A blissful blip that produced one of the '90s' finest rock albums. [Jan 2013, p.121]

Both [discs] are full of surprises. [Oct 2004, p.115]

Blur have had many more than 18 hits; certainly there are sufficient omissions to form the bulk of a second disc.

His simple, unadorned songs of longing, belonging and love are so striking that contributions from such distinctive guests... pass almost unnoticed. [Apr 2005, p.118]

He remains rap's finest storyteller. [Jun 2006, p.115]

Kokoko! are far more ramshackle affair than Mbongwana's dub-drenched African Funk, with "instruments" all but salvaged from junkyards. The effect is deliriously infectious--Gruff, chanted vocals, wandering basslines and often woozy FX that can render the whole disorientating and dreamlike. [Aug 2019, p.112]

M.I.A.'s style mag-cool pop-rap doesn't have the substance to carry the dark subtext of the title. [May 2005, p.107]

The Gypsy Faerie Queen, co-written and performed with Cave, and the Lanegan-scored They Come At Night, addressing the attack on the Bataclan, are among the LP's finest moments, but it's Born To Live, a tribute to the late Anita Pallenberg, that proves its most stirring. [Dec 2018, p.107]

Rich in texture and tone, enlivened rather than swamped by guests and made thrilling by his ability to make his hyperactivity as restful as it is relentless. [Dec 2014, p.110]

Remedy follows a growing list of albums born of an infectious energy and bubbling belief that, dance-wise these days, almost anything goes.

There is much to savour here. If this is a swansong, it's most definitely a worthy one. [Nov 2017, p.104]

These 20 songs unfold with mostly spartan acoustic guitar and voice arrangements, near-segueing from one to the other But the cumulative emotional impact is profound. [Summer 2019, p.117]

This remarkable album's impact resides in its sound; the lyrics, when they can be deciphered, are standard she-left-me stuff. [June 2008, p.147]

In the end, though, to fixate on these 33 songs' serial flaws and occasional bad odours is to miss the essential point. The music amounts to a compelling period piece. [July 2008, p.116]

An album that repeatedly pulls you back in to try and decipher its charms. [Nov 2015, p.111]

A pure pleasure. [July 2008, p.101]

Fierce, honest and a challenge to the forces of obsolescence, Dirty Computer feels like a vital upgrade from a true renegade. [Jul 2018, p.110]

As warm, strange and enchantingly off-key as the title suggests. [May 2007, p.127]

His production is masterful enough to demonstrate just why he is hip hop's hottest new property. [May 2004, p.111]

Hardcore aficionados might doggedly stick to the original but for new fans, it's a treat. [Mar 2018, p.107]

At 41 minutes, Blackstar is a more concise statement than The Next Day and a a far, far more intriguing one, enticing you to follow Bowie further down this freshly-rediscovered, individualistic path where sonic surprises lurk around every corner--a journey that, at times, is not for the faint of heart. [Jan 2016, p.104]

MBV isn't perfect; sometimes the songs do drag, but the brilliant moments are so brilliant, and the exciting moments so exciting that you'll forgive them. [Apr 2013, p.108]

A beguiling, constantly surprising record. [Jul 2019, p.113]

These are controlled, tempered, well-steered songs, capable of navigating genres. [Oct 2016, p.104]

Expanding your sound without losing your edge is a tough trick to pull off, but Hookworms manage it with inner space to spare. [Mar 2018, p.111]

The results are excellent. [Oct 2015, p.110]

Where recent albums have felt more like protracted jam sessions -- impressive, if not actually exciting -- this has renewed sparkle, raiding indie-pop territory with harmonies, hand-claps and even the odd acoustic guitar.

