Despite some evidence of talent, though, it's mostly just musical gatecrashing. [Apr 2005, p.123]

A bigger budget and they'll get really interesting. [May 2008, p.135]

Which Bitch? is a blaze of glory. [Mar 2009, p.103]

Super absorbing. [May 2012, p.99]

Things often get a bit messy, the meandering 12-minute title track with its extended percussion battle being the most jarring example. [Jun 2012, p.104]

Tom Burke's voice is perfect for the role of geek Lothario with a dozen clever ways to get the girl, and yet just as convincing when , on the sad-sack swoon of I Wouldn't Want To, heartbreak wipes off the smirk. [Jul 2012, p.97]

Surrounding themselves with wise old heads clearly helps, but The Days Run Away shows Frankie & Co have plenty ideas of their own. [Jul 2013, p.103]

An assured first step. [Aug 2015, p.114]

The yelpy, sub-Beasties rapping from Clams Baker renders Whale city all but unlistenable. A shame, because the backing tracks' raucous Fall-isms consititute a long-anticipated high-energy flipside to the smacky languor of Adamczewski's main band. [Jul 2018, p.118]

Marigold and Paradise Drive show they aren't short of thrills, but Levitation's title track, which despite its seven minutes and two parts, never achieves the promised lift-off, and encapsulates Flamingods's shortcomings. [Jul 2019, p.110]

Recalling Kate Bush and the enigmatic chamber music of Penguin Cafe and North Sea Radio Orchestras, the way is full of mystic visions, and the deathly conclusion is bittersweet. [Nov. 2011, p. 127]

It offers some crunchy, very manly rocking, with riffs, choruses, everything. [May 2010, p.126]

A little less austerity, however, might have made it easier to warm to the experience as a whole. [Mar 2013, p.94]

Those ideas aren't all great, but the strike rate is remarkably high. [Jul 2016, p.114]

The real relevation, though, is guest rapper Sway, who ditches his cheeky pop persona in favour of a prowling delivery perfectly suited to the title track's rolling bass and Eastern-tinged 'Jewels And Gems.' [May 2009, p.113]

It pushes many of the same buttons as DFA/LCD Soundsystem, but with a sensuous Gallic cool missing from the more angular Anglo-Americans. [Jul 2005, p.112]

The length and sheer number of guest stars mean it;'s somewhat rambling, but when you're talking P-funk, what's new? [May 2011, p.112]

The first section bristles with churning intensity, but offers little in the way of surprises. The soundtrack, however, an unnerving sound collage, is far better. [Aug 2017, p.109]

Forever isn't a huge creative leap forward, but at its best--particularly on dancefloor-friendly laments such as Beautiful Wreck--there are moments that hint at brilliance. [Nov 2018, p.109]

A tricky, pretentious balancing act that's mostly charismatic and only occasionally hard work. [Jul 2004, p.116]

The solemn dream-pop of Dominic is a rare highlight that serves only to demonstrate the rest of the album's shortcomings. [May 2014, p.116]

Halfway in the album starts to stutter like a mirror ball whose motor is on the blink. [Jan 2017, p.106]

With Oczy Mlody, they remind us once again that they're also great songwriters. [Feb 2017, p.110]

The fact that Cohen is nearer to the Pennines than he is to Portland shines through, though, with a dry wit tempering the sunniest songs. [Sep 2012, p.105]

Everyone, while unsurprised that his vocals are unobtrusive and his lyrics unspectacular, will seek that greatness in the guitars. [Mar 2013, p.94]

Sensual melancholy is a mood but Cry occasionally needs another one or two up its heart adorned sleeve. [Dec 2019, p.106]

The combination of dreamy pop noir and the remorseless quality of the tunes suggest they'll soon be both big and clever. [May 2014, p.119]

Bombay Bicycle Club might have veered all over the track, switching between the folk lane and the electronic one, elbowing indie-pop out of the way, but they still aren't setting the pace. [Mar 2014, p.112]

They are as fearless and undiminished as ever here. [Aug 2015, p.114]

Adam Duritz has vocal warmth and his band create all sorts of lush soundscapes, not a million miles away from a less jazzy Steely Dan. [July 2002, p.112]

As predictable as rain in February. [Mar 2002, p.123]

As before, it's a heady swirl of rock, soul and hippy lyrics. However, it feels fantastic and, unless the record company is snoring soundly, it's full of hits.

