While it's hard to see them replicating the crossover success of their old friends, these cross-genre efforts at crafting similarly off-kilter pop are packed with intriguing details. [Dec 2008, p.128]

Not his most graceful, but certainly his most strikingly personal, Benji is another colourful stop on Kozelek's glorious journey into the light. [Apr 2014, p.119]

Perhaps in time she will dig deeper, but it's an assured start. [Summer 2018, p.114]

Having cornered the market in MOR pop, he brings these well-honed chops to bear on OneRepublic's second album, throwing up an immaculately mixed cocktail of soft-focused rock, white-bread R&B and heartstrung balladry. [Mar 210, p.107]

Their determination to get further and further out there is undimmed on this, their 26th(!) album. [May 2014, p.115]

An agreeably self-assured comeback from a talent who's come up the hard way. [Summer 2018, p.106]

For every riveting set piece... there are meandering nonentities such as the title track. [Mar 2005, p.98]

It's pleasing listening. [Feb 2016, p.112]

Within its polished melancholy, Clean is a raw portrait of sadness. [Apr 2018, p.115]

The odd lapse into trying to show how clever they are aside, O Shudder is the step up Dutch Uncles needed. [Mar 2015, p.106]

Folie A Deux is mostly a barrelling, hugely confident record that should see Fall Out Boy swiftly elevated into mainstream rock's premier league. [Jan 2009, p.112]

It's too easy to mistake them for any number of other bands--Editors, Maximo Park, The Futureheads all spring to mind--but if it's not original, it's still done weell. [Jun 2009, p.125]

Sun-kissed, deeply Beach Boys-esque music that will provide comfort to those who wondered what happened to the Wilco of 1999's Summerteeth. [Mar 2003, p.111]

The songs occasionally thrill but tonally it all becomes just a trifle exhausting about halfway through. [Jun 2015, p.107]

It's Up To Emma feels like eavesdropping on someone's post-break-up revenge fantasy. [Jun 2013, p.104]

Their 13th release, Lollipop, continues to rein in their wayward and abrasive tendencies for something more measured. [Jun 2011, p.124]

It's a record that ups the style further but their slick, modern metal still lacks depth. [Oct 2014, p.115]

Occasionally, Byrne subtly expands her musical palette with strings and woodwind, but never at the expense of her own guitar and vocals. [Feb 2017, p.111]

While Black Moth's back-to-basics approach to riffing may invite the term "stoner rock," that implies a lethargy of mood, and of mind, that simply isn't there. [Oct 2014, p.104]

As ever, North Star Deserter doesn't pull many punches, with the bare-boned 'Warm' making the starkest of openers. [Oct 2007, p.94]

Their third album presents finely wrought, dramatic indie rock, with dexterous vocalist Finn Andrews. [May 2009, p.119]

It's a disjointed affair, but there's no denying the robust confidence with which they carry it off. [June 2002, p.111]

Full of blissful harmonies that glide by one after another. [Mar 2006, p.107]

Miguel has been mentioned in the same breath as Frank Ocean (often by himself) and The Weeknd, but this album doesn't quite unlock such self-contained worlds. [Jan 2018, p.107]

While not all the songs manage to really sink their teeth in, the overall smoky, neon-lit atmosphere is an intoxicating one. [May 2017, p.111]

The orchestral pieces with their abrupt phrasing and lumpen scales, merely sound like one of those conceptual "jokes" no one except artworld insiders are in on. [Apr 2014, p.105]

'La Llama' and Carajillo's clinking percussion, two moments of clarity on an album strong on atmosphere but sometimes short on focus. [Jul 2009, p.131]

New Favorite is pretty much the usual, if still wonderful, music from Krauss and Union Station. [Sep 2001, p.110]

This third LP has all the Afrobeat pioneer's brute power, if little of his subtlety. [May 2014, p.113]

Sure, there are some moments of taxing weirdness but generally, it's good, albeit eccentric fun.

