King Con is essentially a pop record full of catchy melodies and a shrieking singing style that will either set your heart aflutter or prompt you to punch a wall. [May 2012, p.84]

Volume 3 is terrific when M. Ward's heavier production subsides and Deschanel's voice freely suggest swinging from lampposts in a romantic swoon. [Jun 2013, p.78]

Just prepare for a Rogue Wave deluge. [June 2008, p.102]

A sampling tour de force, but short on soul. [Apr 2006, p.112]

A warm, subtle set of midtempo cruisers. [May 2006, p.114]

The material on what's intended to be her big breakthrough is however unispired. [Mar 2009, p.80]

Laswell provides an accomplished, opulent dub setting. But it's at blandish odds with the lo-tech wildness of Perry's own original Black Ark recordings. [Jul 2011, p.93]

Pounding opener "When The Drugs Kick In," the workaday wonder of "Everyday," and a churning, blistering cover of Neil Young's "Southern Pacific" highlight a fine return to form. [Jul 2013, p.73]

From The Very Depths is unreconstructed but brutally effective. [Mar 2015, p.84]

The outcome is a raucous, rough-and-tumble blues-rock album. [Jun 2015, p.71]

A fairly straightforward indie offering, covering mid-tempo jangle with layers of guitars, and lyrics about growing up and suburban escape. [Oct 2016, p.25]

While the change in the band's output is not revolutionary, its subtle shift proves fruitful. [Jul 2019, p.37]

His return is an oddly subdued affair. [Aug 2019, p.35]

These shimmery reworkings of Cave classics including "The Ship Song" and "Red Right Hand" are pleasingly free of both solemn reverence and ironic kitsch. [Feb 2022, p.33]

Fascinating, though fans of their later work are advised to approach with caution. [Dec 2022, p.48]

If 2005's "Z" flirted with cautiously with funk synths and a more direct pop sound, Evil Urges makes it a full-blown, messy tryst.

Some of the music here illustrates the limitations of the formula, sometimes lapsing into lumpy blues-rock or new-age noodling. [May 2016, p.70]

Sometimes enthralling, sometimes throwaway. [Nov 2006, p.120]

Vincent Belorgey’s obsession with buffed-up synths and corny lyrics earnestly sung (“Reborn” by Romuald, “Renegade” by Cautious Clay) does pay off, but the air-tight production and endless cascade of saccharine arpeggios – plus a lovesick Sébastien Tellier pining on “Goodbye” – lays on thick the sentimental shtick. [Jul 2022, p.29]

Steve plays all the instruments, aside from drums, and records on studio equipment of comparably venerable vintage to Steve himself. This fundamentalist approach inevitably places a huge burden on the singing and songwriting.

Overall, however, the reaction is a resounding "Huh?" [May 2011, p.103]

Few of the 23 artists involved here resist the shackles of taste. [May 2014, p.81]

It seems relocating from Vienna to L.A., getting married and becoming a father has nudged the British-born producer-performer closer t conventional R&B electro-pop on his second album, with mostly positive results. [Feb 2017, p.38]

Their ragtag religious signifiers, stretching from the Mediterranean to Bengal, feel like gap year blog entries, and Cisneros' wizened sage delivery is ludicrous. [Aug 2012, p.77]

A discordant, but strangely beautiful, experiment from the outer fringes of pop. [May 2011, p.93]

Adrian Thaws is another decent entry in the latterday Trickypedia, rolling along on circular bluesfunk grooves and furtive whisper-croak boy-girl vocals. [Oct 2014, p.79]

Her best record yet. [Jun 2002, p.107]

The music is largely uninteresting, a bland hotchpotch of dub-flavoured electronic styles. [Feb 2024, p.34]