Occasionally the album misfires. [Mar 2014, p.59]

Idiology refuses to cohere so completely that it plays out as part of Mouse On Mars's very approach; the duo hop from style to style, treating them like so many stepping stones to no destination in particular. [#206, p.72]

Bonnie Prince Billy shows no sign of slowing down his slowness, despite, or perhaps because of, the misery. [Nov 2011, p.56]

The music is meditative and calm-inducing, though occasionally it leans a little too much towards Opal Records tropes, particularly the piano-led pieces. [Apr 2016, p.62]

Getting the full measure of this quickly hermetic collection depends considerably on how you shuffle and deal formats. [May 2008, p.57]

[Arthur Jeffes] often seems over-cautious. ... Yet when Jeffes reins in a tendency to over-orchestrate, he shares his father’s talent for painting delightful scenes with limited palettes. [May 2017, p.53]

For this project, Bakorta’s vocals are left at the studio door, which initially struck me as a shame, but a few listens reveal how much stronger the album is for being entirely instrumental. .... It’s clear enough what the remixes set out to achieve and, on their own merits they sound good. But in the context of the album as a whole they feel slightly tacked on; worth listening to, but maybe in a separate sitting. [Jan/Feb 2025, p.92]

A lot of All Worlds could be bundled onto daytime radio playlists without standing out too starkly. .... Echoes of these acts’ more severe youthful excursions shines through on “Akkadian” – an audacious combo of jungle breaks and coldwave verses – and “Dummy”. [Apr 2025, p.55]

The album never quite wallows in gross out carnage or tragedy or blame (though these are here, for sure), but spins these yarns, perverse detail at a time, with the laconic humour of a short story by Richard Brautigan or Thomas Pynchon, stopping just short of mockery. [May 2017, p.53]

Some might find the group's repetitive grooves too smooth a match for all Smith's spewing. But his bark infects everything around it. [Nov 2011, p.58]

Lack doesn't allow so much for meditation, forcing the listener to confront its continued presence through interjections of anxious vocal exercises and crashing echoes, industrial scrapes and human ululations. [Sep 2017, p.49]

When dealing with the more fully formed of the original songs, the album is extremely strong. [Apr 2013, p.58]

For just a few moments [on "Slow Your Roll"] there’s an unmistakeable sense that what’s already a decent album could have been a whole lot better, could have been inspirational. [Sep 2017, p.50]

Another big fat splat of technicolour vomit from Lightning Bolt drummer Brian Chippendale's solo project. [Apr 2013, p.51]

With none of the barking dogs found on "Son," Un Dia generally limits itself to guitars, synths, voice and percussion, a more intimate, insular palette of sounds that is sometimes too subdued to really egage. [Oct 2008, p.60]

Luminal perhaps would have been more impactful as a release by itself – all but the most devoted Eno completists should prioritise it. [Jul 2025, p.52]

On the third album by Bishop's trio with drummer Chris Corsano and guitarist Ben Chasny, the [Middle Eastern] influence is more explicit than ever.... "Spiro Agnew" brings the intercultural connection full circle, with an extravagant strut that calls to mind the grand drama that Turkish guitar hero and pioneer of saz rock Erkin Koray brought to his fuzzed out interpretations of lachrymose Arabesque ballads. [Feb 2016, p.58]

Sprawling spaciness is absent from A Foul Form which marks a return to the California shredders’ punk roots. The vibe is set by opener “Funeral Solution”: blistering guitar fuzz, punch drunk double drums, stumbling basslines and ragged vocals. [Sep 2022, p.48]

There’s one serious misfire, a skit where Crazy Titch reassures us that everyone in his prison block agrees you’re never “too gang to listen Stormzy”, but mostly his wariness lends the album a series of unresolved tensions more perfectly poised than any other grime album to date. [May 2017, p.55]

Color is an album of two halves, with gloomier hues on side two. [Nov 2016, p.53]

Is it fun? Well, yes, even if it does end up sounding like 15 different musical assemblages from an equal number of historical periods playing at once. [Feb 2016, p.59]

“Bounty” exalts the genre’s heritage with a lyrical pastiche of pop songs--Blondie’s “One Way Or Another” and James Brown’s “Get Up (I Feel Like Being A) Sex Machine” among them. “Flight 1235” acknowledges the shift in perspective and approach while insisting it’s his hard-earned right. [Aug 2018, p.52]

“In The South” is a mash-up with Gucci Mane and Pimp C that could’ve snuck on the back end of a posthumous UGK set. [Sep 2017, p.62]

“All Souls Hill” itself is almost in Bad Seeds territory – the two bands were formed the same year and almost certainly aware of one another. “The Liar” is a swipe at Donald Trump but avoids sounding latecomerish by turning him into a folkloric figure. “Passing Through” does the opposite, giving political relevance to an old song. [Sep 2022, p.52]

It all sounds wonderful, sparkling and glistening. Yet it doesn't make a dent that one might expect. [Oct 2008, p.56]

The weakest moments of this set are those that try to bludgeon the listener with noise. [May 2017, p.57]

Much like Mantronix, Injury Reserve’s strengths lie in their overall freshness, and the way they play with and reinforce hiphop’s borders. Phoenix is full of post-genre dynamics. ... Phoenix is a punch-drunk affair that finds Injury Reserve hurtling forward with a determined anguish. [Oct 2021, p.49]

It works best when blended with his more adventurous tendencies. [Nov 2011, p.64]