Eraser Stargazer will be anathema to many, but its twitchy 29 minutes carry fabulous voltage. [May 2016, p.109]

It's the music's fiendish complexity and flashes of sublime harmony that captivate. [Apr 2013, p.96]

A catalogue of enjoyable sun-drenched rock'n'roll, if you don't listen too closely to the words. [#361, p.116]

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]

It struggles to impart much buoyant energy, with individual songs tending to sink into soporific mass of breathy vocals and mellow riffs. [Aug 2019, p.116]

It's not an earth-shattering account of the last year, but maybe the most affecting in its ordinariness. [Jun 2004, p.102]

Priorities is inspired by the post-hardcore of Hundred reasons, Reuben and Hell Is For Heroes. [Sep 2012, p.110]

Classy cross-pollination of techno and dubstep.[Nov. 2011, p. 136]

Lemon Memory is both invigorating and anaesthetising. [Apr 2017, p.115]

Despite the embarrassment of riches, though, there's also a lot of plain old embarrassment. [May 2016, p.110]

Falls several steps short of its predecessor. [Aug 2002, p.130]

It takes time to reveal its charms and does sag towards the end, but Depression Cherry is a great example of a band hanging on to their trademark sound and managing to create something fresh with it. [Sep 2015, p.111]

Handwritten is pure New Jersey rock, dripping urban romanticism, albeit with extra oomph on the power chords. [Aug 2012, p.105]

Inevitably, though, there's an unevenness to the improvised soundscaping. [Mar 2005, p.101]

Monkeytown presents mutated dance music, ranging from satirical mutoid rap, warehouse ragga and even jump-up ambient. [Nov. 2011, p. 136]

They churn and drone their way through five epic tracks culminating in the 16-minute And I Will, a pop-psycho-trip of wailing voices and flutes. At this late stage in the game, it's excellent behaviour. [Mar 2018, p.104]

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

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

It's a bedroom album, albeit an intelligent, challenging one. [Jan 2008, p.110]

The disco squelch and vocoder melodies of Falcon Jab recall Discovery-era Daft Punk, but what gives this an extra dimension and warmth is Stroud's guitar playing. [Aug 2008, p.140]

His forth album is accessible, furnishing his glitchy sound with nagging hooks, funky flourishes, and some proper tunes indeed. [Feb 2009, p.115]

An intriguing drivetime playlist results. [Jul 2016, p.109]

The absence of Liz Fraser's warbling--or indeed vocal distractions of any kind--means it comes and goes without leaving any lasting impression. [May 2003, p.106]

If the results are sometimes insubstantial, they can also be richly atmospheric. [Oct 2009, p.118]

The mood is one of eerie dread as the music slowly unfurls in stately fashion, the rhythms frequently mimicking a horse's trot. [May 2014, p.119]

Great non-rap spoken-word albums comprise a list shorter than Wiiliam Shatner's critically acclaimed film roles. Yet [Shatner and Folds] have got closer here than most. [Dec 2004, p.144]

These songs won't set the charts alight, but they're no insult to Adamson's memory and will fill the gaps between the fan favorites well at the band's shows. [May 2013, p.96]

Tender New Signs is full of cracking tunes that help avoid the formlessness that effects-laden atmo-pop often slumps into. [Dec 2012, p.113]

A little extra salt in his songwriting and he could yet conjure up a classic. [May 2015, p.100]

The best moments are the ones that--whisper it--don't sound anything like the Grateful Dead. [Jul 2016, p.118]

For the most part, it's standard shouty punk designed to appeal to white male American virgins... Yet, they surprise. [Dec 2004, p.147]

The usual barrage of angry cello instrumentals. [Dec 2002, p.103]

There's no shortage of good ideas, and Brettin clearly doesn't take himself too seriously, but next time he'd be advised to leave the bong at the studio door. [Nov 2015, p.112]

He can take his more laid-back approach too far, however, sounding as if he might be about to nod off during Web So Dense, Yet the moments of genuine loveliness more than compensate for the occasional bouts of narcolepsy. [Dec 2018, p.111]

