Wooden Shjips continue their work in simple but effective grooves, around which the band discursively noodle. [Jun 2009, p.113]

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.

"high Road" is melodic enough, for sure, and Mercer is a clear-voiced singer, but the album's interest palls when Mouse's answer to life, the universe and everything proves to be "pedestrian breakbeat." [Apr 2010, p.83]

The deviations from the general upbeat mood vary - "Louder" is a clunky if well-meaning protest song, but the melancholy piano-led ballad "Marvelous To Me" is a thing of downbeat beauty. [Mar 2022, p.32]

This is a cool dance album... but Tiga lacks that all-important 'X factor'. [Mar 2006, p.100]

Quality is spotty, though. [Feb 2012, p.106]

Unsophisticated but utterly infectious. [Feb 2012, p.102]

Like the stormy contents of 2015's Transfixiation, songs like "Never Coming Back" have no lack of velocity and ferocity, though APTBS often fall between two poles, being not quite able to deliver memorable songs yet unwilling to let the music dissolve into purer forms if turbulence. [May 2018, p.23]

The performances outshine the material. [Dec 2010, p.119]

A work in progress maybe, but the churchy disquiet of "The River" show them to be songwriters of true craft. [Jan 2010, p. 122]

Ignore the arch titles and you'll find some lovely psych pastiches. [Jun 2012, p.69]

This still-teenage quartet writes heady songs that luxuriate in bubbling electronics, lagoon-diving reverb and layered harmonies. [Jun 2011, p.79]

The 19 tracks revisited here constitute a mixed bag, ranging from imaginative reinventions to faithful recreations. [Aug 2011, p.100]

Not unpleasant, but not likely to persuade the previously unpersuaded. [Nov 2017, p.39]

Peaches still bangs, in more ways than one. No Lube So rude, her first album in a decade, drips with fluids, fragrances and various viscera. [Mar 2026, p.36]

The best and the worst thing about these, as with the rest of the album, is that it's impossible to think of a better descriptive adjective than "Cohenesque." [Oct 2016, p.40]

It's bombastic, but you can't fault its ambitions. [Jun 2007, p.115]

This live set sees them mash the Kraftwek-ed likes of 'Aerodynamic' and 'Robot Rock' into the girlfriend-on-your-shoulders set that's seen them own 2007's festival season, at least for anyone more interested in decks than guitars. [Dec 2007, p.89]

He's at his best here on the playful Beck-like 'Hurricane' and the sweetly mournful 'Rope of Sand,' but Jamiroquai-averse listeners would do well to avoid 'Figure Me Out.' [May 2008, p.102]

As with their third album, Can and Silver Apples are referenced, but there are additional moments here to please fans of both Terry Riley and Battles alike. [Dec 2008, p.94]

Folila is an unhappy attempt to amalgamate two records, one that mostly swamps their playful sound with noisy overlays. [May 2012, p.65]

Universal High usually depends more on mood than focus. A little more of the latter and it would be almost perfect. [Aug 2017, p.26]

Nothing on Take The High Road isn't impeccable, but equally little is surprising. [Jul 2011, p.79]

it's another kaleidoscopic exploration of neo-psych and garage. [Apr 2023, p.24]

Like most of their work, it all sounds teasingly familiar. [Jun 2005, p.97]

There's nothing eruptive here: effects-drenched guitars, synths and electronics conjure a hushed, hypnotic ebb and flow that's bleakly comforting if over familiar. [Mar 2019, p.34]

It's well-crafted, but clunky. [Feb 2012, p.105]

This is a more low-key collection. [Feb 2012, p.94]

Their The Fool traces out similar shapes as east coast cousins Effi Briest: dreamy, faintly pagan psychedelia, their tumbling vocal harmonies, undercut by inexorable, tidal bass. Their softly-softly approach does breed some earworms, though. [Dec 2010, p.104]

For the most part, there's nothing wrong with the lyrics. "Do Unto Others" is a fine secular hymn, while "January Song" has some smart digs at the Tea Party, but, in both cases, the voice never convinces. [Apr 2013, p.80]

There's nothing quite as forward looking here. [Oct 2009, p.102]

