[Producer] Wally Gagel, who helmed the 2013 EP "Fade Away" and now California Nights, gets it right, cranking up the reverb and multiplying Cosentino's vocals to achieve the Spector-esque wall of sound the duo has been aiming for. [Jun 2015, p.71]

Sky Larkin ultimately remain a little too Haley Mills. [Sep 2010, p.102]

It's a mysterious affair, but never obscure. [Feb 2014, p.68]

A bold take on martial oldie "We Want War" brings a fire and brimstone that the more sombre Field Of reeds material conspicuously lacks. [Dec 2014, p.81]

Thankfully, there's more than just wannabe Fall stuff here, offering up a variety of teeth-rattling noises. [Jan 2021, p.32]

There are wildcard influences--"Fire Lies Down" references English folk, "Warm Blood" moves into prog--that suggests Seabear could movie in many different directions. [Apr 2010, p.98]

Boasts and breakbeats are in short supply here. Instead, over gloomy strings, and pounding martial drums, Cudi rails against celebrity culture, confesses to coke-fuelled rages and even contemplates suicide. [Dec 2010, p.97]

His music often lags behind in inspiration. [Mar 2002, p.106]

This treads the thin line between appealing whimsy and finicky, smartypants noodling. [Jun 2007, p.111]

Equal parts entertaining and self-indulgent. [Nov 2015, p.77]

There's a certain modish charm to the opener, "Lucifer's Dreams," while "Finest Hour" show an aptitude for gentle balladry. Elsewhere, though, sub-Smiths smartarsery abounds. [Dec 2016, p.26]

Though the title track and "The Magic In You" recall his early triumphs, it's all a bit 'shoe-business' as usual. [Dec 2016, p.37]

Whereas the band's grand ambitions have sometimes led to music that can feel unduly grandiose, "Uden Ansigt" and "Verden Forsvinder" mark a welcome return to the more intimately scaled music of their early years. [Nov 2019, p.25]

Painting With is striking because it manages to distill the essence of Animal Collective into 12 slices of bite-sized psych-pop that have the punchy immediacy of a Ramones album. [Mar 2016, p.65]

Tobin delivers fiercely programmed, seriously dark material. [Mar 2005, p.104]

The second album from Cheltenham's The Duke Spirit sounds every bit the heads-down attampt at chart-bothering major rock album. Except, well, it's on an indie, and the tunes don't always match the band's stadium-echo ambitions. [Mar 2008, p.86]

Despite their monotone and their monoxide fuming, it's hard not to warm to Monotonix, especially when they catch fire. [Apr 2011, p.86]

A promising opening gambit. [Sep 2011, p.89]

Self awareness and self-loss are finally balanced, especially on Portaling. [Nov 2011, p.97]

There's nothing in here not to love. [Jun 2018, p.30]

Barrie Cadogan is a guitar phenomenon. [Mar 2005, p.102]

The glossy production on this Montreal-based singer songwriter's second album makes it easy to overlook, but beneath the pedal-steel sheen of songs like 'Other Side' lies a real talent. [Sep 2008, p.88]

Lyrically, the album plunges into some vulnerable and troubling places, but musically it lacks a similar emotional range, instead feeling static and one-note. [Aug 2024, p.31]

Psychedelically strange and outrageously entertaining. [Oct 2006, p.99]

It's a blend of the mostly throwaway and occasionally essential. [Dec 2012, p.71]

The dominant flavor is deliberately faceless and club-friendly electro, but the highly finessed sonics and subtle attention to detail emerge over repeat listens. [Apr 2012, p.88]

Clever-clever, emotional-emotional avant-pop. [Jun 2006, p.100]

Charmingly wistful and twitchily rhythmic pop songs. [Nov 2015, p.71]