The remixers' default mood is kind of middle-of-the-road electronica, neither daring nor danceable. [Jan 2013, p.79]

The result is both catchy and sadly predictable. [Jul 2013, p.77]

The best songs here are the instrumentals. As a songwriter he relies on too many cliches, remains fiercely devoted to a stiff ABAB rhyme scheme and offers too few insights into his underworld characters. [Oct 2019, p.36]

With strictly 1978 sleeve and clothes, and no new ideas, they just don't matter like their models did. [Sep 2003, p.97]

It lacks a distinctive identity. [Apr 2019, p.31]

Temples seem to be in the thrall of Tame Impala's retro-futurism, but their in-studio moves fall short of Kevin Parker's aerodynamic wizardry, although they come tantalisingly close on "You're Either On Something," nimbly balancing delicacy and majesty. [Oct 2019, p.36]

Dedekind Cut is playful and emotionally varied, allowing for moments of rapture and joyful release amid the brooding, quasi-industrial hum. This tips over into sentimentality on the rippling strings and splashing water FX of Tahoe's tittle track, but the album remains an intriguing hybrid of Arca's fleshy rumble and the KLF's Chill Out. [Mar 2018, p.25]

[Moses Archuleta's] hazy, lo-fi house jams as Moon Diagrams shoot for dreamy but are mostly just soporific. When he occasionally stirs from his torpor to write a actual song, the results are much more fulfilling. [Aug 2017, p.32]

There are too many blandly chipper moments that feel better suited to mobile phone ads than an album. [Aug 2016, p.77]

Turner delivers his self-empowerment anthems with the crunch and earnestness of Billy Bragg or The Levellers. All this bombast gets a little wearying after a while, though. [Sep 2015, p.83]

It's well done, but the price of reinvention has been the band's personality. [Jul 2014, p.76]

The melancholy underscoring even the android-sex jam feels both personal and more than a little musty. [Aug 2016, p.80]

Humour takes too firm a hold as the band play on, creating the probably unfair feeling that this is just a light tribute to old, inspired sounds. [May 2002, p.108]

An ultra-gentrified karaoke set. [Apr 2014, p.77]

This is snappy, high-energy stuff that might be more fun if the slick production didn't telegraph the fact that Kane wants it a bit too much. [Oct 2018, p.30]

Frontman Fred Macpherson's pithy musings on London's hipster demi-monde can be excruciating when set against his band's bog-standard stadium churn. [Sep 2015, p.81]

Never quite rises above the mundane. [Aug 2005, p.98]

The homogenous production gets bland real quick, meaning, that, ultimately, it' shard to care either way about it. [May 2014, p.83]

Lyrically, the album plunges into some vulnerable and troubling places, but musically it lacks a similar emotional range, instead feeling static and one-note. [Aug 2024, p.31]

The new material, with some exceptions, lacks spark and flair, having a sense of anti-climax about it. [Aug 2002, p.106]

"1832" is a departure, with emotional unease preserved in glowing folky amber, but it's an inspired curveball on a largely routine course. [Jan 2017, p.32]

Delve further into Human, though, and you find sterile R&B and schlocky, overwrought lyrics. [Mar 2017, p.37]

Her gusto is undeniable. Sadly, the abundance of karaoke-night misfires among the 30 tracks makes Rockstar such a slog. [Jan 2024, p.34]

Despite a top-drawer guest list, this often feels like empty bombast. [Mar 2007, p.98]

Pierson's first outing without Fred Schneider and co is produced to sound immaculately (and blandly) like 1980s American new Wave pop; enough to make "Love Shack" seem cutting edge. [Mar 2015, p.80]

His music often lags behind in inspiration. [Mar 2002, p.106]

[Like Rats proved] Kozelek could turn his wry tone to any old thing and make it lovely. [Mar 2013, p.73]

Roaring 20s provides cod-reggae backing for Jordan Stephens and Harley Alexander-Sule to discuss the impact of social media and the nature of fame. [Oct 2013, p.74]