Your tolerance for extended jams will be tested but it's a varied and mesmerizing trip nonetheless. [Jan 2012, p.124]

There's nothing essential here, but there's nothing to dislike either. [Apr 2008, p.115]

Drifts past pleasantly enough, but fails to make an impact. [Feb. 2012, p.101]

It's like a broken radio stuck between frequencies, at once disorienting, woozy and supremely psychedelic. [Nov 2010, p.112]

They sound like a band expanding their horizons with success. [Mar 2012, p. 100]

It's nowhere McCartney hasn't been before, yet it's still richer and more varied than he's been in years. [Jan 2009, p.116]

While mostly perfectly acceptable as individual songs, the 13 tracks don't really stack up as an album, not one that gets close to his best anyway. [Mar 2009, p.94]

The quartet's unhurried groove-based approach makes for a captivating listen. [Jun 2009, p.134]

Only really worth investigating if you already own everything by the constituents' day-job acts. [Aug 2009, p.109]

For the most part, the duo's fourth full-length curbs their indulgent tendencies. [Jun 2011, p.114]

Less fixatedly house-centric than before, I'm Leaving incorporates fuzzy dance-rock under the influence of girl groups and New Order. [Jul 2013, p.106]

Osaka pop-punk veterans release their 17th record. [Aug. 2011, p. 126]

There's a seductive, deliberately synthesized feel that's part Scissor Sisters, part Hall & Oates. [Feb 2006, p.103]

Jimmy's Show is filled with richly melodic songs, filled with whimsical lyrics about tea, sailors, table tennis and Ford Escorts. [Nov 2012, p.102]

Steel-plated national treasures hit the epic button. [Sept. 2010, p. 117]

This is a n intriguing mini epic of double-drummed grooves and skronking noise. [Jan 2015, p.131]

The duo deliver traditional virtues and a familiar Yuletide ambiance here. [Jan 2012, p.124]

Vodka & Ayahuasca is a potent brew. [Mar 2012, p.100]

The first few tracks feel like a positive transformation into sharper songcraft, but when New Moon latter half descends to the noisemongery of yore, right down to Freaky's flat-out Dinosaur Jr.-ism, one does have to ask: will the real Men please stand up? [Apr 2013, p.107]

There's no denying that the darker mood suits them--although with Kevin Shields and co now out of retirement as well, it could be back to the drawing board again. [May 2009, p.119]

Pop Trash proves to be far from embarrassing...

Psychedelic 12th LP from prolific garage rockers. [Aug. 2011, p. 126]

It's the dreamy experimentation of Ethiopia and Side Effects that highlight the brothers deepening range. [Nov 2014, p.104]

The Connection is a stylistic leap, that shows surprising restraint, and--whisper it--maturity. [Nov 2012, p.102]

EVen without the Tron-like eye candy of their stage set it's a spectacular show, [Dec 2007, p.115]

Longwave is more improvisational, and the results are even more spidery than before. [Jun 2018, p.109]

It's as complex and funky as the city that inspired it. [Dec 2008, p.133]

It's a compelling mix, although the gaseous atmospheres and subtle melodies of Unbalancing Acts and To Swim drift too far toward shapelessness. It's a highly promising debut nonetheless. [Jul 2016, p.111]

The faithful will be overjoyed: despite the optimistic title there's nothing new here, only a distillation of trace elements from previous outings. [Oct 2002, p.106]

Vintage soul styles are duly nailed with his coruscating guitar between funk and psychedelic rock. [Jun 2011, p.110]

Hugely exciting one minute, unlistenable the next and far too much to handle in a single sitting, Thirlwell's noise addiction can still make Trent Reznor seem like a pussycat.

