Little is overstated, but Low fans will find much to love in "New Lights For A Sky." [Feb 2014, p.80]

The mix of cryptic lyrics and childlike whimsy wears a little thin over the long haul. [Mar 2014, p.75]

Surprisingly, though, it's all a damn sight better than Velvet Revolver. [Sep 2009, p.81]

For the most part this is classic fuzzy heavy rock, bordering on self-parody but all done in good spirit. [Nov 2009, p.96]

Not exactly groundbreaking, but not reverentially retro either, and full of fizz and vigour. [Sep 2016, p.74]

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 arrangements are meticulously layered rather than stripped down, dynamic drum tattoos, dramatic basslines and an epic amount of reverb ensuring the sounds is as panoramic as the "unplugged" tag can accommodate. [Dec 2016, p.37]

On the five tracks sung solely by the Blind Boys, the record comes off as Vernon intended.... By contrast, the remaining six, each featuring a contemporary guest artists, are problematic. [Dec 2013, p.65]

The band’s decision to keep things on more orthodox tap seems to have been accomplished at the expense of some of their spirit.

It is, like LA itself, heavy on style. [Sep 2008, p.88]

There are some cloying twee moments, but the players' telepathic interaction imbues even their slightest songs with crackling immediacy. [Nov 2022, p.36]

The album's polished sheen and lack of emotional focus may disappoint electro-trash devotees accustomed to low-rent sleaze and punky rawness. [Jun 2002, p.118]

A rich, rowdy and mostly rewarding listen.

The lyrics seem to be obsessed with mortality and the effect it has on families. [Feb 2018, p.23]

A set of instant, insistent--occasionally irritating--tunes. [Mar 2018, p.35]

With their stuttering beats, AutoTuned vocals and cheerfully foulmouthed lyrics, these genetically modified mongrel tunes are mostly misfires, which only makes them more intriguing. [Sep 2010, p.101]

It's Brown's voice that holds it all together. [Mar 2019, p.24]

There's a couple tunes that rise above the general lo-fi languor. But you get the feeling they could carry on like this, lost in unchanging adolescent reverie, forever. [Jun 2009, p.83]

This debut release on their own label is an uncompromising instrumental beast, rammed with weapons-grade jazz-metal riffing and ultra-heavy No Wave sax skronking. [Aug 2009, p.85]

Nonetheless, this is impressive, mainstream stuff. One hope their bluecollar heart will win out over their white collar power pop head. [May 2010, p.83]

Dave Huismans brings an aesthetic informed by the metallic echo of Berlin and machine melodies of Detroit to the music's syncopated UK rave logic. [Jan 2010, p. 103]

When Trampin' doesn't work, though, it plods, though never as badly as the worst bits of Gung Ho. [May 2004, p.94]

Budget keyboard presets and filtered, treble-heavy production give the likes of "Lissoms" and :low Shoulder" an endearingly woozy, lo-fi feel. [Mar 2010, p.98]

Help is overloaded with tastefully spare sketches, but there are enough sublime soundscapes and rich ideas here. [Sep 2020, p.36]

It's relentlessly repetitive in style and mood, but Lindsey's howling hormonal rage still feels exhilarating. [Aug 2011, p.97]

Batt's orchestral arrangements as the band revisit classics such as "Quark..." and "Psychic Power" are surprisingly effective, even majestic in places. [Nov 2018, p.30]

To anyone over 16 it's Suicide/Velvets karaoke, a hacky homage to heroes rather than anything with fresh blood on its teeth. [Mar 2005, p.96]

The likes of "Sauchiehall Withdrawal" and "Diop" add a few crumbs to the collective's heaving table, but there's plenty here to chew on. [Jan 2018, p.22]

It smacks of compromise. [Jul 2007, p.109]

More memorable for famous guests than fine tunes, The World Is Yours does not diminish Brown’s reputation, but it lacks the exotic, adventurous reach of his best work.

