Self-parody has lately been The Cure's greatest enemy: here, happily, it's not the main attraction. [Jan 2009, p.113]

Intriguing though Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon is, it remains unclear how he and his peculiar talent will thrive out there. [Oct 2007, p.104]

Harper recreated herself as a sultry electro diva ... it's a role she plays with panache on this full-length debut. [Dec. 2001 p. 125]

Amid such fussy eclecticism, however, they can't always stop Lucius sounding like an idea for a great band rather than the real thing. [May 2014, p.113]

If Hard Bargain doesn't quite hit a career high, it runs close on tearful eulogies to Gram Parsons and Kate McGarrigle, and the stunning My Name Is Emmett Till, a Cash/Dylan-esque civil rights songs. [Jun 2011, p.116]

The sound is richer and the mood conveyed by Sambol--think a Muppet Show Sylan--is more rueful. [Apr 2010, p.121]

Much more than a collection of second-hand shoegaze though, Sleep Forever is also endowed with a glam-rock swagger and a fondness for euphoric choruses that fans of Kasabian would do well to investigate. [Oct 2010, p.105]

Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty sand Bob Dylan makes their presence felt, especially on the title track, but the sci-fi sound collage that starts No Man's Land and Forever Pt. 2 underline the band's subtle warping of the Americana dream. [Feb 2018, p.108]

Carry Me Back feels like a sidestep towards a more traditional sound. [Jan 2013, p.108]

Most is all too predictable and finds Autechre stuck in an experimental rut. [May 2005, p.121]

Like untidy Casiopeia, it;s not all so absorbing, but the fact Ford and Shaw achieved this much in such reduced circumstances means the experiment must be considered a success. [Nov 2014, p.117]

They've mastered sounding unhurried but supertight. [August 2011, p. 113]

The [same] sort of Clash-meets-Green Day agit-protest skate-punk Anti-Flag have been making since 1996. [May 2012, p.90]

Exorcism Of Envy not only has to be heard to be believed, it just has to be heard. [Feb 2013, p.111]

Hoop's magic-realist folk idiom can veer a little too close to being the work of that free spirit who helps out at the health-food co-op, but here, the delicacy and subtlety of her songs is laid bare. [May 2014, p.111]

It's the dreamy experimentation of Ethiopia and Side Effects that highlight the brothers deepening range. [Nov 2014, p.104]

VANT have ensured their music has the same capacity to move and intrigue as their subject matter. [Apr 2017, p.118]

Rough, scuzzy and rasping, there's plenty within its tattered edges to enjoy. [Oct 2014, p.120]

For all its characteristic lyricism and stylistic restlessness, to say there is never a dull moment on Notes on a Conditional Form would be a slight overstatment. [Jul 2020, p.103]

Seeker Lover Keeper is frequently less than the sum of its parts. [May 2012, p.105]

Dark subjects [apocalypse], perhaps, but surprisingly enjoyable all the same. [Oct 2012, p.97]

Crow Sit On Blood Tree is a bizarre, schizophrenic, and determinedly unmelodic record that lurches drunkenly from the cascading fury of Burn It Down to the acoustic I'm Goin' Away, in which he sounds like an acid casualty from the original Woodstock.

It's disappointing this... sounds more like the work of bright, bored A-level students than British dance royalty. [Jul 2004, p.124]

The link between '50s rock and the modern world. [Oct 2004, p.121]

A fantastically overwrought and indulgent yet also controlled exercise in emotive guitar rock. [Nov 2002, p.103]

Not big, not clever, not hip, not trendy. Just fantastic.

