The results are serviceable. [Jul 2015, p.111]

With his piano-playing accompanied by Daniel Joseph Dorff's drumming, the arrangements are minimal affairs, placing Moore's voice centre stage and allowing the songs to breathe. [Mar 2011, p.112]

Intriguingly between success and failure, as if occupying a musical hinterland of its own. [Oct 2018, p.118]

At times, it's a frustrating, self-absorbing listen. [Oct 2014, p.110]

A positively unhinged record. [Dec 2006, p.133]

Feels like a sideways step. [Jan 2016, p.113]

It's the same sure-footed, Beatles-inspired pop that made them so popular in the early '90s. [Sep 2007, p.100]

Too aimless for the initiated, the likes of 'Barfuss Durch Gras,' a cacophony of clocks unwinding will have dinner party dilettantes spitting their soup. [Oct 2008, p.142]

The sequel gets off to a spotty start with lightweight songwriting and dated production....The '00 material, however, represents a creative revival. [Mar 2012, p.117]

About as well-rounded and polished as albums get. [Dec 2002, p.100]

Hypnophobia is enjoyably immersive while it lasts, yet like so many dreams it's hard to recall any of the specific details once it's been and gone. [Jun 2015, p.106]

Understated and slightly surreal, this could be dance music's answer to Pink Floyd. [Aug 2002, p.122]

This may not be their greatest album to date, but Universal Truths and Cycles is a charming record that shows the Pollard production line remains in good order. [July 2002, p.114]

Inventive arrangements and a strong supporting cast including Bonnie Raitt and the Blind Boys of Alabama mean these gumbo variations on obscurities and super-club standards come with added spice. [Oct 2014, p.108]

It's undeniably infectious, maddeningly so at times. [Oct 2011, p.120]

Its pleasures lie almost entirely in the storytelling, bolstered by Mueler's between-songs narration. [Dec 2012, p.110]

Fortunately, the game of spot-the-influences swiftly gives way to more complex pleasures. [Apr 2013, p.113]

Their second should eclipse even that [100,000 copies of their first album sold], given the songwriting strides they've taken since. [Apr 2009, p.97]

This impressive follow-up finds him lacing hard-edged techno beats with quirky shifts on tone and texture. [Jun 2009, p.121]

MG is a frequently intriguing set of intimate modernist atmospherics. [Jun 2015, p.108]

The Magnificent Tree is accomplished, just unsensational. It nails the neo-'60s trip-hop set down by Mono and Olive but then tries too hard to have a finger in other pies.

Sweet Sweet Silent is hardly the most strident listen, but it's not without grit. The choruses are understated but addictive and the fragile intricacies are beguiling. [Sep 2017, p.115]

On occasion, Ludacris fumbles the ball... but he can certainly mix it with the big boys. [Jan 2002, p.104]

It often feels a little formulaic, but, boy do they have that formula down to a fine art. [Nov 2016, p.107]

Liddle's earthy vocal wobble remains central, but this time it's married to such strident, straightforward rock that no one's going to compare them with Mumfords again. [Oct 2014, p.109]

It still comes from within a hydroponic fug of sedated beats and mumbled vocals. However, there's also a renewed sense of self. [Nov 2014, p.119]

A tough, focused, danceable album. [Jun 2006, p.113]

A collection of loose - in fact, very loose - rock-n-roll with at least one foot in the '60s. [Dec. 2011 p. 136]

This fourth album finds them repeating the nifty trick of simplifying Tool's complex musical equations. Math metal for dummies, anyone? [Jan 2009, p.113]

For all the craft she shows, for all her ability to move and for all the promise of the zinging, Indian-inflected Growing Pains, Birdy is undone by an unwillingness to change her musical pace. [Jun 2016, p.110]

This friskier, fresher take on Evelyn's previous fare is especially well judged bearing in mind that the last thing the world needs is another chill-out album. [Sep 2002, p.111]

