This sees David finally jettisoning his twee heritage for a filmic kitsch. [Jun 2002, p.116]

It's far from perfect, but still one hell of a trip. [Oct 2011, p.89]

Assbring has succumbed to the same fate as her country-woman Lykke Li, forsaking early charm for a vague sense of attitude that's largely devoid of presence. [Dec 2012, p.69]

Gimmicky moments are plentiful, but it's the box-fresh pop songs like "Misery" and "The River" that benefit most from their renewed sense of purpose. [Apr 2007, p.100]

In a world of fast thrills, WAS remain admirably opaque. [Apr 2008, p.109]

A certain oppressiveness is part of the design, but there are glimpses of beauty here, too. [Apr 2019, p.39

Lyrically, there's little to cling onto, but it's not inconceivable a song like 'Soldier's Grin' could see them follow labelmates The Shins into indie ubiquity. [Sep 2008, p.115]

This is knowing, glitzy, trash. [July 2008, p.96]

The slick sequel starts strongly.... Alas, the album then falls into a compentent but monotonous groove of priapic Prince-old-porno-funk, its minor flashes of OutKast-style irreverence ultimately overshadowed by routine reto-pastiche. [June 2008, p.99]

The album's heavily layered ambi-rock confections indulge the duo's mutual love of spangled guitar effects, tinselly twinkles and pearly dewdrop shimmers. [Mar 2012, p.97]

Finds her in typically literate form. [Mar 2002, p.115]

Some nice wordplay and a sultry cameo from Asia Argento ensure that Praxis Makes Perfect is fun, if musically flimsy. [May 2013, p.75]

What Will We Be stands as a fittingly ambiguous, partly frustrating and altogether fascinating response to that question. Call it artful artlessness, or vice versa.

Pagans' first half dazzles.... The album closes with eight minutes of psedo-Vangelis twaddle. [Oct 2015, p.80]

Songs such as "Bad Timing" and "Leave It" sound pleasingly full as a result, although it's at the expense of some of the intimacy that was arguably the band's best quality. [Sep 2011, p.81]

There's a certain modish charm to the opener, "Lucifer's Dreams," while "Finest Hour" show an aptitude for gentle balladry. Elsewhere, though, sub-Smiths smartarsery abounds. [Dec 2016, p.26]

This 12-song return tones down the pomp, in favour for a return to the band's breathless takes on Ramones/Buzzcocks pop-punk formula. [Nov 2012, p.75]

There are Goat-like moments, but "Serenity" and "Meditasjonen" interrupt the party to introduce a more studied and austere note to proceedings. [Jan 2018, p.21]

The better tracks are ones where Lydon stops grumbling about the modern world and creates his own mythic universe, both lyrically and musically. [Sep 2023, p.22]

Depending on your mood or generosity, these are either indulgently doleful or movingly ascetic in their dutiful repetitions--worth investigating either way. [Jan 2015, p.71]

there's a bit too much scene-setting and not enough storyline, but overall this is some rollicking debut. [May 2008, p.113]

Laced with grime squelches, riot-inducing raps and dark dub, it tackles gun crime, political deceit and terrorism--but also features enough tunes to sugar the pill. [Mar 2009, p.87]

Neither MacLean nor vocal foil Nancy Whang has a strong enough voice for pop. Instead it's the surging 10-minute disco epics 'Tonight' and 'Happy House; that impress. [May 2009, p.89]

Little Boots emerges with a debut album that is disappointingly similar to the sound of 2001 or 2005. [Jul 2009, p.91]

Mixes have the tracks - stacked guitars and vocals, bustling basslines, played and programmed drums - hurtling along as if crammed into a tunnel. [Mar 2024, p.25]

Stein mostly carries an air of pleasant politeness, which rather fails to convey the darkness beneath tales of gambling addicts and bottles of bourbon in the fridge. [Aug 2017, p.38]

Results range from sumptuous to the exotic and baleful, while Mark Lanegan's climactic swansong as post apocalyptic lounge lizard provides a stylish send-off. [Jun 2010, p.106]

For The Stars, The Oceans & The Moon, the original scally mystic has orchestrated a selection of old songs with a missionary zeal. [Nov 2018, p.27]

The fifth season might be more art piece than album, but is no less intriguing because of it. [Oct 2020, p.32]

A madly ambitious, darkly despondent and goofily exuberant grand folly of a record. [Album of the Month, Dec 2005, p.98]

Ultimately Bailiff sounds too much in thrall to her shoegazing peers. [Dec 2012, p.69]

Two years and two million album sales later- and minus raffish bassist Max Rafferty--their sugar-rush enthusiasm has dissolved almost entirely.

