Not the new sound of now, perhaps, but they play with enough fury to make the ancestors proud. [Sep 2015, p.117]

The album's title is a nod to America's addiction to prescription drugs, while the 21st-century pop production gloss of Actual Pain, for example, hides an inner turmoil. [Oct 2018, p.111]

Until they learn to absorb their influences more cleverly, all this good work might be undone. [Jul 2005, p.119]

There are songs here that are terrific.... But 3121 wouldn't be a Prince album if it wasn't also full of filler. [May 2006, p.119]

A set of forward-thinking pop reminiscent of Sign O' The Times-era Prince. [Oct 2006, p.115]

Those familiar with their late-'80s classics will be glad to hear them back on form, though it's hard to see this winning over many new fans. [Nov 2007, p.144]

The North Carolina quartet's banjo lopes alongside their classy Americana tunes. [Oct 2010, p.104]

Bianchi drops his usual mix of samples and programming for traditional instruments, including banjo and glockenspiel to create a very modern, kind of folk music. [Dec 2008, p.133]

Ring makes it work by resisting the urge to do anything that resembles grandiose. [Apr 2013, p.94]

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

Yet despite the quality of Can't Get Back To The Baseline and the Kinks-like Give Me A Letter, several semi-acoustic fillers -- of which the dreary, You Are Amazing is the worst offender -- water down the album as a whole.

Stick with it, though, as the last song, the elegant memorial Somehow The Wonder of Life Prevails, turns out to be a piece of quiet and hugely emotional brilliance. [Aug 2013, p.100]

Their second album is a melange of found sounds (Piero Umiliani, Nancy Sinatra, Harry Belafonte), daft titles (Duckweb & Fishlip, Barry Normal Eyes, Busyness Mans Lunch) and much studio jiggery-pokery. The result is a surprisingly viable whole... There's nothing of substance, despite the swearing on A Lot Of Stick (But Not Much Carrot), but it's fair fun while it lasts.

The likes of the gnarled, rough-edged Rollin' & Tumblin' serve as vital pieces of living history from the last of a generation. [Dec 2001, p.120]

Here he crafts some intoxicatingly beautiful music all built around the sparkling chime of his 12-string guitar. Inevitably it recalls The Byrds. [Sep 2013, p.99]

Ambition aplenty, but spread too thinly. [Apr 2020, p.111]

This live effort confirms what many suspected of Ditto all along: she makes for a terrifically ballsy rock star. [May 2008, p.134]

They pack in an astounding brutality reminiscent of Napalm Death's grueling grindcore. [May 2013, p.99]

The Decemberists have never sounded more ordinary. [Feb. 2011, p. 114]

It's best when it's at its most trippy. Less effectove are the parping brass and chukka-chukka guitars on "Baby Can't Stop." Happily there's enough of the former to outweigh the latter. [Mar 2010, p.105]

It's almost a carbon copy of their early work. [Sep 2003, p.101]

She sounded better as a bit of a bad girl. [Jun 2014, p.106]

eXquire has charisma to burn and the beats are engagingly woozy. But the contrast between eight-minute epic Nothing's What It Seems: Short Film and the sex raps of FCK Boy! and I Love Hoes show that some things never change. [Sep 2019, p.115]

Crazy as ever, then, but still just about in an endearing way. [Sep 2016, p.108]

There are too many songs here set to the same humdrum pace. But those are the sort of flaws you expect from a debut. [May 2013, p.112]

Opting to name your album Magnifique certainly suggests a renewed confidence and the music here largely supports that. [Sep 2015, p.115]

Krell's exploration into inner space working best when opening the door wide enough to let a little light in. [Dec 2018, p.108]

While these midlife blues are never less than absorbing, fans will hope he sees in his half century by upping the ante somewhat. [Nov 2013, p.105]

Sparky debut from trio in thrall to US post-hardcore. [July 2010, p. 135]

They carefully remodel Gentry's Southern storytelling. [Mar 2019, p.116]

Baird's pure vocals might promise a bucolic dream, but there's the seed of a nightmare mushrooming here, a tension Heron Oblivion push as far out as they can. [Apr 2016, p.107]

Their debut, recorded in frontman's Ed Macfarlane's parents' garage, is a tuneful affair. [Oct 2008, p.142]

