A more layered dreampop with faux-epic tendencies. [Apr 2017, p.30]

It takes a while to get over that initial disjuncture, and the title track is a headache-inducing mes that sounds like a Bo Diddley rhythm played on electronic toys. Other tracks slip down quite appealingly. [Jul 2016, p.76]

Texis sounds like a band having more fun than they have had in years. [Dec 2021, p.33

The result is neither an especially loud or revelatory one. [Sep 2018, p.32]

[The songs] shows, ultimately, the heights to which Jaffe can rise with time. [Jun 2012, p.158]

Generally things are slower and less musically direct, and so you have an amalgamation of alt.rock, leftfield folk, pop, jazz and touches of electronica. However, while stylistically varied, it can feel a little lacking in variety and dynamism at times, as it very much sits in mid-tempo mode for much of the 12 tracks, the sprightly pop of their early period rarely appearing. Johnson feels nicely in sync with his band though, who possess both precision and personality in their playing. [Oct 2024, p.42]

An uneven mix. [Feb 2006, p.70]

Contains flashes of his finest work. [Aug 2006, p.84]

Vocalist Nicholas Wood's doomy proclamations are frequently buried amid murky guitar and electronic textures, which can obscure the songs somewhat. [May 2016, p.75]

Spedding's ever-luscious quiff a measure of his stylish, if eternally backdated MO. [Mar 2015, p.83]

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

This kind of hackneyed loungecore grammar sometimes sounds timeless and inspired, of course, but Adamson has a tendency to crowd routine melodies with superfluous guitars and clumsy beats. [Oct 2002, p.102]

His long awaited debut sees him adding endless waves of muzzy kosmische, softly burred guitar loops, Fripp-like trippiness and heavy psych/space-rock grooves to his arsenal. [Mar 2011, p.83]

Nashville's elite session men construct an intimate acoustic framework for Souther to cast himself as crooning confidant, but it all feels a little polished and polite. [Sep 2011, p.95]

The result is state-of-the-art pop played by a meat-and-potatoes indie band, and sounds a bit like the Stereo MCs. [Oct 2011, p.89]

While the deliberate shapelessness can sometimes appear strangely listless, the rhythmic intensity of "Abstract/Actress" takes things to another level, with the pair working the sound into a primal fury of feedback and clamour. [Dec 2016, p.25]

Gravenhurst prove that kicking arse is neither beneath nor beyond them. [Oct 2007, p.93]

As reassuring as Nine Lives will be to longtime Winwood fans, it’s bound to leave them wanting more--like a full album of Winwood-Clapton interplay.

Presumably bucketloads of fun live, the novelty wear thin on record. [Nov 2010, p.101]

For all their faults, The Levellers will happily go where other feat to tread. [Sep 2008, p.92]

Rules finds The Whitest Boy Alive turning noticeably paler, peddling a shade of Ralph Lauren yacht-rock that would make Hall & Oates blush. [May 2009, p.105]

It's hard to see how much satisfaction this laconic talent must gain from fiddling with a formula he perfected in 1987. [Nov 2002, p.114]

She has all the signifiers of deep soul experience: the husky, rich timbre; the confident testifying; the honeyed transitions. But the ruefulness, grime and pain... aren't there. [Feb 2004, p.73]

Seductive, maybe--but it rather lacks character of its own. [Sep 2013, p.92]

Rather fine. [Mar 2002, p.95]

A continuation of a grand tradition rather than a feeble descendant, Jones' custom tunings strike sourly sweet notes, occasionally--as on the title track--touching on raga modes. [Oct 2011, p.89]

Stupendously silly but... indisputably proficient. [Nov 2005, p.103]

[It] isn't so much More Fish as it is Cheap Fish. [Mar 2007, p.81]