Occasionally it threatens to work. [Jul 2014, p.63]

Rather than the sound of people battering against existing structures, Social Climbers exude comfort. [Sep 2011, p.58]

“Carapace” is one worth returning to, an agitated Pixies-style rocker that pogos up and down for three energetic minutes. Equally enjoyable is the kosmische inspired interplay wired into “Lurk Of The Worm”, together with the bolts of grunge that light up “Where Have You Been All My Life?”. Elsewhere some of Pollard’s songs can be compared to those of Peters Gabriel and Hammill, two distinct guiding voices who can occasionally be heard whispering in the hull of this inflated blimp of a record. [Mar 2019, p.52]

If nothing else, these [political] elements give Liberation a darker hue. [#240, p.67]

Good, clean fun. [Oct 2008, p.71]

The tracks here, presented with the intention that other will use them as a creative starting pint, nevertheless feel fully realised, evoking a succession of fleeting states and ambiguous atmospheres. [Dec 2014, p.57]

This album certainly achieves a kind of elaborated decorative wonkiness, but one wonders, as with Creed's paintings, what there is to return to after the novelty's worn off. [Mar 2014, p.52]

Z-Machines' output is lifted above the realm of gimmick by music producer Kenjiro Matsuo gathering a selection of artists to compose for them. [Apr 2014, p.62]

Nick Talbot of Gravenhurst sings over roughly half the album, but his melodies are about as memorable as weak tea. [Mar 2013, p.64]

With 16 short compositions across 40 minutes of running time, many of these pieces feel sketchy and structurally underdeveloped. Yet, there is a pleasing rawness to Bowness’s DIY production, which skews towards electronic pop, flavoured with post-punk and industrial. Bowness’s honeyed voice brings a measure of vulnerable gravitas. [Nov 24, p.55]

Moore responds by occasionally holding on to his riffs, exploring their textures before returning to chop and grind mode. Such moments help break up the pair’s machine-like momentum, which in places makes tracks blur together; some actually sound like reprises of each other, somewhere between natural motifs and a well of ideas running dry. But the thrill of Moore and Hayward’s best right hooks and body blows justify the amount of punches thrown. [Dec 2017, p.55]

The only problem with Politics of the Business is that there are too few of the loose ends and lateral leaps of, say, Three Feet High. [#232, p.69]

Get Lost is no worse (and no better) than 2010's Living With Yourself. [Oct 2011, p.56]

The more they change, the more ADULT. sound the same: pared down electro pulses, synth jabs with industrial elbows, and Nicola Kuperus’s passive-aggressive post-Slits lilt. [May 2017, p.61]

Despite their brevity, each track articulates a complete piece; they’re eventful miniatures, not sketches. But while they are sufficiently eventful to engage, the lack of someone to play off of deprives this music of the sense of an emotional stake that arises from White’s decisions to challenge or facilitate someone else. [Jun 2024, p.57]

While this collection of songs is indeed tremendously soft, too many vibrations are swept under the rug of Taylor's voice. [Aug 2014, p.58]

Hitting (unintentionally?) a vein of 1990s retro, evoking Beth Orton/Andrew Weatherall/William Orbit and inventing Highlands Balearic. Campbell only really pushes the envelope on a couple of tracks scribbling fluorescent acid bass through "Weeping Roses" and stitching AFX escape velocity linear drum programming under "220Hz". [Sep 2025, p.63]

Much of this fascinating, infuriating record is defined by his commingling of HipHop, Electro, dancehall, and, most problematically, stadium alt.rock... Some of it is just odd enough to work. [#209, p.62]

This album does suffer a mysterious drop in its energy levels midway in. [#249, p.50]

Tracks like "Huis Clos"... can drag... And the garage rock of "(I Wanna Be) Waiting For My Plane" is an unwieldy cross between early Sonic Youth and Two Lone Swordsmen's axe-men incarnation. [#253, p.69]

There's a subtle psychedelic twist in these phony hits that somehow renders the best of them compulsively listenable. [Oct 2012, p.64]

They're entering into new territory now and have yet to push as far out as they need to. [Nov 2016, p.62]

It's an extremely listenable record, full of stray moments of delightful mischief, but it's as innovative as a favourite old armchair. [1/2001, p.63]

A beautifully realised collection, Around is remarkably ego-free -- perhaps too much so. [#266, p.67]

They most definitely lack a soloist. Yet the way in which these sunkissed survivors pull together is touching. [Jun 2012, p.42]

The closing title track is a full ten minutes of ethereal synth drift. Tucked between these are a couple of neat facsimiles of the kind of mellow handclap bounce heard on Dance Floor Corporation’s scene-setting 1990 Ambient House compilation. But there are some clunkers too. [May 2023, p.54]

[By "We Dream Free"] it all starts to loosen up and swing a bit more. But even here it ends up treading water. [#269, p.42]

Off The Record's off the cuff feel would probably appall his former comrades but it lends the music an appealing immediacy. [Mar 2013, p.48]