Everything is buried under a blanket of surface noise, as if these are decaying tapes that have been salvaged form an old building and the highlights math this narrative. [Jun 2017, p.26]

Jello is still in good voice, so this could basically pass for a mid-80s Dead Kennedys album, were it not for the contemporary references. [Jun 2013, p.69]

It could do with some Toe Ze-style danger, and it's a bit coffeetable--but a sun-dappled, rum-stocked coffee table to be fair. [May 2012, p.69]

There's something unerring precise about the four compositions here, even as they stretch their limbs outwards. [Nov 2025, p.28]

Travis continue to subtly experiment with their sound, and on this 10th studio set it regularly pays dividends. [Aug 2024, p.40]

His eighth solo album is a fine place to start investigations of this dappled terrain, in laces a little heavier and more psychedelic than one might expect. [Sep 2014, p.74]

This one keeps the focus tight and intimate. [Sep 2013, p.93]

It's sunny and optimistic and mostly dynamic (sans a few sleepy, repetitive moments on the six-minute-plus tracks). [May 2023, p.35]

The lowering, incantatory "Circles," suggesting Peggy Lee fronting a minimalist Warpaint, and the doomy rebetika of "Loving Loving" stand out, but there's much to admire. [Dec 2018, p.33]

Wilderness is a logical step for the group, honing their aesthetic, and finding intimate rapture in the peak moments of their carefully crafted songs. [Feb 2017, p.24]

Her deft piano playing helps release some of the tension in her highwire act. [Apr 2019, p.34]

Howling from the eye of the storm, Scott Hutchinson's raw holler and bleakly poetic worldview remain the key points of emotional connection. [Feb 2013, p.73]

Overblown and occasionally excruciating, I Love It...'s fearless perversity nonetheless puts most "alternative" bands to shame. [Apr 2016, p.67]

This polished third album is a feat for fans of puerile humour and glam-metal guitar solos. [May 2014, p.80]

The rest of the album never reaches such heights [of The Big E], but there are enough noisy high-points, such as "Never Get Tired" and "Sit Tight," to make Laughing Party a significant step up. [Jul 2012, p.74]

Hard not to admire his audacity as much as his ear for a great drivetime radio riff.

They may have opened out their map a little more for Medicine At Midnight, but the Foos' territory remains reassuringly familiar. [Mar 2021, p.38]

Last original member standing David Thomas remains inscrutable, defining Lady from Shanghai as an album of dance music. [Feb 2013, p.78]

El Guincho is a kind of Iberian Kanye, and this is a twisted fantasy of wine-bar techno: busy, brash and migrainey, at its adventurous best on "Comix" and "Mis Hist." [Apr 2016, p.71]

Frequently utterly mesmerising. [Nov 2003, p.124]

Lyrically on "Men" they come for the jugular of the patriarchy. ... It's not all tension and frantic energy, however. [Feb 2021, p.33]

He remains a precise craftsman with a bottomless trove of '60s pop hooks and dreamy melodies, but he upends them with acute-angle riffs and scribbled punctuations. [Feb 2021, p.37]

The famous guests broaden the appeal--but ultimately it's the Syrians who are the true stars. [Jan 2017, p.32]

They range from isolated fragments to several absorbing takes of a song - "Went To See The Gypsy" - on its way to near-greatness. [Apr 2021, p.42]

Thankfully, they rewire this timeless aesthetic with more open-minded affection than stifling reverence. [Apr 2016, p.73]

Though this set is necessarily reflective, nostalgia and self-pity don't get a look in. [Apr 2025, p.33]

On Hardware and elsewhere in his solo career, there remains little doubt about what he does best. [Jul 2021, p.32]

Some of the vocal numbers feel like cluttered indie-dance throwbacks, but they are outshone by pure electronic creations. [Apr 2015, p.80]