Coconut is overly polite by comparison to 2006's Derdang Derdang. [Apr 2010, p.106]

The mood is a celebratory, the vibe relaxed and one-time socially conscious hip hopper Franti makes like he's the happiest guy on the planet. [Jun 2011, p.124]

Europe is a more mainstream, although melancholy, affair, all about exile and extended youth. It's sometimes too much... But when Allo Darlin' snag hooks and get hopeful, they're wonderful. [Jun 2012, p.96]

While it's hard to feel moved, it's impossible not to admire the craftsmanship. [Mar 2005, p.101]

The breakbeat-based tracks offer obvious comparisons with like-minds such as Prefuse 73. [Jun 2006, p.113]

It's a mostly dazzling performance, though on the histrionic Gone Insane, they get carried away by their own virtuosity. [Apr 2016, p.109]

The music itself, a combination of gentle piano and tremulous, echoing synth, is mesmerisingly samey, like scenery rushing past your car window on a long road trip. [Aug 2017, p.102]

This record is like a pale version of their biggest fan in its shoe-shuffling awkwardness, and though each track sounds far too timid for single release, that is perhaps Upper Air's defining charm. [Aug 2009, p.103]

It's a good move, supercharged power pop melodies and sparky guitars combining to good effect on tracks such as "Gimme The Wire." [Jun 2010, p.127]

Immersion certainly contains its share of crossover anthems--not to mention some palette-expanding diversions into dubstep and progressive trance territories--but they'll be better appreciated in a festival field than the front room. [Jul 2010, p.135]

It's less emotionally instinctive LP than his debut, but over time those new pop hooks prove hard to shake. [Feb 2017, p.116]

Occasionally needs higher definition, yet her brittle voice and watchful lyrics cut through the Cocteau Twins grunge of With Love, the eye-rolling daze of All My Friends Are Drunk, the slacker energy of Keep It Near. [May 2020, p.100]

Angels Of Destruction builds on the momentum of 2005's "If You Didn't Laugh You'd Cry." [Feb 2008, p.99]

A fair bit of filler... [Sep 2001, p.106]

Sadly, not all the guitar-led tracks work, but for every failure there's a soaring, slo-mo anthem or a downbeat campfire singalong.

Their debut presents tuneful, superior indie rock and bittersweet lyricism. [Sep 2011, p.119]

These unforeseen electro-moves should rightly bag fresh converts. [Mar 2016, p.113]

If we forget her Lenny Henry-esque Jamaican accent on the title track's Ziggy Marley duet, she's on sterling form. [Aug 2008, p.143]

Soundtracked largely by sweet, inoffensive Scandipop flavoured with R&B, EDM and acoustic indie. Occasionally, however, she complements her subject matter with notes of punk and emo ... and produces something livelier and less conventional in the process. [Jul 2020, p.104]

If there's an unstable, degraded wobble under their music, it's icily controlled, a deliberate reaction to an uncertain world. [Apr 2015, p.99]

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

While William's folk inspirations remain obscure, with talking fish and tortoises featuring as well as birds, her music boasts a striking immediacy. [Apr 2014, p.112]

These songs come with fuzzy edges, a puff of smoke, a gentle wobble. It's Owen's solid songwriting skills that tether them to Earth, though. [Summer 2018, p.109]

Comes laden with flashy A-list cameos. [Jun 2003, p.96]

They've mercifully scraped away some of the abrasiveness on their fifth record--even taking the drastic step of recording in a real studio. It's a move that skillfully exposes their inner charms while preserving their lo-fi cool. [Jun 2011, p.123]

Cool Ghouls don't betray the influence of any music made in their own lifetime, but they have a broad enough palette to make their third album more than just a period piece. [Sep 2016, p.105]

Although this is certainly flawed, the Cardigans deserve kudos for recognising their faults, trying with all their might to rectify them. [Apr 2003, p.103]

If the production is a little soft, there's no denying the old boys can still knock out pop thrills. [Sep 2012, p.99]

It's a few tracks longer than it needs to be, but City Club is their best collection of songs to date. [Dec 2016, p.106]

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

Despite its avowed politics, it lacks firm presence or real weight. [Apr 2017, p.112]

While Maya certainly shows no diminution of sheer sonic ingenuity, it suffers from a shrinking of the spirit. [Aug 2010, p.112]

Explores the furthest reaches of what its creators have christened "junk-shop glam." [May 2019, p.119]

Ultimately, this is a fun record by a fun band. Not a bad thing by any means, but a little more salt in the soup would have been welcome. [May 2016, p.117]