If only the Stones would make a record like this. [Jun 2004, p.94]

By manically pinballing between ideas, Rock Steady soon flirts with disaster. [Dec 2001, p.119]

A belligerent record: fiercely independent, full of right angles, curious sound effects and a guitarist, Aziz Ibrahim, who believes, incorrectly, that the soul of Jimi Hendrix is preserved in his G-string.

In the main this is a richly rewarding collection of lovingly realised songs. [June 2002, p.121]

This is Adams at his most concise and focused. [Jan 2006, p.122]

The New Yorkers' fourth album is grounded in frontman Claudio Sanchez's personal life, making it accessible and hugely appealing. [Nov 2007, p.137]

My Best friend Is You fall over itself to broaden Nash's bard-of-the-piano template. [May 2010, p.113]

It's business as usual for Bad Religion, the US punk rock stalwarts recently restored to full power with the return of guitarist Brett Gurewitz. [Sep 2007, p.100]

Impenetrable in the extreme. [Apr 2005, p.118]

This has its moments, notably the rolling break of '914' and heavyweight funk propelling Redman's tongue-twisting rap on 'Best Believe,' but it's one for the cognoscenti. [May 2008, p.136]

Shorn of the stunning visuals, a little too much here sounds like aural padding. [Oct 2008, p.149]

A raucous, irresistibly melodic collection of songs that ring with indignant, apathy-infused joie de vivre. [Feb 2019, p.112]

At first listen, To The Sea is more of the same: Johnson's warm voice wrapped around sweet, if hardly memorable songs. [July 2010, p. 133]

This is the work of a band who are beginning to realise they don't always need to bark so loudly to be heard. [Jun 2012, p.103]

It's intimate, folkie, more Anglo than Mojave 3, not at all Slowdivey. [Dec 2008, p.108]

His masturbatory approach to the stroking of his muse is very nearly obscene. [Apr 2006, p.114]

The results are very much a labour of ubercamp. [Feb 2008, p.102]

A polished album that rewards repeated listens. [Sep 2016, p.107]

Seemingly made with the camper kind of dancefloors in mind is the self-titled first album of surging Euro synth-pop from Sweden writer/producer, Kleerup. [Jun 2009, p.134]

Other tracks are a little less memorable, but the experiment's still worthwhile. [Mar 2009, p.98]

Vince Clarke's melodic electro-motifs and Andy Bell's dramatic voice may be in place, but laments for long romance and fake news alerts make for sombre listening. [Jul 2017, p.107]

Elisabeth Maurus's second album finds her still awkwardly straddling the divide between sensitive songwriter and would-be stadium rocker. [Oct 2013, p.106]

Compared to the angular new wave of yore, the Elastica sound has matured into something far more interesting.

In its own vapid, curiously sexless way, Life For Rent is actually fascinating stuff, so set against the usual rules of successful music that it starts to look oddly revolutionary. [Oct 2003, p.99]

Sharp, seductive music from a band at their peak. [Oct 2001, p.119]

Music for thirtysomething teenagers, and none the worse for that. [Jun 2003, p.92]

To reach this pop sophistication after four albums would be admirable. In two, it's awe-inspiring. [Aug 2009, p.105]

The only problem is that the duo never manage to execute a truly killer pop hook, resulting in a debut that breezes by in a pleasant but ultimately forgettable haze. [May 2011, p.116]

There might not be any hits, but it's still a convincing chapter few would have predicted. [May 2013, p.102]

Weird Drift is a lighter and less oppressive affair [than Love & Devotion]. [Jun 2014, p.112]

There are times even [Tom Clarke] threatens to get swallowed up in a swirling mix that leaves the post-dubstep scene decisively behind them. [Sep 2014, p.106]

Too much of the rest comes dangerously close to ordinariness. [Mar 2017, p.115]

It's the cat-on-an-electric-hot-tin-roof cartoonery that makes Perrey such a joy. [Aug 2017, p.110]

