Magpies, for sure--but rather brilliant ones. [Jun 2018, p.30]

Though Return To center has its campy moments, he's removed his tongue from his cheek. [Jul 2019, p.24]

The songwriting largely delivers. [Dec 2006, p.127]

On cutesy likes of "King And Lionheart," they're closer in spirit to the plague of emoters loosed upon the world by the success of Mumford & Sons. [Sep 2012, p.81]

If the reheated Odelay-isms of last year's Guero felt like a tactical move in the wake of the soul-bearing torment of Sea Change, Guerolito has an equally hollow ring. [Feb 2006, p.86]

The reggae-tinged "Fol-de-rol" is a definite low, but elsewhere this is a competent, if unsurprising, effort. [Nov 2013, p.71]

Cardinal's fine harmonized vocals and muzzy, Byrds-like melodies are still intact. [Apr 2012, p.73]

Here, courtesy of producer Jason Falkner, his curious rock 'n' roll songs are given a crisp, clean production, a belssing which sometimes threatens to expose the - how you say? - idiosyncrasies of Johnston's singing. [Jan 2010, p. 115]

Doseone's keen ear for a pop melody and hip-hop's punch keep him on course. [Aug 2012, p.71]

TATE's debut touches on Stooges garage rock, sultry blues, Strokesian pop, all swaddled in opulent Americana. [Mar 2009, p.87]

It's a fascinating charting of a band's gradual evolution through experiment. [Aug 2012, p.93]

Sassy power ballads such as "Before I Sleep," "Sweet Love Of Mine" and "Not Good Enough" sit somewhat uneasily between Celine Dion and Stevie Nivcks. Yet as the album progresses, there's just enough to retain the interest of former fans. [Aug 2015, p.83]

Assbring has succumbed to the same fate as her country-woman Lykke Li, forsaking early charm for a vague sense of attitude that's largely devoid of presence. [Dec 2012, p.69]

His attempts to capture some of that city's pre-Katrina musical spark are satisfying, in parts - as well as recruiting former Meters bassist George Porter Jr to help out, tracks like "idiots In The Rain" capture the clatter of Bourbons St. However, Ounsworth's nasal vocals might still be an acquired taste for some. [Jan 2010, p. 116]

Sinister lyrics flit by almost unnoticed across the music's glistening sheen as Elbrecht hides in plain sight--an impressive conjuring trick that may nevertheless leave you a little cold. [Dec 2010, p.110]

Perhaps the most inappropriately-titled album since The Best Of Sting. [Dec 2003, p.116]

[Happy People] is a cunning, crackling, can't-keep-still classic. [Nov 2004, p.120]

Held together by a unifying drone, End Of The Day is a welcome if unusual addition to Barnett's catalogue. [Oct 2023, p.25]

Semi Detached is stuffed with perverse gear such as acid shanty "Deep In The Mine." [May 2015, p.71]

One for Cornell completists only. [Apr 2021, p.27]

Another delirious half-hour of, mainly, mannered asthmatic psychobilly. [Sep 2004, p.95]

Beast Moans can be drowsy at times... but it's punctuated by bursts of poetic insight and near-orgasmic glee. [Jan 2007, p.103]

These 10 supple, radiant songs blur the boundaries between African pop an funky American new wave with the same glorious ease as Talking Heads' Speaking in Tongues. [Sep 2011, p.84]

No prizes for adventurism, but bracingly fat-free, with attitude in spades. [Apr 2014, p.77]

Sometimes it makes sense. A lot of the time, it doesn't. [Sep 2016, p.74]

Much more inconsistent and rather less immediate [than 2017's Dear]. [Feb 2020, p.25]

This album really is just too good to be true. [Apr 2005, p.114]

It's an uninspiring ending to a record that it's best faces up to some pretty downbeat truths and thus seems to fit right into the current national mood.

