Musically, the tunes blend pop stickiness with sonic experimentation, but there is a strong sense of place. [Mar 2025, p.24]

If this is indeed, as rumoured, LCD's final bout, it finds them a little heavy and tired, but occasionally deceptively light on their feet. [Jun 2010, p.82]

Unique, captivating stuff. [Jul 2011, p.80]

This is noticeably a slightly older, wiser o Age, one aware that the rigours of the age demand a little more than good-times positivity. Certainly, they've seldom sounded better. [Feb 2018, p.22]

Once Twice Melody's greatness lies not in its hugeness - it's in the duo's ability to create music that possesses the same intimacy regardless of its scope. [Mar 2022, p.33]

"My Heart Is In Your Hands Tonight", a fusion of "Needles And Pins", "September Gurls" and "Go All The Way", boasts the signature flair of a Michelin chef. Brian, meanwhile, breaks new ground with the harmonically adventurous closing set piece "Your True Enemy". These "spot the reference" whizz-kids have grown into formalist savants. [Jun 2026, p.32]

Subtle, complex, and not always pacifying. [Mar 2023, p.32]

It’s a vibrant and genre-spanning collection, from the stripped-back piano house of opener “Wanna” via the UK garage flavour of “Waited All Night” (featuring xx bandmates Romy and Oliver Sim). Elsewhere, there are touches of R&B, disco, pop and electro-funk as the record unfurls with all the grace and flow of a masterful DJ set. [Oct 2024, p.43]

The music flits between rock, folk and jazz, providing an emotional experience that is as affecting as anything you are likely to hear in 2025. [Feb 2025, p.43]

The gravity of his subject matter finds a contrast in Swift's playful musical settings. [Dec 2018, p.33]

Shows off a rare side to Blunt: a soul-baring sincerity. [Sep 2021, p.25]

It's glorious, elevating and energising stuff. [Sep 2020, p.27]

The Derbyshire trio bring a pleasing experimentalism to their second LP. [Aug 2015, p.75]

There are clearly mad skills at work, but silent Earthling is rarely anything other than a simple pleasure. [May 2016, p.81]

The material, largely chosen from recent releases, sounds primal and immense. [Aug 2016, p.83]

Boone's soulful presence in the Delines brings a different slant to Vlautin's characters, her voice transmitting something more hopeful and tender. [Feb 2019, p.26]

There are moments of redemption as songs such as "On Deronda Road" and Weightless" celebrate life's capacity for renewal. But make no mistake: this is a dark record for dark times. [Nov 2019, p.25]

It’s hard to recall a set of songs on which Rhys’s low-key radicalism and unquenchable sense of wonder have coexisted with such ease. [Jan 2024, p.24]

There are several lengthy, furious, deliberately alienating diatribes from the Jamaican feminist poet Staceyann Chin, whole sections in French and Steve Reich-style phase-shifting sound collages. All of this does a slight disservice to some excellent songs. [Sep 2024, p.37]

This latest outing does suitable state-of-the-nation stuff on "Next Generation" and "American Crisis," but the big AM radio melodies in "Everything To You" and "Little Pieces" (plus the unusually lubricious "Leather Dream") show how much fun Mould could still have. [Oct 2020, p.34]

A fast-paced, multi-faceted, furiously entertaining record that reveal hidden emotional depth. [May 2015, p.79]

His obvious poetic and melodic gifts have seldom sounded so compelling. [May 2003, p.108]

A brilliant fusion of no-wave disco, dub-punk, early Factory aesthetics and post-rock technique. [Dec 2002, p.134]

Her best in two decades. [Dec 2003, p.120]

Beam is a master of circumnavigating cliche. [May 2004, p.106]

Perhaps for the first time, The National sound relaxed in their skin. [Jun 2013, p.77]

Willie Nelson and Elvis Costello appear as duet partners, affably resigned to not competing with that unmistakable undimmed voice. [Apr 2016, p.75]

Sprints' debut delivers on thrilling live shows, with singer, guitarist and songwriter Karla Chubb providing a visceral fury, not least on the furious "Adore Adore Adore", unheard since their label released Hole's Pretty On The Inside. [Jan 2024, p.36]