Rock Island will leave intrepid listeners feeling like they've glimpsed many shades of paradise. [Apr 2018, p.112]

While his debut's defiantly un-PC lyrics take inspiration from '90s gangsta mavericks such as Three 6 Mafia, the electronic murk that surrounds them on tracks such as Get Yah Head Bust is utterly of the moment. [Jul 2012, p.110]

This needling sense of disturbance is impressive, but it's still a relief when they break the mood more dramatically on the choral interlude Tender Shoots or the swamp-dark swing of The Monaco, reassuring signs they haven't yet become too set in their monochrome ways. [Dec 2014, p.106]

Their second album finds them full of anthemic swagger and brio. [Mar 2012, p. 97]

When it does threaten to bud into genuinely odd forms--the title track's sinuous distortions, or a sudden swerve into pop seduction on Do Your Bones Glow At Night--it doesn't stick. [Oct 2016, p.113]

Above all else, [it] once again underlines Dylan's singularly magnificent gifts as a songwriter. [Apr 2007, p.121]

Tempos ate slower, moods are darker, moments of infectious pop few and far between. [Jun 2011, p.119]

Reductive re-workings of his heroes only remind you of his limitations. Lacking a pop compass, Stone just sounds lost. [Aug 2012, p.111]

Heartstrings lacks the killer song that would bring Howling Bells the success they undoubtedly crave. [Jul 2014, p.109]

The elusive magic of their initial work seems further away than ever. [Oct 2014, p.108]

Distractions aside, this is a fine record. [May 2016, p.114]

For every moment of immaculate pop, there's a moment of strangeness. [Jun 2018, p.116]

For all its finite charms, though, Mirage Rock lacks the slinkiness of Infinite Arms. [Oct 2012, p.93]

His experiments works best when anchored to a solid rhythm. [Jun 2015, p.102]

The sound of a maverick band raging against the dying of the light. [Dec 2006, p.132]

Sub-Lingual Tablet is occasionally lumpen, frequently marred by Smith's recently adopted growl yet powered by enough energy and spark to burn through any reservations. [Jun 2015, p.105]

What makes those sounds compelling here are Ingersoll's buttery rhymes and an ability to zero in on your rhythmic G-spots. [May 2014, p.113]

Hansard's elastic vocals hit all the right notes. Missing, however, is an earthiness that could take these polished songs to another level. [Feb 2018, p.111]

There's little that's newly inspired and, aside from the understated Always Tomorrow, nothing superior to past glories. [Aug 2005, p.132]

Refreshingly simple in its own small way. [Feb 2013, p.103]

The songs become more conventionally meaningful, but less mysterious [on the disc of English interpretations]. [Jun 2016, p.108]

If Strange Creatures show a grander musical approach, then lyrically they're still fascinated by the bleak detail of everyday life, even if lads-night-out-gone-wrong vignette Bonfire Of the City Boys and sax-peppered deadpan horror story Prom Night flip the mundane into something more twisted. [Apr 2019, p.110]

Cause & Effect plays to their strengths. [Nov 2019, p.112]

There are worse things to listen to as society slides into the abyss. [May 2020, p.104]

In the end, pretty and vacant just about covers it. [Mar 2013, p.94]

Sparkly fourth set from Zero 7's Australian singer. [July 2010, p. 139]

Gibson's music has a strange timelessness faded and well-mulched, though there are moments when the mood proves a little too sludgy to be memorable. [Jul 2015, p.106]

Longwave is more improvisational, and the results are even more spidery than before. [Jun 2018, p.109]

Contains some potentially highly commercial music, were it not for the underwhelming production. [Sep 2004, p.118]

An orgy of harmonica, squalling guitar, plodding ballads and ill-fitting minimalist trousers. What on earth is going on? [Oct 2003, p.113]

A return to form. Definitely. [June 2002, p.108]

Sixth album by the artist who won MOJO's Best Breakthrough Act award 2007, aged 66. [July 2011, p. 100]

Despite the skill, it's delivered like a well-to-do busker rather than with the requisite polish. [Mar 2013, p.96]