Essentially this is Korn returning to their familiar discomfort zone. [Dec 2013, p.70]

A sentimental indulgence destined for a theme-pub half-life. [Nov 2002, p.114]

Delivered via rolling, thunderous rhythms--part Can, part Black Sabbath--moody synths and mournfully melodic guitar, using the slow-build-to-explosion method. [Apr 2004, p.91]

Impressively pretentious, and brilliantly executed. [Dec 2003, p.126]

Elsewhere, sluggish excursions in ambient pop and a commitment to melancholia that borders on the opppressive suggests that all those years grasping at the advertising dollar have left a taint of bland that won't scrub off. [Aug 2009, p.96]

His 2012 debut Silent Congas was somewhat piecemeal, but I Need New Eyes feels more developed, less contrived. [Nov 2015, p.76]

Much here feels underdeveloped. [Jan 2015, p.71]

This electronic pop set mostly convinces. [Nov 2016, p.31]

This is a brief--a mere eight tracks, just under 40 minutes--but incredibly intense wall of sound. [Apr 2010, p.92]

This is more Wilshire Boulevard than Cyprus Avenue, trading largely in a kind of light Vegas-y swing. [May 2015, p.77]

Amos has never been in rangier voice. [Mar 2005, p.102]

The collection is a little frontloaded, petering out with some tracks of solo guitar, bass and drums. [Feb 2011, p.82]

The self-assured swagger that enlivens the 17-track ush! emanates from the focuses attack of the band members, whose playing thrums with attitude. [Mar 2023, p.32]

A collection that aims to sweep up the moments when the spotlight isn't on, Sawdust, therefore, might just be their defining document [Jan 2008, p.91]

Goldie strikes a neat balance between exploratory drum programming ad sleek soul. [Jul 2017, p.30]

This Brooklyn-based trio make hedonistic dance-pop with brainy-sexy lyrics informed by gender politics, third-wave feminism and Queer Theory. [Feb 2011, p.90]

There's no shortage of decent tunes. [Nov 2011, p.83]

The first half of Mind Trap is dedicated to a sort of naifish folk-rock, flirting with the banal but occasionally happening on moments of quiet loveliness. [Mar 2014, p.73]

The group conjure a brilliantly ludicrous trash-pop poetry, hymning girls with gammy eyes on night buses--all much more seedily evocative and enjoyable than erstwhile Yummy Fur comrades, Franz Ferdinand. [May 2009, p.77]

This serves notice that the recent Wu-Tang renaissance may now be at an end. [Sep 2008, p.100]

No boundaries are breached, but this is a loose, engaging record. [Sep 2011, p.96]

Foul-mouthed, egocentric rhymes and nondescript beats. [Jun 2003, p.91]

A sluggish, garage rock set. [Jun 2007, p.99]

Avoiding the ponderous repetition that dragged down songs like “Bullets” on the first record, they concoct a gentler, dreamier atmosphere with less apparent anxiety, and create a shadowy veil of sadness, shot through with hopeful transcendence.

In taming their eccentricity, Dios (Malos) have also lost some of their dreamy romanticism along the way. [Mar 2006, p.98]

Catchy as hell. [Oct 2008, p.90]

If corralling the chaos is their new MO, they made a smart move. [Aug 2011, p.81]

Pagans' first half dazzles.... The album closes with eight minutes of psedo-Vangelis twaddle. [Oct 2015, p.80]

In fine and fiesty form, Auchtermuchty's Craig and Charlie Reid effectively slap you round the face with their latest batch of songs. [Nov 2007, p.116]

His debut as a solo artist is no grand break from past form, while confirming that age shall not wither him. [Feb 2009, p.101]

Clearly full of ideas and enthusiasm, FrYars suffer from a cheapness of sound, the instrumentation often too basic and one-dimensional to give songs od potential the lick of sonic paint they deserve. [Nov 2009, p.94]

It's an album inspired by Camus that's never less than intense. It;s also overwrought, as the taciturn voice and glum lyrics wrestle for space with manically busy strings and an unfortunate folk feel. [Jun 2011, p.87]

A second LP that builds on the promise of their 2009 debut, Harum Scarum. [Mar 2013, p.72]

An engagingly simple and yet sophisticated third album, full of elegant melodies, shuffling percussion and bewitching Marling-esque vocals. [May 2013, p.67]

