The trio's blend of live performance, samples and electronica is hardly groundbreaking. [Feb 2012, p.98]

Sally Shapiro continues to revel in this cheesy yet faintly psychedelic sound. [Mar 2013, p.76]

Really, though, the whole--say, the bracing rock of 'Take Back The City'--is more than the sum of these parts, and underlines this album as a success in its field.

The way the elements hang together effortlessly on "Cataract" is worthy of Bat for Lashes, or even Bjork. [Apr 2010, p.109]

Half of this curious but at times compelling collaboration set lyrics from old songs to new tracks--though not always to their benefit. [Oct 2013, p.62]

The results are alluring warped but this groovy nostalgia is now a well-trodden path. [Dec 2015, p.76]

The mix of prog, neo-classical and folkish influences, with Anderson's flute as ubiquitous as ever, is exactly as you'd expect, yet he has plenty to say of contemporary relevance in songs about Israel ("Over Jerusalem"), climate change ("Savannah Of Paddington Green") and the avarice of politicians ("Dunsinane Hill"). [Apr 2025, p31]

In terms of breath-snatching bravura, Worden shines very brightly indeed. [July 2008, p.105]

A bargin it might be, but the triumphs of yore tend to expose the new album's low-fi rockabilly and country strums. [Jul 2009, p.95]

Vance's earnest balladeering often sounds overly safe. [Jun 2016, p.82]

She proves... that she's more than a professional widow. [Jul 2005, p.104]

There's no shortage of decent tunes. [Nov 2011, p.83]

It's original member, turntablist Nu-Mark, who still provides the highlights. [Aug 2006, p.96]

The group's ninth album feels low-down and dirty. [Feb 2020, p.25]

Beast Moans can be drowsy at times... but it's punctuated by bursts of poetic insight and near-orgasmic glee. [Jan 2007, p.103]

Full of fleeting revelations, Calamity is as bewitchingly fractured as The Red Krayola's subversive attacks on pop/rock form. [Dec 2006, p.106]

Its high-beam intensity and near relentless drive triumphing over the niggling familiarity of some songs. [May 2017, p.30]

It’s too blunt, messy and reverent to be up there with their best, but you hope that it also serves a secondary function: to clear the decks for one last magnificent tilt at rock deification on album number ten.

Her creamy voice canters over deft fingerpicked guitars and celtic violin throughout the rest of the album, and although the heights of the aforementioned song are barely hinted at elsewhere, Marling’s promise--she’s just 17 years old--is as clear as spring water.

Delivered via rolling, thunderous rhythms--part Can, part Black Sabbath--moody synths and mournfully melodic guitar, using the slow-build-to-explosion method. [Apr 2004, p.91]

Swift guides Jurado through the sub-Spectorisms of "Arkansas" and "Throwing Your Voice" with a sensitive touch. [Jun 2010, p.96]

At times songs pass by too easily. [Sep 2004, p.104]

Both sublime and ridiculous. [Jun 2002, p.114]

Mala finds his skills somewhat exposed across a whole album as he seeks to balance frisky Cuban percussion with his own muscular poise. [Nov 2012, p.77]

McCraven's label debut deploys his own musicians with Horace Silver and the rest, giving a steamy hip-hop stutter to Blakey beats already halfway there, and letting the aching melody of Kenny Burrell's "Autumn In New York" simmer under new rhythmic cross-winds. [Dec 2021, p.31]

Flares dazzlingly on initial contact, but dims a little. [Jun 2004, p.92]

No-one would argue this is the equal of his '70s production heyday, but he remains indefatigable in his energies. [Nov 2016, p.35]

This is deluxe lava-lamp music, pleasantly pretty at worst, hypnotically beautiful at best. [Sep 2024, p.33]