Although Kramer sometimes lacks the craft and discipline to make his purposely flimsy sonic treatments stand up as full-blooded songs. [Aug 2016, p.83]

If there are a few stylistic surprises, there's spirit to spare on the invigorating "Easy Street" and the lusty, bluesy "Fast Lane." [Oct 2018, p.34]

Dawes come into their own as an articulate, self-assured SoCal rock band. [May 2013, p.69]

Patience is required to navigate his smirking in-jokes. [Jan 2017, p.28]

Pop-minded producers Dimitri Tikovoi and Dan Grech-Marguerat add a sheen to the Up The Bracket-style clatter, and unexpectedly stately arrangements. [Mar 2024, p.32]

Even if the lyrical references to Greek mythology are a little nebulous, she's already created a world we believe in. [May 2019, p.29]

As usual, Pollard sabotages his commercial potential with weak production values and occasionally straining vocals. [Dec 2006, p.121]

Release Me feels like the soundtrack to a Josie And The Pussycats sequel unlikely to be made. [Sep 2010, p.96]

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

If anything, Jukebox is bolder than "Covers," not least because two of the more obvious songs have been dropped from the original intended tracklisting.

These are sighs as much as songs, with Cale's vice rarely wavering into anything more obviously declarative than a half-snarl, half-mumble. [Sep 2015, p.71]

This meatier effort offers more of the same dog-eared melancholy. [Oct 2007, p.90]

The results are stiff at times, the LP overlong, but Branch's country songwriting sounds all the more compelling and idiosyncratic in this setting. [May 2017, p.25]

Pants gas ditched electro-funk in favour of the kind of woozy, nu-gazing reveries crafted by Beach House, Girls and teenage Fantasy. Not that it's all whacked-pout bliss-pop. [Jul 2011, p.93]

Colors may be less anarchic than his most famous albums from the 1990s, but he emerges as a studio tinkerer who has grown more disciplined but no less eccentric. [Nov 2017, p.24]

Less is more, and the Stones are at their best on the spoof country of Faraway Eyes; and Richards’ attack on You Got The Silver, with Ronnie Wood picking holes in an acoustic slide guitar.

Valley Tangents takes long, deep breaths, fuzz guitar scrawling over meandering piano in a humidified room. [Jul 2012, p.69]

They situate their voices on a pillowy bed of experimental pop, freak folk and, best of all, the sax-enhanced exotica of the title track. [Jan 2017, p.31]

With Mercury Rev/Flaming Lips producer Dave Fridmann poking psychedelic liquorice in the fluffy sherbet of their sound, Ross and drummer David Blackwell are more like an ice-cream van sinking in marshmallow, Motorhead on the dodgems or PJ Harvey fronting the Glitterband. [Mar 2018, p.28]

The mix of cryptic lyrics and childlike whimsy wears a little thin over the long haul. [Mar 2014, p.75]

The overall effect feels arch and a little insubstantial, James Bagshaw's airy vocals adding tot he sense of impermanence. They're best at their most direct. [Apr 2017, p.39]

One Lupine Howl is already too much, thanks. [Feb 2002, p.111]

Nobody else writes songs like Treacy. [Mar 2006, p.103]

The album is carpeted with generic riffage, shredding and mouldy memories of heavy rock's past. [Oct 2010, p.106]

This is the best childhood summer holiday you ever had, condensed into 45 minutes of delicately arranged, beautifully performed, big, bright, cheery music. [Jul 2003, p.118]

All suggest that this band is in the process of remaking itself for a vital midlife. [Mar 2010, p.85]

They display an exuberant charm that's trashy and infectious. [Aug 2013, p.77]

Finn's third solo album is a lush, multi-layered affair, making full use of its producer. [Mar 2014, p.76]

Robbed of Godspeeds's crescendos, a melancholy gloom dominates. [Mar 2018, p.28]

Musically fascinating and hauntingly empathetic. [Oct 2018, p.29]

Sparklingly produced, clean-cut and sweetly tuneful songs. [Jan 2019, p.23]

It's a wild ride, by turns embracing and disorienting, its tracks ranging from brief instrumental stings to stately arias, though the highlights are the moments when Longstreth's pop sensibility is most audible. [Apr 2025, p.35]

Like ...Van Occupanther, The Courage Of Others is texturally rich and technically refined, elegantly capturing the ambience of the folk rock scene to which it pays fulsome tribute. But sadly, there's something cold and unwelcoming at its core.

