The dual-drumkit, tribal incantations and ominous drones have a pleasing menace but when you factor in the "concept"... patience starts to wane. [Mar 2006, p.111]

Lekman is an intriguing bedsit poet whose whispered ramblings can sometimes melt the heart. [Mar 2006, p.108]

If the songs themselves sometimes seem to float by without fully grabbing the attention, when the melodies rise above the textures, as in The Blue Nile-style ache of Send Me Home, Lanterns On The Lake give us a glimpse of what might make them truly special. [Dec 2015, p.109]

Recorded in 11 days in Nashville and LA, National Ransom sees Costello continuing his obsession with bluegrass and Americana, under the watchful eye of producer T-Bone Burnett. [Dec. 2010, p. 104]

It's an impressive art-rock construction, just not one that easily fits into every space. [Mar 2019, p.118]

There may be tears if he later goes elctric, but for now this falls just the right side of pastiche. [May 2010, p.127]

There are moments... as good and chart-friendly as anything by Royksopp or Mylo.... But most of the time they prefer to trade in dreary whimsy. [Jun 2006, p.116]

It's a bedroom album, albeit an intelligent, challenging one. [Jan 2008, p.110]

Alkaline Trio subvert their perky, zinging three chord mall-punk with misanthropy, melancholy and alcohol-sodden, world-weary wisdom. [Jun 2003, p.92]

Surprisingly conventional. [May 2007, p.124]

Smooth and intermittently sublime it may be, but their previous weirdness is much missed. [Jun 2006, p.117]

Like Talib Kweli... she mixes precise diction with writing that's high on observation and metaphysical promise. [Dec 2004, p.137]

Inevitably, though, there's an unevenness to the improvised soundscaping. [Mar 2005, p.101]

The Stand-In succeeds in sounding expansive without losing any of its intimacy. [Apr 2013, p.109]

Hedley makes no apology for his love of country's golden age, ad where naysayers might cry "pastiche," plenty more will be happy kicking up their heels on the hayride. [May 2018, p.91]

Enigmatic dubstep maestro's spooky follow-up. [Aug. 2011, p. 127]

The performances reflect his wind-down way. [Apr 2014, p.96]

The album's first half is anchored by the hypnotic undertow of Pulls, but the mood intensifies later with RGB's distortion beats and Bird Milk's cocky electro-strut proving Gallear's at his best when sparring against more robust rhythms. [Dec 2014, p.109]

Ultimately, though, White Lies are running to stand still. [Mar 2019, p.120]

A vigorous, if patchy comeback. [Jan 2020, p.114]

Orc is an incredibly full-on record. [Oct 2017, p.107]

The songs aren't quite up to the mark. You can't fault the performances though. [Dec 2007, p.121]

Midway through, however, Karl Hyde stretches himself too far with the minimal This Mortal Coil-styled ballad SKYM, exposing the weaknesses in his singing voice.

Sonically, his second solo effort is dry and unimaginative. [Feb 2003, p.97]

Confusion's left in its wake, of course, but such is the price of the peaks. [Oct 2017, p.100]

Confident Music for Confident People largely succeeds in maintaining the hi-NRG entertainment. ... It comes unstuck, though, when the sugary fun becomes simply irritating, as on the bratty C.O.O.L Party. [Jun 2018, p.109]

The subtle rhythms of Nigerian percussionist Lekan Babalola giving something new to Wilson's versions of great old songs. [Aug 2008, p.145]

One very minimal idea being stretched over 11 songs to the point that it starts to look very washed-out indeed.

