Smith's heartfelt songs take on a more melancholic hue. [Jul 2012, p.70]

It's beautifully eerie. [Oct 2018, p.30]

It includes great music, but it still has that hairy, unpredictable, somewhat demented aspect that gives the Blues Explosion its unique spark. [Oct 2012, p.72]

Every song here is a miniature gem of its kind. [Nov 2019, p.22]

The most immediately striking thing is the effect of the string arrangements, which add an extra layer of haunting mystery. [Oct 2006, p.102]

He still produces beautiful albums of impeccable tone and fine songs. [Dec 2011, p.96]

Imagine Bolan produced by Prince, then scrambled by Beck, and you're only halfway there. [Mar 2007, p.85]

The No. 1 slot will continue to elude him, but a strange, dank pop corner remains his and his alone. [Mar 2018, p.26]

Its cavernous production, Massed campfire guitars and rolling melodies conjure prairies, river and mountains from shore to shining shore. [Feb 2013, p.75]

Ayewa always makes ambitious albums, but Jazz Codes feels like her richest yet, her Lemonade, her To Pimp A Butterfly. [Sep 2022, p.28]

Eleanor Friedberger is rejuvenated on fourth solo album Rebound. [Jun 2018, p.27]

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

This full-bodied, all-star immersion into an insalubrious world inspired by late '70s/early-'80s continental disco is somehow more appealing than Matmos' recent foray into Polish mid-century avant-garde. [Dec 2022, p.35]

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

The animal kingdom looms large but human experience is still at the core of Rennie's surreal couplets, given added portent by Brett's compellingly mournful baritone. [Jun 2013, p.73]

Lovely, life-affirming stuff. [Apr 2010, p.97]

"High Roller" and "Medina" are laidback and elegant, blessed with Wu's dazzling, twinkling keyboard runs. But "Broken Theme" adds a note of challenge. [Jun 2018, p.37]

An album that takes nothing for granted, that doesn't consider your attention a gift, that wants to impart something profound to you. Trust her. [Sep 2019, p.28]

He hasn't sounded this corrosive since Copperhead Road. [Nov 2002, p.115]

From the stripped-back acoustic touches on “This Will Go On” to the distorted vocals and gritty overdrive guitars of “Leaving Umbrella”, it’s a pleasing yet ever-shifting journey to be taken on. [Jul 2024, p.35]

Odd--and oddly impressive. [Jul 2014, p.81]

Gathering is another collection of Dylanesque strummings, rescued as always from generic blandness by Ritter's alacrity as a lyricist and husky grin of a voice. [Nov 2017, p.36]

Each of these three artists brings out something new in the others, prodding them slightly out of their comfort zones. [Jan 2021, p.16]

A fascinating accompaniment to Hollander's book of the same name. ... Superb collection. [Dec 2018, p.46]

Sonically it's a sinister palette: classical folk laced with dynamite blasts of electronics. Yet, the inner contents are tender. [Apr 2020, p.37]

They're the true inheritors of the psychic disconnect and crude abstraction that marks out those early Royal Trux albums: less Stones, more stoned. [Jan 2014, p.75]

It's clever, surprisingly enjoyable and utterly insane. [Apr 2025, p.39]

Even when they slow up, the quality doesn't let up. [Sep 2008, p.100]