While the lack of any sound less than 30 years old does occasionally grate, Zeros ends up capturing a sinister cinematic vibe than John Carpenter would be proud of. [Jan 2013, p.82]

Cacophonous, chaitic, and a lot of fun. [Apr 2010, p.83]

Attention Please sits at the softer end of the spectrum, a melodic set showcasing the sultry vocals of guitarist Wata. [Jul 2011, p.79]

Georgia's also able to fuse a few different eras of electro-pop to create songs whose high sheen doesn't impede their intimacy or immediacy. [Sep 2023, p.27]

There have been worse ideas, it's true. All round, though, it feels like a man with a gun in his back, being forced to be upbeat. [Sep 2009, p.79]

The result is a high;y accomplished and warmly uplifting country-soul album that easily holds its own amid both musicians' back catalogues. [Oct 2012, p.73]

The material forms a coherent, hard-hitting song cycle about blue-collar hard times. [Feb 2014, p.76]

Collingwood remains, however, the guy out of Fountains Of Wayne, and therefore can't help himself from confecting soaring, sumptuous melodies. [Sep 2016, p.75]

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]

The loss of drummer Jimmy Chamberlain smarts, but "Quasar" and the :The Celestials" recall the Pumpkins' '90s heyday with out coming over as retread. [Sep 2012, p.86]

The idea is to immerse yourself in the natural flow of the music; admirable, though who these days has time to experience it all in one go? [Oct 2022, p.29]

The crashing waves of "O-OnOne" immediately align the new-look Seefeel with the aggressive ambiance of Oneohtrix Point Never and Emeralds, while "Airless," Peacock's serene vocals are assailed by coarse filter sweeps and the squeals of busted circuitry. [Mar 2011, p.99]

The development in their songwriting is dramatic. [Jul 2006, p.90]

Here We Go Magic's faintly tropical, fuzzy, circular grooves are beguiling, if a little slight. [Aug 2009, p.92]

Breton are distinctly maximal, all corrosive guitars, callow vocals and beats jutting at awkward angles. [Apr 2012, p.73]

By attempting chillwave haze, Scando-Balearic sunlight, shoegaze and taut inoffensive grooves, Twin Sister are certainly en vogue, but also utterly inept. [Oct 2011, p.100]

These are solidly structured ditties with few surprises. [Jul 2012, p.79]

Might be a primer for his various selves, so redolent are individual tracks of previous songs. [Jun 2004, p.92]

Make no mistake, X&Y is an exceptional pop record. [Jul 2005, p.98]

Inscrutable, unsettling and utterly unique. [Feb 2014, p.69]

The ebb and flow of Arbouretum's music, still rooted in folk but flaring into twin-guitar noise-rock, is often astounding. [Apr 2009, p.90]

Occasionally, though, the songs resemble fragments of poetry, signifying little more than unfocused emotions, with Diane undecided about whether to be pretty or strange. [May 2011, p.82]

This is a vital reimagining, not a retro homage. [Dec 2011, p.81]

The result: gorgeous, unpretentious post-folk melancholy. [Jan 2017, p.32]

While these versions don't venture far from a cooing, lullabyish feel, it's a cosy, inviting one. [Sep 2020, p.28]

The LP's muscular hooks and unpretentious formalism provide Dylan with the ideal setting for his assured wordplay and signature stoicism. [Aug 2021, p.35]

On the feverishly catchy bubblegum punk of tracks like “Talk About It” and “Petals” they sound something like Dolly Parton fronting Blondie ... And, on tracks like “Happy Hour” and “Crossing Lines”, the interplay between twin guitarists Adam Johnstone and Fergus Sinclair is reminiscent of Television, which adds to the CBGBs vibe. [May 2022, p.35]

Stylish and substantial, it's a deft masterpastiche that dissolves history for its own entertainment. [Oct 2006, p.114]

Your cider-drinking soundtrack for this summer is here. [Jul 2011, p.100]

All this makes the album sound like an arid conservatoire experiment, but it's more than that. Many of its tracks, like Morricone-feeling "Written, Forgotten," are designed to drift into the background--upmarket mood music, if you will--but others demand your attention. [Dec 2010, p.89]

The sense of fun has dissipated on Born Under Saturn, an hour of faintly psychedelic heads-down boogie. [Jun 2015, p.75]

It’s bonkers--hilarious, maddening, ridiculous and slightly shit--yet never dull.

