It never quite matches the promise of the excellent opening half. [Jun 2015, p.75]

The Heavy's debut album is a dirty, bluesy, funk rock noise that, on paper, looks deeply uncool but might actually be the album of the year. [Dec 2007, p.97]

Mondanile doesn't always have the songs to pull off the silver jacket. "Wearing A Mask" hints at band beefs past, much as "In The Hallway" does to the Real Estate mode, but these and the intricate guitar licks of "Mannequin" are the only moments where Ducktails make their fusion spark. [Nov 2017, p.26]

It sounds, to its considerable credit, very much like the record that might have followed. [Jun 2018, p.24]

There's a sense that he's doing little more than cobbling together offcuts from his recent stream of projects. [Dec 2008, p.105]

The belated follow-up is a massive upgrade. [May 2017, p.26]

A predominantly female choir features throughout, boosting Taylor's crises of confidence on "Focus Is Power" and "What Now" into communal rallying cries. But there is fun here too. [May 2025, p.39]

Feyness is a constant threat, but Mitchell's British debut generally tiptoes clear of whimsy, mixing up the guitar loops, squitting beats and genteel vocal angst in a way which becomes insidious. [Apr 2003, p.105]

Think the Chemical Brothers meet Flaco Jiminez and you'll get the idea. [Jan 2003, p.119]

While Baby I'm Bored is way too modest to be a masterpiece, it's far more than a join-the-dots account of a life on the rocks, and grows brighter, and more optimistic, with every play. [Apr 2003, p.102]

For every inspired turn, there's an insubstantial one, while some merely appear sluggish. [Aug 2005, p.96]

[The Gossip] have evolved a blend of rough and impassioned garage-soul that owes as much to Tina Turner, Peggy Lee and The Ronettes as it does to Sonic Youth and The White Stripes. [Mar 2006, p.96]

This release compiles non-album tracks, remixes and a couple of new tunes, but it feels like a perfectly focused set of retro-modernist dance. [Jan 2012, p.90]

{I Still Do] offers a typical Clapton mix of covers and original material. The former are rather more impressive than the latter. [Jun 2016, p.72]

Purling Hiss set aside their chaotic brand of psychedelic garage rock in favour of a collection that seems to owe a surprising debt to British New Wave of the late '70s and early '80s. [Nov 2016, p.35]

Watkins' judicious arrangements and less-is-more approach throw different shades onto these songs she fell in love with a child. [May 2021, p.35]

There's nothing quite as forward looking here. [Oct 2009, p.102]

McCauley's time might just have arrived.

A little more zip wouldn't go amiss. [Aug 2019, p.36]

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]

There's still a noisy edge to the group and some moments do shine, such as the LCD Soundsystem-like "Welcome To Hell" or the sneering "I'm Sick," but largely the album feels a little lost and confused. [Dec 2016, p.26]

Ultimately, Phrazes For The Young testifies that the qualities that made Julian Casablancas so noteworthy in 2001 remain in place, just a little more difficult to predict.

He's at his best here on the playful Beck-like 'Hurricane' and the sweetly mournful 'Rope of Sand,' but Jamiroquai-averse listeners would do well to avoid 'Figure Me Out.' [May 2008, p.102]

This follow-up is a lackluster affair. [Sep 2009, p.95]

There us ab agreeably lo-fi C86 sloppiness to much f this debut, even if it sounds more cheap than raw in places. [Feb 2014, p.81]

Rarely has emotional repression sounded so coy, or so appealing. [Dec 2010, p.86]

It's yielded his best solo album in years. Rather than home, it's actually a close-knit kind of jam session. [Oct 2010, p.96]

Stuttering breakbeats, looped effects and suffusive psychedelia. [Feb 2007, p.72]