Many Moons is studied, but graciously so. [Nov 2015, p.73]

Here, on their fourth LP, the duo--teaming up again with Dave Fridmann--appear to have entered some weird, parallel 1983. [Apr 2018, p.30]

Though their ongoing debt to the Krautrock canon remains evident, their stoner brew is now heavily spiced with influences drawn from Afrobeat, funk and space-rock. [Jan 2014, p.72]

All she lacks is a really killer song. [Apr 2015, p.72]

[Hate For Sale returns her] to the totemic sounds of the early Pretenders albums, trusted and familiar territories. [Aug 2020, p.31]

Hardy's voice is considerably less breathy than in her '60s and '70s heyday, though it now has a pleasing steeliness to it. [May 2013, p.72]

Canadian Colter Wall is just 21, but in delivering his rich imagery of railroads, frauleins and codeine dreams, he sounds closer to 71. [Jul 2017, p.40]

The Remote Part is Idlewild Mark II--sleeker, bolder, better. [Oct 2002, p.107]

As you would expect from a Daptone act--musicianship is uniformly excellent. [Oct 2017, p.24]

It's an ensemble work, but the tremulous "An Old Peasant Like Me" is especially affecting. [Sep 2013, p.87]

Wildflower is more satisfying, less self-consciously searching for radio-friendliness [than C'Mon C'mon]. [Nov 2005, p.100]

The spacious, Neil Young-ian rumbling of the title track and the bulked-up power-pop of "Spiked Flower" both see co-founders Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge venture beyond the template of Raise and Mezcal Head without making the faithful worry they've ditched their distortion pedals. [Feb 2019, p.34]

These empathetic tales teem with life. [Sep 2022, p.32]

Blues reveals itself to be a barnstorming triumph that channels Led Zep, Free, early Fleetwood Mac, Jeff Beck and even Dire Straits into something fresh and invigorating. [Apr 2016, p.70]

Creepy but beautiful. [Apr 2014, p.73]

Landscape From Memory surges and pulses with emotionally charged, meticulously detailed, luminescent electronica that never panders to the gridded restrictions of conventional techno. [Aug 2025, p.37]

It may not be of the caliber of Metal Box, but it finds its maker firmly in 2012, not 1979, and with plenty still to grouse about. [Jun 2012, p.67]

If it can feel a little hermetic, he’s at his best on the Eno-ish lullaby “First Responder”, where strings and lap steel drift in like a summer breeze. [Jun 2024, p.39]

He roams a palette of solo guitar modes, from Sonic Youth-y harmonics, through melodic lines, all slight but identifiable his own. [Mar 2022, p.32]

Tasteful without being sterile, diverse but grounded in Knopfler's melancholy mumble and quicksilver guitar, Privateering is a quietly soulful triumph. [Oct 2012, p.83]

Francesconi provides an elegant framework for Diane, who is in fine voice here. [Nov 2015, p.75]

There's a welcome freshness to Sequence; it may be smartly, deftly constructed, but it feels free and open. [Jan 2019, p.23]

There’s determined strumming amid “Daily Ritual”’s Americana and “Mother Natures Scorn”’s a muscular if unplugged Mazzy Star, but the title track’s almost as ethereal as its title, while “Delilah”’s waltzing, sepia psych exploits John Barry’s Midnight Cowboy theme. [Review of the Year 2024, p.35]

[The single "If You Didn't See Me (Then You Weren't On The Dancefloor)"] is sumptuous, sad and beautiful, as is the res of the album. [Jan 2014, p.73]

The fuzz-heavy pop-punk he was making back then still echoes loudly here but by connecting with producer Dave Sitek, the material also sounds crisper. [Sep 2021, p.35]

Yasuda provides most of the brightest moments with a new wave/elecro style that wrings real delight from revelling in pop art/trash. [Oct 2003, p.116]

As a send-off... it's not quite the full parade. [Sep 2004, p.104]

For the most part, though, this is the Manics as you'd want them to be--thrilling, bombastic and sometimes ridiculous, but still raging. [Aug 2014, p.75]

His fourth album is leaner and meaner than 2010's A Train Bound For Glory. [Jul 2014, p.77]

Que Aura sees the West Coast-based singer-songwriter embrace an '80s-infused psychedelia that occasionally mutates into a disco strut. [Nov 2017, p.36]

It's a cryptic approach, to say the least. [Mar 2022, p.31]

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

Many of FoW's reserves outclass others' first team. [Aug 2005, p.115]

Mostly fine results. [Feb 2020, p.25]

A successful fusion of tradition and modernism.