Overlooking the rare lapse into anodyne mellowness, it would appear Evelyn's got his future-soul mojo back. [Nov 2013, p.75]

The Mexican duo aren't quite in the Jansch/Renbourne class, but they create memorable tunes full of clever variations of timbre, texture and tone. [May 2014, p.78]

Mostly these dry, derivative, rather dreary songs of endeavour are a hard slog. [Jun 2015, p.84]

The Acorn remain elusive. [Jul 2015, p.69]

Far the best things here are the relatively restrained title track and the acoustic ballad "Die Trying." Elsewhere, it's the stodgy gruel of yore. [Oct 2016, p.37]

Intriguing. [Mar 2020, p.27]

The best bits mash up the retro influences, like the krautrock-meets-Motown collision of the title track, the glam grunge of "The Best Is Yet To come" or the Weller-ish ballad "Scared Of Love". [Sep 2023, p.31]

The eight songs of Midnight Rose range from serviceable to cringeworthy. [Oct 2023, p.33]

The band’s decampment to Berlin to record has resulted in a concise statement of renewed interest, resulting in a debate between life expectancy and boredom, and a brief mutation into Roxy Music.

The seven unnamed tracks here are often surprisingly straightforward in form given the two musicians' penchant for demolishing conventions. [Jan 2018, p.22]

A deceptively sweet concoction. [Aug 2010, p.79]

Another terrific collection, tacking a stylish course between Jam and Lewis, Zapp and raving crunk. [May 2007, p.88]

Rather than producing themselves, they could benefit from a wise head adding a touch of reverb, a sting of echo.

All that is good in hip hop is here. [Jul 2003, p.111]

There's more here for Oldham fans than Tortoise fanciers. [Feb 2006, p.76]

A winning hybrid of indie neuroses and Brill Building craft, precision and intimacy. [Apr 2007, p.120]

If a few tracks see them flirt with Eno-esque avant garde, thes wayward tendencies are balanced out by pretty folk ballads. [June 2008, p.88]

Lights feels like the product of a distinctive personality, following a peculiar vision rather than ticking genre boxes. [Apr 2010, p.90]

The powerful tunes make this an odd thing: a subtle album, fit for stadiums. [Mar 2007, p.83]

Potato Hole proves as extraordinary, delirious and laugh-out-loud weird as anyone might dare hope.

Certainly, there's a familiarity here, the thin guitar lines and washes of synth, topped off with Banks' despondent croon, though in lyrical terms, there is a more confessional tone. [Dec 2012, p.67]

The trio plough an increasingly creepy furrow over the course of this debut album. [Jul 2016, p.76]

If the Valentines' inspired drone-rock of "Hammond" suggests a more stoned Spiritualized, their commercial future will depend on refining relentless glam-stomps "This Mess" and "Steal Their Gold." [May 2007, p.115]

When ever Gordon Anderson admits to being "lost inside the chasms of my mind," therre seems little hope for the rest of us. [Nov 2008, p.87]

Eskmo's sweet, pop-toned vocals add an unexpected element to his expression of the sublime, although he lets his club-floor impulse rip on "The Sun IS A Drum." [Mar 2015, p.76]

I Love You, Go easy represents a minor stumble. [Jul 2011, p.96]

Get Lost marks him out as descendant of Manuel Gottsching and Vini Reilly, stringing pretty guitar motifs and quiet, whispered vocals into ringing loops. [Nov 2011, p.93]

It's not all straight A's, but that hardly seems the point. This feels like a necessary act of burning and rebuilding. [May 2018, p.33]

For the most part, Anderson's cockernee affectations have gone, as have his references to drugs, gasoline and tube-bound alienation. Instead, we have the sci-fi romance of "Astro Girls" and the rabble-rousing rock of "Street Life." [Nov 2002, p.126]

The Vaselines were more of an idea than a reality, but this revival, with Kelly joined by founding member Frances McKee, Belle And Sebastian's Stevie Jackson and Bob Kildea, plus 1990s drummer Michael McGaughrin, shows they have finally perfected the art of being Just Dumb Enough. [Sep 2010, p.108]

The songwriting is impressive throughout. [Dec 2012, p.79]

Here, as always, he turns out to be a natural. [Sep 2011, p.81]

She's at her best on the lachrymose likes of "Close To The Edge" and "Just A Dream," less successful when angling for Grand Ole Opery classicism or-- as on "Un-Break"--flirting with funk-metal pop. [Nov 2012, p.81]

