Self-parody has lately been The Cure's greatest enemy: here, happily, it's not the main attraction. [Jan 2009, p.113]

Intriguing though Smokey Rolls Down Thunder Canyon is, it remains unclear how he and his peculiar talent will thrive out there. [Oct 2007, p.104]

Harper recreated herself as a sultry electro diva ... it's a role she plays with panache on this full-length debut. [Dec. 2001 p. 125]

Amid such fussy eclecticism, however, they can't always stop Lucius sounding like an idea for a great band rather than the real thing. [May 2014, p.113]

If Hard Bargain doesn't quite hit a career high, it runs close on tearful eulogies to Gram Parsons and Kate McGarrigle, and the stunning My Name Is Emmett Till, a Cash/Dylan-esque civil rights songs. [Jun 2011, p.116]

The sound is richer and the mood conveyed by Sambol--think a Muppet Show Sylan--is more rueful. [Apr 2010, p.121]

Much more than a collection of second-hand shoegaze though, Sleep Forever is also endowed with a glam-rock swagger and a fondness for euphoric choruses that fans of Kasabian would do well to investigate. [Oct 2010, p.105]

Bruce Springsteen, Tom Petty sand Bob Dylan makes their presence felt, especially on the title track, but the sci-fi sound collage that starts No Man's Land and Forever Pt. 2 underline the band's subtle warping of the Americana dream. [Feb 2018, p.108]

Carry Me Back feels like a sidestep towards a more traditional sound. [Jan 2013, p.108]

Most is all too predictable and finds Autechre stuck in an experimental rut. [May 2005, p.121]

Like untidy Casiopeia, it;s not all so absorbing, but the fact Ford and Shaw achieved this much in such reduced circumstances means the experiment must be considered a success. [Nov 2014, p.117]

They've mastered sounding unhurried but supertight. [August 2011, p. 113]

The [same] sort of Clash-meets-Green Day agit-protest skate-punk Anti-Flag have been making since 1996. [May 2012, p.90]

Exorcism Of Envy not only has to be heard to be believed, it just has to be heard. [Feb 2013, p.111]

Hoop's magic-realist folk idiom can veer a little too close to being the work of that free spirit who helps out at the health-food co-op, but here, the delicacy and subtlety of her songs is laid bare. [May 2014, p.111]

It's the dreamy experimentation of Ethiopia and Side Effects that highlight the brothers deepening range. [Nov 2014, p.104]

VANT have ensured their music has the same capacity to move and intrigue as their subject matter. [Apr 2017, p.118]

Rough, scuzzy and rasping, there's plenty within its tattered edges to enjoy. [Oct 2014, p.120]

For all its characteristic lyricism and stylistic restlessness, to say there is never a dull moment on Notes on a Conditional Form would be a slight overstatment. [Jul 2020, p.103]

Seeker Lover Keeper is frequently less than the sum of its parts. [May 2012, p.105]

Dark subjects [apocalypse], perhaps, but surprisingly enjoyable all the same. [Oct 2012, p.97]

Crow Sit On Blood Tree is a bizarre, schizophrenic, and determinedly unmelodic record that lurches drunkenly from the cascading fury of Burn It Down to the acoustic I'm Goin' Away, in which he sounds like an acid casualty from the original Woodstock.

It's disappointing this... sounds more like the work of bright, bored A-level students than British dance royalty. [Jul 2004, p.124]

The link between '50s rock and the modern world. [Oct 2004, p.121]

A fantastically overwrought and indulgent yet also controlled exercise in emotive guitar rock. [Nov 2002, p.103]

Not big, not clever, not hip, not trendy. Just fantastic.

Mogis finds a spectrum of hues in their previously monochrome sound. [Apr 2006, p.113]

The polished alt-rock on show here may be serviceable and vaguely reminiscent of Hole circa Live Through This, but it also lacks any of the band's own DNA. [Jun 2015, p.100]