It's an impressive cast, matched by the energy and eccentricity of the contemporary and traditional songs alike. [Jun 2013, p.81]

Think early Air meets hip-hop, the West Coast harmonies and Ultramarine-style tech-fok eccentricities merging with euphoric yet becalmed moodscapes. [Nov 2002, p.113]

His most purposeful work in some time. [Jun 2003, p.94]

Everyday Robots is a less ebullient, more intimate and reflective affair, as befits the tentative revelation of a man's soul. [May 2014, p.63]

This is a broad, swaggering definition of jazz that touches on Nigerian afrobeat, Ghanaian high-life, grungy post-rock and vocal-led astral soul. Non-jazz fans might be drawn to Nerija's astonishing guitarist Shirley Tetteh. [Sep 2019, p.30]

Unique, captivating stuff. [Jul 2011, p.80]

A sort of gothy folktronica dominates songs like "Yes Men" and "Out The Way," with shades of PJ Harvey on the acerbic title track about refugees, while the crawling jutter of "2016" captures the dislocating agony of experiencing personal anxiety while "there's a fascist in the White House." [Sep 2017, p.37]

There is zero sense on Amadjar that this band in any way playing to an international audience; on the contrary, this music feels hermetic in its focus, guitars picking out bluesy motifs, voices rising together in mournful chorus, all tethered by a simple drum rhythm that approximates the lollop of a camel making its way across the dunes. [Oct 2019, p.32]

Bursting with symphonic goodness, musical adventure and dizzying levels of intensity. [Oct 2018, p.32]

Pigs x7 are a band that appreciate a bit of theatre. There is plenty of that going on in this second album, along with a whole bunch of heavenly riffs. [Nov 2018, p.34]

Much of Arise draws from the duo's [Moses Boyd and Binker Golding] spartan energy. Boyd serves a one-man Art Blakey, Sly Dunbar, Carlton Barrett and Tony Allen, swinging in a Caribbean vernacular. ... McFarlane has a pop sensibility that's unusual in the jazz world, and her songs are based around strong melodies. [Oct 2017, p.31]

Wagner is adept at evoking children's half-remembered nightmares. [Sep 2014, p.81]

Lush and lively. [Feb 2017, p.29]

Bristl[es] with wit, energy and nifty hooks. [May 2007, p.99]

12 dark, noisy tracks blessed with unexpected details. [Mar 2013, p.75]

A vivid, endlessly beguiling listen. [Mar 2025, p.34]

It's not a ballet or a string quartet, but Costello sounding more "Attractions"-like than he has in over 20 years. [Oct 2008, p.83]

Love Is Love really takes off when the brass comes out. [Jun 2017, p.38]

Haunting, bassy and electronic. [Jun 2017, p.35]

This is vintage front-porch Cale. [May 2009, p.79]

The follow-up [to Absent Fathers] is an even more impressive progression. Marriage and impending fatherhood bring both focus and exuberance to Earle's seventh album. [Jul 2017, p.28]

The result is Mascis's most fully formed and direct solo set to date. [Feb 2024, p.31]

Another illustration of the breadth and generosity of this remarkable group's vision. [May 2015, p.72]

it's not just a band getting back together after nearly a decade apart, but a band reaffirming the ideals that animated them in the first place. [Nov 2025, p.29]

If anything, this is more consistent and satisfying record, one that emphatically places her at the forefront of modern roots music. [Nov 2015, p.72]

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”).

Somewhere on the feral fringes of indie civilisation, Half Japanese remain kings of their own tiny jungle. [Feb 2017, p.28]

It shows the band at their most proggy. [Mar 2018, p.26]