Confirms Momus as a laptop Tom Lehrer. [Jun 2005, p.102]

Though straining at times under its rhapsodic pretensions, at its best it's an ambitious symphonic spree. [Oct 2005, p.100]

Much of it signifies nothing. [May 2005, p.96]

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]

Packed with brilliant, bohemian songs that combine affecting lyrical honesty, beguiling melodies and a voice that has a touch of Alanis Morissette. [May 2005, p.96]

It's their first masterpiece. [Album of the Month, May 2005, p.94]

An ambitious but striking debut. [Sep 2004, p.108]

Isn't always successful. [Jun 2005, p.113]

Although it's a shame to see eccentrics reining in idiosyncratic impulses,... they've honed their hubris. [May 2005, p.98]

Lost And Safe is a move songwards, and though this promises greater coherence, it's at the expense of some of the group's wayward charm. [May 2005, p.97]

For an international pop act on a major label, this is a daring album. [May 2005, p.109]

The emphasis tends to be on hooks, not heart. [May 2005, p.100]

In some ways, ...Absence is his most diverse record yet, but it's at its brilliant best when spare and uncompromising. [May 2005, p.104]

Hilariously frenetic, perpetually distracted. [Jun 2005, p.116]

Haunting lamentations that owe as much to the Jewish Klezmer and US folk traditions as to Slint. [May 2005, p.110]

Molina's songs achieve the kind of epic, majestic sweep his ambition and talent have long suggested. [Jun 2005, p.104]

She proves... that she's more than a professional widow. [Jul 2005, p.104]

By turns oblique, soulful, scornful yet rarely dissonant. Rather, it's one of their lovelier, more formal offerings. [Mar 2005, p.108]

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]

Sheff's novelistic lyrics and the dextrous blend of country, folk and nervy indie-rock suggest a band approaching the peak of their powers. [Aug 2005, p.87]

[They're] now on their eighth album and still finding something new under the pun. [Sep 2005, p.112]

A mouth-watering feast of beats and grooves... as welcome as anything he's done. [Apr 2005, p.100]

A masterclass in menace. [Apr 2005, p.97]

This album really is just too good to be true. [Apr 2005, p.114]

Edan's punch and broad vision distinguish him from the rest of the pack. [Jun 2005, p.110]

At best superfluous, at worst that very thing he dreads most. Forgettable. [May 2005, p.113]

Ocean Colour Scene return to remind us that no one loves the mid-'60s beat boom more than they do. [May 2005, p.103]

M.I.A.'s vivid debut already sounds like a booty-shaking milestone to rank alongside The Streets and Dizzee Rascal. [May 2005, p.98]

Impossible not to love. [Apr 2005, p.110]

Silent Alarm's innovation, sense of urgency and sleek production are enough to comfortably elevate Bloc Party above the post-punk rabble. [Mar 2005, p.106]

A solid, by-the-numbers Billy Idol album. And that is both its triumph and its tragedy. [Apr 2005, p.99]

Cuts deeper and sharper than previous Decemberists efforts. [Sep 2005, p.116]

[A] fruitless bid to affect euphoria. [Apr 2005, p.97]

Bright, luscious and languid. [Apr 2005, p.102]

There's a flightiness that lends the album a showreel quality. [Apr 2005, p.97]

Effectively embracing the entire history of the band's sound, the album sprawls over an hour, and has so many peaks and valleys it's practically topographical. [Apr 2005, p.98]

This sounds like the record Vic Chesnutt's been waiting his entire life to make. [Apr 2005, p.112]

A horny fusion of glam-rock boogie, Urge Overkill's egotism and libidinous top-shelf naughtiness, all delivered with the molten fury of The Black Keys. [Nov 2005, p.111]

A sparky and honest mess. [Mar 2005, p.94]

A fascinating document of exactly how far he's travelled. [May 2005, p.117]

A near-faultless record. [Apr 2005, p.97]

There's less emphasis on programmed beats and samples and a greater dependence on live instrumentation. [Apr 2005, p.114]

[Broder's] bodged tracks are the equivalent of Napoleon Dynamite's hybrid animal, the "liger", with beats that kick like a flogged mule. [Jun 2005, p.114]

The pace and register of the record seldom alter: the soundscape is always more baked earth than lush foliage. [May 2005, p.103]

Their drowsy lullabies and minor-key melodies are now so commonplace... that much of it seems unremarkable. [Dec 2005, p.109]

Intriguing, endearing and, given time, surprisingly addictive. [Jun 2005, p.104]

Luckily he's such a gifted performer that, even if you don't know what he's saying, you kind of know what he means. [Feb 2005, p.76]

It has everything you've come to expect from a Daft Punk album--innovation, cracking tunes, a palpable sense of its own absurdity--but this time the whole shebang's cranked up to 11. [Apr 2005, p.99]