There's a new sense of darkness and despair at their core. [Dec 2003, p.124]

Seems to focus more on Dizzee's virtuosity as a producer than a rapper, and teems with exotic noises, odd rhythmic loops and unexpected shifts in mood. [Sep 2004, p.112]

These records might not eclipse Channel Orange, but they have their own mercurial gleam, mapping the spaces between people, reaching for a hazy intimacy that almost feels real. [Nov 2016, p.112]

These 11 songs are unashamedly informed by her maternal role in its varying facets of joy, growth, complexity and, on the self-explanatory So Tired, exhausting labour. But it also ranges more wildly. [Mar 2018, p.107]

The 50-year-old's songwriting blue streak continues on Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, a triumphant album that merits all three exclaimation marks. [Apr 2008, p.105]

The RCA Albums Collection remains the final word on the most consummate singer-songwriter of his generation. [Sep 2013, p.111]

It's undoubtedly a sad voice she presents on Reward, but one that is unlike anyone else's. [Jul 2019, p.107]

It's bracing stuff. [Mar 2014, p.110]

Thick, claggy basslines anchor them alongside The Fall a their most pulverising. .... The debut's best moments, however, are when they push against what a post-punk band should be. [Aug 2020, p.109]

Too Bright finds him more sparky and more mettled. [Nov 2014, p.116]

Thanks to digital tweaking, boy does it capture them swinging and the four bonus songs are most welcome too. [Oct 2016, p.115]

Complex, yet approachable rhythmic sketches. [Mar 2020, p.117]

Out there, but compelling all the same. [#184, p.137]

She sounds gloriously rough-edged and authentic. [May 2003, p.114]

Treading the line between artful and emotive, it's a quiet riot. [May 2019, p.112]

The curiously carved music is a perfect frame. Another peak. [Aug 2019, p.115]

Her lyrics are folk-like in that they seem ancient yet new, delivered by a voice that's both angelic and sharp as a whip-crack. [#361, p.112]

There are echoes of other singular vocal talents such as Jonsi and Anonhi, but Ghersi here occupies a sonic multiverse of his own creation. [Jun 2017, p.102]

It marks a huge leap forward, with much of their previous discordant awkwardness replaced with a more focused approach. [Nov 2007, p.141]

A strange, intoxicating and utterly brave record. [Apr 2015, p.86]

The most ebullient British debut since Elastica. [Mar 2004, p.102]

When Young's in the spotlight, the set hits the heights. [Sep 2014, p.119]

An enthralling, multi-layered listen. [Aug 2020, p.109]

For its black lyrical humour alone, I Love You, Honeybear would be a winner. The fact that it's matched to towering songwriting makes it masterful stuff. [Mar 2015, p.107]

A record tremblingly alert to the darkness, it flickers like a candle in the gloom, a victory for the forces of good against all odds. [Dec 2013, p.107]

Throughout this masterclass in artful self-scrutiny, that tightrope is Mitski's domain. [Sep 2018, p.115]

Sigur Ros's second album proper features this astonishing opener ["Svefn-G-Englar"] and 10 others which, while surprisingly diverse, each reflects their penchant for apocalyptic serenity, overdriven guitars and teenage singer Jonsi's Birgisson unique Hopelandish language.

Daft Punk's best album in a career that's already redefined dance music at least twice. It is, in short, a mind-blower. [Jun 2013, p.88]

A magical kingdom of noise that's equal parts Disney's Fantasia and Echo & The Bunnymen's lavish Ocean Rain. [Apr 2007, p.107]

Battered, bonkers and bewitching in equal parts, Yankee Hotel Foxtrot at last finds Wilco's "interesting" phase becoming downright fascinating. [May 2002, p.121]

The poppier bits like Jupiter Rising don't always work, but the darkly gritty Time In Babylon, in particular, shows just how far Harris has pushed the traditional country sound. [Oct 2003, p.104]

It is their way with a collaborator, though, that sets them apart. [Feb 2003, p.97]

In A Poem Unlimited never preaches its messages--it purrs them, the melodies letting them percolate slowly. Remy has taken on today's biggest topic and made it sparkle. [Mar 2018, p.105]

Disturbingly sensual stuff. [Jun 2013, p.99]

Occasionally slightly Gallic, but consistently intoxicating, it's a trip definitely worth taking. [Aug 2013, p.103]