Mogis finds a spectrum of hues in their previously monochrome sound. [Apr 2006, p.113]

The polished alt-rock on show here may be serviceable and vaguely reminiscent of Hole circa Live Through This, but it also lacks any of the band's own DNA. [Jun 2015, p.100]

Kaleide proves a little formula tweaking goes a long way. [Sep 2010, p.120]

The beats simply aren't up to snuff. [Feb 2013, p.103]

Delicate folk rock is hardly thin on the ground, but rarely is it tackled with such mastery. [May 2010, p.125]

The aerated atmosphere might leave some feeling light-headed, but Thompson-Hannant's unfettered energy is infectious. [Oct 2014, p.115]

Cudi is very much in a world of his own. [Dec 2010, p.110]

There are hints of Shoes' mentor Dilla in the woozier beats, and grittier curs such as Nails show where his reputation comes from. [Sep 2012, p.107]

Their third album takes them into Foo Fighters' radio-friendly anthems territory. [Oct 2012, p.98]

The sound of a man taking his giant leap forwards. They're out of the indie ghetto forever now. [Dec 2016, p.104]

While Love Grows Out Of Thin Air spins exquisite patterns from chiming synths and electronic blips, The Magic In You sounds like Empire Of The Sun remixed by Jean-Michel Jarre. And not in a good way. [Jan 2017, p.112]

Nice, but probably inessential. [Nov 2019, p.111]

It's on the quieter moments--the lovely Wild, closer I Tried--that Champion finds its emotional sweet spot. [Jan 2020, p.106]

If the absence of slow-builds and ambient drones makes for more succinct tunes, they're still no snappier. Choruses won't be bellowed, the air won't be bellowed, the air won't be punched, devotees will likely be delighted. [Mar 2016, p.105]

Swedes channel shoegaze on strangely beautiful debut. [Sept. 2011, p. 113]

LA-based trio unveil their schizo-pop blend. [Aug. 2011, p. 119]

This latest offering from former Hare Krishna disciples Taraka and Nimai Larson finds the Brooklyn-based sisters in typically mind-altering mood. [Nov. 2011, p. 139]

So retro it's pratcially an historical document. [Mar 2005, p.100]

Dull production and a workmanlike band let her down on the rockier numbers, but if Desveaux ever finds the right arranger the sky is her only limit. [Oct 2008, p.147]

Sadly, CD2 is a disastrously misjudged, cartoon homage to juke-joint jazz. It is awful. [Oct 2006, p.122]

Rework is a must for toe-dippers and Glassheads alike. [Dec 2012, p.120]

They've still got the moves. [April 2012, p.106]

Alas, from [the first two tracks]... the pair slip first into mediocrity and then the standbys of those who have run out of inspiration: backwards recording and pointless noodling. [Jun 2006, p.115]

Highly theatrical, camp and not a little shrill. [Apr 2006, p.116]

Unpatterns continues the left-wards drift [toward minimalism] with no vocals except the ghostly sampled ones and a musical palate of textured house and electric funk. [Jun 2012, p.112]

Old Growth blurs mearly into a long yawn. [Mar 2008, p.103]

His second album evokes a fragmented, at times nightmarish, digital world. [Dec 2017, p.113]

It's an album constructed from the simplest of elements: muted keyboards chords, pained falsetto vocals and Krell's greatest weapon of all: near silence. [Aug 2014, p.108]

Purists may bristle at his irreverent modifications, but consider these old songs' community spirit well served. [May 2016, p.112]

Black Ice is the album AC/DC were always going to make. It wasn't broken. They didn't need to fix it. [Nov 2008, p.119]

Mark this down as the point which we can say with certainty for the first time Devendra Banhart is here for the long run. [Nov 2009, p.113]

The songs are so delicately crafted that it never feels predictable. [Feb 2012, p.103]

There's no sense that there's any real passion. [Mar 2005, p.99]

Melodically, this matches The Lemonheads at their best. [Aug 2002, p.126]

Yet when they stop arsing around for the sake of it, Blink-182 write some very good pop songs. [Aug 2001, p.124]

Returns to the epic beauty that characterised their early work. [Aug 2004, p.116]

There's nothing fancy about her songs... but there is magic in the way she sings them. [Apr 2006, p.112]

If seeker of the hip-hop's next wave need not apply, those with an appetite for rugged, screwfaced late-90's New York rap should find this keeps them scowling like it's 1999. [Mar 2913, p.111]

An epic, in no way ironic record whose tart electronic tones belie its emotional warmth and musicality. [Nov 2012, p.90]

It's noisy, danceable, by turns exhilarating and excruciating. But at 90-odd-minutes, beyond exhausting. [Sep 2018, p.114]

