Though straining at times under its rhapsodic pretensions, at its best it's an ambitious symphonic spree. [Oct 2005, p.100]

Much of it signifies nothing. [May 2005, p.96]

For all this sonic broad-mindedness, the Twins' ideas are piled on a lightweight core, and good luck making sense of the lyrics. [Jul 2005, p.104]

Packed with brilliant, bohemian songs that combine affecting lyrical honesty, beguiling melodies and a voice that has a touch of Alanis Morissette. [May 2005, p.96]

It's their first masterpiece. [Album of the Month, May 2005, p.94]

An ambitious but striking debut. [Sep 2004, p.108]

Isn't always successful. [Jun 2005, p.113]

Although it's a shame to see eccentrics reining in idiosyncratic impulses,... they've honed their hubris. [May 2005, p.98]

Lost And Safe is a move songwards, and though this promises greater coherence, it's at the expense of some of the group's wayward charm. [May 2005, p.97]

For an international pop act on a major label, this is a daring album. [May 2005, p.109]

The emphasis tends to be on hooks, not heart. [May 2005, p.100]

In some ways, ...Absence is his most diverse record yet, but it's at its brilliant best when spare and uncompromising. [May 2005, p.104]

Hilariously frenetic, perpetually distracted. [Jun 2005, p.116]

Haunting lamentations that owe as much to the Jewish Klezmer and US folk traditions as to Slint. [May 2005, p.110]

Molina's songs achieve the kind of epic, majestic sweep his ambition and talent have long suggested. [Jun 2005, p.104]

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

By turns oblique, soulful, scornful yet rarely dissonant. Rather, it's one of their lovelier, more formal offerings. [Mar 2005, p.108]

Horrific it's not, but with its cover of protest song "Portlandtown" and Dubya-inspired lyrics on "Laughter In The Dark", neither is it an innocent pleasure. [Apr 2005, p.105]

Sheff's novelistic lyrics and the dextrous blend of country, folk and nervy indie-rock suggest a band approaching the peak of their powers. [Aug 2005, p.87]

[They're] now on their eighth album and still finding something new under the pun. [Sep 2005, p.112]

A mouth-watering feast of beats and grooves... as welcome as anything he's done. [Apr 2005, p.100]

A masterclass in menace. [Apr 2005, p.97]

This album really is just too good to be true. [Apr 2005, p.114]

Edan's punch and broad vision distinguish him from the rest of the pack. [Jun 2005, p.110]

At best superfluous, at worst that very thing he dreads most. Forgettable. [May 2005, p.113]

Ocean Colour Scene return to remind us that no one loves the mid-'60s beat boom more than they do. [May 2005, p.103]

M.I.A.'s vivid debut already sounds like a booty-shaking milestone to rank alongside The Streets and Dizzee Rascal. [May 2005, p.98]

Impossible not to love. [Apr 2005, p.110]