Over the long haul, it occasionally falls in the nebulous place twixt atmospheric and song, but "Paper Trails"--the Delta blues seen through an xx-like electronic sheen--is a thing of fine-wrought beauty. [Nov 2013, p.68]

A thunderous epiphany of overlapping guitars and in-your-face lyrics. [Jan 2019, p.27]

POTR's most playful outing, Stick And Stones comes off like a bracing exhalation of post-pandemic relief. [Sep 2023, p.32]

It's all great fun and played by a road-hardened band full of vigour. [Oct 2023, p.26]

Ritual invocations are summoned by suggestive titles as much as music, setting the improv in its moment. [Jul 2026, p.31]

His solo debut respects the US traditions that nourish him while reflecting his own history. [Mar 2016, p.82]

It's all fairly dry, but listen closely and its charms emerge. [Mar 2025, p.41]

A delicate, moving album. [Mar 2013, p.80]

Taking cues from Lord Byron and Rome, this solo album from the former Race Horses singer is a dramatic affair. [Apr 2016, p.75]

No shortage of flamboyant tunes. [Jun 2020, p.27]

She manages to make her chosen instrument sound like just about everything it isn't, yet the sense of sonic cohesion and unique identity she possesses never dwindles. [Jul 2020, p.33]

It attempt to meld guitars with '80s Europop much like Phoenix has done, to the extent that single "One Way Trigger" sounds like A-Ha. The experiment is often successful. [Apr 2013, p.78]

A wide-ranging, guest-heavy collection that keeps one foot rooted in grimy, shuddering, low-end sonics while exploring multiple alternative avenues. [Aug 2020, p.34]

A bumpy ride overall, but rewarding. [Jul 2025, p.37]

Adams has come up with a captivating set of "sound Paintings" that eschew rock dynamics in favour of slowly shifting abstract patterns in which his guitar is filtered through a polychromatic prism of Tinariwen grooves, Steve Reich pulses, gnawa trance rhythms and droning raga loops. [Aug 2017, p.23]

It's mind-expanding, punk psychedelia. [Sep 2001, p.96]

Rockmaker's rude vigour and bounty of hooks will reassure the faithful, as should the ample supply of snark from Courtney Taylor-Taylor. [Apr 2024, p.31]

Casts them as confident modern classicists. [Dec 2003, p.126]

This being a soundtrack and not a convetional Scott Walker album, there is no sign of that pale, lieder that floats through latterday Scott Walker records like a phantom. But there are clear points of continuity between The Childhood OF A Leader and recent studio albums The Drift and Bisch Bosch. [Sep 2016, p.68]

There's always a glimpse of the human in Popp's music, an organic feel that gives a sense of a hand at the controls. [Mar 2020, p.33]

Ultimately the notion lingers that Wax Stag's gentle fantasy is more Bedford than Balaeric. [Apr 2015, p.84]

Most convincing are versions of Xiu Xiu's thunderously anthemic "I Luv The Valley OH," Clinic's irrepressible "Tomorrow," and intimate wordiness of David Thomas Broughton's "Ambiguity." Coldplay's "Hurts Like Heaven," however cannot shake off its provenance. [Dec 2013, p.72]

It's a warm and slightly rickety set, with folk-ish elements and faint echoes of Sentridoh. [Jul 2021, p.23]

The result is park reckoning and part explosive joy, as the band lean further into the hip-hop side of their influences. [Jul 2020, p.36]

The Afghan Whigs remain a high stakes band, conducting business not with a eye on self-preservation, but in the heat of the moment. [May 2014, p.72]

Dark, funny and teetering on the verge of Phil Ochs delusional, Macaroni is a assault on hipster apathy. [May 2012, p.69]

The duo's third add little to territory explored by Broadcast and Sterolab, but there is still an alluring soft-porn sexiness to avant-Kraut Moog-pop excursions. [Jun 2015, p.75]

Fear Of Death plays mortality for dark laughs, while The Lemon Twigs and Foxygen's Jonathan Rado help Heidecker to whip up a note-perfect Randy Newman sound. [Dec 2020, p.30]