There are moments where the weirdly wonderful pagan pixie princess pokes through. [Jul 2011, p.90]

Though often pretty rather than memorable, there's enough vibrancy here to outlast the summer. [Jul 2005, p.90]

A horny fusion of glam-rock boogie, Urge Overkill's egotism and libidinous top-shelf naughtiness, all delivered with the molten fury of The Black Keys. [Nov 2005, p.111]

There's some good stuff here. [Mar 2009, p.92]

At his best he sounds spontaneous, fresh and unexpected. Yet at other times his quirky ideas can sound half-baked and his songs undeveloped. [May 2003, p.102]

It's an abrasive sound. [Aug 2003, p.99]

A pale retread of Get Rich... fashioned by lesser talents. [Feb 2004, p.69]

It's lush, detailed, frequently over-rich, but Fabricius' bright, perky voice and some generically kooky lyrics can't really carry the weight of the whole production. [Aug 2011, p.94]

Their ragged eclecticism is a winning one, taking detours into Ry Cooder slide-country, beat-up folk and starry desert ballads. [Sep 2008, p.98]

A curiously anemic listen. [Feb 2006, p.78]

He may come to rue the day he traded his trusty ukulele for a cheapo drum machine that makes his attempts at pop-funk sound more gauche than his nifty songcraft deserves. [Jul 2012, p.77]

Moments of sweetness. ... But there are other, less successful experiments. [May 2020, p.31]

Black Noise was the most seductive techno album of last year, and it probably deserves better than this somewhat perfunctory remix comp. [May 2011, p.93]

The cherished first couple of French electro burn brighter than at any point in their recent careers. [Jun 2009, p.109]

A collection of nursery rhymes aimed at toddlers, it should prove nauseating to anyone over the age of three. [Nov 2008, p.92]

Iconoclastic and visceral, Squarepusher is punk rock 2002. [Nov 2002, p.132]

The music remains a potent mix of stuttering party anthems and post-Biggie street sermons. [Feb 2002, p.114]

Too busy with ideas for its own good. [Jun 2014, p.76]

More than just rote electro workouts, Carey successfully transforms 'Can't Stop Feeling' and 'Turn It On' into rich, dubby bleepfests. More of this invention on the album proper wouldn't have gone amiss. [Jul 2009, p.88]

The Pet Shop Boys and Ladytron have elbowed their urbane ways into his affections, but Maps makes the move sound more like a case of personal growth than populist payoff. [Oct 2009, p.104]

When they succeed, it's on more traditional Pumpkins territory. ... Otherwise, Cyr sounds like an underwhelming misadventure. [Jan 2021, p.32]

Their choice of covers is pretty eclectic, from Sade to Spiritualized via obscure '70s rocker Unicorn. They're best when more animated. [Aug 2015, p.76]

Owens has never been afraid to comet to terms with his troubled past, but here those stories are slathered in such cliched schmaltz that it's hard to empathise. [Oct 2014, p.76]

Their latest was recorded in Berlin and Iceland, with whichever musicians were around at the time, lending Newcombe's whacked-out psychedelia cum space/drone rock a stoned-jam feel that doesn't always work to the songs' advanatge. [Apr 2010, p.83]

Stodgy miserablism predominates. [Nov 2006, p.117]

If that person favours the smoking, ragged garage rock that comprises the bulk of Fork In The Road, then you’d have to conclude, job done.

It initially seems as if the moments of inspiration between self-indulgences are becoming scarcer. A bracing middle section resuces Amputechture. [Sep 2006, p.89]

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.