Plays Chris And Cosey, more than justifies its existence. [Mar 2015, p.73]

His third album showcases Californian singer Marsa Pullman, setting her bell-clear voice against elegant country-soul settings that conceal lyrical darkness. [Sep 2015, p.76]

Most consistently enthralling album thus far. [Feb 2019, p.36]

If you like your pop super-sweet and synthy, fill your boots. [Mar 2020, p.25]

The basic formula may be familiar, but Mallinder’s ear for fresh noises and slippery grooves remains as sharp as ever. [Aug 2022, p.29]

Producer Adrian Sherwood now completes the picture with this sound-system-style refashioning, breaking tracks open, resetting them in eerie dubscapes. [Oct 2022, p.25]

High Flyin' is like a snapshot from a long-ago holiday romance. Sweet, sometimes spine-tingling to recall. But you maybe won't linger over it too often. [Jun 2023, p.48]

It's all great fun and played by a road-hardened band full of vigour. [Oct 2023, p.26]

Woof has to be one of the weirdest debut albums of the year, a record that throws everything at the wall in the conviction that some of it will stick and so what if it doesn’t. [Nov 2024, p.34]

Finds his laconic voice soundings more Lou Reed-like than ever. The songs, though, are classic Wynn, all psych and jangle. [Sep 2024, p.39]

There's a level of quality control on this project, overseen by [Mute Records founder Daniel] Miller, that still allows Stewart to probe and provoke, but this time the medium of his message is more palatable. [Aug 2025, p.31]

It's a little disorienting at times, but it's a vibrant and varied listen nevertheless. [Nov 2025, p.35]

Aggressive bursts of noise and fantastic harmonic singing make this record sound like the result of a happy accident rather than a long-pondered academic exercise. [Apr 2007, p.94]

Alopecia is another woozily layered, beguilingly fractured affair, driven by beats and samples. [May 2008, p.113]

The veteran band's warmest, most tactile record. [May 2023, p.32]

In a single sitting it can tend toward the soporific, but there's unforced sweetness in this groovy drifting off. [Aug 2023, p.34]

It shares Bon Iver's "For Emma, Forever Ago's" exquisite sense of existing in its own hermetically sealed world. [Aug 2009, p.87]

The record plods along nicely but often drifts into forgetful or nostalgic territory, with the fuzzed-up growl of the guitars recalling the bygone mid-90s indie-rock boom. [Nov 2018, p.37]

Like the opener, ["Rolling Stone"] promises more than it delivers, but pretty much everything in between rings the bell. [Feb 2011, p.80]

Barlow's spiky, spindly diary entries remain an abject lesson for indie losers everywhere. [Jun 2019, p.34]

His voice isn't built for such poignancy. This is a 74-year-old's dance record, not an elegy. [Jul 2018, p.27]

Even if it doesn't push the needle for Ono in terms of broader cultural awareness, it reinforces the crucial idea that those who know, know. [Apr 2022, p.24]

A bit Mariah Carey on paper, but startling in practice. [Dec 2012, p.77]

There is a luscious warmth to this collection. [May 2023, p.28]

Luckily they are one of the few bands with stadium heft and the tunes to pull it off, rendering their big-heartedness euphorically justified. [Aug 2012, p.78]

Songs from the wellspring of third-album VU; a few nods toward New Order; some charming turns of phrase. And on it goes.... [Apr 2014, p.83]

Pokey LaFarge's seventh long-player echoes and expands his mastery of bygone styles. [May 2015, p.75]

Back To Yasgur’s Farm has a documentary feel that’s one of its most successful aspects.

[The album] is not so much a radical departure as a dalliance with a marginally more brooding, textural musical aesthetic. [Sep 2014, p.75]

There's an edge that's been absent in recent years. [Jul 2005, p.99]

The key moments are covers. [May 2007, p.104]

As ever, the technical chops are indisputable--but it does, with fewer brains on board, feel somehow less substantial. [Nov 2019, p.22]

Demonstrates... pastoral grace, sweetness and warmth. [Aug 2005, p.106]

This is adequate debut, but La Roux will need to move beyond brittle pastiche if they hope to reinvent such overfamiliar ingredients. [Jul 2009, p.91]

Voice and piano are to the fore, but Wasser's orchestrations pulse and ebb like living things. [July 2008, p.102]

A flexible lineup enabling The Arcs to experiment seamlessly with melody and structure. [Oct 2015, p.71]

Despite this record's twilight charms, the group may need to become more expansive if they want to head further out there. [Oct 2005, p.96]

They haven't yet shown enough thrills in righteousness to challenge gangsta's dark, easy attraction. [Nov 2002, p.129]

A record that grows on you slowly but surely. [May 2002, p.104]

An irreverent and enjoyably silly listen. [Mar 2003, p.100]

A record which transcends any scene's fleeting credibility. [Oct 2003, p.122]

In Wedding Present terms, Torino is Cinerama's Seamonsters. [Aug 2002, p.99]

Aside from the roistering music, what makes this ultimately so appealing is they way McCaughey and Wynn universalise their subject.

