Steve plays all the instruments, aside from drums, and records on studio equipment of comparably venerable vintage to Steve himself. This fundamentalist approach inevitably places a huge burden on the singing and songwriting.

Brash and enjoyable. [Apr 2002, p.106]

Strange, though, that we yearned for Pollard to treat his songs properly when he tossed them off as lo-fi sketches, but now they arrive as crafted, completed stadium anthems, that faint whiff of underachievement remains. [Sep 2003, p.102]

No shocks here, perhaps, but their fractal Technicolor pop is always a joy. [Jul 2011, p.87]

Challenging, sure--but when it comes together, as on Kenny Loggins-sampling "Your Choice," exhilarating also. [Sep 2015, p.80]

Son's patchwork of fluttering loops and vocal delays align Molina with kindred spirits Animal Collective, though her listless delivery can dull proceedings. [Jun 2006, p.106]

There's no central narrative to this anthology of psych-tinged, countrified canyon-rock. [Dec 2018, p.25]

A so-so collection of lushly orchestrated Brazilian bossa novas and ballads that unite Mrs. Costello with Frank Sinatra's arranger claus Ogerman. [Apr 2009, p.82]

Julie Budet's breathy vocals may be a little too Vanessa Paradis, but producers Jean Francois Perrier and Tanguy Destable keep the grooves shiny and the beats sweet. [May 2011, p.103]

The closest Wilco parallel to this sunshine pop is probably the Summerteeth album. [Apr 2003, p.108]

Their accomplished bluegrass, folk and country hybrid expresses the heartache familiar to fans of Will Oldham and Damien Rice. [Nov 2009, p.94]

Fall To Pieces is too slight and elusive to move Adrian Thaws beyond his cult-level comfort zone, but there are appealing forays into flamenco guitar, light-headed Eurodisco and gleaming robo-funk here. [Oct 2020, p.39]

As is traditional, there will be those bemoaning the fact it's no Dopethrone, and "The Reaper," is over in an uncharacteristically brief three minutes, feels like a waste of a track. Still, Wizard Bloody Wizard offers enormous pleasures. [Dec 2017, p.26]

At times, it's as if he's paying homage to his touchstones rather than using them for grist. [Apr 2006, p.114]

The Runaway is FM pop at its most heartfelt. [Jul 2010, p.112]

Decidedly shy of office-party pumpers, the avuncular pair decorate Snow Globe with originals and standards. [Dec 2013, p.67]

If you've already worn out your copy of "Stay Positive," this is surely your next stop. [Jan 2008, p.94]

Too late for success, maybe, but identity crisis (narrowly) avoided. [Apr 2011, p.84]

It's no disrespect to Chesnutt to observer that his songs sound better sung by Margo Timmins--the same could be said about anyone. [Mar 2011, p.86]

Borrowing from the past for Bowie's "Heroes" doesnt't result in anything interesting, but Perry's deep, reverb-heavy vocal on Johnny Thunders' "You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory" is a perhaps surprising highlight. [Aug 2019, p.31]

Mastodon idiocy it may be, but on "Honey From A Knife" and "For The Animals" at least, the fire in their eyes keeps them alive, [Jun 2012, p.71]

“Move”, featuring Thomas, is a thrilling mix of swaggering pop hooks and sweltering Latin grooves and the album’s undoubted highlight. Yet, elsewhere, you can’t help wondering if Santana’s fluid guitar playing really needs “help” from such a ragbag of heavy friends. [Dec 2021, p.33]

This sounds more like the Pixies than any of Francis' other solo albums. [Oct 2007, p.83]

It sounds alive and kicking almost to its own detriment. [Mar 2008, p.83]

The glossy production on this Montreal-based singer songwriter's second album makes it easy to overlook, but beneath the pedal-steel sheen of songs like 'Other Side' lies a real talent. [Sep 2008, p.88]

The band push their mathematical lines into some great perverse shapes that occasionally remind of Fugazi, and even Yes. [May 2009, p.85]

Curious webs of blurry guitar, analogue keyboard and cranky drum machine, song like 'Blue Lights' resemble a lower-than-lo-fi Cure, where ramshakle recording and budget texture becomes part of the appeal. [Jun 2009, p.83]

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]

If Doe intended to create an interlocked set of pieces that sustained a mood of pensive reverie, he succeeded, though there's a marked shortage of ear-grabbing, individual songs. [Mar 2003, p.95]

While some of these missiles find their target, he is back with less of a bang than he might have hoped. [Jun 2012, p.70]

His tools may be blunt, and too many tracks sound like unfinished sketches, but Zomby manages to summon a uniquely unsettling atmosphere. [Aug 2011, p.107]