Their break-up songs are built around a dynamic of sweet boy-girl harmonies and bursts of swearing. [Mar 2006, p.109]

There's nothing fatally wrong with Trails & Truths--and fans of bearded cosmic Americana will find much right with it. What Horse Thief really need to rustle up, though, is their own distinct identity. [Feb 2017, p.115]

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]

Grand Archives have been together for less than 18 months, but their polished debut suggests a far longer gestation period. [Apr 2008, p.107]

While it makes for an impressive sound, it's hard not to yearn for more than the occasional flirtation with a second dimension, such as the sitar-driven 'Deer-Ree-Shee ' or the heavy riffed Krauturock-inspired groove that serves as the second half of 'Never/Ever.'

Some toy-keyboard boogie-woogie and Krautrock expansiveness add to its charm. [Feb 2013, p.105]

It can all be a bit hazy and formless, but when sweeping the sky for sounds on the ominous prog-drift of Body Studies or bathing in the light cast by Loveless on Deu, Colleran shows his skill at controlling the most nebulous sounds. [May 2016, p.112]

Much in between sounds like Adams on autopilot. Godd, but never great. [Dec 2008, p.122]

Having been criticized for lacking emotional resonance with his lyrics, Bird addresses the problem [here]. Worth the wait. [April 2012, p.90]

Mood music in extremis. [Apr 2003, p.110]

Shows little departure from the Malkmus formula. [Apr 2003, p.108]

Combined with massive hooks, flashes of Robyn and Rihanna, and drops that will give you chills, heartache has never been so much fun. [Jul 2017, p.109]

Comically, the group never actually met while recording it. Imagine what they could do in the same room. [#361, p.112]

It's atmospheric and even moving, but sometimes feels like drowning slowly in a flotation tank with The Bends playing on repeat shuffle. [Sep 2016, p.111]

These BBC radio sessions from the period don't offer many revelations. There's still a thrill to be had from listening to them rattle through this selection of--mostly--non-originals though. [Jan 2018, p.117]

A struggle to balance the killer riffs and aggression that the fans want with the melodicism that the band themselves seem far more interested in. [Dec 2014, p.116]

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

A starkly modern folk record centered on a narrative of a mother leaving her family. [Jul 2018, p.114]

Though the symphonic funk samples that power his free-flowing wordplay sound as if they could do with an upgrade. [Apr 2011, p.95]

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

Slight by comparison with 2009's "Merriweather Post Pavilion," but not without it's own charm. [Feb 2010, p.116]

Serviceable camp pop as it is, there's little here to attract anyone who hasn't already bought into Gossip. [Jun 2012, p.102]

For all its rosy glow of nostalgia, it's essentially just another Robbie Williams album--occasionally spectacular, more frequently merely solid. [Nov 2005, p.116]

These are songs concerned with the transient, the fleeting, but no matter how long this partnership endures, this is a solid monument. [Apr 2019, p.110]

The Brooklyn trio have delivered an impressively bonkers set comprising three EPs. [Nov 2007, p.134]

Despite a few lapses into gross sentimentality, Lucky One sucessfully maintains that allusion [that the past 50 years or so never happened] thanks to some spot-on period arrangements. [Apr 2009, p.107]

Their rough edged-folk has been planed a little smoother, and a breakthrough seems feasible. [April 2012, p.90]

The narrow emotional and musical range suggests Kygo doesn't have unexplored depths, but he doesn't need them. [#361, p.111]

They're far from failed experiments, but they do reinforce the notion that Necro Deathmort are much better at making atonal soundscapes. [Jul 2016, p.112]

Though this is a return to Matthews's more meandering ways, some lessons about conciseness have plainly been learned. [Nov 2002, p.108]

Good, but should have been better. [Mar 2006, p.109]

The array of styles that are spliced together--space rock, electronica, trip-hop, orchestral flourishes--fail to add up to a cohesive whole. [Sep 2012, p.97]

A remarkable balancing act. [Jan 2007, p.150]

Clearly, motherhood has only improved her sense of fun. [Oct 2007, p.106]

