JPEGMAFIA's flashes of brilliance are obscured by a bloated tracklist, but they're worth digging out. [Nov 2019, p.111]

Sleep Well Beast is undoubtedly richly textured, but it still demands the listener lean in. [Oct 2017, p.109]

Hebden has a rare ability to make his delicate instrumentals engaging and unpretentious.

As admirable as Radiohead's quest ongoing quest to ignore expectations, tear up the manual and proudly rebel against the limitations of 4/4 time seems, some of Hail To The Thief comes dangerously close to being all experimentalism and precious little substance. [Jul 2003, p.98]

A startling discovery. [Jul 2012, p.115]

There's melodrama aplenty, but it's the meaningful lyricism in both French and English--and a smart Kanye sample on Paradis Perdus--that make it really sparkle. [Apr 2016, p.102]

A slice of West Country meets Southern soul glory to rival anything Auerbach's ever been associated with. [Apr 2019, p.118]

The xx are too smart to get caught in that trap, extending past glories rather than copying them, finding new places for the spotlight to fall. [Mar 2017, p.109]

The San Francisco five-piece remain unforgiving epic, vocals mostly descendant from that same raspy wraith lineage. [Aug 2018, p.108]

Both mysterious and inviting, Helplessness Blues retains and expands what made the debut so special. It's an open door to a private world. [Jun 2011, p.108]

Rarely are albums this thrillingly original. [Jul 2005, p.120]

He may not have Mos [Def's] lyrical depth, but his vocal style is assured and refreshingly direct. [Apr 2005, p.121]

Baroness have confidently produced one of the year's best metal albums. [Jan 2016, p.106]

Shuttles between nerdy and mesmeric. [Oct 2005, p.119]

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]

Absorbing. [Jan 2007, p.153]

A rip-roaring busman's holiday. [May 2017, p.108]

It takes a while for these hushed, subtle songs to change the mood of a room, but when they do, it's as striking as sun through the blinds. [Summer 2019, p.108]

It could be high art. It could be utter bollocks. Either way, it's lovely when it's over. [Jun 2006, p.119]

An LP that is all over the place, yet with a clearly defined sense of self. [Nov 2018, p.105]

They've crucially learned that musical light and shade need not only be flaring explosions, but melodic sunrises too. [Jul 2003, p.109]

...Trail of Dead have reached a point where the need for convention outweighs the joy of using guitars as weapons. [Feb 2002, p.104]

Splits evenly into out-and-out rockers and downhome folk. [Nov 2003, p.123]

The oddball rapper with the humdrum name is carving out a space all of his own. [Nov 2016, p.102]

It is a joy to hear. [Apr 2017, p.113]

The heart-breakingly poignant cello hum of Opening (White Material) typifies the rightness of the association; when you add Stuart Staples's beguiling baritone, it elevates to another level altogether. [Jun 2011, p.123]

A great man still making great music. [Sep 2013, p.99]

The scale and bombast of this record are inescapable, it has a swagger one might associate with acts far bigger than those in the cult hero waters Furman swims in. [Mar 2018, p.112]