It's all as plush and spotless as hotel bedding--lovely, but it may leave you craving a bit a mess. [Apr 2013, p.109]

Days Are Gone is a pretty impregnable collection of songs, their alloy of golden Fleetwood Mac melodies and liquid R&B polished to a reflective shine. [Oct 2013, p.103]

There's a calculation to much of what's on offer here that undercuts all the other advancements. [#361, p.116]

There are moments when it becomes a bit Baltic Eurovision, but Okovi is as tender as it is tough. [Oct 2017, p.111]

Footwork newcomers might want to test their stamina with one of Planet Mu's excellent Bangs & works compilations first. [Jun 2012, p.114]

Anyone who wants a bold new direction from Jeff Tweedy may find Sukierae disappointing. [Oct 2014, p.120]

Sad to say, The List is an overly polite, lifeless collection of tried and trusted country standards apparently recommended as required listening by her father back in 1973. [Dec 2009, p. 126]

Previously, their appeal was an alien fusion of ferocious single-mindedness and forbidding complexity. Here, Battles often struggle to sound strange enough. [July 2011, p. 107]

The ambition is still there. [Jun 2016, p.114]

An album that seeks to pull you under from the off and that, by and large, succeeds. [Jan 2017, p.112]

You have to salute Jaar's ambitious, freewheeling approach, but a little more cohesion would've sealed it. [Dec 2016, p.109]

Entertaining though these tracks are, it's hard not to wish that he could ignore the buzzing irritations of not being universally adored, all the time, forever, and concentrate on the big picture. [Mar 2009, p.90]

Despite some strong material, the relentless gloom gets a little wearing well before the end. [Nov 2016, p.113]

Graduation is mercifully skit-free, but it still feels insubstantial to West. [Oct 2007, p.95]

These songs aren't as charcoal-stark as her earlier solo work, but the aura of breathy acid-folk enchantment can leave the feeling there is too much atmospheric smoke, not enough revelatory mirror. [Aug 2015, p.104]

Their weak spots (feyness, smugness, shallowness) remain. [Nov 2003, p.104]

There's little revelatory, but it's another fine record to add to their cannon. [Oct 2009, p.119]

It may do little to make non-believers go his way, but Get Up! sizzles with intent from the off. [Mar 2013, p.102]

Sometimes, these stresses and strains seem to swallow her dreamy synth-pop whole, but there's at least a striking EP's worth here. [Aug 2017, p.108]

The winter to Johnson's eternal summer. [Jul 2012, p.95]

She's A Witch's tumbling harmonies, the tessellating grooves of Dark Star and Bushe's surrealist lyrical skew help cast a dazed spell. [Jul 2015, p.106]

Their stance is still refreshingly at odds with the mainstream. [Oct 2009, p.105]

An album that's as entrancing as it is modestly proportioned. [June 2002, p.121]

There's something rather pinched and prescribed about this weirdness.

Kozelek's sparse, haunting delivery can render even the basest material achingly affecting...

It's an album that will send you to sleep, and to dreams of another dimension. [Jul 2016, p.114]

It's by no means awful; it's just as if Nirvana had recorded 12 versions of Territorial Pissings for Nevermind. [Apr 2014, p.105]

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

Impressive but so unblinkingly stern. [Oct 2013, p.101]

'Scare Easy,' the single, and 'Bootleg Flyer,' reminiscent of Petty's classic 'American Girl,' are the standouts on this collection of rough and ragged, feel-good country-rock. [July 2008, p.107]

While there's throat-shredding fervour, it becomes a crazily overextended blur of goofy anthemics. [Sep 2015, p.117]

Electric is a first-class showcase for Thompson's spine-tingling solos but not the consistent song collection that was 2010's Dream Attic. [Mar 2013, p.110]

At times her dark warnings about the devil and bluesy intonation sound affected, but full marks for trying out new ground. [Dec 2001, p.127]

The effect is spoiled by noodly, indifferent tracks such as We Meet At Last. [Aug 2002, p.128]

Throughout, his control is masterful: spry on Make It Up, clarion and clipped on Grief Is Not Coming, familiar and uncanny all at once. [Aug 2017, p.105]

The Big To-Do is the familiar mix of big guitars and off-kilter storytelling. [Apr 2010, p.120]

They're still relentlessly heavy, just less hypnotically so. [Jul 2013, p.111]

This has a more expansive, almost pop feel. [Dec 2008, p.132]

