Tinariwen have created an entire genre of desert blues, as young bands like Tamikrest and Terakaft attest, but they remain peerless. [Sep 2011, p.76]

The music is spectacular, of course. But if you want to know how the deal really went down, you'll still have to go under the counter. [Jun 2023, p.48]

Impressively inventive and diverse material. [Dec 2019, p.35]

A colorful fusion, blunted underground hip-hop flowing into delirious live bass jams and cosmic balladry. [Nov 2014, p.75]

And Justice For All remains their most pivotal and arguably their most divisive album. ... Lots of demos, rough mixes, studio jams and live numbers that show how powerful the new lineup sounded away from the studio. [Jan 2019, p.37]

The band's trademark punky abrasiveness and arty dissonance now serve a more dancefloor-friendly dynamic. [Nov 2006, p.106]

It makes for another assured chapter in a celebrated life, a celebrated achievement. [Jun 2022, p.24]

LP number nine features meditations on ageing: “Deathbed Of My Dreams” does it in a Nashville style; “Young And Stupid” does it like an early 1970s Eurovision entry. There’s also joyous self-affirmation. ... Best of all are “Prophets On Hold” and “Talk To Me Talk To Me”, AOR masterpieces that should have been on the last Abba album. J[Jun 2022, p.25]

Putting perfectionism aside hasn't lessen his knack for melody and texture. [Apr 2021, p.27]

It's an LP that gets through more ideas than most indie bands can manage in a lifetime. [Dec 2013, p.71]

These boys have genuine pedigree--guitarist Jamie's grandpa was Ewan MacColl--and the confident acoustic textures and fingerpicking styles on display here show a real affection for folk traditions. [Aug 2010, p.77]

This is the work of a star-crossed original in full flow. [Mar 2016, p.73]

Visiter suggesting both a rhythm-centric Shins and a more hard-bitten Feelies. [Aug 2008, p.90]

It's closest to the similarly spare Peace Queer and Agnostic Hymns & Stoner fables, and smider's writing assumes spectacular meta-dimensions. [May 2019, p.34]

The Stand Ins stands out on its own merits, a trove of dazzlingly wittty songcraft. [Nov 2008, p.112]

It's Cervenka's superb vocals that make this a carer highlight. [Apr 2011, p.77]

Man Overboard doesn’t quite scale the heights of its predecessor, even containing a stumble or two ('Girl From The Office,' with Hunter playing the cad, falls flat), but it still offers plenty.

At the peak moments of High Violet, The National are magnificent. [Jun 2010, p.78]

Ultimately, the changes are subtle rather than profound and Gray still sounds like he's been nailed to a cross--which will no doubt come as a relief to loyal fans. [Jul 2014, p.74]

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

Luckily they are one of the few bands with stadium heft and the tunes to pull it off, rendering their big-heartedness euphorically justified. [Aug 2012, p.78]

That voice [of Marry Waterson]--sometimes sharp and slightly acrid, often warm and consoling, even when passing a dispassionate eye over the tales it tells--is the real magic here. [Nov 2017, p.39]

The charming meld of discordance and melody is displayed throughout, with Rønnenfelt shrieking and hissing above tar-thick bass, piano stabs and guitar. [Dec 2016, p.32]

The opportunity to behold such a comprehensive survey of Wilson’s artistry even in this compromised state can be both startling and staggering. That’s especially true of The Beach Boys Love You. .... The vocals-only versions of “The Night Was So Young” and “Let’s Put Our Hearts Together” and other demos emphasize the songs’ childlike spirit of joy and invention. [Mar 2026, p.42]

Mixing classic covers (Big Joe Williams’ “Crawling King Snake”, Charlie Patton’s “Pea Vine Blues”) with his ‘new’ compositions, lyrical advances into commonplace blues melodies like “When The Frisco Left the Shed”, there’s timelessness in every note here, every expression. [Jul 2022, p.29]

The results are impressive. [Jan 2012, p.81]

Bejar's band--either completely at ease with or oblivious to his verbal flights of fancy--play rich, languid, bar-room indie-rock with florid bursts of guitar. [May 2008, p.94]

This audacious album succeeds not by altering Cage's distinctive identity but by exponentially amplifying it. [June 2019, p.26]