These songs aren't in line with much contemporary R&B, but reach for something more retro, and on tracks such as Teach You, a kind of Broadway grandeur. The strange result is that they in fact sound refreshingly modern. [Apr 2019, p.113]

As her voice took centre stage on the original recordings too, the effect of stripping away almost everything else isn't that radical. Still, for anyone unfamiliar with Foster's work, this represents an excellent starting point. [Mar 2016, p.110]

They can't sustain the quality over an entire album, however, and the inspiration dries up halfway through. [Apr 2008, p.112]

There are one too many nondescript instrumentals. [Aug 2008, p.139]

It's sweetly out of step with prevailing pop trends, but it will certainly strike a chord with anyone who has ever had their heart broken. [Jul 2018, p.108]

Traces of Interpol, The Chameleons and post-rock heavies Trans Am are all over these songs, but if Fews don't wear their influences lightly, they know how to show them off to dark advantage. [Jul 2016, p.106]

You can hear where the money went, even if her voice is far from the soaring force of yore. [Nov 2009, p.114]

The occasional bit of mannered filler slows things up slightly, but elsewhere all is groovy and enigmatic hauteur. [Dec 2002, p.107]

It occasionally goes Heartbeat but Jackson largely swerves pastiche with his knack for limpid romanticism and muzzy atmosphere. [May 2014, p.120]

While the lyrical freedom of Dear Diary, My Vietnam, and Family Portrait is refreshing, stylistically they are less than revolutionary. [Jan 2002, p.105]

While odd duds such as Cryin' In Your Beer occasionally stall proceedings, this trip down memory lane otherwise yields compelling results. [Dec 2017, p.113]

Leblanc doesn't break new ground, but he treads his haunted patch with quiet grace. [Sep 2012, p.104]

Compared to the rapid evolution happening elsewhere (not least from his old rival James Blake), Woon here sounds like he's performing with the safety-catch on. [Dec 2015, p.110]

You'll waste time expecting actual songs to arrive, but the obligation to trance out is irresistible. [Sep 2006, p.107]

That it doesn't fall completely flat on its face must be considered some kind of triumph. [Dec 2006, p.126]

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]

They may not quite manage sustained quality, but they're getting closer. [Apr 2017, p.118]

They're mysterious but persuasive sonic realities. [Apr 2019, p.118]

These new songs sound like they came straight from a traditional songbook. [Jan 2013, p.102]

Fuler sounds wonderful on the woozy 'Little Black Sandals' and Ray Davies's 'I Go To Sleep,' though she could do with more restraint and better tunes to sing. [Feb 2008, p.100]

At best, as on Cleopatra, is like a yacht-y take on The Rapture's House Of Jealous Lovers. While amid the blanket New Romantic synth textures, quirky punk-pop ditties such as Girls On Bikes score highest. [Apr 2017, p.118]

He remains a little too in thrall to these heavy influences, despite fashioning an album of melodious songs that deserve a wider audience. [Mar 2008, p.115]

If the whole is too eclectic to eclipse the sum of its parts, it's an exhilarating diversion. [Apr 2009, p.100]

Shontelle's diva vocal is pitch-perfect, but given Rihanna's bust-up with Chris Brown the domestic abuse subtext seems ill-judged at best. [Dec 2010, p.113]

Their debut drips confidence, Mary's glass-shattering whoops and wordless exhortations on Long Highway and Try Colour set against the sort of brooding, stadium rock riffs even the Edge hasn't dared use since The Joshua Tree. [April 2012, p.98]

They're better when they throw off the straightjacket of cool. [Oct 2009, p.107]

For a man who continues to spell his surname with two dollar signs, his act is lacking in real drama. [May 2014, p.121]

It mixes experimental sketches and DIY electronica with Animal Collective-like Peel Free's meditation on a life quixotic. At times Aokohio plays like a TV randomly switching channels. [Sep 2019, p.116]

Despite the title's hint at unruly emotion, the surface of Aalegra's music stays as polished as her voice. [Sep 2019, p.108]

Recalls the riffola of Bleach-era Nirvana, complete with sludgy Led Zeppelin-esque guitars. [May 2005, p.110]