Welcome is necessarily all over the place--and that place is pretty damn funky. [July 2008, p.108]

Produced by The National's Aaron Dessner, their fifth album inflates Selkirk's hand-knitted Coldplay to vast proportions. [May 2016, p.73]

In Gareth Liddiard, the quartet have a singer-songwriter and guitarist of dark intensity, and his vivid narratives draw on the landscape and character of his homeland in a delicately melancholic way. [May 2009, p.85]

Their grandiose Baron Muchhausen indie rock does tend to veer toward indulgent. [Jul 2009, p.101]

Too often a limited voice and over-egged arrangements strain to little effect. [Aug 2009, p.94]

Overall there's little evolution from previous albums here. [Jul 2019, p.30]

He's let down by the lyrics, which seem, to have been assembled from a collection of fridge magnet soul cliches. [May 2014, p.78]

The album is rarely as memorable musically as it is lyrically. [Sep 2020, p.31]

Disappointingly, F&M's fifth album reinforces the trio's constant strength and weaknesses. [Jun 2014, p.78]

Putnam's songs still walk a fine line between brittle psychedelia and morosely tuneful pop. But there's a wrinkle in their textures, courtesy of a new rhythm section of bassist Be Hussey and drummer Stevie Treichel. [Jun 2010, p.97]

It's a short album, just 30 minutes, and "Weird Feelings" is one song that stands for most: full of hooks and sparks it's fun while it lasts but over in two minutes and too easily forgotten.

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]

Talk of Simpatico as the band's Sandinista! is, in truth, wide of the mark. It's better seen as a footpath linking the claustrophobia of their early work with the Black Country funk of Wonderland, while hinting at a way forward. [May 2006, p.124]

The album sags in the middle, descending into slick electro-rock territory worryingly reminiscent to Garbage, but the good songs are terrific. [Feb 2012, p.81]

They're still a little too in thrall to the obvious precursors to take flight, but there are some great, clanging pop songs here, too. [May 2016, p.78]

Even if Rose is short on killer tunes or delivery, her oversupply of nostalgia charm is ultimately no bad thing. [Dec 2010, p.105]

The songwriter is in fine form--but it's sometimes hard to suppress doubts over the need for solo Pollard now GBV are back. [Apr 2012, p.83]

You Heartbreaker, You lands like an accusation, with love (and other) songs which draw blood. [Oct 2025, p.23]

Too often La Vie Est Belle, produced by Boxed In's Oli Bayston, has all the flair of an Editors potboiler, so a potentially uplifiting record becomes quite draining. [Nov 2015, p.80]

You can't help thinking that by ironing out their creases, The Sleepy Jackson have lost a little bit of their spark. [Aug 2006, p.111]

It's not always pleasant... but at its best... it's the funniest, most adventurous and liveliest record of his career. [Nov 2006, p.134]

His own production work has been inconsistent. [Feb 2009, p.78]

With so many bases cases covered, there's something for young folks and old folks--even if suspicious folks will still need some convincing. [Apr 2009, p.93]

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]

It's a record that goes a long way toward breathing new life into the busted flush of English indie with a romantic Britpop sound that stands comparisons with The Smiths, The La's and New Order. But in order to complete that leap--and make a record that equals the impact of their first--the lead guitarist needs to give the songwriter a good, hard kick up the arse. [Jul 2011, p.78]

McKenzie tries to have it both ways, peppering Freak Out City with schlocky tunes like the title track and "Too Young" that fail to deliver comedically or musically. [Sep 2025, p.33]

It's a consistent Crowell effort, if a bit by-the-numbers. [Jul 2012, p.70]

The Chi-Lites' "Stoned Out Of My Mind" is ruined by needless melismatics, and the Broken Bells cover is no match for the White Stripes track on Vol. 1. But Gems include a half-tempo version of the Womacks' "Teardrops" and a stately reading of Eddie Floyd's "Nobody But You." [Sep 2012, p.86]

Equal parts entertaining and self-indulgent. [Nov 2015, p.77]

If only Thomas' smart-ass, sing-song drawl was as appealing as his songs. [Feb 2017, p.38]

Unfortunately, and rather ironically, Mojo is ultimately undone by the very virtuosity of its creators: the band stumbles repeatedly into that musican's trap of making music that sounds intended principally to impress other musicans. [July 2010, p.102]

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

Fun, but unless you're seven, not essential. [Mar 2011, p.93]

Crowded House’s eighth studio release ticks all the expected boxes. Pitch-perfect harmonies and inventive chord sequences abound. .... Where it falls short, perhaps, is the absence of the full-blooded radio-friendly hits of old, although the shuffling “All That I Can Ever Own” is a close cousin to 1993’s “Distant Sun”. [Jun 2024, p.32]

Johansson’s bland, flat contralto leaves you admiring the Cocteau Twins-style sonic backdrops and wondering how another singer--Liz Fraser, perhaps?--might improve them.

