The perfect soundtrack to summer in the city. [Oct 2002, p.111]

As unoriginal as his previous five, yet still entertaining. [Mar 2003, p.106]

Introspection clearly suits him. [Nov 2006, p.119]

Over time, vocalist Aaron Ross stands out as the weak link, his voice merely shrill and average. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Best enjoyed with your brain set to simmer, it's harmlessly high-octane fun. [Dec 2007, p.119]

The Rapture have picked themselves up with a third album packed with ragged romps every bit as joyous as "house Of Jealous Lovers," their 2002 breakthrough. [Oct 2011, p.95]

This Is Christmas [is] neither turkey nor cracker but a sweetly silly trifle. [Jan 2012, p.86]

Orfeo's spare soundscape can sometimes seem a bit frugal, but Hield proves a versatile frontwoman. [Aug 2012, p.73]

Afropop sparkle to jazzy bounce and shoe gaze shimmer, but too often these exotic ingredients feel like undigested dilettante dabblings. [May 2013, p.74]

Slender and strange, Await Barbarians once more finds the singer on the back foot, his default position, peering cautiously at the things around him. [Jul 2014, p.81]

Accomplished rather than exciting. [Jul 2015, p.83]

Intriguing album. ... Lyrically, the prevailing atmosphere is reflective. [Jun 2017, p.28]

There's certainly a highly evocative quality to the stoned, sun-dappled soul found here. [May 2020, p.25]

Unpredictability is its greatest asset. [Dec 2021, p.31]

The songs here are country rock, unadorned and sensitively played, nestled around Young's lovely acoustic take on Barn's "Song OF The Seasons." Inevitably, Young's influence proliferates. [May 2023, p.31]

Campbell respects the original material's emotional temperature but glams it up with fizzing synths, strobe-light bass and woozy rhythms. [Sep 2025, p.27]

And though it sometimes plays safe, Hard Candy could be her most unpretentious and consistently enjoyable pop record since Like A Virgin.

Her gusto is undeniable. Sadly, the abundance of karaoke-night misfires among the 30 tracks makes Rockstar such a slog. [Jan 2024, p.34]

Frivolous but elegant. [Feb 2014, p.75]

Two years and two million album sales later- and minus raffish bassist Max Rafferty--their sugar-rush enthusiasm has dissolved almost entirely.

They might've allowed the collage more space to breathe, for the bandwidth is densely layered to bursting with blissed-out sampling; but the rapture makes it churlish to complain. [Feb 2014, p.80]

It's a fine effort in a heavily populated field. [Jul 2013, p.76]

Their treacly heaviness still courses through pop cuts. [Jul 2017, p.23]

The endless drug references now seem calculating rather than risque, while the daft lyrics simply grate. [Apr 2006, p.106]

Love 2 is a cinematic affair--but not in a good way. [Oct 2009, p.89]

Alt-J enter Kid A territory. The baroque synth pop of "In Cold Blood" and the kinky rockabilly of "Hit Me Like That Snare" are their only concessions to the arena. [Jul 2017, p.25]

Since the impact of their shtick has diminished from overuse, the shift toward a less hectic pace elsewhere is a wise one. [Jan 2018, p.26]

On her underwhelming second album, we realise how nu-sould would sound stripped of all sonic invention, mischief and sensuality. [Dec 2002, p.151]

Producer Hal Wilner again helms this follow-up but the chemistry proves more fitful. [Apr 2011, p.80]

Depleted, but not defeated. [Mar 2013, p.92]

Here, Beans returns to his roots. [Nov 2004, p.106]

An absorbing listen. [Mar 2005, p.102]

Murphy muddles through the workmanlike art-rock of openers "Velocity Bird" and "See Saw Sway" before hitting confident stride on "I Spit Roses" And "Never Fall out." [Aug 2011, p.94]

The band seem to have suffered a who-are-we?-style mid-life crisis. [Jan 2007, p.100]