This seems geared for maximum market penetration rather than songwriting excellence. [Jan 2008, p.91]

Alas, she doesn't have the power or swing to ride a big band, and as soon as producer Tommy LiPuma turns up the contrast and volume, her voice hardens. [Oct 2006, p.112]

Her career path - Staten Island barista to MySpace to Old Navy commercial-is less conventional than her songs, which build from folkie beginnings to big, optimistic pop choruses. [Dec 2009, p. 103]

A thrilling, surprisingly melodic dialogue. [Mar 2013, p.77]

Hooking up with Butch Vig, evidently--and trying for a heavier sound, It's a fair effort, certainly, but an unconvincing strategy. [Dec 2007, p.98]

Joy is both surer and sillier than Hair. [Aug 2018, p.33]

Rockmaker's rude vigour and bounty of hooks will reassure the faithful, as should the ample supply of snark from Courtney Taylor-Taylor. [Apr 2024, p.31]

It may not be of the caliber of Metal Box, but it finds its maker firmly in 2012, not 1979, and with plenty still to grouse about. [Jun 2012, p.67]

The Ethan Johns-produced follow-up sees their punky, Spectorish pop continue to evolve.[Oct 2012, p.87]

The pulse never rises above a heartbeat, but as the nine songs clock in at 34 minutes, the absence of tempo changes is barely noticed. [Oct 2009, p.112]

Musically, it's business as usual as they follow up their 2010 debut with more indie pop infused with the melodrama of The Ronettes and The Shangri-Las. [Jun 2012, p.69]

It's surprisingly polite, at times. [Jun 2019, p.34]

Rice is at his best when indulging his penchant for punk bubblegum. [Dec 2013, p.71]

Perhaps creative stasis might have proved more rewarding. [Aug 2003, p.99]

At times songs pass by too easily. [Sep 2004, p.104]

This is a much more laid-back collection of strangely alien desert music written in Hagerty's adopted home state of New Mexico and recorded in Texas. [Oct 2008, p.92]

He finds a Teenage Fanclub-style melancholic charm on songs like "America," "How Can I Love You" and the excellent "Palindromes," while "All The Same" and "Twenty-Two" head into heavier territory. [Sep 2021, p.25]

Those who felt that LCD's This IS Happening was too downbeat will find From Cradle To The Rave a perfect remedy, fashioning an obviously derivative but irresistible transatlantic electro-pop. [Oct 2010, p.105]

Things go downhill as petty vindictiveness and insignificant beefs become the preferred themes. [Jan 2006, p.114]

Wash the Sins Not Only the Face proves they have the songs to match their mood but too often tend to wallow in kohl-eyed cliche. [Feb 2013, p.71]

The best song is Terrence Trwnt D'Arby's Sign Your Name." Slightly damning, that. [Sep 2010, p.91]

They deliver a debut of confidence and conviction. [Oct 2009, p.112]

The only thing lacking is a sense of rhythmic discipline, without which these overlong - and occasionally overwrought - songs can tend towards the self-indulgent. [Jan 2010, p. 123]

Tracks vary in emotional and sonic tone, sources, instrumentation and complexity. [Aug 2013, p.65]

The album is at its most interesting when it breaks from this mould [dreamy psych rock], embracing more atmospheric sensibilities. [May 2023, p.36]

The best moments [from The King Is Dead] are woefully unlucky not to have made the cut.

Goldblum knows his limitations and never sounds out of his depth. ... Good stuff. [Dec 2018, p.25]

There is far too much going on at times. [Oct 2005, p.96]

The finished result has a curiously restrained feel, an odd mix of clumpy drumming, bluesy vocals and spidery guitars. [Jul 2010, p.103]

The slow stuff exposes Dex's limited vocals, and his deliberately artless approach feels threadbare--but at least he doesn't take himself that seriously. [Aug 2011, p.97]

TMBG's nagging pop tunes are useful mnemonics, albeit irritating ones. But there is no reason why anybody over the age of eight should listen to this. [Jun 2010, p.100]

Hard, and not necessarily rewarding, work. [Nov 2015, p.75]

Eiesland's emotive vocals and the elegant new wave inspired soundscapes sustain the bittersweet mood even when the songs lack stickiness. [Oct 2015, p.80]

The London trio have wheeled in so many trunkloads of technical expertise to embellish the material that it starts to stagger under its own weight. [Nov 2006, p.128]

The Spinning Top, a really very enjoyable record, displays some of the finest aspects of the guitarist’s talents, but chief among them, those that pertain to Coxon the folkie, and acoustic guitar stylist.