There are mooments... when you get the feeling The Feeling will soon achieve more. Or rather, MOR. [Jul 2006, p.97]

Guitarist Marty Stuart re-recorded his parts, and contemporary shading has been added by Buddy Miller and Jerry Douglas. They don't completely erase the synthetic qualities of the sound, but it's clear that Cash was in fine voice even if the material didn't always suit him. [Apr 2014, p.89]

A vague air of missed opportunity hangs over this frustratingly short snapshot. [Dec 2001, p.124]

Sadly, Nas brings self-importance to "Strong Will Continue," that's encumbered his latter career, but it's the exception on a broadly fruitful collaboration. [Jul 2010, p.115]

Youngs' atonal yelpings and the bizarre tangents his big guitar shapes take won't be to the tastes of those who like their music a tad less askew--but acclimatise yourself to Young's off-kilter take and there are some rewards here. [Aug 2011, p.107]

Neither embarrassing nor unenjoyable, then, but still an exercise bearing a cautionary sting. [Nov 2005, p.98]

Too often Cunningham fails to develop his tracks, which start thrillingly only to fizzle out. [Jul 2010, p.101]

It'll be nice on a Netflix drama, but removes much of the tension between ambition and accomplishment in which melancholy indie rock traditionally thrives. [Jul 2020, p.30]

When it works, it doses oso brillantly--but the preponderance of bog standard indie rock elsewhere is sadly less engaging. [May 2009, p.89]

Edwyn Collins is the perfect producer to lend the jaunty jangles an edge of both darkness and charm. [May 2011, p.91]

Too often, though, these chant-a-long anthems are too damn chirpy for their own good. [May 2012, p.71]

Power pop without the escapism. [Apr 2005, p.105]

This is certainly the pair's most immediate record. It's also their least appealing. [Jun 2004, p.91]

If the piano melodies lapse into sameness, Russo sprinkles John Barry and Carpenters motifs on top to keep it trembling. [Feb 2005, p.74]

It's a less daring enterprise overall. [May 2004, p.106]

Virtually every song repeats the same trick, as the fervent but tuneless bark of singer Ellery Robert begins to grate. {Aug 2011, p.107]

All round, this is filled wiith pleasant rather than memorable tunes. [Oct 2008, p.113]

It's a solid rather than spectacular effort. [Apr 2012, p.87]

The Wilderness is more like a Junkies album as we'd previously appreciated them. [May 2012, p.71]

For chunks of the album there's an unshakable feeling of familiarity. [Jul 2018, p.27]

It's pleasantly winsome, sweetly aranged, but Anna Persson lacks the lugubrious voal presence of Traceyanne Campbell, and you long for sme of the sauce r spirit that inspires a group to name themselves in honour of a Serge Gainsbourg song. [Apr 2010, p.97]

Jarre's own pastel-shaded musical signature sometimes gets lost in the crowd. [Nov 2015, p.77]

Veers dangerously close to tastefully understated ethno-trance wallpaper on chiming, drowsy throbbers like "Zemlya." But thankfully Edwards is too smart to be seduced by the shallow allure of pointless beauty. [Feb 2019, p.32]

Ford's transporting voice is let down by tunes that are anything but. [Aug 2010, p.92]

You're left wishing these jazz quintet pieces breathed more. [Aug 2022, p.26]

Ultimately, the record is a tribute to McClure's charisma and unswerving self-belief.

Not one original note, but big fun for feedback fetishists. [Mar 2015, p.69]

Sometimes the union flourishes, but at times it's a grab-bag that's fallen apart at the seems. [Apr 2012, p.87]

Their love batteries have all but corroded and instead we've hangovers and metropolitan psychosis over the kind of guttural guitars you'd expect from their bastard American offspring. [May 2003, p.89]

When they do get it right, as when highlighting the acerbic lyrics of "That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" or cleverly flexing the groove of "Coming Around Again," you can see why it semed a good idea. [Apr 2010, p.98]

Still groovy, but these voyagers might want to plot a new course. [Feb 2022, p.37]

Downey has the chops to convince as an alt.country diva if she can step beyond this pleasant ambling contentment into more trenchant and ambitious songwriting territory. [Nov 2025, p.31]

Unabashedly emphatic songs that nod to Robyn (notably on skyscraping opener "Good Intentions"), Cyndi Lauper ("Every Ounce Of Me") and Kate Bush ("Appetite"), though the settings are largely those of a US mainstream, '90s grunge-pop band. They flatten the resonance of Hollingworth's lyrics. [Feb 2026, p.35]

Like the five LPs preceding it, Last Light is dominated by autumnal mood pieces--but it rocks harder, making for a pleasing contrast with Pond's poignant lyrics and vocals.