While there are still some occasional bright spots, it never quite regains its earlier momentum. [Aug 2012, p.69]

Reviver is a plugged-in, dreamrock album that owes more to the beardy Brooklyn scene. [Feb 2013, p.70]

The synthetic drama of Maps' "The Other Side" retains the tension of Apollo 8's inaugural moon mission; Vessels anchor "EVA" with a tidy bassline; Field Music remodel "Korolev" into a taut, angular beauty. [Aug 2016, p.80]

There's still a tendency to over-emote with superfluous melisma. But when she's at her starkest and most haunting, accompanied by little more than Beste's piano on "Faded" and "Leave You In Yesterday," she hits the spot unerringly. [Sep 2016, p.76]

The third installment of Jarre's eco-themed trilogy follows the same pattern as its predecessors. [Jan 2017, p.24]

The Gallic tendency to prettify everything into anodyne melodic gloop occasionally jars. [Jun 2020, p.38]

With less hyperbole and gutter-visionary pretension, Borrell's competent if hygienised NYC punk knock-offs might be more palatable. [Aug 2004, p.104]

Fans of Fad Gadget and Add N To (X) take note. [Nov 2005, p.108]

There's a whole gamut of compressed pop guitar stylings; some leap out, others don't. [Feb 2011, p.95]

Sonically adventurous, Phase is unafraid of chunky choruses, bedroom confessionals and twisted synth arrangements. [Mar 2016, p.75]

It seems something of a hollow exercise. [Feb 2006, p.72]

A delicate and sometimes bleak record. [Dec 2006, p.123]

While there is no doubting the power of Marc Ribot’s off-kilter twanging or the noirish density of the music, the songs don’t really work on their own.

The angry bricolage of noises, voices, stabbing guitar and jittery programmed drums sounds like the world splitting apart, the first of a series of scarified dubscapes created by The Pop Group and their perfect collaborators. [Jan 2017, p.28]

Their fourth album continues in the vein of 2011's Last Night On Earth, divining its inspiration from cool, crisp '80s US new wave, "Every Breath You Take" bass lines, Brat Pack soundtracks and wistful songs about girls. [Jun 2013, p.76]

While poppier and more accessible than his albums fronting Fantomas, it's worth the wait. [Jul 2006, p.104]

Largely, this one is a case of nice threads, shame about the songs. [Apr 2007, p.115]

The tunes, for all their airiness, just won't stick. [Nov 2003, p.107]

Captures their Tex-Mex boogie at full tilt. [Aug 2005, p.105]

Spiky, lyrical, quiveringly pretty. [May 2006, p.100]

For all Keely's best intents though, Original Machines falls short of genuine enlightenment; simultaneously too much and not enough. [Mar 2016, p.75]

Confounds all expectations. [May 2006, p.128]

Soundwise, Chinese Democracy is all over the place.

Guthrie folds delicate electronic treatments into his statuesque, joyous melodies. [Jul 2006, p.95]

Tricky has a frustrating tendency to lurk behind his collaborators, and one has to fight the feeling that ideas rarely gel. [Oct 2010, p.106]

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

The record arguably lacks a killer track, Chrissie seemingly on autopilot throughout, although the sultry "In A Miracle" contains the occasional echo of past glories. [Jul 2014, p.76]

A somewhat humourless affair. [Jun 2006, p.115]

Ruthless schmaltz is, predictably, the order of the day. [Jul 2012, p.69]

Gahan is a way off from being a David Sylvian–-but not as far as you might think.

