The combination of Robert's artistry and the exemplary ensemble backing him means the album succeeds in being a renewal. [Jan 2013, p.63]

Despite the dubious company he keeps, McMahon's ambient folk pop remains beguiling. [May 2014, p.70]

Released on their freshly launched record label Keck, Giant Swan is a front-loaded beast. ... The second half of the record loses momentum, danceable rhythms outweighed by slow motion drones and jagged noise

These are songs with enveloping atmospheres that dramatise their lyrics with crisping, gasping, blinding, thundering, quietly screaming sound design. [Nov 2022, p.60]

Cale remakes Nico’s trademark harmonium sound using electronics, imagining a future or celestial version of her. The effect is both moving and ghostly – a highlight of this typically imaginative album. [Feb 2023, p.46]

The prevalent mood is restless and defiant, with the vulnerability found on earlier albums swept along by a sense that this time they're both lovers and fighters. [Dec 2014, p.57]

Pastoral serves to expose the casual but forceful villainy of Robinson and his ilk while emphasising one of folk horror’s core themes: that people are the scariest monsters of all. [Oct 2018, p.53]

Sweet Heart Sweet Light isn't the best thing to bear the Spiritualized name but when Pierce aims for epic emotion as on "Get What You Want," his affectingly plaintive vocal sandwiched between Visconti strings and buzzing organ, the continued potency of his vision is evident. [Mar 2012, p.65]

Lyrically, Mm.. Food is the best of the three albums released by Daniel Dumile this year. [#250, p.73]

I Phantom could prove to be one of the most consistently rewarding HipHop records to land in 2002. [#223, p.52]

A pleasurable collection of comfortably played, understated, slightly skewed songs with smart lyrics. [#214, p.52]

Poorly sequenced instrumental epics and rap cuts leave Something Wicked sounding disjointed. [#217, p.56]

The Omnichord Real Book isn’t for Me’shell Ndegeocello new jacks or the musically light hearted, but for listeners who aren’t afraid of taking a musical journey with no straight path. [Jul 2023, p.58]

Moments of levity arrive in "Cherry Blue", "DIS" and "Waterfalls" but overall the album's evenhanded pacing creates a strange unease. It seems governed by the temporal logic of its samples, as if Lopatin were intent on preserving their integrity rather than reshaping them. The emotional resonance that usually grounds Lopatin's work feels somewhat displaced by this formal precision. [Dec 2025, p.54]

The gift that this record has offered him is the gift of being who he is once again. [Jul 2012, p.59]

Others have their own versions of slow, simmering beauty, but rarely with so many other approaches and conceptions integrated. [Jun 2012, p.54]

Charged with relatable warmth and an emotive, human energy that’s close to 2003’s For Octavio Paz or a less melancholy version of 2005’s School Of The Flower. [Dec 2021, p.47]

Springtime’s music feels free, but never carefree, full of spontaneity, acidity and momentum, sputtering in a thousand different, noisy directions at once. [Dec 2021, p.56]

Not a radical departure, then, but a very satisfying development of Reich’s totally distinctive stylistic approach. [Jun 2022, p.52]

The vibe is hedonistic and dancefloor oriented, blending influences from techno, house and electroclash. The songs are horny, with lyrics occasionally stepping over the cringe line (“Oh yeah, you want it?”). Fortunately the album is also full of bangers. ... Diablo is a fun listen, but you might want a shower afterwards. [Oct 2022, p.40]

Pitiless, but ultimately forming a sanctuary for Xiu Xiu’s irredeemable sadness, Ignore Grief might just be their most startling record to date. [Apr 2023, p.63]

His curatorial vision is matched by vocals which have never sounded so assured and impressively soulful. [Apr 2023, p.58]

Dreamy stuff for sure, but tinged with a lingering sense of nightmare. [May 2023, p.60]

[“Vapours”] is brilliantly executed and, in places, genuinely frightening. Yawning drones and hissing percussive swells open the gates to chaos in “Of Shadow And Substance”, an epic 21 minute churn of layered tape loops, cello and bass strings, harp and percussion. .... The piece is more haunted and atmospherically dense than its predecessor, however both pieces share a remarkable sense of immediacy.

The resulting blast of raw energy successfully sucks the air out of the room to leave a hard rock sound that has been stripped to the bone – in a studio performance that deserves to be lauded as the UK equivalent of The Stooges’ Metallic KO aftershock. [Jul 2025, p.61]

He spins an engrossing narrative in short spans of time, packing songs with layers that are felt when they're not immediately perceived. [Nov 2011, p.63]

Although some of its best tracks are undeniable, PLAY ME's signs of the times are for established Gordon-heads only. [Mar 2026, p.50]

It's pervaded by numbness, claustrophobia, pain intensified to the point of dissociation. [Jun 2012, p.49]