British Sea Power are still without a 'Wake Up' or a 'Float On' but Do You Like Rock Music? is exhilarating in its ambition, full of songs that will warm the cockles at whichever National Heritage site they choose to play next.

McCarthy's catharsis is often gripping. [Apr 2012, p.88]

Brodsky shows himself to be a sensitive oil, shadowing Nadler's mournful keening with desolate country licks on "Dead West," or wreathing a straight-faced cover of Guns N Roses' "Estranged" in banks of dreamy fuzz. [Jun 2019, p.32]

Banjos, xylophones and 12-string guitars sound oddly unfolky in this context, instead taking an almost symphonic dimension on tracks like the lead single "SDP." [Apr 2010, p.88]

Williams frustrates and delights in equal measure. [Aug 2015, p.83]

The problem comes when you delve beneath the sonic experimentation and listen to Marela's whimpering lyrics--a litany of drippy, desperate neediness. [Sep 2015, p.77]

On this outing it sounds more like step-by-step calculation than natural evolution. [Apr 2026, p.36]

His fourth album is unlikely to convert the legions of naysayers, but some sparks of invention penetrate the blanket of aural blandness and vapidly anthemic pop. [Dec 2013, p.66]

If nothing else, [his] accountant will be pleased with Maths & English's broad appeal. [Jul 2007, p.99]

Despite their monotone and their monoxide fuming, it's hard not to warm to Monotonix, especially when they catch fire. [Apr 2011, p.86]

The results is something scrappier, but loveable than Deerhunter's billowing drone. Less sonic cathedrals, more tripping at chapel. [Apr 2009, p.91]

Stone's impeccable vocal ensures that her past glories thrive on this new frontier. [Mar 2010, p.96]

Insular, claustrophobic, projecting a brittle vulnerability, Peace & Love requires some listner patience. [Mar 2010, p.86]

Production-wise, his hallmark arrhythmic snares are now sounding a little rote nearly a decade after their inception. [Aug 2011, p.104]

If a few concessions are made to mainstream mores here, it still works on its own idiosyncratic terms. [Mar 2022, p.25]

Smilewound finds the woolly jumpered collective coasting through another set of impressionistic glitch-pop and clockwork exotica. [Sep 2013, p.92]

Ranaldo's spoken-word ambles can feel a bit precious, and at times the material doesn't cohere--a natural risk with experimentations. But when it falls together, it's beguiling. [Mar 2020, p.35]

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

It's generally a thoughtful collection: stripped back so as to not stamp on the originals. [Mar 2019, p.27]

Jemina Pearl's voice is compelling, ensuring Be Your Own Pet sound like a candy-coloured, pocket-sized Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [may 2008, p.87]

The London quartet signpost the album with handsome literary and academic allusions in anticipation of an edifying dance direction, but end up trotting out the kind of meek synthfunk once propagated by the likes of Hot Chip and Metronomy. [Feb 2014, p.73]

If Black Ice has a weakness, it’s that it betrays an anxiety. As if AC/DC really might be uncharacteristically worried that their grasp on the planet is in danger of slipping. As if they’ve tried to discreetly update their sound, while hoping that their rebarbative old fans won’t notice what they’ve done. Invincibility suits AC/DC. Self-doubt, even a microscopic hint of it, does not.

Silver Lining finds her on top form as guitarist, writer and interpreter. [May 2002, p.108]

After a sequence of fierce, squelching avant-R&B, Jerkins makes his excuses and leaves Brandy with some old hacks and their dispiriting, saccharine ballads. [May 2002, p.89]

It contains fleeting proof of a band still capable of making sparks fly. [Jan 2018, p.29]

Their fifh album reveals no radical stylistic shift. [Mar 2010, p.89]

Rarely bubbles over into the remarkable. [Sep 2020, p.25]

Moments of menacingly forlorn Velvet Undergound-meets-Hank Williams beauty. [Aug 2004, p.98]

This run would undoubtedly be shown to greater effect on a more succinct collection. [Feb 2004, p.86]

Sundfor's first for Bella Union suffers from an occasional excess of affectations, her melismatic vocal style an acquired taste. Fortunately, she's best at her most intimate, this sixth collection's dominate quality. [Sep 2017, p.38]

There's a commitment here to melody as much as left-field wrapping. [Nov 2004, p.105]

For this fifth album, she changes tack again, gaining in clarity what she loses in originality. [Aug 2011, p.94]

Slickness will sometimes tend to blandness here, it's true, but "Memories We Share" and "Black Rainbows" show that there's room for sugary drinks alongside LCD Soundsystem's hard liquor. [Nov 2017, p.26]