Their reformation record is a surprisingly substantial pleasure. [Apr 2019, p.36]

The songs often seem over-anxious to build to show-stopping choruses. [Nov 2005, p.94]

There's a little too much preciousness here. [Oct 2014, p.72]

What sets his debut apart from other similar singer-songwriters are the cinematic, electronic textures that he weaves around his work, but also the off-kilter material. [Aug 2017, p.32]

The result is a hushed, spectral delight. [Jul 2018, p.37]

It's all very tasteful and refined, but ultimately feels a little bloodless. [Feb 2024, p.30]

Things get increasingly glum and disenchanted as the album grinds towards the cop-out of "The Troubles." [Dec 2014, p.81]

Chops-wise, all is unimpeachable--but one ends up craving novelty. [Sep 2011, p.98]

Aiming for Springsteen-like glory, they settle instead for overcooked melodrama on parade of would-be anthems sufficiently over the top to make Muse envious. [Nov 2012, p.76]

There is little to these songs besides Mark's Lennon-like voice and an unobtrusive piano and guitar. [Apr 2007, p.113]

Walla creates intricate, fugue-like patterns featuring guitars, analog synths and harmonies, enabling his spiralling melodies to unfold progressively while also providing a cushion for his diminultive but genuine vocals--making for a record that's taut and affecting. [Feb 2008, p.95]

Dr. Dee is the most compelling record Albarn has made since Blur's 13; his first proper solo record, with all the emotional engagement that implies. [Jun 2012, p.63]

A faithful if condensed cover of Yes' "Heart Of The Sunrise," sweetly sung by Drozd, concludes what is essentially a likeable frivolity, and a stop gap before their next Flaming masterwork. [Sep 2014, p.73]

While they sound no less vital than their infuriatingly profitable contemporaries, they sound no more, either. [Oct 2007, p.101]

Isn't quite the show-them-who's-boss return that JSBX should have come up with. [May 2002, p.110]

The results are charming, melancholy and achingly beautiful. [Jul 2012, p.84]

They produce big pop hooks via skewed My Bloody Valentine guitars more reminiscent of Giant Drag, but with the abrasiveness replaced by sugary harmonies. [May 2007, p.93]

Most convincing are versions of Xiu Xiu's thunderously anthemic "I Luv The Valley OH," Clinic's irrepressible "Tomorrow," and intimate wordiness of David Thomas Broughton's "Ambiguity." Coldplay's "Hurts Like Heaven," however cannot shake off its provenance. [Dec 2013, p.72]

This is a finely polished album, but low on guts, grit or urgency. [Nov 2007, p.129]

The spread, encompassing piano and mellotron, is pretty; the songs rather maudlin. [Sep 2013, p.85]

The Cairo Gang's superb, weighty, meticulous album still manages to pack a mighty punch. [Sep 2013, p.85]

The best songs are the ballads. [Jun 2016, p.79]

It's less dynamic, but the prog-folk flavours remain intact, with penny whistles and acoustic guitars central to its two sentimental, sometimes meandering halves. [Feb 2017, p.33]

Ultimately, too much easy-listening stoner-tronica makes Prism yet another pleasant but inessential late-career Orb album. [Jun 2023, p.35]

The stumbling spontaneity is refreshing. [Jul 2006, p.95]

"I Like It In The Dark" [is] a hurricane of piano boogie, metal guitar, echoes, poetry and reverb that the rest of the LP can never quite match. [Sep 2013, p.86]

Here Lies Love could do with a lot less reportage and a great deal more drama, melody and wit. If anything, with morem not less, artistsic licence. [Mar 2010, p.99]

Cocteau Twins, MBV and Angelo Badalamenti are obvious touchstones for the narcotised, heat0haze beauty of Penny Sparkle, which might stupefy were it not for the stylishly gloomy "Love Or Prison" and the deliciously frost-bitten "Oslo." [Oct 2010, p.87]

Off The Record marks a return to form. [Jun 2013, p.69]

The record feels lifeless. [Apr 2006, p.112]

No No No is limited overall, and finds Condon's filigreed production out of step with the minimalist balladeering peers who have flourished in his four-year absence. [Oct 2015, p.71]

So far, so far out. [Feb 2014, p.89]

Welcome tweaks to the template, but Schnauss could do with taking a more dramatic step out of his comfort zone. [Feb 2013, p.78]

Adhering to commercially fixated standards of production line R&B, E=MC2 charms soon melt away. [Aug 2008, p.87]