Mellow but heartfelt. [Aug 2014, p.70]

This largely instrumental set is a nicely ambient version of their usual hellacious harmonics, but also a reminder how the band have attained creative control on a major label. [Feb 2007, p.85]

Swans' Michael Gira and Douglas J. McCarthy of Nitzer Ebb sound very much at home. ... Elsewhere, more experimental link-ups slow the tempo, but create some intriguing collisions. [Apr 2017, p.23]

Larry Klein places the vocals disconcertingly high in the mix, but it effectively emphasises Chapman's poetic sensibility. [Dec 2008, p.86]

It's a perfect match with producer Richard Hawley, who here channels his love of epic reverb pop to more interesting ends than on his solo albums. [Dex 2008, p.86]

Pleasant, but hardly original. [Dec 2011, p.90]

It takes a while to get over that initial disjuncture, and the title track is a headache-inducing mes that sounds like a Bo Diddley rhythm played on electronic toys. Other tracks slip down quite appealingly. [Jul 2016, p.76]

These songs achieve something like topicality, sounding all the more invigorated and just plain fun for having one foot in the past and the other in an uncertain present. [Aug 2016, p.68]

Now in ihis late sixties, Miller's white soul voice and economical guitar-playing still pack a punch, while veteran R&B singer Sonny Charles assists with some well-placed harmonies. [Aug 2010, p.88]

What thesy have done is make the odd generational shift, acknowledging Boston, Steppenwolf, Alice In Chains and The White Stripes in their search for the ultimate cosmic-blues groove, which on 'In The Morning,' they find. [Nov 2009, p.113]

This time around they've learnt to loosen up slightly, enlisting the help of Amber Webber from Black Mountain and adding a pleasingly West Coast sensibility to what was previously a rather monochromatic Americana mix. [Sep 2009, p.81]

Aside from the Ryan Adams-esque "Bonfires." on their second album the more scruffy, down home elements of Alberta Cross' 2009 debut have been buffed to a stadium sheen. [Sep 2012, p.71]+

The songs are often gently ironic '70s orchestral pop with overtones of striped caps and Edwardian moustaches. [Aug 2009, p.90]

[The interviews with dock workers, WWII veterans and itinerants whose stories inspired nine of the 12 songs make] little material difference to his music. [Feb 2014, p.77]

You wish the pace would pick up after a while but then again, what My Sad Captains do, they do beautifully. [Apr 2014, p.78]

While the calibre of artists lining up to pay tribute to Macca on this two-disc set is undeniably impressive, there's little in the way of surprises when it comes to execution. [Dec 2014, p.83]

At just 25 minutes, it’s very much a listen-through, though the percussive clattering and ominous synthesiser hum of “Names Make The Name” constitute a standout. [Apr 2024, p.41]

A couple of sweaty, sybaritic slowjams prove that his libido hasn't waned, but his mojo undoubtedly has. [Oct 2007, p.101]

Finds her in typically literate form. [Mar 2002, p.115]

Like recent Tindersticks albums, these ballads need time and attention before sounding tailor-made for misery. [July 2002, p.103]

Draws heavily on such masters of six-string cinematics as The Church, The Jesus & Mary Chain and Spacemen 3. [Apr 2003, p.121]

Against all odds, St. Anger constitutes the cutting edge of commercial yet aggressive heavy rock in 2003. [Aug 2003, p.106]

There are still enough awkwardly anthemic choruses to unsettle their detractors. [Sep 2001, p.92]

Maybe it's not Albini's fault that El Rey lacks the melodic thrust of earlier projects, but this is wiry, unappealing fare. [July 2008, p.114]

In short, a glittering sign reading "business as usual"--even if it’s not a return to adventurous Kylie gold.

Intriguing. [Jul 2007, p.116]

Producer Joe Chiccarelli curbs their proggy tendencies in favor of chromed-out, geometrically precise arrangements embedded with bull's eye melodic and instrumental hooks. [Jul 2010, p.115]

A great idea, brilliantly executed. [Sep 2019, p.37]

It does still summon some of the spirit and occasionally the joyfulness that should attend a first record. [Mar 2011, p.90]

It's for fans only, but that's where Crush Songs' power lies. [Oct 2014, p.76]

The giddy rush of "I Citizen The Loathsome" and spectral funk ot "To" in particular begin a new page in electronica's tatty textbook. [Aug 2006, p.108]