It's sleek, goth-leaning alt.pop, but ILYBICD's music ultimately leaves less of an impression than their band name. [May 2006, p.109]

Their naggingly overused Farfisa is balanced by otherwise beautifully layered, complex arrangements of trombone, electronics and harmony vox. [Apr 2006, p.118]

Mudhoney these days, for all their pioneer status, mostly just sound like a regular, decent rock band. [Apr 2006, p.105]

Mr Beast, by Mogwai's normally formidable standards, underwhelms. [Apr 2006, p.96]

Recalls Lee Hazlewood and Nancy Sinatra in the way it mingles dark and light, hard and soft, innocence and experience. [Feb 2006, p.80]

With Fox Confessor, she has defiantly come into her own. [Apr 2006, p.106]

A quietly glorious affair. [Apr 2006, p.110]

From start to finish it's an anti-diva joy. [Apr 2006, p.110]

It would be fanciful, not to mention disrespectful, to say that Morrison has waited his whole career to make this album. But he makes it sound like he has. [Apr 2006, p.96]

A downbeat, solipsistic but utterly beautiful amalgam of mood-altering substances and 1980s alt.rock. [Mar 2006, p.100]

It's the vivid, virulent product of the Maels' warped imaginations. [Mar 2006, p.90]

Even fans of their main groups might feel that its sole purpose is to emphasise the 'trial' in 'terrestrial'. [May 2006, p.124]

Inhabiting the same last-dance ballroom as Portishead's noir torch songs, this monument to ennui is prettily impressive. [Mar 2006, p.90]

Part inspired, part impenetrable. [Mar 2006, p.104]

Smoothes the edges between Jamaican sound-system bass, calypso rhythm, Middle Eastern melody and vintage soul. [Apr 2006, p.110]

It manages to be forceful and intricate in equal amounts. [May 2006, p.129]

At times, it's as if he's paying homage to his touchstones rather than using them for grist. [Apr 2006, p.114]

Their sound is now driven by a dark undertow, with heavy psych-rock and muscly R&B inflections. [May 2006, p.119]

The band's trademark guitars [are] so polished you can almost whiff the Mr Sheen. [Apr 2006, p.98]

A mini masterwork of magic-realist Britpop melodrama. [Apr 2006, p.108]

Nine Black Alps possess a secret weapon befitting a band whose emergence sparked a transatlantic A&R scramble: tunes. [Jun 2005, p.104]

A sampling tour de force, but short on soul. [Apr 2006, p.112]

Whether you love or hate The Research will depend upon your tolerance for cheap keyboards. [Mar 2006, p.103]

Arbez not only shatters the risible notion that dance music is currently unwell, he also presents thrilling new ways of approaching pop, folk and rock'n'roll. [May 2005, p.100]

It's certainly more assured and less wilfully angsty than Cast Of Thousands. However, it still lacks the special unified mood or thread of Asleep. [Oct 2005, p.110]

The thrill it provides will send a shiver of recognition through anyone who grew up with The Specials, The Smiths or Parklife. [Album of the Month, March 2006, p.86]

Even when Orbit treads water--which by and large he is with this record--the ripples resonate beautifully. [Mar 2006, p.104]

The implausible but winning transformation is complete: Arab Strap have made a genuinely uplifting record. [Dec 2005, p.109]