Created under vows of artistic chastity (one room, no overdubs), yet played with the rambling freedom of an afternoon jam, Recordings...feels like a necessary reaction to Portishead, but seems unlikely as yet to usurp his day job. [Dec 2009, p. 85]

I doubt there'll be many better albums released this year. [Jun 2003, p.98]

The passion evident throughout help disguise the feeling we've been here before. [Jul 2009, p.109]

What most surprising is the diversity here--the sense of direction is not pressing, but ultimately there's plenty to revisit. [Nov 2010, p.94]

Despite Wolf's best efforts, he's not built for homely pleasures--and you sense his need for drama straining at the leash. [Jun 2011, p.103]

Incrementally, Yorke's resilient gifts come into focus. [Dec 2014, p.83]

Moments feel somewhat bombastic, but where Scope Neglect hits, it certainly hits. [Mar 2024, p.26]

The air of melancholy on display throughout is as enticing as Beirut's. Impressive. [Nov 2009, p.94]

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

It's too early to pass judgement, but in pursuit of Burdon's stated ambition to "finish my career with my head held high," 'Til Your River Runs Dry finds his mission fully on course, a hero returned. [May 2013, p.64]

Sumie blends Japanese and Scandinavian folk, singing crisply over repetitive acoustic guitar patterns. [Mar 2014, p.83]

Fresh from his role as bandleader/producer on Robert Plant's Band Of Joy, Miller has corralled fellow guitarists Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Greg Leisz for this fine ensemble project. [Jun 2011, p.92]

While nothing new, a hypnotic hum and gently insistent melody sees them through. [Aug 2003, p.102]

Goes back to basics with a blinding mix of anthemic post-punk rockers and pretty mid-tempo ballads. [Jul 2002, p.107]

Adult. deserve respect if only for making an almost overwhelmingly vicious album that succeeds on its own unreasonable terms. [May 2003, p.102]

Humorous, pithy and downright ballsy. [Sep 2001, p.106]

Miss Fortune is her least mainstream album to date and finds her moving delightfully nearer the terrain occupied by sister Shelby Lynne. [Sep 2002, p.114]

Too True is a bold album. [Feb 2014, p.73]

A typically frantic burst of speed metal/punk, but underpinned with plenty of hooks and changes of pace to maintain interest. [Dec 2014, p.75]

The post-coital twang of 'Aly, Walk With Me' and 'Lust' are enough to arouse even the most jaded trash-rock fetishist. [Dec 2008, p.101]

It's all invigorating, wonderful stuff.

Admirably democratic, but a few dictatorial vetoes might not have gone amiss. [Jul 2013, p.71]

Preposterous on first listen, more utterly beguiling with each repeat. [Mar 2015, p.71]

A return to a winning formula, if not an emphatic return to form. [Jun 2013, p.79]

They've got a food ear for summer anthems but Jungle lacks the knowing self-deprecation and tender lyricism of Hot Chip or Metronomy, so all you're left with here is a pleasant pastiche. [Aug 2014, p.75]

Frivolous fun, if that's allowed. [Oct 2012, p.86]

Over it all, Vek free-associates with the kind of bland monotony which serves his music--and these times--surprisingly well. [Jul 2014, p.83]

Ex is full of Hawtin's old sleek menace and disdain for obvious peaks, though the sound design is fractionally lusher than that of brutalist texts like Musik (1194). [Sep 2014, p.75]

Quieter, more ethereal tracks such as "Lone Wolf" have less of an impact, showing that Landshapes are at their best when they're loud. [Jun 2015, p.77]

Kin still sounds like the work of a clued-up hipster who doesn't particularly like the grimly effective pop songs that she's able to write. [Oct 2016, p.40]

Thanks For Listening has the same gentle humour and musical imagination he brings to the airwaves [as host of Prairie Home Companion], although "I Made This For You" and the title track are a bit precious in their meta trappings. [Jan 2018, p.26]

One For The Ghost is at its best when he works up a head of steam and leaves James Hoare's guitar space to sparkle. [Mar 2018, p.22]

Delightful for a dark night in. [Jan 2019, p.27]