It does feel [like] a somewhat softer collection than its predecessor. [Feb 2012, p.84]

Every song offers something different, which holds your attention. [Apr 2009, p.101]

It would be unfair to expect a "Whipping Post" from Devon Allman, Duane Betts and Berry Duane Oakley on their first outing, cut live to tape in Muscle Shoals, as they seek a comparable energy, but they manage to capably shoulder the responsibility rather than sinking under it weight. [Aug 2019, p.25]

Enchanting arrangements, glistening instrumentation, and Griffin's hypnotic vocals carry the day. [Mar 2010, p.86]

Each track has been precision-tooled for playlist perfection but even here the sheer class of "Rendezvous" and "Karma" shine through. [Aug 2018, p.35]

For the most part, it's an effective addition.... The only real snag here is Rose's voice, which sometimes sounds so detached as to be barely present. [Nov 2013, p.78]

American Doll Posse sounds like a return to more conventional songwriting form. [Jun 2007, p.87]

Much here feels underdeveloped. [Jan 2015, p.71]

The results are suitably polishes, but their pleasures are ephemeral. [Mar 2016, p.71]

Not as muddy as one might have hoped, then, but this was definitely a revisit worth making. [July 2008, p.96]

You wish the pace would pick up after a while but then again, what My Sad Captains do, they do beautifully. [Apr 2014, p.78]

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

Seldom has retro sounded so pleasingly stubborn. [Jul 2012, p.85]

It's the slowies that suffer--lacking the warm glaze of the previous album, they can sound a little hollow. [Dec 2015, p.76]

Patchily exhilarating, but the blasts lack freshness. [Apr 2017, p.25]

Wainwright is newly hitched herself (to producer Brad Albetta) and I Know... is for the most part a decidedly mature singer-songwriter album.

The trio's blend of live performance, samples and electronica is hardly groundbreaking. [Feb 2012, p.98]

Sally Shapiro continues to revel in this cheesy yet faintly psychedelic sound. [Mar 2013, p.76]

Really, though, the whole--say, the bracing rock of 'Take Back The City'--is more than the sum of these parts, and underlines this album as a success in its field.

The way the elements hang together effortlessly on "Cataract" is worthy of Bat for Lashes, or even Bjork. [Apr 2010, p.109]

Half of this curious but at times compelling collaboration set lyrics from old songs to new tracks--though not always to their benefit. [Oct 2013, p.62]

The results are alluring warped but this groovy nostalgia is now a well-trodden path. [Dec 2015, p.76]

The mix of prog, neo-classical and folkish influences, with Anderson's flute as ubiquitous as ever, is exactly as you'd expect, yet he has plenty to say of contemporary relevance in songs about Israel ("Over Jerusalem"), climate change ("Savannah Of Paddington Green") and the avarice of politicians ("Dunsinane Hill"). [Apr 2025, p31]

In terms of breath-snatching bravura, Worden shines very brightly indeed. [July 2008, p.105]

A bargin it might be, but the triumphs of yore tend to expose the new album's low-fi rockabilly and country strums. [Jul 2009, p.95]

Vance's earnest balladeering often sounds overly safe. [Jun 2016, p.82]

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

There's no shortage of decent tunes. [Nov 2011, p.83]

It's original member, turntablist Nu-Mark, who still provides the highlights. [Aug 2006, p.96]

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

Beast Moans can be drowsy at times... but it's punctuated by bursts of poetic insight and near-orgasmic glee. [Jan 2007, p.103]

Full of fleeting revelations, Calamity is as bewitchingly fractured as The Red Krayola's subversive attacks on pop/rock form. [Dec 2006, p.106]

Its high-beam intensity and near relentless drive triumphing over the niggling familiarity of some songs. [May 2017, p.30]

It’s too blunt, messy and reverent to be up there with their best, but you hope that it also serves a secondary function: to clear the decks for one last magnificent tilt at rock deification on album number ten.

Her creamy voice canters over deft fingerpicked guitars and celtic violin throughout the rest of the album, and although the heights of the aforementioned song are barely hinted at elsewhere, Marling’s promise--she’s just 17 years old--is as clear as spring water.

