The result may be less straightforward to dance to, but can play dizzying tricks on the ears. [Dec 2012, p.108]

One shouldn't underestimate the achievements of this sturdy, confident record. [Nov 2007, p.131]

Whether reworking Steve Earle's 'The Mountain' or the traditional heart-tugger 'The Blind Child,' it represents a small yet very real personal triumph. [Dec 2007, p.121]

Unfortunately, there's nothing else that come close to matching its opening statement. [Feb 2015, p.106]

This exquisitely downbeat album of droll heartbreak songs once again confirms that there is a certain knack to creating uplifting musical misery, and spectacularly-named frontman Eeef Barzelay has that knack in spades. [Jun 2009, p.119]

Things unravel with the folky fuzz of closer Aphorismic Wasteland Blues, but for a band whose charm is enjoyably slack'n'sleazy that's kind if the point. [Apr 2014, p.112]

Their songwriting doesn't always soar like their Hall of Fame inspirations, but the intense, super-saturated atmosphere is every bit as evocative as that advertised on the neon-lit cover. [Aug 2019, p.116]

Ultimately, My Morning Jacket's diversity proves their partial undoing and Circuital remains a frustratingly hit-and-miss affair. [July 2011, p. 112]

Holland's fragmentary syntax, rendered in a variety of heavily treated voices, rarely proves as mesmeric as the music. [Aug 2011, p.116]

His best work to date because, at last, he actually sounds awake--even if much of the record remains music for dozing in hammocks to. [Apr 2005, p.122]

A sleek collision of burbling basslines, adversarial vocals and downtuned brutality. [Mar 2006, p.109]

It's a highly evolved, sometimes claustrophobic take on warm but angular Scandi-pop. [Oct 2012, p.103]

It's not essential, but it is a sunny delight. [Oct 2009, p.117]

Though low on hooks, the ragged and faster songs are sweetened by the vocal interplay between Hersh and Donelly. [Apr 2003, p.104]

They make often wistful, often wry, but always intelligent pop.

An acquired taste. [Jul 2005, p.119]

Harmless fun. [Nov 2006, p.149]

You are, unfortunately, left wondering how the 26-year-old Dylan would have sung them. [Dec 2014, p.113]

A bigger budget and they'll get really interesting. [May 2008, p.135]

Sex & Food is more grounded, focusing on such concerns as the state of the world. Yet it's all wrapped in warped, layered music as complex as the mess we're in. [May 2018, p.114]

While Oakey's lyrics still have a near-surreal banality, with Privilege surely the most bizarre song yet to tackle the credit crunch, the two-finger riffs of Sky and Get Together are as addictive as ever. [Apr 2011, p.104]

Stealing the riff from Sweet Jane wholesale as the basis of a song would seem to speak of a band who aren't exactly pushing the envelope or alive to the possibility of change. [Aug 2001, p.128]

It may lack enough heavy hitters to equal the sucess of "Merriweather Post Pavilion," yet the aptly named McPhun has created a Technicolor, synapse-tickling delight. [Apr 2010, p.119]

More engaging doom from the download kings. [March 2011, p. 101]

The neurotic twists and nuances that made 1982's Vs so electrifying are still apparent... further confirmation that Mission of Burma have no intention of either burning out or fading away. [Aug 2012, p.104]

Pleasing, interesting, but not especially gripping. [Nov 2018, p.102]

Monkey Business proves that less could have been more. [Jul 2005, p.110]

It's hardly revolutionary and nothing eclipses their finest career moment At Your Funeral, but there's nothing too wrong here. [Jun 2006, p.118]