No new ground is broken here, but Tallies map their well-worn journey with a sure sense of direction, songwriting skills cutting through the dreamy fog. [Feb 2019, p.116]

May be his most sad-eyed collection, but it's also his best yet. [Jul 2019, p.109]

Well-connected New Jerseyite's fifth solo album. [March 2011, p. 117]

There's nothing here that's especially revolutionary, but Dressy Bessy... do power pop better than most. [Sep 2005, p.115]

Terraplane pays tribute to the greats and puts 60-year-old Earle's own slant on living with a broken heart. [Apr 2015, p.99]

If anything, [Disc 2] is the real rip-off, as unsuspecting buyers will be shellshocked by these FX-laden, space-ambient settings. [Dec 2004, p.135]

Their full-length debut doesn't quite justify its lengthy gestation period, being a frustratingly patchy affair with a handful of simply sublime melodic synth-pop numbers. [Apr 2009, p.110]

A pop culture enthusiast, Luke Haines once again shows his uncanny ability to beat vivid and idiosyncratic new narratives from leathery sacred cows. [Jun 2014, p.111]

Creation is a tightly focused, instantly accessible and gloriously summery on the surface as its predecessor. [Jul 2014, p.114]

Entering his maze of influences can initially prove a challenge. ... But over 13 tracks clarity slowly emerges. [Jan 2020, p.109]

Too much of the rest--an urgent Mr. Lif aside--is seriously lacking in flavour. [Apr 2008, p.112]

Musically and lyrically, Life In Slow Motion is his strongest collection of songs to date. [Sep 2005, p.108]

It's a harder-edged, slightly less cartoony thing than their youthful debut, but it's still exuberant and frantic like a puppy with an important message. [May 2015, p.110]

Older, possibly wiser, cleaner and sounding as majestically ramshackle as ever. The only snag is that their new album is a live recap of their career highlights with no new songs to justify it as a comeback. [Aug 2017, p.108]

The tracks are all short, sketching atmospheric outlines before vanishing. [Aug 2018, p.116]

He has finally shed some of his ironic detachment. [Jun 2005, p.111]

Too Many Miracles, I Saw You Walk Away and This Electric come lovingly swaddled in strings and, if only for their duration, make the world a nicer place. [Nov 2010, p.105]

Mood music for goat-sacrificing pagan rituals. [May 2007, p.124]

At times the meandering is frustrating, while at others the release when a song finally locks into its groove, as on the twisting Lipstick Song, makes the experimentation all worthwhile. [May 2020, p.110]

Although RZA tries crisply updating his trademark murk for the new rap age, the results rarely cohere. [Jan 2002, p.108]

Nothing on this album surprises or pushes the urban envelope. [Sep 2004, p.116]

Groove Armada continue to have mislaid that sparkledust. [Dec 2002, p.105]

A stunning return. [Oct 2009, p.116]

Uniquely weird, as usual. [May 2008, p.130]

Tracks such as Florida and Pull The Curtains... add a Pixies-ish aggression to their signature bleepy country rock. [Nov 2005, p.124]

There aren't any bad songs here, there just aren't enough brilliant ones either. [Sep 2017, p.116]

Lex Hives fizzes with the energy of a debut album, the quintet emphatically back to doing what they do best. [Jul 2012, p.103]

Embracism is like a night in a dingy club with someone you've just met reeling through emotions with each additional drink. [Sep 2013, p.99]

Another marathon slog through the alt-country undergrowth. [Jun 2005, p.118]

While the limitations of their two-man line-up means that the music never takes flight in quite the same way, the austere likes of 'Fly Low Carrion Crow' still leaves an indelible mark. [Oct 2007, p.106]

It's a long, hard haul, but this is an outstanding talent at the top of her game. [Mar 2007, p.116]

This is a record so drenched in Vietnam War-era blues rock you can all but smell the patchouli and napalm, and though 'Why Must You Always Dress In Black' may be his most shameless Hendrix-rip-off to date, it is nevertheless a convincing one. [Jun 2009, p.124]