A gooey, iffaintly sickly, treat. [Nov 2010, p.101]

Mind you, you're still left wondering why they made a covers album. [Mar 2002, p.96]

Exec producer JR Hutson's scratch beats and jazzy interpolations give a spark to velvet soul confessionals where he aching but pliant, octave-scaling vocal colours across the emotional spectrum. [Aug 2011, p.98]

Horrific it's not, but with its cover of protest song "Portlandtown" and Dubya-inspired lyrics on "Laughter In The Dark", neither is it an innocent pleasure. [Apr 2005, p.105]

The band's trademark guitars [are] so polished you can almost whiff the Mr Sheen. [Apr 2006, p.98]

It sees them caught between nostalgia and futurism, uncertain which way to move. [Dec 2912, p.71]

Delivers much of the same. [Feb 2007, p.86]

Scandinavian accents add to the sense of pop era unmoored from its time and place, and reconfigured into one coherent record with cool precision. [Feb 2008, p.78]

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

Impressively artful forgeries all round--but unlikely to appeal beyond their diehard following. [Dec 2010, p.105]

A light summer picnic, not a full meal. [Jul 2017, p.36]

He roughs up synth-wave and jungle on "Apathy" and "Fading," but does so with a certain tenderness. [Jun 2015, p.81]

At times it can get a little overheated but the pair are more than capable of reining it in when they want to. [Mar 2014, p.85]

The pleasant surprise on their 15th album is how proficient they've become, without surrendering their innocence along the way. [Aug 2011, p.98]

While he doesn't quite kick like he used to, Weaver's lugubrious voice and ear for the creepiness inherent in old-time folk make for an engrossing listen. [Sep 2008, p.98]

Though this showcases the group;'s customary modular wit, it doesn't give Laetitia Sadier much to work with tune-wise. [Dec 2010, p.106]

That Gedge remains, at 51, stranded lyrically at a romantically disappointing post A-Level party is less cause for celebration. [Apr 2012, p.88]

The results can be ponderous, though Franklin's melodic smarts save things. [Jul 2009, p.93]

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

Subtle this isn't, but ironically, for a band once compared endlessly to Interpol and Editors and their Joy Division-inspired brooding indie, White Lies Have probably shown more versatility and evolution than either on their latest. [Apr 2022, p.36]

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

Their conceptual hinterland is sometimes more interesting than their clobbering racket, but both are exhilarating in places. [Mar 2021, p.29]

The band have come a long way since 2000's reissued Dead Meadow, but some of that early bombast and arresting variety in dynamics would not go amiss, even if, individually, Warble Womb's 15 songs. [Dec 2013, p.67]

It would have been much more satisfying had she and Cannon stuck with the style of the songs that bookend the album. [Apr 2017, p.32]

Their second album is a little too comfortable. [Mar 2016, p.73]

Let's Go eat A factory is not a brilliant album and of itself, but it does cast guided By Voices in a slightly different light. [Feb 2012, p.95]

The distinction between their sensibilities remain strikingly apparent. [May 2018, p.33]

The ramshackle, campfire vibe is endearing, bu this is neither a fully immersive experience like Dead Man or a third LP with POTR. [Jun 2018, p.36]

Occasional similarities to Placebo may be unfortunate, but they are countered by the record's bracing directness and infectious vitality. [Dec 2010, p.109]

Hints of "The Basement Tapes" glimmer through pieces like 'Win Park Slope' or 'Airstream Driver,' while John Martyn and Nick Drake ride again in the mystic folkery of 'Little Pieces.' [May 2009, p.86]

The passion evident throughout help disguise the feeling we've been here before. [Jul 2009, p.109]

Inarguably easy on the ear, but short on real emotional pull. [Nov 2003, p.118]

Waits is still taking more risks than most US 'singer-songwriters' of his generation, and parts of this album rock righteously. It's just that some of Waits' musical modes... have been done before, and much better. By him. [Nov 2004, p.110]