After years of striving, makes Augustines a band that now sound energised by palpable relief. [Apr 2014, p.69]

Their fourth album, self-produced and recorded in Berlin, finds the smart hooks and spiky lyrics all present and correct. [Apr 2014, p.69]

This album feels like a new beginning. [Apr 2014, p.70]

There's a sustained congruence about the rhythms and textures that make The Take Off and Landing of Everything seem like an extended and mediation on certain musical and lyrical themes. [Apr 2014, p.72]

The results are sparkling, upbeat and infectious. [Apr 2014, p.73]

While they're not doing anything particularly new, the mixture of bile and valedictory swagger here is exhilarating. [Apr 2014, p.73]

There are a couple of duds, but songwriters Ariel Rechtshaid and Justin Raisen, a kind of grungy hipster take on Sweden's pop factory, still have a tremendous hit rate. [Apr 2014, p.74]

The rest can't quite match this opening brace ["The Upsetter"], but there are gems throughout. [Apr 2014, p.75]

The overall tone may be sombre but it's expressed with such a weightless delicacy, shaded with occasional harmonica and piano, that it's hard not to feel transported. [Apr 2014, p.77]

This is a tremendously assured album, beautifully paced and full of great rockers. [Apr 2014, p.77]

Exposed and vulnerable, Funk has seldom sounded so sensible. [Apr 2014, p.78]

As a whole, demanding of patience. [Apr 2014, p.78]

While traces of heaviness remain--see the cacophonous climax to "B&E"--Guilty really finds itself in tender moments. [Apr 2014, p.78]

There are a few moments of longueurs, where the songs come off a little too session muso. But this new, becalmed Perhacs reveals a clear eco-political message articulated with subtlety and nuance. [Apr 2014, p.79]

While English Oceans carries its quota of Truckers staples, there's also much that sets this fantastic 10th studio album apart from its predecessors. [Apr 2014, p.82]

Holly lacks the heat and fire that makes the best so damn thrilling. [Apr 2014, p.83]

Songs from the wellspring of third-album VU; a few nods toward New Order; some charming turns of phrase. And on it goes.... [Apr 2014, p.83]

Double Exposure can sometimes come off sounding precious, a bunch of genre studies without that mysterious extra something--this grit ain't turning into a pearl. But when they stretch out, as on "Mandorla At Dawn," The Helix move with loose-limbed grace. [Mar 2014, p.83]

Occasional throwaway aside, there are some real gnarled beauties on display here. [Mar 2014, p.80]

Quality levels are high, with Cate Le Bon's sleek Krautpop chanson "Gallant Foxes" and Claire Tchaikowski's aqueous ambi-folk ballad "That Fever" helping to excuse a small handful of underpowered, over-polished numbers. [Mar 2014, p.73]

His band know their way around '80s-influenced bluster-pop, and carry it off through sheer deadpan lack of irony on this strangely beguiling second album. [Mar 2014, p.79]

You Should Be So Lucky is tailor-made for connoisseurs of musicianship at its headiest and most tasteful--the kind of record you're proud to own, matching the pride of all those who participated in its creation. [Mar 2014, p.68]

These pallid songs comprise a barely disguised homage. [Mar 2014, p.80]

The mix of cryptic lyrics and childlike whimsy wears a little thin over the long haul. [Mar 2014, p.75]

Cherry's still youthful voice and angsty lyrics feel somewhat disconnected from these dubby rumbles and dirges. [Mar 2014, p.73]

More fun are the African-tinged "Radio Bemba," "Odeon," where New Orleans meets Irish tin whistle, and the Mexico-meets-Chopin "Black Hibiscus." [Mar 2014, p.80]

It's sensitively poised and technically perfect. [Mar 2014, p.80]

Over 10 minutes or more, he wisely avoids manipulative builds and drops, leaving a compelling opacity. [Mar 2014, p.76]