent wig-outs such as Don't Blame Yourself could do with an edit. [Jun 2017, p.105]

Left to her own devices, she radically strips back her earlier material and it works. [Nov 2018, p.111]

Lonely, Dear offers another helping of sweet melancholy on Hall Music. [Nov. 2011, p. 142]

Disengage your brain; you might just enjoy it. [Jul 2016, p.115]

But it's the art-punk sense of fearless invention that makes...Bobby Dee a winning album in praise of life's losers. [Feb 2010, p. 105]

Even if some of the dizzying stylistic shifts will be familiar from his day job, the quirky, urbane character is all Baio. [Aug 2017, p.102]

There's nothing remotely new or sophisticated about any of it. Instead the album happily operates at the most instinctual gut level, oozing authenticity in a way that Jack White, say, would give his front teeth for. [Nov 2008, p.111]

Que Veux Tu and La Musique cannily mesh memorable pop hooks and dancefloor energy, but Budet's international aspirations may be offset by her brave, if commercially questionable, decision to sing entirely in French. [May 2011, p.127]

When they equal their best source material, they're brilliant; but when that material is merely daft, they're less good. [Jun 2013, p.104]

It might be a little too smooth for plant-seducing ubiquity, but Tuxedo still deserves to get lucky. [May 2015, p.114]

Some tracks will work better live, but consider the experiment a success. [Jun 2017, p.112]

While they haven't lost their taste for repointing American and European folk, there's a brash, stadium-rock dazzle to these songs, proving that The Decemberists, at least, aren't taking the awfulness lying down. [Apr 2018, p.108]

Momentary Masters is a big beast with swagger in its bones and craft in its soul. [Sep 2015, p.110]

What is surprising is just how chief songwriter Oliver Ackermann shapes their face-melting shoegaze into something altogether more sophisticated. [Aug 2012, p.94]

It's one boringly pedestrian plod after another. [Jun 2012, p.104]

The B-side was never meant to bear this much relentless inspection. [Feb 2004, p.113]

These stripped-down efforts offer an insight into the singer's writing methods, but not much else. [Feb 2005, p.102]

You can't fault the songs, the playing or the voice, but these versions contribute little to the originals. [Oct 2005, p.117]

Alas, the only memorable moment is a cover of Fang's Money Will Roll Right In. [May 2007, p.129]

It can be a little ponderous, but the unearthly dawn chorus of 'Jade Like Wine' or the ritual freakout of 'Goddess Atonement' leave you yearning ofr a solstice to celebrate. [Dec 2007, p.124]

While there is plenty here that's impressive, the odd change of gear wouldn't go amiss next time around. [May 2009, p.110]

Throughout, Hunx nasally trills teenage romantic pain over raw retro clatter, and if Spector heard songs such as The curse Of being Young and Tonite Tonite from his prison cell, he'd surely approve. [May 2011, p.116]

Melodies take shape and dissolve, musical reference points blend unexpectedly but the effect, though disorientating, is always accessible. [Jun 2011, p.110]

A dark, violent and relentless listen. [Sep 2011, p.110]

While Mair's wistful voice can carry the weight, it occasionally makes all the impact of a light mist. [Jul 2012, p.107]

If you lock The Flaming Lips, Kanye West and Rustie in a studio together, they might well emerge with something sounding like this. [Dec 2012, p.112]

This is gorgeous. [Jan 2013, p.109]

Rocky Tinder and Eric Phipps's songs have a sharpness to them that makes them sparkle through the lysergic fug. [Jun 2013, p.108]

The debt to electronic pioneer Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene is obvious, but it's a compliment to say this is guaranteed to send you to sleep. [Jun 2014, p.104]

A bold experiment with plenty of flavour. [Dec 2016, p.105]

There's decent adult pop to be had. [Jan 2016, p.111]

While the title's end-of-days concept might be flimsy, the grooves are rock solid. [Feb 2017, p.115]