Compared to the rapid evolution happening elsewhere (not least from his old rival James Blake), Woon here sounds like he's performing with the safety-catch on. [Dec 2015, p.110]

You'll waste time expecting actual songs to arrive, but the obligation to trance out is irresistible. [Sep 2006, p.107]

That it doesn't fall completely flat on its face must be considered some kind of triumph. [Dec 2006, p.126]

He's hardly renowned as a pin-up, which lends his fourth album's Prince-ly fixation with carnal knowledge a touch of the absurd.... Still, it's delivered with panache, thanks to Thicke's versatile pop-soul vocals and some slick production work. [Jun 2010, p.131]

They may not quite manage sustained quality, but they're getting closer. [Apr 2017, p.118]

They're mysterious but persuasive sonic realities. [Apr 2019, p.118]

These new songs sound like they came straight from a traditional songbook. [Jan 2013, p.102]

Fuler sounds wonderful on the woozy 'Little Black Sandals' and Ray Davies's 'I Go To Sleep,' though she could do with more restraint and better tunes to sing. [Feb 2008, p.100]

At best, as on Cleopatra, is like a yacht-y take on The Rapture's House Of Jealous Lovers. While amid the blanket New Romantic synth textures, quirky punk-pop ditties such as Girls On Bikes score highest. [Apr 2017, p.118]

He remains a little too in thrall to these heavy influences, despite fashioning an album of melodious songs that deserve a wider audience. [Mar 2008, p.115]

If the whole is too eclectic to eclipse the sum of its parts, it's an exhilarating diversion. [Apr 2009, p.100]

Shontelle's diva vocal is pitch-perfect, but given Rihanna's bust-up with Chris Brown the domestic abuse subtext seems ill-judged at best. [Dec 2010, p.113]

Their debut drips confidence, Mary's glass-shattering whoops and wordless exhortations on Long Highway and Try Colour set against the sort of brooding, stadium rock riffs even the Edge hasn't dared use since The Joshua Tree. [April 2012, p.98]

They're better when they throw off the straightjacket of cool. [Oct 2009, p.107]

For a man who continues to spell his surname with two dollar signs, his act is lacking in real drama. [May 2014, p.121]

It mixes experimental sketches and DIY electronica with Animal Collective-like Peel Free's meditation on a life quixotic. At times Aokohio plays like a TV randomly switching channels. [Sep 2019, p.116]

Despite the title's hint at unruly emotion, the surface of Aalegra's music stays as polished as her voice. [Sep 2019, p.108]

Recalls the riffola of Bleach-era Nirvana, complete with sludgy Led Zeppelin-esque guitars. [May 2005, p.110]

It blows hot and cold. [Oct 2005, p.110]

Aims for the middle ground, aided by Phil Ek and a sturdier indie-rock back-up that doesn't always suit them. [Mar 2020, p.120]

[The album] is a thing of unstated, fragile beauty. [Oct 2012, p.104]

Some of the greatest countrified orchestral pop this side of the randy old goats' [Gainsbourg and Hazlewood] heydays. [Feb 2012, p.108]

An extended celebration of shopping, partying, and exercising youthful hormones. [Dec 2010, p.114]

The Keychain Collection isn't far removed from James Blake, though the subtle melodies are all his own. [Apr 2012, p.98]

It's a tough listen--Lotic's aural trademark, a kind of restless arrhythmia, can be exhausting--but pays off with dazzling highs such as Bulletproof, the blueprint for a reconstructed avant-pop paradigm. [Aug 2018, p.113]

One for rainy afternoons, or a bottle of red in the small hours. [Jun 2012, p.109]

Solid but somewhat samey. [Jul 2014, p.109]

All 14 tracks here use Yeats's verse, and while it's a natural fit, occasionally, as on The Song Of Wandering Aengus, Scott's over-enunciation can overwhelm. [Oct 2011, p.130]