It features vernal song titles and sleeve imagery, in contrast to the half-whispered, wintery beauty of their last LP, which was echoed by its snowy cover scene. [Jul 2010, p.108]

It's not as striking as its predecessor. [Dec 2015, p.75]

An oddly uneven set. [Nov 2013, p.67]

Fabricius presides over a judicious mix of Urban Outfitters indie, finger-picked folk and offbeat electro that demonstrate her range and leaves the listener drowning in honey. [Nov 2013, p.76]

Lyrically, the rose-tinted specs are off but sonically it has a romantic, decidedly retro bent, with reverb and (fine) vocal harmonies wrapped around songs that recall Shangri-Las, a stripped-back Lush and a less morose Cowboy Junkies. [Mar 2020, p.33]

A splendid showcase of their cavalier eclecticism, [Feb 2012, p.105]

On its own merits, rather a hoot. [Jan 2011, p.83]

As a whole, demanding of patience. [Apr 2014, p.78]

It takes a while to move beyond prettily pleasant, but the band's pining melancholy kicks in on 'What There Is' and 'Real Meaning.' [Sep 2009, p.79]

Possibly a grower, this album is certainly better than anything Macca's done for some while. [Jan 2002, p.131]

Whether she'll increase her fanbase on this second album by cloaking her naked ambition in the character of a self-obsessed bunny boiler called Electra Heart remains to be seen, but she's certainly given it everything. [May 2012, p.78]

For all this sonic broad-mindedness, the Twins' ideas are piled on a lightweight core, and good luck making sense of the lyrics. [Jul 2005, p.104]

Hayes sounds comfortably cocooned in her familiar musical skin with little need to venture outside the safety zone. [Nov 2012, p.75]

Pete & The Pirates have a handful of great pop songs to balance out the weight of their obvious influences. [Mar 2008, p.97]

For once they look to be towing the line rather than drawing it a new. [Jan 2011, p.85]

Exposed and vulnerable, Funk has seldom sounded so sensible. [Apr 2014, p.78]

The snarling Creedence-style rock is typical, but Golightly also does beautifully as a balladeer on "River Of Tears." [Jun 2011, p.85]

Come Down With Me seems slightly out of step in 2010, harking back to a time at the turn of the millennium where Tortoise and Tarwater were still the names to drop, but you can nonetheless appreciate its glistening geometry. [Mar 2010, p.84]

Very much string-drenched business as usual: sometimes lovely, sometimes perilously close to self-parody. [Jul 2003, p.129]

Another melodic, meticulous, faintly redundant restoration job. [Jul 2006, p.90]

A likeable, modest debut. [Oct 2007, p.101]

Luckily, the music, a tapestry of harmonica, bass clarinets and bamboo flutes, is a florid, textured joy. [Jan 2011, p.86]

Clanging rockers, elegant ballads, and yearning epics are testement to their diversity, while James Walsh has almost managed to lose the bleat in his voice that used to drive Starsailor's critics to distraction. [Apr 2009, p.99]

Some of the beats do feel a little dated, and sometimes veer toward the rigidity of trip hop. [May 2012, p.69]

For the Black Crowes, this is an inspired move, maximising their virtues (virtuosity, passion, guilelessness) and minimising their principal flaw (the fact that it all starts to feel a bit silly if you stop to think about it).

Fear is best when Cowgill strips things back. [Jul 2014, p.6]

Heavy Blanket should weed out the part-timers. [Aug 2012, p.73]

It can feel a little slack-jawed, its dreaminess concealing slight lack of substance. [Sep 2014, p.71]

Happily her rugged individuality matches up to the grandstanding platform. [Oct 2013, p.71]

The overwhelming sense is of a group needlessly hobbling themselves. [Jun 2006, p.110]

Live may well be the best place to encounter them. [Feb 2007, p.73]

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

The lack of variety and formulaic production give this a wholly generic flavour. [Apr 2018, p.27]

Without recourse to crossover tricks, it's arguably more consistent than 50's last outing, although topics--guns, beef, money--may leave you wondering what rap has become. [Oct 2008, p.90]

Although it's hardly Green's fault, Mark Ronson's retro-soul ubiquity makes this record sound less fresh than it otherwise might have. [Jan 2011, p.86]

