All Nerve is less the sound of a band trying to revisit the vitality of its youth, than a collection of musicians who don't appear to have ever lost it. [Apr 2018, p.110]

There's melodrama aplenty, but it's the meaningful lyricism in both French and English--and a smart Kanye sample on Paradis Perdus--that make it really sparkle. [Apr 2016, p.102]

They'll have to evolve quickly to avoid being tarred with the copyist brush, but for now it's just dandy. [May 2008, p.135]

Patience, persistence and a good set of headphones will uncover fragile melodies here amid the maelstrom, though the guitar noodling can veer dangerously close to Mark Knopfler territory. [July 2008, p.101]

Friedmans and Everdell have struck gold. [Oct 2010, p.108]

Blues of Desperation rarely deviates from the burnished hard-rock-meets-raw-blues template last explored on 2014's Different Shades Of Blue. But everything comes spiced with clever melodic tics. [May 2016, p.106]

He records on an ancient four-track tape recorder, which lends Her We Go Magic much of its peculiar charm. [Aug 2009, p.106]

The influences may be retro, but La Roux use them as the starting point for something fresh. [Jul 2009, p.114]

It's impressive she even had enough time to record an album, let alone one as accomplished as Fading Lines. [#361, p.107]

Amid the dominant electronics, the regular injections of big, sonorous basslines, clattering percussion and discordant jazz tones make for a thrilling ride that pulses with energy and adventure. [Aug 2019, p.112]

The result is a wildly primal and consistently brilliant rock'n'roll record. [Aug 2017, p.112]

It's that juxtaposition between sunshiny pop and yearning lyrics that defines much of The Now Now. ... This latest chapter in the Gorillaz story sounds like a deeply confessional one. [Summer 2018, p.108]

A set that sounds hauled up from another time and place. [Aug 2018, p.111]

Odd couples don't come more unlikely, nor as complementary. [Jun 2013, p.95]

With their 11th studio album, they've succeeded in not becoming crap quite admirably. [Dec 2004, p.126]

Cory Hanson's solo debut holds itself very upright, eyes straight ahead, creating the sense that its elegant parlour-folk could topple into mania at any moment. [Jan 2017, p.107]

Another great find from Bella Union, there's not a weak moment on this engaging debut. [Oct 2011, p.124]

This is a hugely promising debut. [Apr 2020, p.106]

At times, it's a touch muted, a little grey-out, but if this is Lennox staring down mortality, he comes out swinging. [Feb 2015, p.113]

Isolation showcases just what made others scramble for her number: natural pop charisma and an ability to glide effortlessly between genres. [May 2018, p.113]

Birgy is a rare talent who, a decade into her career, might just be due her moment. [Aug 2019, p.112]

Elegantly downbeat, Soldier Of Love sparkles as a whole rather than as a collection of parts. [Mar 2010, p.107]

The result is a superbly off-kilter record, from the new wave guitar jerks of Each Time Is A New Time to the strident harmonies and shifting melodies on All You'd Ever Need To Say. [Mar 2010, p.101]

She sounds gloriously rough-edged and authentic. [May 2003, p.114]

He's starting to look like someone who an no longer be held by the confines of his own skull. [Aug 2015, p.109]

How, exactly, do you follow an album like Loveless? It's a question that pop has yet to answer. [Jun 2012, p.119]

Here he leads by example, creating wonderfully complex, changeable music that dares to be different. [Oct 2018, p.109]

This could be the most finely realised piece of work by a teenager since Arctic Monkeys released Whatever People Say I Am... in 2006. [Dec 2012, p.104]