The Futureheads have found their way back by making their most emphatic statement yet. [June 2008, p.144]

His third album keeps the momentum going, even if its utilitarian construction is probably better live. [Oct 2009, p.118]

It's practically impossible not to fall just a little bit in love with both the singer and her beautifully fragile music. [Jul 2012, p.112]

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

Blues of Desperation rarely deviates from the burnished hard-rock-meets-raw-blues template last explored on 2014's Different Shades Of Blue. But everything comes spiced with clever melodic tics. [May 2016, p.106]

This is ambitious, outward-looking pop unafraid to play by its own rules. [Aug 2016, p.102]

In spite of an occasional sense of deja vu, this is a spacious, raw record that sees Tonra trying something new while holding on to the core that's propelled her thus far. [Feb 2019, p.111]

It resonates with the kind of high seriousness that never weighed on his father. Still, the younger Jeffes brings a winning feel for modern, post-ambient arrangements. [Dec 2019, p.113]

The star of the show remains the Brummie Everygeezer and his droll, unceremoniously-delivered bars. [Summer 2020, p.100]

Though more than pastiche, it's not pop genius yet either. [Aug 2006, p.114]

A happy return. [Oct 2014, p.103]

Whatever Port O'Brien went through over the last 12 months was evidently painful, yet it's upped their game considerably. [Nov 2009, p.111]

It's full of high drama, intense melancholy and crepuscular euphoria. [Nov 2013, p.116]

Prairie Wind finds Neil Young on fine creative form and all too aware of the limited time he may have left to enjoy it. [Nov 2005, p.118]

Such a nuanced take on pop's paisley-coloured past won't be to everyone's taste, but devotees will be left dizzy. [Jul 2012, p.95]

Clearly le maestro hasn't lost his touch. [Dec 2015, p.114]

11 strong songs which ache, break and twang as craftily as they do sincerely. [Jun 2017, p.110]

[Has] a sunnier, jangly guitar pop backdrop. [Jul 2003, p.102]

Feels oddly half-baked. [Apr 2003, p.100]

It's a long time since anyone left their club past behind with this much panache. [Jun 2004, p.103]

His rap style isn't as distinctive as Ja Rule or DMX, but as the singalong Many Men (Wish Death) shows, with Eminem on his team, there's no stopping him. [May 2003, p.98]

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

It's quite a feat to produce music that works for the mind and the hips, but Ronson has pulled it off magnificently, with virtually every track sounding like a single. [Feb 2015, p.104]

Impeccable taste and genuine love shines through like sunlight on grimy garage windows. [Dec 2012, p.99]

It's that juxtaposition between sunshiny pop and yearning lyrics that defines much of The Now Now. ... This latest chapter in the Gorillaz story sounds like a deeply confessional one. [Summer 2018, p.108]

By turns thrilling and blissful. [Mar 2016, p.115]

Display[s] a broad musical taste that brings elements of Jack Johnson-styled folk and XTC jerk-pop to their unbridled, youthful joie de vivre. [Mar 2006, p.107]

She's good and snarky on Charmer. [Nov 2012, p. 101]