A muscular piece of work... [but] a tangible sense of genuine passion is, ultimately, absent. [Jul 2005, p.112]

Bizarre, but not without appeal. [Feb 2006, p.104]

Color Theory is a record that weighs heavy with low self-esteem and personal tragedy. [Mar 2020, p.122]

The lack of uptightness suits them. [Feb 2016, p.118]

An intriguing record, it takes bending acid-folk as its base camp but is at its most interesting when exploring more unexpected musical universes. [Feb 2015, p.110]

This doesn't have the deranged glee of Smash It Up, but follows the streamlined energy of classic 1982 Damned album Strawberries, with a stern rock pulse at a time when their contemporaries would be glad of any kind of pulse. [Jun 2018, p.109]

So while fourth album Shogun is impressive, Trivium continues ro make "...And Justice For All" when they could do with a "Black Album" instead. [Nov2008, p.107]

Gene have found a soulful and reflective edge that's brought them close to matching the grace and guile promised by their debut, and best album, Olympian.

While the grooves here prove to be equally minimal [to Headhunter], his debut LP is driven by a febrile, wildstyle energy at odds with dubstep's cavernous soundscapes. [May 2012, p.90]

'Ludow St' is lyrically smart, musically ambitious, more than any other track on Phrazes, it makes you wonder, if not regret, why the Strokes themselves never pushed the boat out this far. For that reason alone, it was worth Casablancas making this intriguing if imperfect record. [Nov 2009, p.98]

It's the kind of record you hate yourself for liking. [Dec 2003, p.132]

Musically and lyrically, this has the same hazy, starry-eyed feel [as Music Of The Spheres]. [Oct 2004, p.121]

Coming over not unlike Belle & Sebastian with muted horns and liltingly voices, sounds gently ebb and flow. [Jun 2011, p.110]

His fourth album sees credible Jean making a timely return. [Dec 2003, p.129]

It's not all restrained and even if in parts it sails too close to generic Americana, there's much evidence here that O'Donovan is one to keep an eye on. [Aug 2013, p.103]

The trio's nearly sub-sonic blues, jazz and beat poetry hybrid once again evoking a dangerous Spanish Harlem drinking den while Near Eastern influences and a subtler instrumental mesh hint at what might yet have been.

Growing up is hard to do, but Bruland has clawed some fabulously uneasy songs from the process. [Jan 2018, p.109]

It's a quietly bewitching LP, storied and subtle and sweet. [Dec 2018, p.107]

It's as if Swervedriver never left us. [Nov 2012, p.103]

Messy but addictive. [Jan 2012, p.123]

Hardly reinventing the wheel, but still a triumph of resilience. [May 2018, p.112]

She excels when she stacks up layers of her ghostly choirgirl voice within a more lush framework. [Nov 2010, p.114]

Black Ice is the album AC/DC were always going to make. It wasn't broken. They didn't need to fix it. [Nov 2008, p.119]

Hive Mind sounds at once strange and familiar. [Mar 2012, p.100]

His fourth record tempers his languid synth wavering with a playful classicism. [May 2015, p.113]

An uneven but fitting swansong, then. [Aug 2017, p.100]

Ellipse is typically facinating and frustrating. [Oct 2009, p.112]

By the half-hour's end you might well consider strangling the singer but, by that time, these tunes will have launched their own potent psychological counterblast. [Apr 2003, p.109]

More than a quarter century down the line, Bon Jovi are still living and selling the rock 'n' roll fantasy on The Circle. Why Not? They've done very nicely out of it. [Jan 2010, p. 126]

Hit Reset presents Hanna in rude creative health. Only on closer Calverton does any vulnerability peek through. [Aug 2016, p.113]

McLachlan's gorgeous voice has always been her strength, and even Pierre Marchand's soft-rock production can't diminish its power. [Mar 2004, p.107]

It starts off well. ... It's a shame then, that the second half of the album is so unspectacular. [Jan 2018, p.109]

Some tracks still sound ripe for Christmas rom-coms. But the best see veteran producer T-Bone Burnett, Tom Wait's guitarist Marc Ribot and Krall's husband Elvis Costello rough up her seductive keys with some electric Americana fuzz. [Nov 2012, p.99]

I Don't Run often feels like a post-tour comedown, meandering and forlorn, where its predecessor was uplifting and catchy. [Jun 2018, p.110]

While this circus could have more attractions and you yearn for a flash of lyrical brilliance among the uncomplicated relationship musings, there's no disgrace here and nothing to alienate their audience or embarrass those who grew up with Take That. [Jan 2009, p.117]

