The bulk of the album is pure Kano--deft wordplay and a range of musical reference points. [Jul 2005, p.115]

His world of heartbreak, damage and survival attains an out-of-time quality that admirers of superior barroom soundtracks will warm to. [Sep 2014, p.113]

It's full of clever rhymes and couplets, overflowing with wit and evocative charm, all set to the kind of arrangements that Harry Nilsson always dreamed of. [Aug 2001, p.142]

It's when Bubba stays with his Southern roots... that he really shines. [Oct 2003, p.100]

Vol. 2 proves the equivalent of its parent release.

It makes a dignified final addition to the American Recordings series. [Aug 2006, p.109]

Patience, persistence and a good set of headphones will uncover fragile melodies here amid the maelstrom, though the guitar noodling can veer dangerously close to Mark Knopfler territory. [July 2008, p.101]

Nu-folk starlet shines ever brighter on third outing. [Sept. 2011, p. 100]

[The album] is filled with intricate detail. [Mar 2015, p.113]

The results is unusually heavy, even by FOTL standards. [May 2016, p.108]

This triumphant Brixton Academy show, though, proves that it didn't harm the ascent of their stirring mix of electornic rock and vintage voice samples. [Feb 2017, p.116]

This splurge of hits and misses is a pure energy infusion. [Aug 2019, p.119]

Top-tier comp. ... A near-perfect musical expression of escape. [Apr 2020, p.118]

No band should by rights sound as sharp, melodic and funny more than 50 years into their career, but Sparks are no ordinary band. [Jun 2020, p.113]

This surprising, haunting album will speak powerfully both to her peers and to anyone who remembers how youth can sometimes feel like an overwhelming weight. [Jun 2019, p.110]

Utopia is like walking through a vast tropical greenhouse, full of sunlight, oxygen and the twittering of birds. [Jan 2018, p.108]

His overgrown rustic dream, though, is oddly modern and littered with fly-tipped rubbish, with free-ranging neo-folk mini-dramas drawing parallels between imagined past and haunted present. [Aug 2017, p.103]

As richly rewarding a work of brilliance as it is, Crack The Skye will nonetheless be beyond the ken of all but those with the most open of minds--or pre--attuned ears. [Apr 2009, p.107]

The thumping drums and syncopated string throughout still channel the 1980s, while Good News (Ya-Ya Song) harks back to the summer of 1999, all clipped guitar and MTV beats. [Oct 2019, p.114]

As a statement on where the UK's urban scene is headed in 2017, it demands to be heard. [May 2017, p.109]

It's a record of dizzying scope and Janelle Monae is a terrifying talent at the top of her game. [Nov 2013, p.112]

At times, it's a touch muted, a little grey-out, but if this is Lennox staring down mortality, he comes out swinging. [Feb 2015, p.113]

This beautifully-packaged set certainly provides the perfect overview of that fine series of records. [Feb 2014, p.125]

It's difficult not to warm to any record that quotes Prefab Sprout's Cars And Girls in one breath and uses the word "phlebotomist" in the next. [Jul 2014, p.109]

It's the their best album yet. [Aug 2012, p.102]

...Like Clockwork is a return to form. [Jul 2013, p.107]

An album made for--and from--these times. [Aug 2019, p.112]

Welcoming in the wider world as Goldlink's laid-back delivery flows with deceptive ease over Joke Ting's sinuous, tropical R&B, the Afrobeats-like bounce of Zulu Screams and Yard's captivating Caribbean riddim. [Aug 2019, p.111]

In Conflict is as densely crammed with ideas and movement as his CV, an impression bolstered by the presence of the polymath's polymath Brian Eno. [Jun 2014, p.117]

Sprawling, ambitious and politically conscious. [Sep 2016, p.102]

The overwrought Fall From Grace is the only bum note: otherwise Singles is a brilliant, bewitching album. [May 2014, p.110]

There are exquisite moments here, mostly the simpler ones, but not as many as there should be. [Dec 2002, p.100]

An absolute masterclass in thoughtful, emotional songwriting. [Apr 2003, p.104]

Though not without merit, the reliance on other people's melodies (and words on the Caroline Says-pilfering Distortions) can become trying after a while.

