The outcome is mostly a coruscating shot of tough nomadic blues, but here and there it skews into a self-indulgent liaison with a time-bound, well-worn rock sound. [Jul 2011, p.61]

Everything is warm and accessible, occasionally too much so. [Jul 2011, p.48]

Ultimately there's more to gnaw on here, and for all his admiration of astral jazz, the album title is apt. Ras may be gazing up at the stars, but there is solid ground beneath his feet. [Sep 2011, p.56]

He's frozen in time, still rapping in an emaciated wheeze and overemphasizing his emotionless and cringe-inducing wordplay. [Aug 2011, p.69]

At best, the end result has an epic and ethereal sheen, though there are certainly moments where Araab succumbs to the tackier elements of his influences, like blind fist-pumping four on the floor or arpeggiated faux-bliss. [Aug 2011, p.69]

There's no point chasing diminishing returns on a four-track, and the buffed-up West is a kick worth revisiting. [Aug 2011, p.63]

The bold accessibility and nostalgic tone of Bermuda Drain is a surprise. [Jul 2011, p.60]

Where the vocals are murky, the synthesizers have a queasy over-clarity, poised somewhere between the repellent and the sublime. [Aug 2011, p.58]

Where as The Notwist traffic in mellow tempos and beautifully seamless surfaces, Dose and Jel conjure all manner of conniption ta[s and noise. [Jul 2011, p.62]

This is no simplistic exercise in cross-cultural groove making--Dyrdahl has responded more to gamelan's harmonic stasis than to its rhythmic insistence. [Jul 2011, p.60]

H-p1 is a slightly more adventurous outing than usual, due to the recruitment of synth player Shazzula, but the additional textures, pleasing as they are, fail to revolutionize what is essentially record collection rock. [Jul 2011, p.58]

Clamber aboard and settle in for a very sweet ride. [Jul 2011, p.55]

The production values can't cover for the lack of lyrical pizzazz, [Jul 2011, p.55]

It's a shame that the the young skate rat seems to be so caught up in his own hype, as beneath the bluster and amped-up angst, there is something interesting going on. [Jul 2011, p.54]

One Nation's ability to alternate and combine insolence with detachment yields moments of inspired incongruity. [Jul 2011, p.49]

It's ruling mood of detachment might appeal more to listeners who never went out in the first place and who prefer to experience physical release and emotional engagement through the filer of files, screens and headphones instead. [Jul 2011, p.50]

Attention Please is more of a shuffle than a giant leap forward, leaving the feeling that we've been here before. [Jul 2011, p.44]

It's not completely pants, but not great either. [Jul 2011, p.44]

Hot Sauce Committee finds The Beastie Boys being The Beastie Boys with nothing that isn't exactly what on would expect from The Beastie Boys. [Jul 2011, p.44]

The disc's closing one-two punch of "white Electric" and "Sundome," render Glass Drop a triumph, and a major evolutionary leap. [July 2011, p.44]

Clams is one rap's most distinctive producers, pushing his vocal collaborators to new emotional depths; but as an instrumental electronic producer, that choice is muddled by a sea of similarly charged chillwave types. [Jun 2011, p.60]

Baker's style is physical, thick, dense: woozy bass, murky keys and drums that kick hard enough to stir up dust and gleam in the dim light coming in through the basement windows. [Jun 2011, p.60]

There's a lingering sense of calculation to their weirdness, the feeling that this is someone's specific idea of what next-level hiphop is supposed to sound like and not the type of batshit creativity bursts that can lead to truly transcendent experimental hiphop.

He rationalizes the darkness of Trauma with the breeze and bounce of 1998's Rhythmalism, and the results are often downright hilarious. [Jun 2011, p.60]

The sound is certainly has the depth and sheen you'd expect from Laswell. But what's missing is some of the edginess, invention and unpredictability that was Scratch's trademark. [Jun 2011, p.59]

The group's love and knowledge of folk and psychedelia is really to the fore on this collection, as they unravel both and knit them back together in bolder, even wiggier patterns. [Jun 2011, p.57]

Laced never stays still long enough to be pinned down. [Jun 2011, p.57]

It's clear that, for Shipp, The Tradition clearly goes way beyond jazz. [Jun 2011, p.54]