The key to the understated triumph of Sarah Nixey's second solo album is her recognition that there's nothing wrong with sounding like Black Box Recorder. [Jul 2011]

The Old Magic won't do his reputation any harm. [Oct 2011, p.91]

This delightful album rolls back the last 60 years. [Aug 2012, p.78]

The standout tracks here are the most melancholy and experimental. [Nov 2012, p.71]

An album crammed with adhesive melodies. [Jan 2013, p.81]

Schnauss' trademark keyboard washes are a significant feature, at times helping stimulate euphoria beneath often gauzy melancholia, elsewhere adding a soothing Pink Floyd-ish balm. [Sep 2014, p.73]

Their sound has nonetheless developed in intensity and sophistication.... Beautiful. [Mar 2015, p.83]

If these 13 tracks recorded between 1996 and the early 2000s can't match the perfect cohesion of the parent album, the collection's calling card is its diversity. [May 2015, p.93]

The spirit moves zeroes in on [the lines separating faith and hope, optimism and cynicism, and emotioanl carnage] in bare, existential terms... with the ferocity of a soul singer pushed to the edge. [Aug 2015, p.80]

A lugubrious lo-fi treat. [Sep 2015, p.69]

The theatricality of the Nick Cave-penned "Late Victorian Holocaust" and Roger Waters' "Sparrows Will Sing" perfectly attuned to her autumn-years, grand-dame image. [Dec 2016, p.28]

Tolchin's best work comes when he unburdens his soul. [Jan 2017, p.31]

It's gorgeous, and though its 27 minutes may seem slight at first, that's somehow perfect for the songs' capture of moments in the life, singing melancholy and joy in equal measure. [Jan 2018, p.21]

Remastering these original recordings not only unmoors these songs from that particular era in rock history but also sharpens the band's attack and showcases each player's contribution to Adam's House cat's unruly sound. [Nov 2018, p.45]

The shuffling piano and accented horns coalesce in the simple wishes of "Dreamin'," while "Ancient Past" finds Parker, toying with time and memory, savouring every moment. [Nov 2018, p.34]

Tiersen now explores their middle ground without any hint of compromise. ... All ends well. [Mar 2019, p.37]

Her second LP as Du Blonde plays it two ways: first with unremarkable, lunging dynamics and fuzz-caked riffs, then in a leaner and more soulful style, wit nods to prog and '70s folk-pop songcraft. Tha latter is more convincing and a better fit for her great voice and brutally honest lyrics. [Mar 2019, p.27]

Sonically and creatively, these demos reflect their domestic environment, the realm of the historically valuable rather than the mind-blowing. [May 2019, p.38]

A muted affair whose punctiliousness is sweetly offset by its warm heart. [Jun 2019, p.26]

Lyrically, Rodgers can be stilted and adolescent at times, but she hits the sweet-spot on the compellingly stern electro-goth chant "Disgrace" and the terrific title track. [Jul 2019, p.33]

Their most imaginative and immersive album yet, with Webber emerging as a more commanding frontwoman. [Nov 2019, p.28]

While rarely adventurous or surprising, is reassuringly familiar. [Feb 2020, p.27]

Not a game-changer, but a solid mid-career statement from a true original. [Mar 2020, p.37]

There's always a glimpse of the human in Popp's music, an organic feel that gives a sense of a hand at the controls. [Mar 2020, p.33]

The record features contributions from a host of their pals, such as The Orb's Alex Paterson on the blissed-out "Burnt Umber," writer Vivien Goldman on Bizarro Bond-theme "Rhino" and Alabama 3's Aurora Dawn on reggae spiritual "Keep On Moving." [Apr 2020, p.37]

Round-up of 10 cinematic tracks underlining his prowess. [Sep 2020, p.46]

His tidiest folk-pop tunes to date. ... Irresistible. [Oct 2020, p.27]

Their shimmering, somnolent ambience is irrefutably palliative. [Oct 2021, p.25]

The legendary guitarist-turned-frontman leads his mates through supercharged honky-tonk (“Brigitte Bardot”), headbangers (“Cheap Talk”, “External Combustion”) and a ZZ Top-style tailfin rave-up (“Lightning Boogie”).

