It's melodically sharper... occupying Stereolab's old ground with a surprising commercial edge. [May 2003, p.106]

Signals a striking reawakening for a too often overlooked talent. [May 2003, p.96]

Sadly, nothing on Meteora comes close to the piano-laced pathos of previous hit "In The End." [Jun 2003, p.110]

The Remote Part is Idlewild Mark II--sleeker, bolder, better. [Oct 2002, p.107]

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]

Not for the faint-hearted, Damien Jurado is a habit which won't necessarily bring joy to the listener. But once acquired, you will find it hard to kick. [Apr 2003, p.106]

The second solo album still sounds like a wilful jukebox stocked on the disparate taste of someone attempting vinyl hari-kari. [Apr 2003, p.116]

It's their dirty, lowdown rock pastiches that truly score.... A bona fide blast of ageless, pretension-free rock'n'roll. [Mar 2003, p.98]

Her country warble may be a little too trad. honey for eclectic tastes. [May 2003, p.91]

Their love batteries have all but corroded and instead we've hangovers and metropolitan psychosis over the kind of guttural guitars you'd expect from their bastard American offspring. [May 2003, p.89]

This is one glorious murk. [May 2003, p.91]

Poppily uplifting, Us is an album with drowning depths. [Apr 2003, p.114]

Antenna compresses the formula further, fetching up crisp, anthemic crunch-rock several notches above the inexplicably popular likes of Bush or Papa Roach. [May 2003, p.96]

Another masterclass in deft guitar picking, smudged with piano, harmonica and a voice like honey drizzled onto a dry creekbed. [Jun 2003, p.93]

Seems an innocuous exercise in regurgitation rather than innovation. [Dec 2002, p.131]

Is so patently wrong in so many ways that it exhibits a peculiar strain of genius. [Jun 2003, p.92]

It's hard to think of a UK R&B album that sounds as formidably ready for the world as A Little Deeper. [Jul 2002, p.114]

The tentative pop entryism evident on albums like 1999's Knock Knock is largely absent here; instead we have his gruff baritone take us through an increasingly uninteresting outlook on love and life. [May 2003, p.108]

He has gone for the full trip hop/psych-rock concept album--a major hazard given such previous near-missees as UNKLE's Psyence Fiction--but it's not at all bad. [Apr 2003, p.118]

His most purposeful work in some time. [Jun 2003, p.94]

Brings to the surface all of the volatility and emotional charge that was inherent in their work. [Apr 2003, p.104]

Make the most of these subtly funked-up arrangements with their horns and clarinets and bebop percussion. [Jun 2003, p.104]

Where in the past he has often impressed rather than engaged us, here there's an emotional warmth that makes it by some distance the best record he's ever made. [Apr 2003, p.110]

It's the originals that resonate, contrasting with a featherweight cover of Townes van Zandt's "Waiting Around To Die." [Mar 2003, p.97]

His idiosyncratic rhyming style can grate without the leavening presence of other rappers. [Apr 2003, p.116]

For Barlow stalwarts only. [Mar 2003, p.100]

Its 10 minimalist songs mine a vein of laconic broodiness. [Apr 2003, p.110]

Feyness is a constant threat, but Mitchell's British debut generally tiptoes clear of whimsy, mixing up the guitar loops, squitting beats and genteel vocal angst in a way which becomes insidious. [Apr 2003, p.105]