"Bellevue Bridge Club" lands somewhere between Van Morrison, Richie Havens and--if only thanks to his violin's drones--The Velvet Underground, while "Manifest" is like a sober Townes Van Zandt. [May 2019, p.24]

“Savage” and “Maps” could be John Foxx’s Ultravox remixed by Larry Levan, the songs’ harder synth and post-punk textures continually softened by Polar’s emotive vocals and Geist’s love of warm, soulful grooves. [Sep 2022, p.23]

Another chip off the old block. [Sep 2025, p.31]

With III, they shift their intense focus on '70s motorik rock, psychedelia and heavy drone to admit furious post-punk, industrio-dub grooves and the odd open space, [Jun 2014, p.72]

The Absence isn't just an experiment in various styles. The songs are terrific. too. [Jul 2012, p.73]

[A] striking debut. [Jul 2012, p.84]

An eclectic, often crazed debut album.... They have all the hallmarks of an excellent, innovative band that won't be undone by their own hype. [Sep 2002, p.105]

After soothing us with smoothness, this slick excursion into semi-unlistenable easy listening sounds fantastic. [Aug 2014, p.75]

Toledo offers dense, self-analytical lyrics and a style that take in everything from The Zombies to the Pet Shop Boys, ambitious in scope and clearly much agonised-over. [Dec 2015, p.69]

Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo were impressed enough to pitch in, helping form a warmly familiar yet still sometimes thrilling debut album. [Sep 2022, p.24]

The album is a loose concept piece with a watery theme, but it's the infectious melodies and powerful vocals that stand out. [May 2019, p.27]

Gonzales' conceptual stunts never detract from the music's inherent prettiness. [Apr 2015, p.76]

It feels like Albarn in transit, both physically and mentally. [Aug 2018, p.27]

Slender and strange, Await Barbarians once more finds the singer on the back foot, his default position, peering cautiously at the things around him. [Jul 2014, p.81]

My Love IS A Bulldozer is of a similar vintage [as 2005's Rossz Csillag Alatt Szuletett]. [Aug 2014, p.79]

Saicobab whip up a sonic maelstrom that's every bit as intense as the shock tactics of Boredoms' early noise recordings or the polyrhythmic psychedelia tat followed. [Dec 2017, p.30]

The likes of "Maliblue Dream Sequence" and "Tonal Bath For Bubbles" positively glow, layering shimmering keyboard washes, ringing chimes and raga-like melodies to create a sense of blissful stasis. [Jan 2018, p.23]

Even with new elements like the somewhat overly tasteful strings for the title track, the music here retains the fervent intimacy and immediacy that distinguishes Jamieson's songwriting and really ought to win her the breakthrough she deserves. [Jan 2024, p.39]

While the singles "Until The Fire" and "The Animals" are satisfyingly sleek and sinister, Lady tron seem most energised when they head deep into the darkness in the starkly Numan-ist "Paper Highways" and "Deadzone." [Mar 2019, p.29]

This is the kind of record that Albini's notoriously no-frills production style served best: a brooding and intense post-punk, equal parts visceral and cerebral. [Mar 2025, p.32]

Slightly pleased with itself, but record is definitely worth a spin. [Apr 2018, p.35]

Tracks like "Running" show he can do a decent dreamy R&B ballad, but more interesting are the digitally manipulated sonic collages, or the impressionistic Spanish-language songs. [May 2019, p.29]

While some moments fee contrived to win headlines [...] it's the stories of grind under dour circumstance, such as "Grow Up" featuring Birmingham MC Jaykae, that shine the brightest. [Jul 2019, p.34]

It's a thrilling start but, after the breathless thrills of the first six songs, things tail off sharply. Still, it's hard to begrudge them. [Aug 2017, p.37]

Mostly, it's funky pop, half-deconstructed and relentlessly optimistic. [Jun 2012, p.71

Infectious stuff, and 30 years on from the first Pastels single, there is still no escaping indie's fey power. [Jul 2012, p.67]

Though jangly sounds abound on the 71 songs collected here (so much so that there's an inevitable degree of twee fatigue), the contents demonstrate a shift away from the original shambling scenesters' distaste for displays of ambition, and a new eagerness to grab hold of the brass ring that The Smiths had surrendered to other contenders. [Aug 2017, p.50]