Those ideas aren't all great, but the strike rate is remarkably high. [Jul 2016, p.114]

The imaginative scope of this debut shows why expectations have been raised, his hazy soundscapes and blurred falsetto recalling Animal Collective's more strung-out moments. [Mar 2010, p.110]

While it won't lift him beyond cult status, it's typically enjoyable. [Apr 2010, p.112]

There is sparkling pop invention in abundance here, and, homage or not, that surely transcends any decade. [Jun 2011, p.106]

As much an art piece as it is a pop record, EWAB would make the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon flat on your back at a sun-strafed festival. [Jul 2015, p.106]

Cutler's surgically meticulous programming skills and ear for mesmeric melodies.... elevate this follow up to 2010's Emerald Fantasy Tracks above simple ['90's techno] homage. [Jun 2012, p.106]

By the end you might feel like you've just had your ear bent by a particularly forthright mum outside school gates, but Havoc and Bright Lights is Alanis Morissette's most inviting album in a long, long time. [Sep 2012, p.103]

Melancholic, romantic and unashamedly emotional, his loss is our gain. [Oct 2012, p.103]

In shifting from decks to band, he has also checked the imagination which marked him as an original. [Sep 2005, p.114]

The envelope-pushing gets a bit much at times. [Feb 2020, p.116]

Whenever the album bares its claws, such as on Joe's Cult and the soaring Horses, it demonstrates just how good it would have been with a dash more daring. [Nov 2012, p.104]

His debut LP has tunes aplenty, though he toys with them, unwilling to commit to on sound, still less one hook, when he can duck behind twitchy beats, fleeting effects or double-tracked vocals. [Jan 2016, p.108]

If Williams would only take the time to explore just a few of the ideas he presented here, his album would be far deeper than it is broad.[Mar 2016, p.117]

There's still a feeling that the two albums might have worked better as one. [Nov 2010, p.114]

The fire dies down as the album progresses, but the infectious melodies remain. [May 2016, p.104]

His aim is true, his enthusiasm genuine and even the one new self-penned track, Live It Up, slots in nicely. [Mar 2012, p.105]

It might all sound as comfortable as an old cardigan feels but at this point, that seems fair enough. [Jul 2016, p.115]

It still pays dividends, The Notwist adding melody to the fractured electronica of Themselves and gaining rhythmic substance in return. [Jun 2011, p.107]

The spare production on their second album is less indebted to the post-punk era. [July 2010, p. 129]

In short, Calling Out's not a bad shout if you're looking for something calm and unruffled to soundtrack the summer. [Aug 2015, p.104]

It's a low-pressure affair that variously recalls such non-rocking reference points as Phillip Glass, Debussy and Chopin. [Sep 2012, p.100]

As ever, you end up feeling there's method somewhere in his madness. [Nov 2014, p.104]

Looose's invocation of early '80s New York, complete with squeaky sax solo, is less compelling, but when they hit their groove with the aptly titled Heavy Meditation, it really does sound as if there are superhuman powers at work. [Jan 2018, p.114]

It's cute--like a super furry animal, perhaps. [Jan 2006, p.127]

It still falls to his guest vocalists to distill the album's emotive mood. [Apr 2018, p.108]

Ultimately, you're left wishing that Panic at the Disco had more to say about their own generation, instead of mimicking that of their parents'. [May 2008, p.134]

Their sound is instantly familiar - equal parts Fleet Foxes, Mumford & Sons and Coldplay - but executed with sufficient exuberance to avoid any staleness. [Feb. 2012, p.101]

It all makes for an engaging and frequently charming solo debut. [Nov 2010, p.114]

It's only on a frazzled but euphoric Raise Your Head that DeLaughter achieves the sonic rapture the Spree promised from the outset. [Oct 2013, p.109]

Maraqopa sounds like the place he's been searching for all along. [Mar 2012, p.105]

It's a uniformly lovely if melodically insubstantial mode. [Summer 2020, p.105]

It's soulful and pristine pop that all seems a little pedestrian in comparison. [Aug 2009, p.101]