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

The tunes come think and fast, but their geeky adolescent routine is wearing thin. [Jan 2010, p. 126]

Ten Thousand and One Injuries works best when the frenetic pace eases up a little. [May 2010, p.122]

It's pretty good. Production values have been upped in the intervening period but rather than smooth out their edges, they only serve to accentuate their fierce, angular approach. [Aug 2015, p.110]

Gomez's future seems cloudy, but with these nine tracks, Ottewell has a fighting chance. [Mar 2011, p.112]

Heartstrings lacks the killer song that would bring Howling Bells the success they undoubtedly crave. [Jul 2014, p.109]

JPEGMAFIA's flashes of brilliance are obscured by a bloated tracklist, but they're worth digging out. [Nov 2019, p.111]

Joseph D'Agostino's voice can get a little grating: too often he's hysterically over-emoting. [Oct 2014, p.107]

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

The overall effect is not dissimilar to Sugababes, only with added adult content. [Aug 2006, p.111]

Oozing with dark passion, Nux Vomica is very Nick Cave. [Oct 2006, p.127]

A dark, challenging album. [Feb 2013, p.107]

Their infectious electro-funk certainly has a new hedonistic swagger. [Feb 2012, p.104]

Fredo does little to soften the edges of his rough-cut persona for this solo debut album. [Mar 2019, p.115]

Story Of The Year manage to stand out from the melodic post-hardcore morass due to the sheer stength of their anthems, That said, there's little new on this fourth album. [Apr 2010, p.106]

Full marks, then, for ambitions but there's still a powerful sense here of a man trying way too hard. [Aug 2018, p.108]

Not always easy to decode, but worth the effort. [Jun 2014, p.103]

Another year, another Jah Wobble album knocked out with a slew of collaborators and little interest in much, you suspect, beyond the immediate entertainment of its participants. [Sep 2016, p.114]

As ghostly grey as an autumn fog, it's definitely a record for when the rain's hammering on the windowpanes at home. [Sep 2016, p.102]

The third album since the band's 2007's reunion is low on overt politics, but high on autumnal jazz, Bacharach-ian swing, easy-going funk and relaxed charm. [Jun 2013, p.93]

Both sides [metal and pop] work well individually, but bolted together it sounds confused. [Sep 2013, p.100]

Deacon's score is all subtle mood shifts and intriguing instrumentation. [Nov 2017, p.108]

It's the heart of the matter, and the song that sets the bar. [Oct 2011, p.122]

It won't give the Foo Fighters sleepless nights, but it's fun while it lasts. [Jan 2020, p.109]

There was always more going on inside that pretty head than met the eye. On his first release since disbanding My Chemical Romance, you may struggle to hear what that is. [Nov 2014, p.120]

Emotions are high, though their impact could be heightened if the band's post-hardcore sounds was less generic. [Nov 2012, p.103]

Curious rather than essential. [Feb 2018, p.112]

Rather than working as a listening experience, Myth Takes feels more like a dry run for one of !!!'s compulsive live shows. [Apr 2007, p.116]

Enjoyable but not exactly exciting. [Mar 2018, p.108]

DeVotchKa's preference for songs that don't necessarily result in feverish fopsweat actually serve to highlight much mongrel charm. [Apr 2008, p.107]

Over six albums in nearly 20 years, Connecticut's Hatebreed have yet to deliver a record that sounds different from the last. [Feb 2013, p.107]

Hamilton's languid, Hope Sandoval-style cooing occasionally struggles to keep pace.... But when they're aiming true, Widowspeak strike gold. [Mar 2013, p.111]

The gloomy beats prove best suited to Pusha's own sinister drawl. [Feb 2012, p.104]

Arctic Monkeys and Franz Ferdinand's label is an unlikely home for these militant lesbian rappers who screech sex-filled rhymes over tough, minimal beats, although thheir punky energy should appeal to Messrs Turner and Kapranos. [Oct 2008, p.152]