Even if there's a sense of darkness descending, in his best solo album yet, Gruff Rhys paints with bright and uplifting colours. [Jul 2018, p.109]

Her penchant for acid blurts and seductive basslines rings throughout this characterful collection, drawing constellations between electro glitz, darkwave gloom and post-punk austerity. [Aug 2018, p.111]

Across the range of these 13 short songs is the sound of a singular musician revelling in his gift. A wonderful return. [Jan 2020, p.106]

It might be wearing, were it not for the fact that his voice... is a thing of considerable power. [Aug 2005, p.122]

After almost a decade in the shadows, Eska is ready to take her place in the spotlight. [May 2015, p.104]

Tahabort, however, soon kicks up a rousigly Fela Kuti groove, and there follow divergent echoes of Saharan folk and, on the band's titular tune, Algerian Rai, to vary up the ever-pleasing dusty meanderings. [Jun 2016, p.112]

This 20-track spread, ending on caustic wig-out You're On Your Own, would make a worthy farewell. [Feb 2019, p.108]

It's a suitably schizophrenic listen, the bubblegum-pop attack of Wasted On You and Move To San Francisco contrasted with the soul-searching anxieties of the album's second half. [May 2020, p.100]

Bobby Gillespie murmurs over Minimal's slinky pop, while Silenced and Kuzurenai toy with space, R&B dynamics and even more tunes. [Sep 2020, p.107]

It's a welcome, and much needed, breakthrough. [Apr 2017, p.118]

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]

That you are compelled to stay listening to see what it might be is proof of this record's eerie power. [May 2016, p.111]

[Randy Newman returns] to what he does best: write and sing songs that veer from wild sentimentality to ambiguity to deep cynicism. [Sep 2017, p.113]

This is a compelling debut throughout. [Sep 2020, p.113]

What on paper might sound like a recipe for disaster in fact turns into a triumph. [Jan 2006, p.125]

Shackles' Gift can sound grandly expansive, yet it's also locked into its own little world, thinking global, acting loco. [Feb 2015, p.117]

A debut album of rare potency. [Sep 2019, p.115]

From start to finish, an impressive piece of work. [Jul 2019, p.114]

The Toronto group's grunge underworld is floodlit by stadium-sized drums and vast, airborne melodies. [Oct 2018, p.108]

Theirs is a cerebral electronica, characterised by slippery time signatures, off-kilter drum patterns and baroque flourishes. Their 10th album, Polymer, distills all these traits. [Summer 2019, p.115]

Maybe not as consistent as previous efforts, but when Beam harmonises with his sister Sarah, in particular, Woman King is really a very lovely thing indeed. [Mar 2005, p.104]

These are fine-boned tracks, filled with lops, piano, surges of sound and Tomberlin's hazy voice. But they are carried on the shoulders of great melody, so the effect is of gloriously distorted pop--warm, somnolent, slightly out of focus. [Sep 2018, p.118]

It's simply another excellent Elbow record. [March 2011, p. 98]

If you've skipped some of their more recent efforts, you'll be shocked by just how innovative and impressive they've become. [Feb 2016, p.119]

Across these songs, Bridgers manages an unusual marriage of delicacy and lo-fi wit, and it's a union that has led her to quietly make one of the albums of the year. [Dec 2017, p.102]

The intimacy of John Bramwell's writing is carefully preserved and the trio's abundant charm still lies in a simple melodic grace and spiky romanticisms of lines. [Aug 2010, p.120]

Utterly mesmerizing, psychedelic document of the random music made by machines and nature. [Jan. 2012 p. 127]

He never strays outside his comfort zone, but the strongest moments ... have a familiar charm. [April 2012, p.102]

The quiet, melodic Curse Your Branches - think American Music Club with superior melodies - is an open-veined, self-lacerating look at his break-up with God ("You expect me to believe that all this misbehaving grew from one enchanted tree?" he asks on the brutal Hard To Be), his subsequent alcohol issues ("All this lethal drinking is to forget about you") and his estrangement from his young daughter. [Dec 2009, p. 111]

Her second album's pithy songs of turmoil, imperfect love and drinking bring the weight of personal life experience. [Dec 2017, p.110]

By far their most effective release.

