An impressive pop artefact, propelling its creators clear of the current garage-rock morass.... It's the sound, if not the smell, of teen spirit. [May 2003, p.111]

Splendid, splenetic stuff. [Apr 2003, p.102]

Despite the weight that hangs on its shoulders, Crushing doesn't feel defeated, rather it's the sound of a fearless songwriter putting the past to bed and regrouping stronger than ever. [Apr 2019, p.112]

Satisfying in every way that Aphex Twin's Drukqs wasn't. [Apr 2002, p.110]

By simultaneously preserving the intimacy and honesty that made her initial work so striking, Any Human Friend sees Hackman wholly uncensored, and al the better for it. [Sep 2019, p.111]

These are fine story-songs for any age, era or metal disposition. [Jun 2017, p.107]

Magician's Success and the Can-does-The-Normal bleep of Backstroke could be missing soundtracks to some experimental Cold War animation. [Aug 2019, p.116]

Rather than succumb to difficult second album syndrome, Fontaines D.C. have emerged frontrunners in an already crowded field of vital, important young bands. A Hero's Death is a resounding victory. [Aug 2020, p.100]

While these tracks have definitely been soaked in the dour euphoria that The Cure specialise in, The Twilight Sad are very much their own band. [Feb 2019, p.116]

There's not much to tie it to the present day, but when the template is this well tuned that's no great problem. [Oct 2004, p.129]

Similar in spirit to [Primal Scream's] Exterminator or Death In Vegas's The Contino Sessions, his third album tools up a live rock band with dance music's sonic armoury... it's a claustrophobic listening experience, challengingly thick with ideas.

Thirty-something mother-of-two Giddens's versatility is breath-taking. [Mar 2015, p.108]

He's on top form here: still damaged, still brilliant, still floating in a musical galaxy entirely of his own creation. [Oct 2018, p.114]

Every one [of the songs on] here is a gem. [Jan 2019, p.107]

Punching way above her 20 years, like a wild child Loretta Lynn, it's the sort of country music that belongs in those dives where they've got chicken wire to stop the flying glass. [Nov. 2011, p. 142]

A graceful, beautiful record. [Nov 2014, p.112]

Parquet Courts are a charmingly old-fashioned band, transmitting cryptic, collapsible songs to an anyone who can build a receiver from Guided By Voices-coloured vinyl and Pavement fanzines. [Jun 2013, p.104]

Beauty that can slice down to bone: double-edged and deep. [Jul 2016, p.108]

Before The Dawn snubs modern-day convention and is a throwback to live albums from the last century. [Jan 2017, p.110]

All life's disastrous lows are here on a career-high album. [Nov 2014, p.121]

At every stage the songwriting is relentlessly, almost effortlessly strong. [Jan 2015, p.139]

At its best, this is strangely charming, chiming pop music with a twist. At other times, the bare-boned production hampers the inventiveness, rendering a track such as Y Teimlad (The Feeling) a workmanlike Velvet Underground retread rather than the thing of symphonic beauty it briefly threatens to be.

Kozelek's less-than-euphoric vocals become wearying after a few tracks, though the band shuffle basic resources with some brio. Worth the wait, but only just.

Play's inventiveness will restore his reputation as a puck-like, maverick talent.

The few electronic beats and textures are deft, discreet soundbeds for the lush intimacies of the vocals, which slip from soothing to strident. [Oct 2004, p.120]

Anicca's luminous take on electronica shows Mandowa still prioritises quality over quantity and features some stellar collaborators. [Dec 2019, p.114]

He's equally skilled as a stream-of-consciousness philosopher or gripping storyteller. [Jul 2012, p.98]

Modern folk songs shot through with great melancholy and humour, and embroidered with bursts of electronica and instrumentation. [Nov 2017, p.108]