All up, it's a quiet knockout. [Oct 2018, p.37]

The tone is less whimsical, occasionally ecstatic, and at times reminiscent of big beat. [Mar 2005, p.91]

Ayers duets with Simonon in Spanish and English on a set of quirky compositions oozing the kind of playful charm her dad was so known for. [Jun 2023, p.29]

Layered guitars make s luscious soundtrack to get lost in, but relatable lyrics will guide you home. [Mar 2020, p.25]

This power trio makes no attempt whatsoever to hide their stylistic sonic cathedral. [Jan 2014, p.76]

It's unsurprisingly a multicultural, extravagantly arranged collection. [May 2021, p.32]

An inspired makeover. [Mar 2019, p.30]

There's a gauche Hollyoaks vibe to sentimental moments "Sailing" and "Wild West," but otherwise this is a handsome debut. [Mar 2015, p.72]

Bulat's reliably warm-hearted songs still benefit from the rejuvenating effects of the twinkling synths that fill "Spirit" and "Laughter". [May 2025, p.28]

A surprisingly introspective album. [Jul 2019, p.37]

It's not their reworkings of songs by Charley Patton, Fred McDowell and RL Burnside that impress most here, but rather their own compositions. [Apr 2006, p.114]

The purposeful "Fast Asleep" or swirling "Dirtmouth" - featuring labelmate/saxophonist James Brandon Lewis - might loosely suit Parker's Chicago collective too. But "Solanin" with Brandee Younger, boasts a lush Cinematic Orchestra elegance, while Daedalus lends "(If You Don't Leave) The City Will Kill You" an irresistibly propulsive energy. [Sep 2023, p.27]

At times their desire to wrongfoot the listener can seem deliberately perverse, but when they properly collapse down a wormhole, as they do on second-half highlights "Magicville" and "Success In Circuit," the results are terrifically psychedelic. [Jan 2014, p.72]

Previous weighty concepts have been scrapped in favour of intense focus. [Jul 2019, p.37]

Wittily expressed and beautifully sung. [May 2023, p.31]

Bullion's smooth, rounded sound burnishes what is a dynamic collection of songs. [Jun 203, p.26]

Though some of its textures could do with a little more edge, the result is undeniably poignant, with HArdy's voice elegant and expressive as ever. [Jun 2018, p.28]

Hard-swinging tales of misadventure. [Jun 2020, p.34]

These cuts are fresh'n'funky with a strong Seventies soul influence. [Feb 2002, p.113]

An album that reveals fresh layers on every listen. [Jul 2019, p.33]

It's often closer to the music the group made during their 2000 comeback. [Apr 2015, p.69]

The album is filled with fascinating earworms. [Jun 2012,m p.69]

Lifeblood seems closest in tone to Everything Must Go, although the sound is lighter, less bombastic, more soothing. [Dec 2004, p.148]

This is quicker, sleeker and punkier [than Water On Mars]. [Oct 2014, p.77]

A restorative step, perhaps, and we await his next move with interest. [Jan 2014, p.78]

A dynamic young talent improving with every release. [Apr 2019, p.39]

Inventively produced by Jacknife Lee, All The Colours Of You is a winning synthesis of James’ anthemic tendencies and their more instinctive weirdness. [Jul 2021, p.27]

Shook might not possess the vocal range of kindred spirits Lydia Loveless or Nikki Lane, but she clearly a force to be counted. [May 2018, p.26]

Charms abound. [May 2015, p.73]

If the tunes and attitude don't grip as strongly as they did in either man's era-bending pomp, both parties still sound better for getting together. [Mar 2024, p.27]

The songs are worthy heirs to that heritage [Allman Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd]. [Aug 2025, p.79]

Perhaps closest to his spiritual essence. [Dec 2022, p.29]

Overall it's a slow-burn success. [Jun 2012, p.74]

[Electric Trim] features conventionally structured songs that underline his country-folk and Americana interests, while amping up the psych-pop and orchestral alt.rock. [Oct 2017, p.36]

It is a wispy thing, not always easy to grip. But its more soulful moments can be quietly transcendent. [Aug 2013, p.74]

Bring On The Sun is a sprawling collection, encompassing everything from euphoric zither washes to jazzy beat poetry, without ever losing sight of its mood of sunny positivity. [Nov 2017, p.30]