This is a n intriguing mini epic of double-drummed grooves and skronking noise. [Jan 2015, p.131]

They too often tip into adolescent parent-scaring anguish. [Mar 2014, p.121]

There's a new post-punk, white-funk edge to their sound on the glorious 'Debbie' that surely comes from Bird's new locale, While 'Lazy (Lazy)' slinks along with Talking Heads-esque subtlety. [Sep 2007, p.88]

Sounds something like a male-fronted Cardigans... [Aug 2001, p.141]

Gene have found a soulful and reflective edge that's brought them close to matching the grace and guile promised by their debut, and best album, Olympian.

It's perverse, contrary and, on stand-out tracks No Home Without Its Sire and Just For Love, surprisingly engaging. [Aug 2002, p.120]

In an age when marketing departments rule, Scott has fashioned an album of epic intent that gamely goes its own way.

This is as cynical a mish-mash of popular trends as you can imagine. [May 2004, p.106]

There is so little personality or variety that when Lornaderek turns out to be a 30-second birthday ansaphone message from his mum and dad, it is not a gimmick but a touching highlight.

Most of it... suggests that New York's time is, once again, imminent. [Aug 2003, p.119]

Their second album is a melange of found sounds (Piero Umiliani, Nancy Sinatra, Harry Belafonte), daft titles (Duckweb & Fishlip, Barry Normal Eyes, Busyness Mans Lunch) and much studio jiggery-pokery. The result is a surprisingly viable whole... There's nothing of substance, despite the swearing on A Lot Of Stick (But Not Much Carrot), but it's fair fun while it lasts.

[An] album of considerable grace and poise. [Apr 2005, p.116]

Octahedron bucks the band's trend for obfuscation, though; conventional song structures are very much in evidence, while its relatively trim 49-minute running time is on par with some of Mars Volta's more involved live jams. [Jul 2009, p.127]

The 41-year-old Frenchman's fourth repeats the same formula 12 times: namely, get someone from the world of hip hop/R&B to sing over a pumping house groove. [Oct 2009, p.111]

Alive As You Are is a harmony-packed, relaxed affair, reminiscent of mid-period Byrds and Tom Petty, with the influence of The Beatles often hovering near. [Sept. 2010, p. 114]

Corey Taylor's side project finds him ditching both the mask and the won't-tidy-my-bedroom ire in favour of more eardrum-friendly grunge redux. [Oct 2010, p.103]

Makes a perfect case for music as therapy. [May 2012, p.91]

The result is persuasive, likable grown-up pop without that off-putting jazz-hands factor. [Nov 2012, p.99]

The main problem is that the wooly songs struggle to match the grandstanding conceit. [Feb 2013, p.101]

The default mode is now so soft as to resemble a big bowl of ice cream for a man who's lost his dentures. [Jul 2013, p.103]

Scroobius will always smack of Marmite, but he's shaken off some of the whiff of student poet, even addressing bling culture without sounding like a finger-wagging cliche on Gold Teeth. [Nov 2013, p.105]

It doesn't keep up the quality all the way through but given his relentless enthusiasm from start to finish, El Khatib is probably used to people not keeping up with him. [Oct 2013, p.101]

[When Paloma] revert to classicism, she proves there's more than one way to skin the "vintage" cat by adopting the persona of an exuberant disco diva, invoking the spirit of '70s glitter ball goddesses such as Teena Marie or Alicia Bridges. She wears it surprisingly well. [Apr 2014, p.108]

This album gently shimmers when you want it to dazzle. [Jun 2014, p.121]

Dark and pummelling, making it hard to digest in one sitting. [May 2016, p.116]

Curious fans of contemporary pop-house acts such as Disclosure might find the spartan style forbidding, but once Dunn hits his groove it's impossible not to feel the force. [Feb 2018, p.108]

It's hardly surprisingly that it's less interesting musically than it is lyrically. ... That said, there's not a dull moment here. [Jul 2018, p.111]

Often the beats are so clumpy that the vocals are left trying to drag things forward. [Nov 2018, p.109]