They sound refreshed again here, even if their classy, Music From Big Pink-inspired roots-rock has changed little from the default settings established by their brilliant debut August And Everything After 20 years ago. [Oct 2014, p.69]

It's a delicate balance, but the obvious sincerity of Campbell's performance overcomes any qualms about what could be an exploitative concept. [Sep 2011, p.90]

As his vocals wobble theatrically over synths, seasick sequencers and squelchy early-'80s sonics, Crush's component parts conspire to pack a considerable emotional punch. [Oct 2010, p.85]

Some odd production choices slightly blunt the impact of straighter rockers like "Piss Pisstoferson," but "Onions Make The Milk Taste Bad" confirms their skill for combining the heavy, the catchy and deliriously strange. [Nov 2014, p.77]

A provocative and inventive second album. [Sep 2009, p.96]

It's halfway between Kim Wilde and truly wild, and, as such, hugely entertaining. [Oct 2010, p.97]

The signature combination of upbeat music and somewhat gruesome lyrical themes works so well for Shovels & Rope that a few leaks spring when they commit themselves to a dive to the depths. [Oct 2014, p.75]

A modest triumph. [Aug 2019, p.28]

Lord Huron's fifth album lives up to its title, cranking up the celestial jukebox and filling the room with a breezy, blithe spirit. [Aug 2025, p.33]

With her voice repaired to the mesmersing breaking point of There's Always Glimmer, the closeness of her almost-whisper is startling on "Everybody Around Me Dancing" and "Moon Not Mine", although it's her light-touch production - vaguely New Age and recalling Cassandra Jenkins - that truly elevates this intimate folk record. [May 2026, p.33]

A work of rejuvenating power on which Weller and his long-serving band attain a new sense of purpose and focus. [Nov 2005, p.94]

Undercurrent is an enthralling journey from source to mouth. [Aug 2016, p.72]

Epic eight-minute closer "Give Me Your Love" produced by Hot Chip's Al Doyle and Joe Goddard, will keep you dancing until dawn. [Sep 2023, p.27]

The territory--dark skies, open roads and femme fatales--gives a gothic edge to even the most tender sentiment. [Aug 2005, p.98]

Just as it's a struggle to name parallels beyond Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, it's equallly difficult to imagine why anybody would want to. [Jun 2018, p.24]

Darnielle dresses songs of romance, heartache, and travel in elegant leaps of language. [Mar 2008, p.96]

The most striking thing about Citizen Zombie is how young and naive and happy it all sounds. [Mar 2015, p.74]

At first it's too Linda Perry; soft-rock with feminist principles. [Mar 2006, p.96]

For a while, it seemed like they'd never leave the hipster ghetto, but this is a convincing exit. [Oct 2011, p.90]

Grohl claims the title track set the tone for this self-produced set, which squares with its adrenalised, garage-rock push, though not its cheeky nods to Quo and ZZ Top. Variety is the byword. [Jun 2026, p.29]

Swift's stock-in-trade remains droll, gently roistering piano songs, mostly indebted to Harry Nilsson. [May 2009, p.97]

It's a snappy, catchy hybrid, though one that irritates pretty quickly. [Apr 2003, p.105]

Saloon's light touch makes a strong impact. Wonderful. [Aug 2003 p.104]

Yes, it's an unchallenging and even deeply conservative record. But its class is positively aristocratic. [Mar 2004, p.99]

Deeply disappointing. [Jul 2003, p.114]

Enon inhabit a multi-coloured Seventies soaring pop universe but with... emphasis on crunching guitar breaks, electronic textures and skewed lyrics. [Sep 2002, p.118]

Surprises are reassuringly thin on the ground here, but the quality of Ubovich's psych-tinged ramalams, mostly delivered at Ramones speed, is high. [Dec 2014, p.77]

The Breeders are a popular choice, covered by Bradford Cox, Big Thief and Tune-Yards (whose "Cannonball" is almost as fun as the original. [Jun 2021, p.33]

The textures are deliberately synthesised, but the songs themselves couldn't be realer. [Oct 2018, p.34]

Replete with the sort of shimmering, hypnagogic textures that characterises his solo work. [Feb 2020, p.30]

The Devil, You + Me is no milestone of experimentation, but The Notwist win extra points with their emotional restraint, lyrical maturity and elegantly complex arrangements. [Aug 2008, p.101]

