Not quite essential, but a neat genre exercise. [Dec 2016, p.30]

Lacking only a killer single, Big Box Of Chocolates has a great balance of rockers, ramblers and ballads, giggling throwaways and low-key philosophising. [Dec 2016, p.30]

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

On Apricity, Syd Arthur brings a blessedly light touch to their breezy psych. [Dec 2016, p.38]

Admittedly, without seeing the play--which officially opens in London on November 8--the soundtrack feels an incomplete experience. At its most successful, Lazarus finds new ways of presenting well-known songs; an unenviable task for Hey and his seven-piece band.

Yes, it's largely tuneless, the guitars and drums about as co-ordinated as a set of blindfolded square dancers, but the sisters' naive approach yields endless wonder. [Nov 2016, p.52]

The Ramones, like Warhol or Lichtenstein, were masters of doing one thing brilliantly and repetitively--something reinforced by the second disc of this set, which contains singles and unreleased demos, including tracks that would appear on subsequent albums such as “You’re Gonna Kill That Girl”, “You Should Never Have Opened That Door” and “I Don’t Care” but could easily have fitted on Ramones.

Glimmers of Blonde Redhead's future can be divined throughout Masculin Feminin, whether in Kazu Makin's girlish vocals, or Simone Pace's snaking, restrained drum parts; even in their juvenilia, Blonde Redhead were looking through their own sophisticated, idiosyncratic filter. [Oct 2016, p.49]

It's a punishing and rewarding experience. [Nov 2016, p.28]

This electronic pop set mostly convinces. [Nov 2016, p.31]

This lively debut is full of fertile mash-ups. [Nov 2016, p.23]

It's a thoughtful, profound and intensely beautiful late-blossoming career highlight. [Nov 2016, p.30]

It is this methodical exploration of the ancient and modern that makes Weyes Blood such a seductive proposition, and the ambitious Front Row Seat To Earth--intimate and enveloping, romantic and psychedelic--marks a significant progression in Mering's increasingly impressive career. [Nov 2016, p.38]

It's become a cliche to treat every latter-day Cohen album like a potential swansong but it's hard to imagine a richer, finer or more satisfying finale than this. [Nov 2016, p.18]

Purling Hiss set aside their chaotic brand of psychedelic garage rock in favour of a collection that seems to owe a surprising debt to British New Wave of the late '70s and early '80s. [Nov 2016, p.35]

Despite these potentially dour themes, Running Out Of Love is far from a gloom-fest, couched as it is in disco and '80s-influenced electronica. [Nov 2016, p.35]

The demos for Be Here Now don't reveal much in the way of nuance or additional texture. You have to dig deep to find genuine curios. [Nov 2016, p.51]

"Feedback Delicates" and "L'Quasar" shelter their hooks amid shimmery, heatstroke production; but there's an urgency here, too. [Nov 2016, p.40]

There is a minimalist anti-folk vibe to Dermody's songs. [Nov 2016, p.37]

The mix of baroque pop, prog rock and psychedelia is as bewildering as it is entertaining. [Nov 2016, p.32]

The album title translates as "chameleon butterfly" which sums up the surreal ambience nicely. [Sep 2016, p.74]

A gorgeous neo-Krautrock thump of a record. [Oct 2016, p.31]

A more polished and focused affair that demonstrates the breadth of Duncan's sparkling ability, not to mention his pop chops, while conveying a gorgeous otherworldiness that effortlessly channels peak Cocteau Twins and Radiohead. [Nov 2016, p.26]

It's the interplay between the core duo, and between the American and African influences, that gives Wood/Metal its hypnotic pull. [Nov 2016, p.23]

This is Cretan folk music played with a rock'n'roll intensity that is truly immersive. [Nov 2016, p.36]

Half of a worthy comeback. [Oct 2016, p.25]

Far the best things here are the relatively restrained title track and the acoustic ballad "Die Trying." Elsewhere, it's the stodgy gruel of yore. [Oct 2016, p.37]

The three proper songs are the highlights, though, with the Bacharach-esque title track among the finest Rhys has ever produced. [Nov 2016, p.37]