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]

Fizzing with ideas, their future looks bright. [May 2012, p.93]

Interplay sees him continuing the retro-futurist experiment. [Apr 2011, p.102]

He seems content to occupy the same '90s underground niche he's always done. [Jun 2013, p.90]

Nothing here is revolutionary, although the quality of workmanship is undeniable. [July 2002, p.112]

The melodramatic clatter of Corridors and Meridian's airborne melodic spores mark then out as rare species, but their underlying pomposity remains an albatross around their necks. [Mar 2010, p.108]

There are some fine moments, chief among them the searing Ordinary World and the delicate ballad Lost, but there's a feeling The Temper Trap will never again match the bombastic euphoria of their breakthrough track. [Aug 2016, p.117]

[Wiesenfeld has an] uncommon ear for texture and rhythm, albeit one compromised by a weakness for self-consciously introspective lyrics and highfalutin sixth form poetry. [Jun 2013, p.93]

A true one-off, you're either a believer or you're not. [Jun 2014, p.106]

A breezy, rangy collection of songs that give the impression of a man keen to make a move without over-analysing too much. [Aug 2013, p.102]

The austerity of the songs occasionally makes the listener feel as though they have stumbled upon some hand-scrawled diary entries. [Aug 2013, p.102]

It's a frustratingly inconsistent affair. [Aug 2013, p.97]

Even when the music threatens to sag into MOR dullness, as on Slow Burn Love, Almond's unmistakable voice - equal measures of defiance and fragility - lifts it up high.[Mar 2020, p.114]

A dramatic, wide-screen, expertly executed, even genuinely executed thrilling rock record worthy of an audience way beyond nu-prog’s regular constituency. [Apr 2007]

[The band's] hardcore sound is as tricky to keep up with as ever. [Mar 2013, p.101]

Rebel Heart often strikes a more tentative note.[Apr 2015, p.100]

Much of the incidental music fulfils its purpose by occupying the background, but the band manage to inject real drama into the majestically discordant, Sonic Youth-influenced 'Spearing The Sunfish,' while the peaks and troughs of 'Boy Vertiginous' should appeal to Mogwai fans. [Jul 2009, p.117]

The Growlers might just be on to something here. [May 2013, p.101]

As a cohesive armchair trance soundtrack, Airdrawndagger is a clear success. [Sep 2002, p.106]

Seratones' opening salvo might be impressive but you can't help feeling their timing couldn't be worse. [Aug 2016, p.117]

There's more than enough for a killer accompaniment to his book, but as a standalone album, Let love needs a tougher edit. [Oct 2019, p.106]

The musical equivalent of a new model car: predictable, solid, well crafted but a lot like the one before it. [Nov 2012, p.99]

While there's nothing on Drastic Fantastic to spook the horses, neither is it an obvious rerun of its predecessor. [October 2007, p.90]

No flame then, but her light shows no sign of going out. [Jan 2013, p.112]

With singer Jim Adkin's genuinely inspiring vocals and thoughtful lyrics separating them from the herd, there's much more life here than might have been expected. [Nov. 2010, p. 111]

Papa Roach may be a band out of time, but there's life aplenty here yet. [Feb 2015, p.113]

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

They adopt a slightly wider palette of influences on the follow-up, with mixed results. [Mar 2014, p.116]

It's wilfully rough around the edges. [Summer 2020, p.101]

[Neil Arthur] is still in strong voice, his spare, pop-savvy synths tracks are a fitting canvas for his absurdist, trenchant narratives. [Apr 2015, p.97]

Sad, happy, tragic and triumphant, just like country music should be. [May 2013, p.102]

A limited vocalist,... he's a far better pianist and arranger. [May 2003, p.104]

Shows that they can still craft radio-friendly rock with aplomb. [May 2012, p.93]

Yet tracks such as Moody, You're No Good and UFO are far more than mere sample food, and these original recordings recall The Slits given a rudimentary disco makeover. But where their British peers revelled in sloppiness, ESG's rhythm section is as tight as the JBs in bondage gear.

