While it's hard to see them replicating the crossover success of their old friends, these cross-genre efforts at crafting similarly off-kilter pop are packed with intriguing details. [Dec 2008, p.128]

Not his most graceful, but certainly his most strikingly personal, Benji is another colourful stop on Kozelek's glorious journey into the light. [Apr 2014, p.119]

Perhaps in time she will dig deeper, but it's an assured start. [Summer 2018, p.114]

Having cornered the market in MOR pop, he brings these well-honed chops to bear on OneRepublic's second album, throwing up an immaculately mixed cocktail of soft-focused rock, white-bread R&B and heartstrung balladry. [Mar 210, p.107]

Their determination to get further and further out there is undimmed on this, their 26th(!) album. [May 2014, p.115]

An agreeably self-assured comeback from a talent who's come up the hard way. [Summer 2018, p.106]

For every riveting set piece... there are meandering nonentities such as the title track. [Mar 2005, p.98]

It's pleasing listening. [Feb 2016, p.112]

Within its polished melancholy, Clean is a raw portrait of sadness. [Apr 2018, p.115]

The odd lapse into trying to show how clever they are aside, O Shudder is the step up Dutch Uncles needed. [Mar 2015, p.106]

Folie A Deux is mostly a barrelling, hugely confident record that should see Fall Out Boy swiftly elevated into mainstream rock's premier league. [Jan 2009, p.112]

It's too easy to mistake them for any number of other bands--Editors, Maximo Park, The Futureheads all spring to mind--but if it's not original, it's still done weell. [Jun 2009, p.125]

Sun-kissed, deeply Beach Boys-esque music that will provide comfort to those who wondered what happened to the Wilco of 1999's Summerteeth. [Mar 2003, p.111]

The songs occasionally thrill but tonally it all becomes just a trifle exhausting about halfway through. [Jun 2015, p.107]

It's Up To Emma feels like eavesdropping on someone's post-break-up revenge fantasy. [Jun 2013, p.104]

Their 13th release, Lollipop, continues to rein in their wayward and abrasive tendencies for something more measured. [Jun 2011, p.124]

It's a record that ups the style further but their slick, modern metal still lacks depth. [Oct 2014, p.115]

Occasionally, Byrne subtly expands her musical palette with strings and woodwind, but never at the expense of her own guitar and vocals. [Feb 2017, p.111]

While Black Moth's back-to-basics approach to riffing may invite the term "stoner rock," that implies a lethargy of mood, and of mind, that simply isn't there. [Oct 2014, p.104]

As ever, North Star Deserter doesn't pull many punches, with the bare-boned 'Warm' making the starkest of openers. [Oct 2007, p.94]

Their third album presents finely wrought, dramatic indie rock, with dexterous vocalist Finn Andrews. [May 2009, p.119]

It's a disjointed affair, but there's no denying the robust confidence with which they carry it off. [June 2002, p.111]

Full of blissful harmonies that glide by one after another. [Mar 2006, p.107]

Miguel has been mentioned in the same breath as Frank Ocean (often by himself) and The Weeknd, but this album doesn't quite unlock such self-contained worlds. [Jan 2018, p.107]

While not all the songs manage to really sink their teeth in, the overall smoky, neon-lit atmosphere is an intoxicating one. [May 2017, p.111]

The orchestral pieces with their abrupt phrasing and lumpen scales, merely sound like one of those conceptual "jokes" no one except artworld insiders are in on. [Apr 2014, p.105]

'La Llama' and Carajillo's clinking percussion, two moments of clarity on an album strong on atmosphere but sometimes short on focus. [Jul 2009, p.131]

New Favorite is pretty much the usual, if still wonderful, music from Krauss and Union Station. [Sep 2001, p.110]