On “Tangerine” and “Fuzz Jam”, The Lazy Eyes strike an appealing balance between Beachwood Sparks-calibre prettiness and their gnarlier, squigglier impulses. [Apr 2022, p.31]

The result, unsurprisingly, is a downbeat, ruminative affair. [Jul 2022, p.31]

Tracks such as "My Name is Blank" capture the album's essence - a middle ground between metal and punk - on a record that barely lets up for a single second. [Oct 2022, p.25]

Though motorik beats carry much of the set and there are prog and sci-fi-metal elements, Changes throws back to tracks like "Ambergris" and "Kepler-22b" in its tapping of soul, disco amd R&B, styled along both classic and modern lines. [Dec 2022, p.18]

"De Selby Part 2" shows he can stylishly bring funk and R&B influences to bear. But most distinctive are the afrobeat touches that lace "damage Gets Done" and "Anything But". [Oct 2023, p.29]

The predominant flavour here is a sort of manic hedonism, but scratch the sequinned surface and you find some witty social commentary and a seam of vulnerability. [May 2024, p.35]

The most appealing Actress record since Splazsh. [Aug 2024, p.29]

The delight in Sandwell's music is the way it balances pummelling rhythms with an atmospheric quality. [Jun 2025, p.39]

The title track's anthem of righteous '60s-style fight confirms serious intent to add to Lowell Gregory's legacy. [Jun 2025, p.34]

Their fourth album is authentic in the resistant lyrics of Yildirim originals. [May 2025, p.39]

Phillips has released a dozen solo albums characterised by a vivid lyricism and a rootsy, melodic sensibility, paired with the ability to throw in an unconventional chord so the song never goes quite where you expect. Those qualities are as strong as ever on In The Hour Of Dust. [Oct 2025, p.31]

The result is a milestone in modern psychedelic soul.

A three-part instrumental piece, named "Heart: Attach," brings a pleasant filmic quality to an album that elsewhere trades a little too heavily on nostalgia. [Nov 2011, p.94]

Most of the album sees producers Charles Webster and Ewan Pearson buiilding on the bedsit rave of "Missing" and the beatific drum'n'bass of Walking Wounded. [Apr 2007, p.120]

Pallett's pallid voice fails to dramatise the narrative or really engage the listener. As a calling card for future soundtrack commissions, however, it should succeed splendidly. [Feb 2010, p.84]

Holy Fire doesn't quite unfurl its devil horns.... But the production heft from Flood and Alan Moulder, as well as the shameless but satisfying amount of delayed guitar, means it all has serious stadium credentials. [Mar 2013, p.72]

Low-key but engrossing, Tranquility Base is a slow-burner, self-doubting but pushing ever onwards. It's a brave new step, even if it can be a little one-paced, and a little withholding. [Jun 2018, p.25]

Genres glom together in unlikely combinations, split and mutate via myriad effects, yet this set is pop to its core, nodding to everyone from Bowie, Byrne and Carl Craig to Arthur Russel and Wire on its way to off-centre intrigue. [Nov 2018, p.27]

Vol. 2 is high-class punk trash, from the rambunctious but melodic "Jumpstarting" to the amphetamine rush of "Mr Nothing Gets Worse." [Oct 2017, p.26]

Everything is carefully weighted and considered, the minimal arrangements helping to foreground these inner lives with poetic candour and convincing detail. [Nov 2016, p.32]

The mix of baroque pop, prog rock and psychedelia is as bewildering as it is entertaining. [Nov 2016, p.32]

There's no straining to distance themselves from their former band [Stereolab]. [Apr 2018, p.24]

Their primitive dance beats and carefree, nostalgic melodies recall Saint Etienne, and their endearingly earnest efforts to summer upon tracks such as 'No Excuses' and 'June Evenings' are a joy to behold. [Jan 2009, p.85]

Their sound is an accident born of naivety, but their unabashed love for '80s indie is unmistakeable. [Feb 2009, p.89]

The group's ninth album feels low-down and dirty. [Feb 2020, p.25]

The clarity and effervescence of much of V can seem revelatory. [Apr 2023, p.34]