This time around, though, she's more introspective, less shouty and the result is her most absorbing album since 2005's "Kidnapped By Neptune." [Mar 2010, p.106]

In this case, less is more. [Nov 2012, p.106]

It's a clear-eyed first step to turning their ideas into reality. [Oct 2013, p.106]

Sampling Michelle Obama on No Man Is Big Enough For My Arms feels glib, while Vale aspires to Solange-like authority but, unlike their voices never quite strikes the right note. [Nov 2017, p.111]

It's great at times, but far more work than it should be. [Jan 2012, p.127]

In all that attention to detail, there's flair and fire enough to quash the qualms and revel in people doing something over and doing it right. [Sep 2012, p.97]

Canadian electro duo's dreamy fourth album. [Aug. 2011, p. 120]

After just six songs and 17 minutes, the future is sounding admirably open-ended. [Oct 2002, p.118]

It's essentially ambient comedy cabaret. [Nov 2003, p.117]

It's heartening to see a band still in the grip of an ideas overload 11 albums in. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Play[s] the kitsch-folk game with real panache. [Feb 2006, p.101]

A sense of dread pervades throughout. [Mar 2013, o.101]

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]

It's hard to recall specific songs once they're over and the tracks not sung in French puncture the atmosphere a bit, but overall, oil lamp projector-lit vibe is an enjoyable one. [Jun 2016, p.113]

Atmospheric and richly layered, their best moments tap the same ecstatic eclecticism of fellow travellers Sufjan Stevens and Beirut's Zach Condon. [Nov 2008, p.114]

It's not all politico-provocation; pretty duet Honeysuckle and minimalist piano ballad The Oldness counterbalance the more outspoken moments nicely. [April 2012, p.107]

A bit of a gimmick maybe, but one that pays off, with Mellencamp relishing his role as grizzled troubadour steeped in the rootsy traditions of America's rural South. [Oct 2010, p.111]

This is a record of stormy intensity, hauling its emotions up to the mountainside to expose them to the elements. [Mar 2018, p.115]

It can occasionally cloy, but on The Prettiest Curse, Hinds are on fighting form. [Jun 2020, p.100]

She plainly knows the meaning and benefit of brevity. [Apr 2013, p.110]

It is still a loose affair, but it allows the quartet to explore the far reaches of their songs rather than just wander folk's outer soloar system. [Nov 2009, p.103]

Mariachi horns and guitar twang still form the backbone of a striking return to what they do best. [Oct 2008, p.141]

Stanley Park, Hornets and Magpie carry a wistful, charming nostalgia about them, but maybe it's a generation too removed making In The Magic Hour's nods to tradition often superficial rather than tapping into the music's deepest heartbeat. [Feb 2016, p.115]

Their fourth album proves more than just a trendy daliance, placing them at the cutting edge being honed by Dirty Projectirs and TV On The Radio. [Nov 2008, p.117]

While album two adds flavours from the Mediterranean and Iran, the fundamental intent is the same with less-is-more funk beats and bass providing an opiated shagpile foundation for Mark Speer's light-touch guitar lines. [Apr 2018, p.111]

Themes of displacement, disillusion, and druggy ennui speak of a band who are no longer enjoying themselves. A shame, because when singer Andrew Savage shakes himself free from the torpor, his anger becomes an energy. [Jul 2014, p.112]

Silence Is Wild may be willfully idiosyncratic and prone to self-indulgence, but it's also refreshingly imaginative, sexually upfront and impossible to second guess. [Mar 2009, p.101]

It's not an earth-shattering account of the last year, but maybe the most affecting in its ordinariness. [Jun 2004, p.102]

The results remain defiantly out of the ordinary. [June 208, p.145]

It proves to be an entertaining and profitable arrangement. [May 2010, p.112]

A solid, rather than remarkable record. [Summer 2019, p.115]

From sterling ballads to punchy rockers, it's a classy set. But the initail post-Obama musings of Welcome To The Future already seem dated and, as ever, it's hard to know where the buyer will come from. [Aug 2010, p.124]