They have come remarkably close to achieving the contoured crispness and in-your-face immediacy of their greatest achievement. [Jun 2011, p.79]

It is his most beguiling release yet. [May 2010, p.85]

Coomes rasps and hollers across the kind of gurgling voodoo boogie that Suicide or Clinic would consider too deranged to release. [Sep 2016, p.71]

Their largely extemporised debut traverses free jazz, drone, spiritual music and experimental rock, establishing moods from contemplative to panicky and eruptive. [Jun 2024, p.29]

Flicker is never derivative or predictable, with Bell using these influences to craft often beautiful songs, from the groove of "riverside" to the lovely strum of the Simon And Garfunkel-influenced "lifeline" or the springy disco-beat of "Sidewinder." [Apr 2022, p.32]

Like 2008's Slime & Reason, Bleeds can come on a bit like an episode of "Grumpy Old MCs." But there's always room for salvation in Smith's world. [Dec 2015, p.92]

It’s material that’s fascinating just as much for what it tells us about pop culture as it does Lou Reed, from a time where pop and rock hadn’t become overly codified and nobody exactly knew what music teenagers would fall for. [Nov 2024, p.55]

There's a sharper focus this time round. [Apr 2022, p.31]

Infectious. [Aug 2023, p.26]

With [Belle & Sebastian] now seemingly lost to soft-pop pastichery, CO have come out of their shadow and flourished. [Jul 2006, p.84]

One Breath is a boldly cinematic work that is filled with passion and drama. [Nov 2013, p.67]

Once again transforms himself from a nerdy Clark Kent to a kickass retro-soul man, shapeshifting through Promenade Blue's 11 period-piece originals. [May 2021, p.35]

These days Chacon can't stop telling it like it is - and long may he do so. [Jan 2025, p.32]

The Connecticut pair's third album taps into the best qualities of alternative music, circa 1988. [Oct 2007, p.99]

Brave, challenging and arrestingly original. [Mar 2016, p.79]

For a record that often shifts all over the place--someone busks "Wonderwall" on "U1"--it's an absorbing listen. [Jan 2014, p.74]

The songs here are lean, supple, confident. [May 2018, p.18]

This is the first Cure album in a long time that’s more than just another Cure album.

It's the range of styles that impress most, from slow cowboy ballads and Western swing to full-throated honky-tonk, Tin Pan Alley and exquisite break-up songs. [May 2009, p.90]

While traces of heaviness remain--see the cacophonous climax to "B&E"--Guilty really finds itself in tender moments. [Apr 2014, p.78]

John Darnielle shares Haines' nostalgic affection for the stars of Martial pantomime, and deploys his deadpan indie rock and trademark wordiness to fine effect. [May 2015, p.78]

Best is "Sylvia", where Bon Iver's intimacy, Arcade Fire's ambition, Sigur Ros' other-worldly reach and Flaming Lips' psych experimentalism collide. [Dec 2009, p. 98]

The effortlessly adroit songwriting on this, his second album shows why [in-the-know Kiwis have long talked up the talents of James Milne]. [Jan 2010, p.118]

It's all accessible as the countryside, with a sweeping sense of the arcadian. [Jul 2015, p.76]

It's a sumptuous set-piece, nine tracks of oceanic expansiveness that shift in dynamics and mood. [Sep 2016, p.69]

This is a corporeal and cacophonic record, but all ear-bleeding mayhem it isn't. ... Lightning Bolt continue to spark. [Nov 2019, p.28]

The Foos album closest to Nirvana. [Aug 2023, p.29]

AmERICa finds Wreckless Eric reborn in the USA, his home since 2011. Curmudgeonly, maybe, but a sly joy pervades. [Dec 2015, p.81]