As brave as it is diverse. [Oct 2006, p.104]

Grainger's first solo outing swaps the lascivious intensity of his former outfit for a rakish new wave ramalam somewhere between Cheap Trick and The Strokes' "First Impression of Earth." [Apr 2009, p.86]

This is a "Talk Of the Town" of the mind, and he is clearly in his elemnt. [Dec 2008, p.100

With Gotan Project's Philippe Cohen producing, the sixty-something plunges into assorted weirdness here. [May 2013, p.73]

The band's second album features a few middling faux-Europop numbers, but the best are real growers. [Jul 2015, p.71]

Sole's fast and fluid rhymes deal with a wide range of socio-political concerns, but are saved from sounding like diatribes by his sly wit. [Apr 2005, p.114]

It's a long time since a debut album forged its influences into something quite as fresh and rich as this. [May 2011, p.87]

[An] affectionate charity project to benefit the victims of floods and fires in Tennessee and Texas. [Dec 2012, p.95]

Folds' third solo album is filled with songs about breakups, laced with some low-key experimentalism and, of course, a lot of keyboard pounding. [Nov 2008, p.94]

In places she sounds surprisingly like Andrea Corr, but she;s a winningly melodic songwriter. [Aug 2015, p.78]

The absence of imagination here is a tad dispiriting. [Dec 2016, p.30]

The pair unleash a succession of hallucinatory soundscapes that feel hermetically sealed yet confrontational, as if daring us to fire up a fat blunt and allow this sleek beast to burrow into our frontal lobes. [Oct 2013, p.71]

Little more than a bunch of B-sides in search of a point. [Mar 2004, p.87]

The band utilise new instruments--saxophone, brass and more--in a too-blantant attempt to convince us that they are more than goths. [Aug 2009, p.101]

While the LP is patchy, some of the miniature studies for circuitry, essayed by Flanagan and collaborator Dean Honer, are beguilingly eldritch, and the second half's run of pop songs are joyous and odd in equal measure. [Nov 2012, p.72]

The new versions are, to all intents and purposes, exactly the same as the old versions, they're just more so, if that makes sense.

The likes of "Born Disco; Died Heavy Metal" and a jitterbugging "New York Minutes" are revealed to be much more robust tunes than was initially obvious. [Mar 2015, p.73]

No-one would argue this is the equal of his '70s production heyday, but he remains indefatigable in his energies. [Nov 2016, p.35]

[French Touch] feels like a soft option. Yet there's no denying the chic sophistication with she delivers stripped-down versions of hits associated with Patsy Cline, The Rolling Stones, Tammy Wynette, Lou Reed, Depeche Mode, the Clash and Abba. [Nov 2017, p.24]

Clever, costly videos prove the couple painfully hip, but close your eyes and it could be Mel & Kim. [May 2011, p.91]

The shock is that Goddess In The Doorway is really rather good. [Dec 2001, p.114]

It's a calmer, less ambitious album than 2001's All This Sounds Gas, but no less beguiling. [Mar 2004, p.92]

Anyone still reeling from Chan Marshall's sultry and imperious covers collection, "Jukebox," will find further thrills on this six track mini-album.

Hookworms twist "The Sky Of all Places" into a Mary Chain approximation of Metal Machine Music and Factory Floor make desiccated disco mincemeat of "sink," while Loop guru Robert Hampson, Death In Vegas's Richard Fearless, Ride's Andy Bell and Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite demonstrate the oldies' appetite for deconstruction.[Apr 2016, p.79]

Lurking beneath the placid surface is an undertow, subtly stirring the songs and arrangements. [Oct 2017, p.32]

The whole oddball exercise is almost rescued by "Pinky's Dream." [Dec 2011, p.89]

Scandinavian accents add to the sense of pop era unmoored from its time and place, and reconfigured into one coherent record with cool precision. [Feb 2008, p.78]

No shocks here, perhaps, but their fractal Technicolor pop is always a joy. [Jul 2011, p.87]