The overall tone may be sombre but it's expressed with such a weightless delicacy, shaded with occasional harmonica and piano, that it's hard not to feel transported. [Apr 2014, p.77]

Nothings Gonna Change shimmers in spare arrangements, ghostly keyboards, textured horns, and, occasionally, a talking-style vocal style borrowed from Springsteen's Nebraska. [May 2012, p.72]

The results are funkier than anything Byrne or Eno might have imagined almost 40 years ago. [Jul 2018, p.30]

Jaar, the son of conceptual artist Alfredo Jaar, can weave a heady spell, presenting himself somewhere between David Byrne and Ricardo Villalobos. [Jun 2011, p.85]

Mulvey brings virtuosity, intelligence and a lightly experimental agenda to his rich and crafted solo debut. [Jun 2014, p.80]

Woozy, off-track beats blend with video game blips and organic strings, harp and sax, while a cameo from Thom Yorke is woven neatly into this lush, psychedelic fabric. [Jun 2010, p.86]

When LAMB is good, it's very good indeed.... It's one of the most audacioius pop albums of the year. [Jan 2005, p.120]

This Is BASIC plays as galvanising and gleeful, not only to audience effect but clearly for its makers, too. In all of that, it’s anything but. [Oct 2024, p.32]

Last Night is ambitious, mature and noisy. [Nov 2013, p.78]

A pleasantly bitchy book gives all Ork acts their due, a raft of rare tracks completing the picture. Prix offcuts are essential listening for Big Star fetishists.

Gallipoli is the most acoustically rich Beirut album to date, with studio buzz and random dissonance deployed as musical texture more than ever before. [Mar 2019, p.35]

As familiar as a hug from an old friend. Yet the band's knack for colliding pop melodies with thrashing drums, pummelling bass and screeching guitars is as effective as ever. [May 2021, p.25]

The overarching atmosphere is masterful, a sense of brimming anxiety that unites even as it unsettles. [Apr 2020, p.37]

A remarkable act of spiritual resilience. [Jun 2021, p.23]

Their chemistry is obvious. [Feb 2013, p.74]

The songs, musically dazzling with strings and fetching arrangements, sometimes organise themselves into forceful hooks. [Mar 2013, p.77]

All are very good indeed.

Layered vocal effects and unexpected rhythms on tracks like "Messenger" and "Loud" reward repeated listens, while the pounding, jagged drums of "Caged Sleep" and blissed-out fuzz-pop of "Wheel" offer immediate satisfaction. [Jul 2020, p.39]

Elemental and beautiful. [Apr 2025, p.31]

Never self indulgent, this is enquiring music that's frequently beautiful. [Dec 2008, p.81]

Pick Me Up Off The Floor hangs together wonderfully. [Jun 2020, p.33]

An audacious, risk-taking tour de force, it locates itself in the upper reaches of Steve Wynn's increasingly daunting canon. [Jan 2011, p.87]

Still, as a whole, Bitte Orca feels nothing less than a modern equivalent to Talking Heads' Fear Of Music or Scritti's Cupid & Psyche 85 –art-rock with intellectual rigour, borderless curiosity, and no fear of the mainstream. Pop, by any other name.

'Cave Mouth' rocks with something of Fugazi's technical heft, while 'Perfect Fit' matches Penner's quavering vocals to dancing Klezmer piano and swells of cymbal. [Aug 2009, p.88]

The dynamic, White-produce LP is dominated by wistful yet hooky ballads. [Jul 2017, p.32]

Unexpectedly, it's all pretty exciting. negotiate the scree, and the songs demand repeating. [Dec 2009, p.121]

Somewhat Gothic, but for all its dark corners, this debut gleams with a pop lustre. [Jun 2011, p.77]

Rustic, rowdy, bags of fun, Life On Other Planets is another Supergrass masterpiece. [Nov 2002, p.118]