It's refreshing to hear Paul Humphreys and Andy McCluskey challenging themselves as OMD enjoy their Indian Summer--"La Mitrailleuse" blends gunfire and military drums--even if the results mostly end up as blue-eyed Kraftwerkian pop. [Oct 2017, p.36]

An astonishingly primal album. [Aug 2006, p.93]

Melody Gardot actually makes a better album than Shakin' Stevens and Peyroux with My One And Only Thrill. [Apr 2009, p.82]

The Charlatans make commendable attempts to expand their creative horizons. [Oct 2010, p.88]

The band's amiable punk-folk chunter lacks a little of its usual charm. [Oct 2013, p.74]

He combines a fondness for Lou Reed-style New York street theater with anti-folk and '80s out-of-tune jangle to scintillating effect. [Aug 2013, p.76]

Accomplished but oddly characterless, and despite the high hook count, forgettable. [May 2018, p.30]

The defining breeziness of Buddy & Jim could never be mistaken for an ill wind, as such, but there are moments at which it's hard not to wish they'd invested a fourth or even a fifth day in the work. [Feb 2013, p.70]

The homogenous production gets bland real quick, meaning, that, ultimately, it' shard to care either way about it. [May 2014, p.83]

Embrace plies its trade with a neat mix of musical proficiency and stylistic flexibility. [Jun 2009, p.93]

A set of pristine ballads that veer somewhere between the atmospheric folk of Suzanne Vega and Sade's austere pop-soul. [Apr 2012, p.83]

It’s a ravishing production, and with a companion disc promised next year, feels like a fresh start for a brilliant career.

As inventive and well-meaning as these bastard pop blasts are, they're still not a patch on the originals. [Dec 2004, p.153]

Budget keyboard presets and filtered, treble-heavy production give the likes of "Lissoms" and :low Shoulder" an endearingly woozy, lo-fi feel. [Mar 2010, p.98]

The result is strangely enervating. [Aug 2008, p.103]

The emphasis tends to be on hooks, not heart. [May 2005, p.100]

This is a finely paced album, mirroring the rhythm of the calendar and getting choppier as it moves toward the midway point. [Feb 2011, p.99]

Eleventh Dream Day may be getting on, but there are no signs of them growing stale. [Apr 2011, p.80]

Their eight album of earnest, limpid lullabies is notable once again for the spangled guitar of long-term collaborator, Ghost's Michio Kurihana. [Jun 2011, p.80]

It works beautifully. [Jun 2013, p.75]

An unmissable craftman. [Jun 2013, p.69]

It's the gently chiming guitars, summery synth lines and Vallesteros' Beach Boy melodies that dominate. [Sep 2014, p.71]

The band's self-titled debut may inevitably lack the electricity of the live shows, but with the abundance of trashy thrills, "I Love LA" and "Let Her Be" still demonstrate the potency of Sytarcrawler's au courant mash-up of Raw Power-era stooges, Sunset Strip glam-metal and Nirvana at their hookiest. [Feb 2018, p.35]

An intoxicating, instrumental tribute to the wheezing Farfisa organ; propped up only by the clarinet and double bass. [Aug 2020, p.27]

Kane has now made what he has called a "grand, souly album". And at times his bold move pays off. [Feb 2022, p.31]

Loaded with guests, from Slash to Tom Morello, it’s no-frills hard rock which, while occasionally a little dated and clichéd, still has plenty of fizz to it. [Nov 2024, p.40]

Here he bans repetition of verses and choruses, compacting a double album's detail into 40 minutes. [Feb 2025, p.35]

Black Lips have found their way to middle age through a careful balance of punk attitude and rock'n'roll classicism. Satan's Graffiti Or God's Art? keeps that dissolute edge intact. [Jun 2017, p.24]