Strangely engaging.

Not everyone will want to follow Banhart's cosmic meanderings, but those who take the plunge will find much to feed their head. [Oct 2004, p.133]

[Danger Mouse's] stunning flourishes... help place Demon Days notches above any vaguely electronic release in recent memory. [Jun 2005, p.104]

As the exclaimation mark in their name suggests, their every sentiment is exaggerated, but they do do careening anxiety rather well. [Nov 2008, p.110]

For all of its denseness, America feels as panoramic and wonder-filled as the cross-country travels that inspired it. [Sep 2012, p.99]

Keeping close to Chasny's vision, Burning The Threshold offers a beautiful way into his far-out world. [Apr 2017, p.119]

Angular and unpredictable, their intricate interplay makes for enthralling listening. [Aug 2009, p.107]

There's a real and sinewy loveliness to these compositions. [Jan 2018, p.106]

Gut-wrenching, heart-rendering and brilliant. [May 2018, p.114]

It's not just the songs that have improved, but also their delivery. [May 2007, p.115]

For all the deft production touches, it's Lanza's lost-on-the-dancefloor persona, at once sensuous and mysterious, which supplies the magic touch. [Jul 2016, p.109]

Smart and occasionally even danceable, if not quite as cool as they think. [May 2005, p.111]

Most of the record is a vivid splurge of new wave, glam-rock and showtunes, armed with lyrics as punchy and memorable as their melodies. [Oct 2012, p.108]

More than the sum of their parts, if there's a collaborative sweet spot, this record hits it. [Oct 2016, p.111]

They are gorgeous recordings, never over-polished but bringing out the bright force of Staples's guitar and the grainy sweetness of his voice. [Apr 2015, p.111]

There's a substance and sense of space in these meditative moments that makes for a satisfying, deep listening experience. [Jul 2013, p.113]

This is cosmic R&B. [May 2013, p.95]

The pleasure was all ours. [May 2014, p.108]

On guard, but never defensive, The Lookout is a wonder--open-hearted, free-thinking and grown-up in all the best ways. [Jun 2018, p.116]

Chaotic, visionary and righteously pissed off, Wide Awake! feels like the perfect rock record for the times. [Jul 2018, p.113]

Staples's fire is undiminished. [Jul 2019, p.114]

It may be oversimplifying to invoke the spirit of Radiohead, but this could be Phoenix's "Ok Computer" and "Kid A" rolled into one. [Jun 2009, p.130]

Unexpectedly vibrant, like riot grrrl with tunes. [Oct 2002, p.100]

It's not exactly a party, but Marshall's songwriting and cooing delivery remain fierce and otherly, redolent of romantic encounters in strange wood cabins. [Mar 2003, p.114]

In size and texture it's closer to 1980's The River than anything since. [Sep 2002, 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]

In between there's much else to savour, from smooth slow jams to Won't Trade's terrific blast of rap meets '60s soul. [Jan 2009, p.123]

The results are beautifully muted yet murkily enticing, evoking Robert Wyatt's pastoral-prog reverie Rock Bottom. [Jul 2013, p.111]

The overlong 'Faith/Void' aside, this is another absorbing collection. [Apr 2009, p.100]

Her third album is as intimate as music can be. [Nov 2014, p.108]

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

Electronic music is seldom this engaging or characterful. [Apr 2007, p.121]

The songs are low-key, personal tales with quiet hooks, grabbing what energy they can from the production's sudden lurches. [Oct 2016, p.109]