Cocoa Sugar finds Young Fathers at a fascinating juncture: opening up, moving forward, but still existing in a sonic hall-of-mirrors world of their own. [Apr 2018, p.104]

They may well have delivered their masterpiece. [Sept. 2010, p. 110]

The bonus material on both albums offer up further evidence that this was the Pumpkins' purple path. [Jan 2012, p.130]

An album so rich, complex and dazzlingly fluid. [Jul 2015, p.103]

An acquired taste. [Mar 2003, p.109]

Sorrowful and stately, Griffin's voice is a startlingly expressive instrument. [May 2007, p.125]

Stevens is... smart enough to offset the egghead subject matter with a batch of deceptively simple tunes. [May 2004, p.108]

Everything here is a fantastic hybrid, M.I.A. and her platoon of producers thieving fashionable street sounds from Baltimore hip hop to Brazil's baile funk. [Sep 2007, p.89]

The passage of time sometimes has a way of making youthful politicking seem naive, but not here. [Jan 2013, p.121]

Badu shines a light on less frequently explored areas of Kuti's back catalogue. ... One of music's undisputed heavyweights. [Jan 2018, p.116]

All the freshness and ingenuity that made their 2009 debut such a revelation is here. [Oct 2012, p.111]

McMahon has found new ways to expand his wild-eyed sound, thickening the psychic murk with electronic textures but keeping the emotional edges bright. [May 2018, p.104]

Best skip Stray Cat Blues though, a track so problematic it's a wonder Operation Yewtree haven't opened a file on it. [Jan 2019, p.117]

V feels bigger than its predecessors, but it still disturbs. [Oct 2017, p.105]

A triumph. [Aug 2020, p.111]

Isolation showcases just what made others scramble for her number: natural pop charisma and an ability to glide effortlessly between genres. [May 2018, p.113]

They've made a fine pop record without compromising their trademark quirkiness.... The band's best work to date. [Aug 2003, p.114]

His most intricately affecting music yet. [Nov 2016, p.100]

Vlautin's literary side is very much evident, with the lyrics of these 11 songs effectively vivid short stories populated by bruised characters. [May 2014, p.108]

This two-disc set captures R.E.M. in their prime, erasing the memory of their middling final decade. [Jan 2012, p.135]

A rather erratic affair. [Apr 2002, p.119]

Electronic showboating even the original authors would struggle to identify. [May 2006, p.138]

Her state-of-the-nation address. Stunning. [Feb. 2011, p. 112]

Not only do the rhythms here sound tighter and more intensely focused, Murphy's presence as a songwriter and frontman is a revelation. [Apr 2007, p.110]

Whatever she make you feel, it's a ferociously sensual work. [Summer 2018, p.117]

Sounds like a malfunctioning iPod loaded with The Neptunes, Aphex Twin circa Windowlicker and The Last Poets--only with all the fragments miraculously falling in just the right places. [Jun 2003, p.104]

It's gloriously dark and downbeat stuff. [Nov 2001, p.130]

For all the sonic bricolage, nothing upstages Garbus's own force of personality: her vocal range thrillingly from demure cooing through sassy funk to lung-bursting holler. [May 2011, p.126]

Comicopera is a cornicopia. [Nov 2007, p.148]

It never sounds over-considered or a grab for mainstream success, but rather the joy of an artist relishing new territory. [Feb 2019, p.106]

Hearing these set whole makes a difference: sparse yet hypnotic; with Lou on commanding form. [Jan 2016, p.120]

Truely, a voyage of discovery. [Jan 2009, p.121]

It's a record that announces its creator as a true force. [Feb 2015, p.113]

A Sailor's Guide to Earth is audacious in a genre that prizes hat size over innovation, a concept album about parenting and childhood intended for consumption in one continuous sitting like a short story. [Jul 2016, p.114]

As on Tramp, Van Etten's lyrics remain similarly frank. [Jul 2014, p.117]

The Wisconsin outsider stretches horizons on mesmeric second album. [July 2011, p. 108]