The results are frequently bewitching, if blatantly nostalgic. [Nov 2015, p.76]

Switchback rhythms and artfully tangled melodies make it hard to pin them down. [Nov 2017, p.35]

So while it can get a bit too diffuse and self consciously complex, when the quartet breaks into something gorgeous (like the joyous tagliatelle of guitars that wriggles and wrinkles through "Uda Hah") you'll suspend your cynicism. [Jan 2010, p. 124]

The mood is heavy throughout, but only the closing, exhausted "Katla" outstays its welcome. [Jun 2013, p.81]

Slipstream relies on Bonnie;'s voice and slide playing--and, above all, her felicitous ability to pick the right song. [May 2012, p.80]

Textured and complex. [Oct 2002, p.108]

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

A triumph of sample-based, groove-cutting rap that shifts ground with every attempt to pin it down. [May 2004, p.106]

The mood is sweet and slightly whacked-out as Cabic brings campfire cheeriness to Norman Greenbaum;s 'Hook & Ladder' and wistful resilence to Ian (Fairport) Matthews' 'Road to Ronderlin.' [June 2008, p.109]

Absentee's Dan Michaelson proves he could give Lee Hazlewood and Mark Lanegan a run for their money, but its not just his voice that plumbs depths. [Oct 2008, p.81]

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

A beautiful, rather brave album, and by far her best. [Jul 2013, p.83]

Mon Pays draws defiant inspiration from the recent crisis in Mali. [Oct 2013, p.67]

Aventine remains pleasingly measured and minimal. [Oct 2013, p.72]

It's a bit Lenny Kravitz at times, but the excellence and ear-popping sound see Coffee through. [Jan 2014, p.72]

A lack-Qluster addition to the Roedelius catalogue, perhaps, but fascinating in its own way. [Apr 2016, p.79]

Bash & Pop's strong second album. [Aug 2017, p.25]

Guitarists Rich Robinson and Marc Ford, bassist Sven Pipien and the three seasoned players they've recruited stretch out stylistically on the sequel. [Nov 2019, p.28]

There’s little to be found here that doesn’t already sound inescapably familiar, but it’s perfectly rock-solid stuff all the same. [Oct 2022, p.25]

Fertita fashions 11 lean, mean garage-like tunes that frequently touch base with his work as a member of The Dead Weather. [Jan 2023, p.27]

This is deluxe lava-lamp music, pleasantly pretty at worst, hypnotically beautiful at best. [Sep 2024, p.33]

Five Dice, All Threes sounds like they’ve caught up with themselves: even if Bright Eyes are struggling to scrape together optimism about the future, there is every reason why their fans should. [Nov 2024, p.30]

It can be quite hard to pin down what they’re trying to do. This makes Orchestra Hits curious, even if their mining of goth and the ’80s, with its attendant melodrama and gestural angst, isn’t always successful. [Oct 2024, p.41]

A set of soft-focused pip imbued with simple but stickable hooks and emotional honesty reminiscent of Brendan Benson or Elliott Smith. [Feb 2025, p.34]

If their songs occasionally resemble the power ballads that grunge supposedly outmoded, that's the price of being a truly potent classic rock band. [Jun 2006, p.109]

Life Of Pause demonstrates a more playful and propulsive approach. [Apr 2016, p.82]

These immersive, synth-driven compositions may never match the brooding atmosphere of the filmmaker's early scores like Halloween and Assault On Precinct 13, but still have much to commend. [Mar 2015, p.73]

Miller can't help occasional returns to his powerpop protocol. [Jul 2012, p.77]

Now and then she's too laconic for her own good but the self-deprecating humour of "It's So Weird" and "Staying In" hits the mark. [Feb 2019, p.27]

This fifth album immediately feels well adjusted and familiar. [Feb 2020, p.25]

Their sound is now driven by a dark undertow, with heavy psych-rock and muscly R&B inflections. [May 2006, p.119]

The Latin syllables are well suited to Patton's croon and snarl, and he attacks Fred Buscaglione's cavalier "Che Notte!" with relish. [Jul 2010, p.117]

TNP have slimmed down, morphing into a thoughtful electronic pop group with shades of Depeche Mode or late Talk Talk. [May 2019, p.37]

It’s a wonderful surprise that Further Complications turns out to be such a reinvigorated piece of work. Much of this freshness must be down to the working methods of producer Steve Albini.