Delivered via rolling, thunderous rhythms--part Can, part Black Sabbath--moody synths and mournfully melodic guitar, using the slow-build-to-explosion method. [Apr 2004, p.91]

Swift guides Jurado through the sub-Spectorisms of "Arkansas" and "Throwing Your Voice" with a sensitive touch. [Jun 2010, p.96]

At times songs pass by too easily. [Sep 2004, p.104]

Both sublime and ridiculous. [Jun 2002, p.114]

Mala finds his skills somewhat exposed across a whole album as he seeks to balance frisky Cuban percussion with his own muscular poise. [Nov 2012, p.77]

McCraven's label debut deploys his own musicians with Horace Silver and the rest, giving a steamy hip-hop stutter to Blakey beats already halfway there, and letting the aching melody of Kenny Burrell's "Autumn In New York" simmer under new rhythmic cross-winds. [Dec 2021, p.31]

Flares dazzlingly on initial contact, but dims a little. [Jun 2004, p.92]

No-one would argue this is the equal of his '70s production heyday, but he remains indefatigable in his energies. [Nov 2016, p.35]

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

There's nothing not to like, but at 13 tracks in just 37 minutes, it's all rather slight. [Nov 2015, p.76]

Has the feel of an artist whose rougher edges have long since been washed away. [Oct 2006, p.119]

Half of these tracks are superfluous, but the other half are mixtape gold. [Sep 2010, p.108]

Go Go... is never less than delightful--at its best like Belle & Sebastian having a stab at Portishead. [Oct 2007, p.99]

There's an unwelcome hint of Florence Welch's swollen emotionalism on "Tomorrow," but the surging pop of "Touch" is more successful. [Apr 2013, p.69]

The second album of their third coming aims for the spontaneity of the early recordings, pushing those buried melodies to the surface. [Jul 2009, p.93]

Regularly a memorable lyric leaps out--but too often the pared-down aesthetic is an excuse to coast. [Aug 2009, p.96]

The blitzkrieg is offset by a vein of black humour, epitomised by Ian Svenonius' hilariously pitiless guest vocal on "Party Line." But as with any military campaign, fatigue eventually sets in. [Aug 2016, p.80]

By The Way presents a band who have mellowed and matured with unusual benefits to their music. [Sep 2002, p.118]

Curiously retro-sounding production and accompaniment. .... Her gift for infectious topline melodies manages to transcend such stylistic quirks. [Feb 2026, p.31]

It's a muscular and alluringly saturnine record with a vintage sheen, which occasionally tilts at the Bad Seeds but sounds more like a wracked Richard Hawley. [Dec 2015, p.71]

Too much of this lacks the urgent life of previous outings. [Nov 2011, p.89]

Clearly, appealing quirks can easily become irksome affectations. [Apr 2007, p.94]

“Flowers For The Unsung” teases out some quietly pretty melodies. However, the freeform avant approach of the album is not always an easy ride; the wildly experimental playing makes it a constantly surprising listen but often one that is very heavy, dense and a little overwhelming. [Review of the Year 2024, p.28]

If you’re willing to overlook Simon Le Bon’s always peculiar lyrics and occasionally strained singing, 'Red Carpet Massacre' is actually pretty impressive.

It never gets deep. ... It's stupid, daft, and no wonder that when Josh Homme's looking for a night of goofy escapism he goes to see The Chats. [May 2020, p.26]

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

Everything's The Rush plays it safer, eschewing the Cocteaus-esque material and dance-pop for a more route-one, stadium approach, hoofing it up to the big chorus. [July 2008, p.93]

Most of the tracks were written on the piano and jettison guitars for chamber orchestrations. There are Brechtian oom-pah songs, elegant tangos, and two bruise-coloured ballads that might be the best Barat has written. [Nov 2010, p.81]

Oh! Mighty Engine is typically whimsical, low key and surprisingly touching (when you can make out what he is singing). [Oct 2008, p.90]

Though the stadium-EDM elements of "Miracle" are an unwelcome addition and there's a slight clash between two brands of brooding, when Matt Berninger guests on "My Enemy," Chvrches excel at an electro-pop simulacrum that's actually more craftily structured than most of their favourite records of 1982. [Jul 2018, p.26]

The pulse never rises above a heartbeat, but as the nine songs clock in at 34 minutes, the absence of tempo changes is barely noticed. [Oct 2009, p.112]