It's the very real emotional core that save Straight No Chaser from being just a slickly anonymous pop confection. [Nov 2009, p.100]

This is exciting but competent American punk by numbers. [Nov 2003, p.114]

Only the closing tracks, where they grow overwhelmed by their own inertia, stands between this and something essential. [Aug 2016, p.115]

The smart-arse-ometer goes off the scale from time to time and a thin production hardly helps matters, but when Deez gets snappy on Kill Your Attitude and Melange Mining Co, he's far from a lost cause. [Oct 2015, p.104]

If there's a weakness it's Hutchcraft's florid vocal style. [Nov 2015, p.111]

The dense guitars and plaid shirts scream "grunge redux," but the attitude is pure hair metal circa 1987. [Aug 2010, p.116]

Amid too much mid-tempo drear it's left to Rockabye Baby to bring some fire to a n LP that rarely does more than enough. [Jun 2017, p.102]

The best songs have some serious bite. [Apr 2015, p.108]

An album filled with skill, invention and genrey-defying fun. [Apr 2015, p.104]

Silvery two-part harmonies, cello and snare rolls combine to excellent effect on Light Out, while Drummachines lopes along, a fuzzy bass loop and booming drum kicks offset with mildly Auto-Tuned vocals. [May 2013, p.103]

While it's genuinely marvellous to hear one of pop's most underrated voices back, you do long to hear material suited to the modern era. [Jun 2013, p.94]

A robust blend of anthemic choruses and electro-tinged riffing, it will appeal to fans of Depeche Mode and Metallica alike. [July 2002, p.112]

A far more considered affair, wistful, even half-regretful, yet redolent of breezing down the freeway from the Deep South to California with the Stones and Flying Burrito Brothers on the radio. [Aug 2016, p.114]

It's only on what passes here for a ballad, Black And Blue (A letter), that they overreach themselves. [Mar 2012, p.106]

An intoxicating approximation of Beach House's gauzy atmospherics. They replicate them skillfully enough but you can't help feeling they're ultimately trying to move into a space that's already taken. [Nov 2017, p.107]

Sensual melancholy is a mood but Cry occasionally needs another one or two up its heart adorned sleeve. [Dec 2019, p.106]

It's an ugly brute of a record too, but one you can't stop looking out. [Sep 2013, p.100]

Standouts Everybody Wants To Be Famous and Something For Your M.I.N.D.. The rest divides between disposable cut-and-paste experiments and breezy indie-dance, at least making up in energy what it lacks in depth. [Apr 2018, p.115]

This collection collects their best and worst. [Oct 2012, p.118]

Selway understands that he starts with a blank slate and that his extracurricular activity need sound neither drummery nor Radiohead-esque. Instead, he's blessed with a warm and gentle voice, he sings of heart, hearth and on the aching "broken Promises," the death of his mother in 2006. [Sep 2010, p.120]

Refreshingly simple in its own small way. [Feb 2013, p.103]

Carefully constructed with plenty of inventive, multi-layered vocals, it works best on the livelier songs. [Apr 2013, p.93]

Only the occasional squalling, free-jazz meltdown gets in the way of letting the good times roll. [Jun 2016, p.114]

There's a pleasing magpie approach to his songwriting.... At times, however, his influences are too transparently obvious. [Apr 2015, p.107]

Its supulchral riffs, histrionic vocals and ludicrous lyrics are all comfortingly familiar. Something unexpected wouldn't have gone amiss, mind. [Jul 2009, p.117]

Tellingly, they're at their most beguiling when taking chances. [Jun 2009, p.134]

This Ronson-produced collection of swinging '60s pop and blue-eyed soul is still well-crafted, with standouts. The problem is Merriweather's voice, which is technically agile but emotionally anodyne. [Jul 2009, p.127]

The musical similarities to old muckers Coldplay might smack of cynicism, but you can't fault their ambition. [Jun 2014, p.108]

Headaches and nausea are a possibility, so approach with caution. [Apr 2007, p.116]

On this first album in 16 years, return unspoilt, showcasing Gano's helter-skelter take on familiarly rootsy targets such as Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, country and rockabilly. [Apr 2016, p.116]

Other artists might have engaged in some sort of artistic progression by now, but this is what Black Lips do. They bend to no one's will but their own. [Jul 2017, p.104]

Nutty Boys no more, Madness may be big men but, judging by this, not entirely out of shape. [Jun 2009, p.131]