A gem. [Apr 2005, p.105]

Majestic, life-affirming and touched by magic. [Nov 2004, p.102]

Mitchell's sophisticated Memphis funk gives Green's voice the fuel to float. [Apr 2005, p.97]

Too often his cluttered samples and constant fidgeting shatter [the] fragile spells. [Apr 2005, p.98]

A set of faintly sad songs so minimal that they're often barely there at all. [May 2005, p.96]

Their energy is extraordinary. [May 2005, p.97]

He can't muster much more than a compose-by-numbers Boards Of Canada kit that's destined for little more than wildlife documentary syndication. [Mar 2005, p.102]

The songs may work better in short, sudden bursts; over 11 tracks, you can feel bludgeoned by the band's blunt force. [Apr 2005, p.112]

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]

While nothing here quite matches the last album's majestically weary "Elevator Love Letter", Set Yourself On Fire is still quite sublime. [Sep 2005, p.104]

Restrained, but deeply satisfying. [Apr 2005, p.100]

Frequently lovely but a fair few steps short of compelling. [Apr 2005, p.112]

Not even tight productions from Eminem and Dre can stop things from flagging midway. [May 2005, p.95]

Confirms Doves as the country's most innovative rock group. [Mar 2005, p.94]

Frances The Mute smells like another concept album, is far too long and so pretentious as to be farcial. Amazingly, it's also mighty entertaining. [Mar 2005, p.91]

By no means a rebirth, but feistier and more fun than last year's Destiny's Child record, for sure. [May 2005, p.95]

These languid strums would sound suitably fine and mellow stoned on a beach at sunset. [May 2005, p.95]

[An] eloquent set of songs about absence and change. [Apr 2005, p.108]

Crammed with pulse-racing panto-metal par excellence. [Apr 2005, p.97]

Sole's fast and fluid rhymes deal with a wide range of socio-political concerns, but are saved from sounding like diatribes by his sly wit. [Apr 2005, p.114]

There's a lurking suspicion of contrivance here, as opposed to the spontaneity that characterised Don't Give Up On Me. [Apr 2005, p.102]

An album which has nothing to do with 2005 and everything to do with 1988. [Mar 2005, p.109]

He falls well short thanks to a dated, home-cooked sound and and the earth-bound mundanity of his collaborators. [Nov 2004, p.119]

Nothing more than the uncomfortable sound of a band escaping their svengali. [Dec 2004, p.142]

They exhale the kind of swirling 'perfect pop' that was the default setting of late '80s Creation releases, leaning into the crosswinds of Fairport-era folk-rock. [May 2005, p.100]

The strident approach... doesn't quite work. [Jul 2005, p.100]

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

This is uncluttered, radiant music with the lightest touch and muggiest of voices. [Mar 2005, p.102]

His quirks often overwhelm him, and his shock tactics are more infantile than transgressive. [Feb 2005, p.76]

Still shambles too freely but features stellar moments. [Jun 2005, p.108]

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

Doesn't pack enough hooks to make it memorable. [Apr 2005, p.105]

More than another coaster on the coffee-table circuit. [Mar 2005, p.108]

Luminously beautiful music. [Apr 2005, p.106]

A tough job hitting both funny and funky bone at once, but they mostly pull it off. [Apr 2005, p.102]

There's nothing here to surprise anyone familiar with Mogwai's chiefly instrumental, epic soundscaping. [Mar 2005, p.120]

The fact that Feathers never really goes anywhere is beside the point. [May 2005, p.106]

If you liked 1972 in 1972, or liked '1972' in 2003, you'll find yourself swimming with this. [Album of the Month, Mar 2005, p.90]

Further evidence of his dazzling wordplay. [May 2005, p.103]

It's like the best music of the '70s compressed under '80s new wave dynamics. [Feb 2005, p.74]

Gedge hasn't sounded this belligerently broken-hearted since 1987's "My Favourite Dress." [Mar 2005, p.100]

Surging volume is still far outweighed by wispy melancholy, but the contrast is rewarding. [Mar 2005, p.104]

Cements his reputation for fast, witty, lyrically dense politico-personal rhymes. [Mar 2005, p.99]

A peculiar take on neo-baroque folk with an utterly contemporary twist. [Apr 2005, p.100]

Folk songs given a rarefied air by his elegant wordplay and multi-tracked chamber strings. [Mar 2005, p.108]

A fashionably unruly racket. [Mar 2005, p.100]

His voice must be heard to be believed. [Apr 2005, p.105]

This promising debut proves they're proficient at penning ragged Buzzcocks-ish pop... but also exposes the limitations of [Masters]. [Feb 2005, p.79]

Pushing The Senses is by no means soppy, but Feeder's young fanbase might need some convincing. [Feb 2005, p.76]

His most accessible work since Parklife. [Sep 2004, p.101]