Their ability to turn despair to joy even stretches as far as being able to turn a song called "Everybody Dies" into a thrilling, fuzzed-out blast. [Sep 2025, p.39]

The instrumental palette is more wide-ranging in a subtler, more subversive manner. [Apr 2004, p.96]

The highlight is a creepy, prowling, marimba-driven take on The Knife's "Pass This On," which retains the female gaze of the original. [Jun 2014, p.82]

The most radical treatments are the highlights. [Oct 2016, p.40]

"Dandy," a fond-but-smart homage to Bowie that channels the spirit of "All The Young Dudes" with unashamed nostalgia. It's the standout track on his first album of new songs in six years--but there's plenty else here that's worth hearing, too. [Nov 2016, p.31]

There's nothing particularly profound here, but the combination of skanking, roots-reggae rhythms and O'Connor's still-gorgeous voice... is a winning one. [Nov 2005, p.106]

[Their indulgences] can be tiresome--"People On Strong Stuff" plods without purpose--but equally provides passages of uncontained elation. [Nov 2012, p.79]

Initially it's hard to detect much disruption to his usual winning formula of squelchy keyboards, pulsing rhythms and glassy guitar noodles, but the dank electro of "AE" and the hot-stepping snares of "O" introduce a note of disquiet that only pulls you further into his exquisitely crafted universe. [Feb 2018, p.30]

There are still missteps--the ungainly "Chain My Name" and "Spilling Lines"--but between these sit a brace of casually innovative slow jams. [Nov 2013, p.76]

It's nothing new, but the songwriting and arrangements are on point, the references impeccable and the execution classily heartfelt. [Jul 2026, p.35]

There's no shortage of melancholy here, but it's of an understated and universal kind. [Mar 2016, p.74]

In Keeping it simple, Frawley speaks volumes to the gloriously messy stew of the human psyche. [Mar 2019, p.27]

The Aussie Maestros deliver seven concise tracks of electronica, largely indebted to Giorgio Moroder but with ventures into many of those elements Moroder inspired, from disco to techno and even jungle. [Dec 2023, p.33]

The title track;s urgent strums are more claustrophobic, while "Shaking"'s jangles are more prosaic. Largely, though, she's as refreshingly carefree as her lyrics are empowering. [Jun 2020, p.29]

Sleater-Kinney strike a finer balance between their established punk sound and the New Wave references that gummed up recent records. [Jan 2024, p.36]

A usefully pungent backstory enlivens this decent collection of head-nodders. [May 2015, p.73]

The musical backing is politer than the lyrics, but it can't altogether blunt the boldness of their discourse. [Jul 2018, p.30]

Patience is still a warm and uplifting record befitting this modest, meticulous band. [Jul 2016, p.74]

It works, mainly: though one or two songs could benefit from the old viciousness, these are seductive confections. [Apr 2004, p.104]

The spartan tracks without drums, backed only by clumsy piano, remain highly effective. [Nov 2016, p.31]

They're immersed in keyboard-assisted '80s pop and brooding white soul, with overtones of New Order and Lloyd Cole, while XCox's Morrissey-like vocals again underscore their love of The Smiths. [Sep 2014, p.75]

The Tom Waits-ish jazz of the title track, the slinky CCR-ish trundle of "My Baby Drives" and the gentle pedal-steel-led-weeper "White Gardenias" confirm that Earle's quieting of his demons has lost him little. [Nov 2014, p.73]

Retro-futurism at its best. [Feb 2020, p.35]

Kykeon combines that knowledge [of Greek folk music] with freewheeling homeland psych. [Jan 2015, p.76]

The synths and drum machines that supplant those albums' painstaking arrangements highlight robust songwriting underpinning standout "The Place I Live," while new vocal counter-melodies lift Elverum's "O Superman" choir out of the murk. [Dec 2013, p.70]

Fair to say, you won't hear anything like it. [Nov 2012, p.79]

It's an epic of self-conscious protest, asking questions about the way the global and the local become corporate, homogenous anti-realities, pegged to songs that play loose with genre. [Apr 2020, p.25]

Less outre than much of Patton's work. [Feb 2013, p.80]