The quartet's unhurried groove-based approach makes for a captivating listen. [Jun 2009, p.134]

The title's maths may not add up, but he's onto a winning formula. [Feb. 2011, p. 115]

Potent incantations such as Nissim and, particularly, the two tracks with Warp's sinister rapper Gonjasufi, prove this to be a wonderfully bananas breakthrough. [Oct 2012, p.100]

Easier to admire than actually like. [Oct 2003, p.114]

There's nothing wrong with this record... Yet it's only on Feel The Beat, in which he lets his ego off the leash, that LL gets into gear. [Oct 2004, p.128]

Dark and knotty, Open takes a while to win you over but when it does, it hangs around in your head like an unpaid debt.

At time innovative, but as with much alternative hip-hop, one for the previously converted. [Sep 2011, p.104]

Rainy's debut ends up as a near-perfect album from an approaching summer. [Apr 2014, p.117]

This one has it's moments, but somehow never quite catches fire. [Oct 2017, p.106]

Two Vines is a leap forward for pop's most enchanting odd couple. [Dec 2016, p.102]

Miserable and insipid. [Dec 2004, p.130]

Not quite as organic as they seem, their perfection lacks taste despite its polish. [Jan 2014, p.117]

The weightless combination of flambe-d guitars, glacial vocals and mid-tempo time signatures feels a bit like being trapped in a well-constructed airlock, easier to admire than enjoy. [Jan 2014, p.126]

The 11-song set is drizzled with plenty of that Minogue jus. [Apr 2014, p.117]

Conjures a magical, cut'n'paste dimension where genteel lounge sways to disembodied voices, clicks and bleeps. [Apr 2005, p.126]

Ultimately, though, it's her own barnstroming commitment and sheer affability that steer things safely home. [Dec 2008, p.123]

Helmet have fleshed out their minimalist grinding with proper tunes, but the question remains: will anyone care these days? [Nov 2010, p.105]

Gomez's future seems cloudy, but with these nine tracks, Ottewell has a fighting chance. [Mar 2011, p.112]

This is a patterned Wellington boot of a record, more suited to looking boho at a festival then actually having a splash around in the swamp of the human soul. [Aug 2013, p.104]

Though resolutely glum, their debut is alluring in its foggy melancholia. [#361, p.111]

It won't give the Foo Fighters sleepless nights, but it's fun while it lasts. [Jan 2020, p.109]

Everything Now offers an underwhelming kind of overload: too much, but still not quite enough. [Aug 2017, p.113]

There's the occasional intriguing beat and nods to musical theatre. [Nov 2017, p.111]

Frontman Krayg Burton's voice is a desperately weak instrument, his whispered snatches of melody never quite coalescing into memorable tunes. [Feb 2006, p.102]

They've bottled the lightning in an album of satirical wit, edgy intelligence and what fans crave most of all, raw power. [Jun 2013, p.105]

Twenty-two tracks long, Total is an eclectic joyride through myriad musical styles; the beauty being that none sticks around long enough to get boring. [Jul 2011, p.119]

While it's hard to feel moved, it's impossible not to admire the craftsmanship. [Mar 2005, p.101]

Hardly coherent, enough of the disparate strands hang together to make it curiously moreish. [Oct 2011, p.112]