This outing's a little harder to love than its predecessor, but the highlights are definitely worth the wait. [May 2016, p.106]

Short on visceral thrills, but long on soul and dexterity. [May 2019, p.108]

At her best she's thrilling and her hits with Timbaland, 'The Way I Are' and 'Scream,' still cackle brilliantly, but at 70 minutes there's too much flab and the ballads drag horribly. [Jul 2009, p.124]

The band make a powerful case for letting it all hang out. [Aug 2017, p.103]

The result was a record stranded between the two [mainstream or underground cool], hummable, but too quirky to cross over. [Nov 2009, p.101]

Happily thieir mellowness is balanced by musical variety, from Snow Canyon's hint of Emmylou Harrris country to Forever Me, which is pure Bjork-ish torch song indie. [Mar 2010, p.111]

Still Life rarely strays out of the comfort zone. [#361, p.117]

Despite the pluming black-metal geyser of Death Drop, it doesn't have the evil heft of 2017 predecessor World Eater. [Sep 2019, p.108]

A return to heavy, complex and vicious riffing, though Sam Carter's sporadically tuneful vocals still offer respite. [Jun 2012, p.100]

Oddly compelling, even if the coldwave atmosphere seldom rises above freezing-point. [Aug 2013, p.101]

Things go awry in places... but somewhere in a parallel universe Molly Ringwald is running down a high school corridor to the sound of The Killers. [Jul 2004, p.116]

He mostly rises to the occasion. What the vocals lack in beauty, they make up in expressiveness. [Mar 2015, p.112]

Booming basslines, clubby beats, high production values and a guest list that includes Brazil's Seu Jorge, sitar lady Anushka Shankar and Afrobear star Femi Kuti make it a safe backdrop for just about any bar anywhere in the world. [Nov 2008, p.121]

Distortland continues Taylor's more ruminative songwriting. [May 2016, p.107]

It's not all politico-provocation; pretty duet Honeysuckle and minimalist piano ballad The Oldness counterbalance the more outspoken moments nicely. [April 2012, p.107]

A record that lurks around the same eerie corners as Dead Can dance, or White Chalk-era PJ Harvey. [Summer 2019, p.112]

The won't slay any kings without more killer choruses. [Apr 2013, p.111]

THe jazzy stylings are a mixed blessing... [but] her fans will not be disappointed. [Mar 2003, p.101]

His second solo effort succeeds largely because its titular novelty never overshadows the bittersweet folk vignettes, driven by his affecting baritone. [Jul 2011, p.119]

Tomorrow's Harvest delivers oceans of spare, mellow and melodic electronica, but what it doesn't offer is much in the way of surprises. [Aug 2013, p.98]

If you dance easily at weddings then this album is very good news. [Aug 2005, p.129]

It can get a bit overly conceptual, but Gone Now is so irresistibly joyful that it can be forgiven. [Aug 2017, p.100]

Once upon a time rock'n'roll was all about the sex you really shouldn't have. The Kills haven't forgotten. [Apr 2003, p.108]

Compelling stuff. [Jun 2011, p.120]

They have expanded their joint sabbatical into an album that ram-raids its way through baroque pop, garage rock and Byrdsian harmonies. [Feb 2011, p.118]

Unusually direct. [Jun 2004, p.98]

Twenty-two tracks long, Total is an eclectic joyride through myriad musical styles; the beauty being that none sticks around long enough to get boring. [Jul 2011, p.119]

Hugely likeable, terribly noisy and cute, as well as being jammed with proper pop songs... [Nov. 2000, p.102]

She's finally rediscovered what made her so intriguing(the hooks, the sharp lyrics, the energy) in the first place. [Oct 2016, p.113]

Their second album...doesn't quite venture out into shark-infested experimental waters but it does prove that there's more to The Drums than fishy pastiche. [Oct 2011, p.113]

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

In creating a party record that will easily translate to the festival season's main stages they've also reversed out of the narrow tunnel that, for all their adventure, they were being led into by the bombastic Xtrmntr and Evil Heat. [Jul 2006, p.110]

Think Spiritualized with a Native American obsession. [Dec 2006, p.133]

Occasionally there's a little too much going on... Overall, though, Gartside remains intriguing. [Jul 2006, p.116]