Fusing dubstep and rock worked for Pendulum but it's all too easy to get the balance wrong. Josh and Tony Friend's efforts have succeeded in getting their singles onto Radio 1's A-list, but it's an idea that stalls on their debut album. [Mar 2013, p.107]

[Control] finds Bazan wearily retreading themese of religion and relationships. [May 2002, p.119]

There are only so many ways to do deep, woozy bass overlaid with gentle harmonies and a clipped beat, and Haelos exhaust them around track seven. [May 2016, p.109]

Day Before We Went To War, co-written by Brian Eno, inflects mundane details with enigmatic dread in a similar fashion to the frostbitten adult pop if ABBA's final years. If only you could hear this colder, bolder Dido in every song. [Apr 2013, p.101]

A sameness of mood is not helped by debatable lyrics. [Apr 2014, p.106]

There's nothing of similarly instant appeal [of 'Torn'] to be found on Come To Life, despite the presense of three tracks co-written by Chris Martin. [Nov 2009, p.114]

Targets all things "bling" with the same mix of bitter storytelling and star guests, only it's not as funny. [Jul 2003, p.111]

Their music lacks any trace of sophistication or nuance. [Apr 2006, p.112]

Entertaining in the flesh maybe, but a considerably less engaging proposition on record. [Jan 2008, p.105]

Unfortunately, Kowalczyk's conceited couplets belong to the dark ages. [Nov 2001, p.124]

Her attempts to swagger on songs like Dirty Dog will fool nobody. [Aug 2004, p.112]

Lack[s] both the energy of Sebadoh and the quirkiness of his Folk Implosion project. [Mar 2005, p.98]

He's re-engaged the formula of sweet, James Taylor-ish vocals, lyrical inoffensiveness... and a laid-back Jack Johnson-like musicality where 5/6 embraces cruise ship reggae. [May 2012, p.101]

These stripped-down efforts offer an insight into the singer's writing methods, but not much else. [Feb 2005, p.102]

A patchy affair. [Apr 2005, p.124]

Tasteful and muted, it's one for the connoisseur, not the casual fan. [Jun 2011, p.120]

Too much of Feathers sounds like extended noodling jams. [May 2005, p.121]

With nary a tune in earshot, it sounds like an explosion in a guitar shop. [Oct 2006, p.124]

Despite spicy production it's really all squeaky-clean. [May 2007, p.124]

After all these years, is that it? [Sep 2004, p.110]

Compared to their early work, disappointing. [Jun 2005, p.118]

Anything approaching a tune seems to have been muffled under a duvet of drowsiness. [May 2006, p.122]

There's little experimentation to interrupt the drive-time friendly tunes. [Nov 2004, p.119]

At first it's almost intriguing, then alienating, then irritating; ultimately you're reminded why you never really listened to Animal Collective until they discovered the joys of a good tune. [Sep 2012, p.100]

Experimental and confusing... Oberst's voice struggles to hit home through the effects. [Jan 2005, p.129]

The Magic Numbers' central problem remains: too few hooks back up the pretty tunes, and The Runaway becomes an album you want to love, but struggle to recall even as it glides on by. [Jul 2010, p.135]

Jack Steadman's shaky voice does scant justice to a dozen songs that, in more adept hands, might have not been squashed at birth. [Aug 2009, p.103]

He's not so much turning into his father... as his wimpy half-brother Julian. [Nov 2006, p.143]