Luna is pleasing rather than groundbreaking. [Oct 2008, p.139]

While they chug along merrily, they lack the great songs that would distinguish them from the herd. [April 2012, p.98]

His first LP of originals since the '80s is thrillingly belligerent, bassist Norman Watt-Roy and drummer Dylan Howe supplying a muscular foundation to Johnson's machete guitar, a combination more than compensating for the star's lack of vocal prowess. [Summer 2018, p.110]

They sand down their raucous edges for a more playful psych-pop sound. [Jun 2014, p.103]

While there's nothing on here that feels quite as urgent as Nichijyou, last year's track recorded with Jehnny Beth from Savages, it's still a beguiling collection of songs. [Jul 2014, p.103]

It's a punishing listen. ... But this is not a record for the faint-hearted. [Nov 2019, p.111]

A mostly stylish mix of indie nous and Hollywood glitz. [Nov 2014, p.120]

Where David sometimes fall short is on lyrical content. ... Such disposable fluff aside, David's triumphant return is otherwise still going strong here. [Mar 2018, p.107]

There's preciousness here, but so what? Craftmen out to care. [Sep 2011, p.114]

The Voyeurs' determination to peer through the capital's sleazier keyholes should be applauded. [Jan 2015, p.132]

A giddy blend of nostalgia and invention that'll do just fine for starters. [Dec. 2011 p. 136]

On ONIFC he tilts the balance back--slightly. [Mar 2013, p.111]

A functional quality is leavened by guest voices. [Feb 2012, p.104]

Their second studio album does have a strange charm, in short doses. [Jun 2016, p.108]

Black Bubblegum has a more amiable feel, assembling DIY jams inspired by Afrobeat and reggae, not to mention the fringes of Animal Collective's back Catalogue and Texan outlier Sun Araw. [Aug 2016, p.110]

The debt to electronic pioneer Jean Michel Jarre's Oxygene is obvious, but it's a compliment to say this is guaranteed to send you to sleep. [Jun 2014, p.104]

Those lying closest to their own unsubtle ouevre, ie the Minor Threat and Cypress Hill tracks, are as crunching as die-hards could hope for. But the arch sneer of The Rolling Stones' Street Fighting Man and Bob Dylan's Maggie's Farm are predictably reduced to chalkboard lessons in "angry".

Nice, but probably inessential. [Nov 2019, p.111]

[Many of] these clean-sounding, jazz-rock rearrangements of songs from 1928 to 1963 prove successful experiments. [Aug 2012, p.100]

Condon proves that less can be more. [Oct 2015, p.102]

They should always say yes to excess. [Oct 2012, p.107]

An album that delivers plenty of thrills, even if the spills are now to be found elsewhere. [Oct 2014, p.104]

Step Back is better when Winter plays it straight. [Nov 2014, p.120]

Each song still has the inevitable moment of electronic ascent but, as with Coldplay's Recent break-up record, you can';t help but wonder how these songs might've sounded left raw and unslickened. [Jan 2015, p.133]

Rogers's 63-year-old voice sounds uncannily well preserved. [Feb 2014, p.119]

Tart modern pop performed with a sly sense of homour. [Mar 2009, p.105]

FILA is not his monumental debut, Only Built 4 Cuban Linx, but it maintains the revival in form that began with its 2009 sequel. [Jun 2015, p.111]

The [same] sort of Clash-meets-Green Day agit-protest skate-punk Anti-Flag have been making since 1996. [May 2012, p.90]

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

It's mix of precision and passion reminds of Muse's debut. [Jun 2013, p.91]

This return proves surprisingly approachable, especially on the four tracks written with French songwriter and producer Woodkid. [Oct 2016, p.105]

It's quirky without being kitsch, and another fine addition to Smith's varied back catalog. [Aug 2013, p.105]

Stark, speedy, ferocious---all their established calling card are here. [Oct 2015, p.114]