Where once were "chat-up lines and stairwells" ("Take Me There"), beige luxury apartments now stand. [Jul 2018, p.24]

There are some great passages of live-wire electronica, but more often it's strangely lacking any aura or elemental spark. [Oct 2016, p.39]

He sounds distant during "Shy Eyes'" woozy synth-funk, while "Over Your Shoulder" seems to connect his own separation and his mother's divorce in a resolute folk-pop ballad. [Aug 2024, p.31]

Aside from the squelchy hypnotism of "In The Air," it's often a little aimless. [Sep 2013, p.94]

[Robinson] has certainly indulged his preference here, mixing M83-style synth-pop with Daft Punk/Justice bangers and adding assorted nu-rave and EDM tropes, to end up with not much to call his own. [Sep 2014, p.76]

Comparisons are inevitable, but take nothing away from Asa's own character. [Apr 2011, p.75]

Opens with three tracks that feature his street set-up and have the sparse rawness of Lomax’s 1930s Mississippi Delta recordings. The other eight tracks were recorded in a studio with a full band and bounce and ricochet with the joyous energy of the Bhundu Boys at their most exuberant. [Mar 2022, p.29]

More Nugent than Stooges, Detroit Stories recalls his wild '70s heyday, especially on lighters-up "Social Debris" and the gloriously goofy "Independence Dave." Too Often though, it sounds slick and perfunctory. [Mar 2021, p.28]

Possibly cloying in large doses. [Jan 2006, p.112]

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

The pace is laidback and determinedly downtempo compared to some of their more rebarbative free rock releases. [Jan 2009, p.96]

Despite the lacerating electro-glam of "Total All Out Water" and "Sheez Minie," it's melodic as hell. [Nov 2002, p.121]

All in all, San Patricio is something of an oddity. [Apr 2010, p.94]

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

"The Reason Why" and "Motoring" swath Tom Dougall's sighed vocal in sheets of Ride-like guitar. [Oct 2012, p.87]

The bucolic reverie can't mask the suspicion that something vital is missing. [Mar 2013, p.69]

Weird and sporadically wonderful. [Jul 2020, p.39]

'Black Suit' has a glimpse of where we might be had the Pixies never splintered. Elsewhere, though, the lyrics lack the ingenuity of Black's best, and Clarke's synth work feels like an awkward fit. [Mar 2009, p.86]

An uneven, ugly set that's still weirdly compelling. [Feb 2023, p.25]

Her acoustic leanings have been ditched in favour of a moody, downtempo sound, full of eerie loops and elctro-bleeping. [Jul 2012, p.80]

It suggests there's far more to him than the anonymous middle-of-the-road college rock for which the Americans have such an insatiable appetite. [Dec 2003, p.118]

It moseys a little too languidly. [Nov 2004, p.114]

Drawing on a palette of classic Beatles/Queen influences via plenty of heavy metal sturm und drang. [Jan 2020, p.25]

These rattling songs... feel like disturbing European fairy tales. [Jun 2006, p.97]

The ubiquitous use of the hang, a sophisticated modern take on the old-fashioned steel pan, gives a distinctive sound to this east London quartet. It's a surprisingly versatile instrument from which Nick Mulvey and Duncan Bellamy coax melodic and rhythmic patterns to complement Jack Wylie's inventive sax riffing. [Nov 2009, p.99]

The five new tracks that open proceedings, however, fail to add much to band's remit. [Dec 2007, p.102]

Sensibly, Sumner steers clear of Caucasian reggae on her surprisingly strong debut, opting instead for polished, sullen synth-pop with husky, La Roux-style vocals. [Nov 2010, p.93]

Persist though, and there are countless fascinating poly-rhythms and concealed melodies in the sub-strata. [Jan 2011, p.91]

'The Way It Used To Be' is the best thing here, defiantly struggling against easy nostalgia, but nevertheless suggesting that the PSB melancholy vision of perfect pop is now, commercially, a period piece.

Pop's lightness doesn't much suit Bulat; she's at her best on the banjo-driven title track and gospel toned closer "If It Rains." [Feb 2010, p.79]

It only reveals its strengths after a dozen or more plays. [Nov 2004, p.112]

Well; it could've been worse.