Jackrabbit is two songs and three interludes of grandiose, tuneless narrative better suited to Broadway. [May 2015, p.80]

Candyfloss choruses hamper Bubba's shots at a market-friendly take on his introspective style. [May 2006, p.122]

The Fever are shaping up as America's Franz Ferdinand, taking their cues from Buzzcocks and Wire. [Mar 2005, p.100]

Album two finds them pressing the Gilbert O'SuperTramp button with gusto. [Mar 2008, p.87]

The rest is country-tinged "roots-rock" fare, dispatched with an irritatingly blokeish. [Aug 2011, p.100]

It certainly recalls the space-age jazzers whose careers ran parallel to them. [Dec 2012, p.75]

A follow-up that is more knowing and nuanced, although the expansive dance grooves remain uninhibited. [Nov 2018, p.32]

Less obviously 'loops and samples' oriented than their previous work, Can You See The Music? neatly navigates an electronic/organic interface. [Feb 2003, p.82]

Weathered and intelligent, these songs resonate like folk antiquities from another age. Even more remarkably, they never sound forced. [Apr 2007, p.116]

A series of convoluted psych-pop romps, some drizzled with synth-sax, that perplex and please in equal measure. [Jun 2016, p.76]

Unsettling stuff--but weirdly life-affirming, too. [May 2007, p.103]

The second helping of this sitcom following Flight of the Conchords; Kiwi synth-poppers in New York, was almost as funny as the first, though most critics agreed the songs were weaker.

Bits and pieces, even within the album's successful tracks, are overcooked and threatens to capsize the project into mere camp or noodly instrumental preening. [Feb 2011, p.91]

They've pulled together their most digestible record yet. [Feb 2008, p.84]

It is still familiar as an Interpol album, but it's certainly their most refined, elegant and frightening release. [Oct 2010, p.97]

[It is] an eclectic patchwork of cinematic techno-rock and beat-heavy vocal tunes featuring stray members of the Chili Peppers, Warpaint and more. [Oct 2011, p.81]

Folds' heady tunes sparkle in these unconventional settings. [Oct 2015, p.75]

The country shadings are less obvious, but the mood has darkened, with cinematic strings wrapping themselves around the pedal steel. [Sep 2012, p.80]

Her weakness is the occasional lapse into 12-step blandness on the big--and rather underwritten--choruses. [Mar 2014, p.69]

No Tourists positively benefits from its echoes of past glories. [Dec 2018, p.30]

The resultant 37-minute piece is atypical of wither band's work, aiming for something more freeform. And meandering.... Still, when it hinges together, Words absolves itself. [Dec 2014, p.80]

There are some strong cuts but even Pollard, who appeared more energised on his recent solo LP Of Course You Are, sounds a little tired by the enterprise. [Jun 2016, p.74]

Angel Guts: Red Classroom is by turns darkly unsettling and unintentionally funny. [Mar 2014, p.85]

Aside from [Interpol]... the Yes groups sound just as narrow and constricted as their scuzzy East Village forebears. [Aug 2003, p.120]

Warnings/Promises was written on acoustic guitar and fleshed out in the studiio--a tactic that bears mixed results. [Apr 2005, p.97]

As ever with The Mars Volta, there are enough flashes of brilliance to make up for the wearying material elsewhere. [Sep 2009, p.86]

Alive As You Are, then recalls a lot from the past, and recent past, but beyond that is simply crammed with great tunes like "Split Minute" and 18th Street Shuffle," the benign spell of which is more than the sum if the material's 1960s parts. [Sep 2010, p.91]

New collaborations from Noah & The Whale to Conor O'Brien, are worth the price of admission. [Dec 2011, p.82]

Benson's fifth solo album rarely deviates from his established modus operandi. [May 2012, p.67]

El Khatib and Auerbach pull off their modest yet elusive goal--to make a kickass record from start to finish--with brutal elegance. [Jul 2013, p.75]

It's as powerful as it is invigorating. [Nov 2013, p.67]

[The] mostly instrumental pieces point up the rich musical subtleties and contemplative mellowness of the originals. [Mar 2014, p.72]

Sequenced into an almost seamless tapestry, most of these tracks flow along in a pleasant but unremarkable vein of propulsive, melodic, Hot Chip-style synth-pop. [Jun 2014, p.83]

A decade on the formula hasn't change much. [Nov 2016, p.37]

Throughout, Lawrie's voice is buried so deep in the mix as to be virtually inaudible, like a Mary Chain 7" slowed down to 33rpm. [Aug 2017, p.38]