Everything now seems as worn out and used up as Lytle's subjects, along with the imagery that brings them to life. [Jun 2006, p.108]

A well-rounded triumph. [Mar 2013, p.76]

Banks is an earnest singer with an ear for complex anthems--she's at her best when letting big emotions rip. [Oct 2014, p.67]

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

A quietly glorious affair. [Apr 2006, p.110]

The Sadies are one of the finest backing bands around, and team up adroitly with John Doe to produce a cracking set of country classics. [May 2012, p.71]

The result is both an ambitious concept album and a glorious booty-shaker. [Oct 2013, p.68]

Commits to the craft, shooting through stadium-sized choruses with mischievous humour. [Mar 2025, p.37]

Their approach is eclectic, esoteric, and not easy on the ear, though it does have a restless energy which suggests it might work better live. [June 2008, p.97]

An album of tough-edged, passion-fuelled songs full of real emotion. [Jun 2002, p.109]

After a couple of plays, you're struck by Up's sonic cleverness. Three or four listens and the lyrical complexity begins to bite. Finally, and insidiously, after perhaps six or seven plays, the melodies bury themselves in your head. [Oct 2002, p.112]

An utterly gloomungous affair with barely a crack of light piercing the lowering clouds of misery. [Jan 2004, p.116]

Everything they do is infused with an undeniable, albeit sometimes unfathomable, psychedelic spirit. [Mar 2004, p.92]

Deerhoof's skittish collages always, miraculously, have a pop logic to them, and their desire to show that experimental music can be playful rather than forbidding is often heroic. [Jul 2004, p.102]

Sure, it flags here and there, but Skull Ring is Iggy's most sustained assault since the Instinct/Brick By Brick double whammy. [Nov 2003, p.118]

A divine marriage of disco with discord that, while blatantly indebted to the mutant guitar funk of PiL, ACR, The Pop Group, Gang of Four, et al, enjoys the best of both disciplines. [Nov 2002, p.116]

As a cross-generational experiment, Kissin' Time works. [Apr 2002, p.110]

Rachel grimes continues to make challenging, tense music. [Aug 2015, p.75]

Stiff flirts with mainstream etiquette--Ethan Johns produces--before resorting to the sort of hyperdriven, math-tinged choogles that have served the band so well over six albums. [Apr 2016, p.82]

A bewitching record. [Jul 2012, p.82]

This is an all-American band, but there are nods to the rhythmic sophistication coming out of London's jazz scene. [Sep 2020, p.34]

The third installment is almost shockingly concise at 30 minutes. ... Hearing one of the group's freewheeling jams coalesce into "Bel Air" 10 minutes into the proceedings still sparks a frisson of recognition that makes the series so exhilarating. [Nov 2022, p.46]

While lyrics like "this is the hottest summer I can ever remember 'cause the world is on fire" leave little to the imagination, the final product is hard to dislike. [Aug 2023, p.26]

It's honest and immediate, but predictable. [Apr 2015, p.73]

There are times when, while applauding Springsteen's attempts to stay faithful to the originals, you wish he'd taken more chance. ... But that was not his intention, and it becomes hard to carp when he brings off something as triumphantly as his note-perfect version of Frank Wilson's "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)". [Jan 2023, p.10]

This is the most powerful, literate and just plain individual British debut album since The Streets' Original Pirate Material. [Jul 2006, p.94]

The likes of Khruangbin, St Vincent, fhoebe Bridgers and Josh Homme spice up Macca’s songs in their idiosyncratic fashion, while a few improve the originals. [Jun 2021, p.28]

The album tends toward generic, blocky sci-fi-tronic. [Sep 2013, p.90]

Stratton's accessible but deep-rooted approach embraces a barbed undertow in opener "Light Blue," while dashing arrangements--slivers of stringed wonder deployed to resonate effect on "Vanishing Class"--illuminates his songwriting craft. [Jun 2017, p.37]

Wig Out At Jagbags presents Malkmus at his most eager to please. That it does so while still honoring his idiosyncrasies makes it a particular delight to behold. [Feb 2014, p.82]

Love Is The Plan sits just fine alongside his other records. [May 2012, p.67]

They never outstay their welcome or settle into anything as complacent as a groove, leaving nothing behind but a sugary residue and a feeling of faint violation. [Jan 2016, p.80]

He dips toes in the blues, country, R&B and rockabilly without ever really grabbing your attention. [Jun 2019, p.27]