With the genre-hopping feel of a high-concept mixtape, Bless This Mess calls on a wide cast of collaborators. [Apr 2023, p.38]

Marr has hit a rich vein of middle-age form. [Dec 2014, p.74]

Blended with earnest acoustic guitar picking and rattling electronic production, the young songwriter reveals a bright future at the end of personal agony. [Feb 2021, p.35]

Adapting the lushest textures from'90s alt.rock, grunge and shoegaze, most strikingly on "tractor Beam" and "Dead End", Jordan is ready to take the next step. [Apr 2026, p.36]

A giddy psychedelic opera performed with Wayne Coyne-levels of beaming optimism. [Mar 2020, p.27]

The performances are ahead of the songwriting at this early stage, but the loping "Trojans," the rip-roaring "Electric" and the Police-like "Centered On You" engagingly introduce Atlas Genius' genetically taut sound. [Mar 2013, p.67]

[Bardi Jóhannsson's] presence is overshadowed by that of Jean-Benoît Dunckel. [May 2016, p.79]

Lisa Jen's ethereal voice still swoops beguilingly over Martin Hoyland's expansive arrangements, fusing harps, dulcimers and guitars with dub beats, loops and pounding bass. [Jun 2016, p.67]

As always, you know what you're getting -- and you get that they're knowing. [Feb 2024, p.27]

Amplifying the convivial otherworldliness of his music by grabbing hold of mythic melodies like "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" and "We Travel The Spaceways" and filling them with their analogue fantasia, alien chants going intergalactic in gently fried circuit boards. [Dec 2021, p.25]

The first six tracks of pared-down techno loops give way to the ambient sound-and-speech collage of "InterZil" before the metallic funk jackhammers of frenzied current single "Krekc." [Jul 2002, p.106]

Acoustic Classics is a useful update on 1984's live Small Town Romance, with Thompson this time attacking his back catalogue in the studio. [Sep 2014, p.78]

Addictive pop kitsch. [Apr 2005, p.99]

If there's a faint veil of disappointment hanging over all this excellence, it's that Allah-Las haven't built m,ore adventurously on the foundations of their debut. [Oct 2014, p.66]

It's a warmly pristine, groovily poignant set, with vocals pitched for gender neutrality and an ear for a great hook. [Jan 2019, p.23]

Songs start as brooding slices of minimalism and slowly mutate into Morricone-esque ballads ("Teeth"), motorik synthpop ("Propeller") or chugging waltzes (a version of Neil Young's "Red Sun"). [Apr 2025, p.36]

Frankie Rose's 2012 tour de force Interstellar cuts the same fabric slightly more elegantly, maybe, but Blouse's frills are anything but cheap. [Dec 2013, p.65]

What the Jets might have lost in terms of their early quirkiness, they make up for in melody and emotional heft. [Feb 2016, p.78]

The spoken-word pieces court tweeness, but Yorkston's delivery keeps things the right side of mawkish. [Mar 2019, p.37]

The instrumental interludes full of hypnotic loops and Mellotrons are intriguing enough, but the meat lies in the lushly layered art-pop songs. [Jun 2020, p.30]

...Like Clockwork is the sound of the band, oddly, albeit entertainingly unsettled. [Jul 2013, p.79]

A valuable addition to his catalogue: the most consistent and sympathetically constructed solo album he's made. [Jul 2004, p.96]

Switchback rhythms and artfully tangled melodies make it hard to pin them down. [Nov 2017, p.35]

They're breaking no new personal ground, then but. ... Their enthusiasm and wayward energy carry them. [Jan 2021, p.27]

It's a tart set but not a sour one - concerns are laid bare and life lessons shared, with whip-smart confidence. [Apr 2022, p.25]

It gets a bit ploddy at times, but their knack for a good tune, a sweet harmony and the odd fiery guitar break keeps it all on the right side of mellow. [Oct 2013, p.75]

Jones' considerable composing,guitar and vocal strengths are marshalled effectively. [Apr 2013, p.78]

Levy's lo-fi sonic palette and dreamy, speak-sung vocals hint at intimacy, her creative use of sound effects and electronics the mark of an archivist. [Oct 2021, p.29]