It's stylistically impressive, but Worden only connects emotionally when she goes for simplicity. [Nov 2011, p.93]

This US trio make a more than decent fist of their upbeat retro-music without ever quite shaking off the scent of pastiche. [Dec 2011, p.87]

It's as convincing and heartfelt as anything else here--and suggests that by incorporating disco into the rest of his music, even better things may lie ahead. [Mar 2008, p.96]

The mechanised backbeat rarely strays too far from the dancefloor, but the ever-shifting textures keep it interesting. [Nov 2011, p.91]

Fine, but no surprises. [Oct 2008, p.101]

She still refuses to knock up any memorable tunes, but arthouse divas thus obsessed with ghosts and personal (if ill-described) demons are always fascinating. [Jun 2003, p.109]

He treads a line between loving monogamy and club bangers, emphasising accessibility throughout. [Jan 2003, p.128]

This collaboration with Athens lo-fi specialists Elf Power isn't his most immediatly appealing set, but it's worth it just for 'Bilocating Dog,' a lovely shambles of a song with an absurd chorus. [Jan 2008, p.88]

Rather precious in places, but often enchanting. [Oct 2011, p.81]

It's hard to begrudge the Boos this sunny, mellifluous midlife comeback. [Aug 2023, p.25]

Manners is impressively slick and sparky but probably just a little too toothpaste fresh. [Jun 2009, p.93]

Cohesion, The Men have clearly decided, is not their bag. [Apr 2013, p.73]

By the time the 11-minute whalesong finale "Cease To Know" creeps to its overdue conclusion, the prevailing mood of impeccably tasteful introspection is choking. [May 2010, p.88]

Stomping Eurodisco almost-anthems rub shoulders with crying-on-the-dancefloor confessionals, although the 31-year-old diva's plastic-punkette teen-rebel pose grates at times. [Aug 2010, p.93]

The biggest surprise is how rarely this scratch supergroup really swings to its full potential. [Feb 2007, p.68]

Features more of the uncomplicated Californian country-rock fare that was hinted at by the cover of Fleetwood Mac's "Save Me A Place" on last year's Between EP. [Jul 2006, p.116]

Despite the lacerating electro-glam of "Total All Out Water" and "Sheez Minie," it's melodic as hell. [Nov 2002, p.121]

It's a less daring enterprise overall. [May 2004, p.106]

Russell was always more super-sessioneer and songwriter than vocalist, and the rasp of advancing years does little for over-familiar pieces like "Fever" and "Georgia On My Mind." Better are more personal favorites like Billy Joel's "New York State Of Mind" and Mose Allison's "Fool's Paradise." [Jul 2014, p.80]

Eventually Brad Hargett's depressive baritone voice will get you down, but not before it has demanded your attention. [Apr 2009, p.87]

Their seventh studio album removes some of the widescreen electronica and replaces it with a more, stripped back, acoustic vibe that rather suits them. [Aug 2013, p.67]

The rest of the album struggles to maintain that high standard [of the second track, 'I Know'], but 'Take It Home' is a magnificent dirge. [Sep 2009, p.86]

While there's plenty of laidback sheen, the collection is void of original hooks. [Sep 2019, p.24]

They rather more resemble the wilfully over-wrought pastiches of Flight Of The Conchords, but without the jokes. [Sep 2009, p.82]

Come Down With Me seems slightly out of step in 2010, harking back to a time at the turn of the millennium where Tortoise and Tarwater were still the names to drop, but you can nonetheless appreciate its glistening geometry. [Mar 2010, p.84]

It's hard, though, to be sure of such depth aid the often imprecise lyrics, gently sweet vocals resembling a semi-skimmed Jonathan Donahue, and muffled, ambient brass and sax swells. [Oct 2018, p.30]

This still-teenage quartet writes heady songs that luxuriate in bubbling electronics, lagoon-diving reverb and layered harmonies. [Jun 2011, p.79]

The songs may work better in short, sudden bursts; over 11 tracks, you can feel bludgeoned by the band's blunt force. [Apr 2005, p.112]

The band push their mathematical lines into some great perverse shapes that occasionally remind of Fugazi, and even Yes. [May 2009, p.85]

If you like your pop super-sweet and synthy, fill your boots. [Mar 2020, p.25]

Alopecia is another woozily layered, beguilingly fractured affair, driven by beats and samples. [May 2008, p.113]

The record plods along nicely but often drifts into forgetful or nostalgic territory, with the fuzzed-up growl of the guitars recalling the bygone mid-90s indie-rock boom. [Nov 2018, p.37]

His voice isn't built for such poignancy. This is a 74-year-old's dance record, not an elegy. [Jul 2018, p.27]

[The album] is not so much a radical departure as a dalliance with a marginally more brooding, textural musical aesthetic. [Sep 2014, p.75]

The key moments are covers. [May 2007, p.104]

As ever, the technical chops are indisputable--but it does, with fewer brains on board, feel somehow less substantial. [Nov 2019, p.22]

This is adequate debut, but La Roux will need to move beyond brittle pastiche if they hope to reinvent such overfamiliar ingredients. [Jul 2009, p.91]

They haven't yet shown enough thrills in righteousness to challenge gangsta's dark, easy attraction. [Nov 2002, p.129]

The key to the understated triumph of Sarah Nixey's second solo album is her recognition that there's nothing wrong with sounding like Black Box Recorder. [Jul 2011]

The standout tracks here are the most melancholy and experimental. [Nov 2012, p.71]

Her second LP as Du Blonde plays it two ways: first with unremarkable, lunging dynamics and fuzz-caked riffs, then in a leaner and more soulful style, wit nods to prog and '70s folk-pop songcraft. Tha latter is more convincing and a better fit for her great voice and brutally honest lyrics. [Mar 2019, p.27]

While rarely adventurous or surprising, is reassuringly familiar. [Feb 2020, p.27]

The record features contributions from a host of their pals, such as The Orb's Alex Paterson on the blissed-out "Burnt Umber," writer Vivien Goldman on Bizarro Bond-theme "Rhino" and Alabama 3's Aurora Dawn on reggae spiritual "Keep On Moving." [Apr 2020, p.37]

Their shimmering, somnolent ambience is irrefutably palliative. [Oct 2021, p.25]

A three-part instrumental piece, named "Heart: Attach," brings a pleasant filmic quality to an album that elsewhere trades a little too heavily on nostalgia. [Nov 2011, p.94]

Pallett's pallid voice fails to dramatise the narrative or really engage the listener. As a calling card for future soundtrack commissions, however, it should succeed splendidly. [Feb 2010, p.84]

Their sound is an accident born of naivety, but their unabashed love for '80s indie is unmistakeable. [Feb 2009, p.89]

The group's ninth album feels low-down and dirty. [Feb 2020, p.25]

Under the deft guidance of Alabama Shakes producer Andrija Tokic, even her tendency to outbreaks of over-shrill soprano trilling sounds strangely compelling. [Oct 2012, p.79]

Despite some interesting -co-writes with the likes of Walter Becker, it never achieves lift-off. [Apr 2009, p.82]

Hardly the most disciplined or versatile singer, Shaver gets over on the strength of his writing. [Aug 2012, p.79]

Really rather magnificent, in its way. [Jul 2002, p.107]

With a bit of self-pruning, a bit MORE risk and space in the production, he might have TRULY self-reinvented. [May 2002, p.90]

Adele is repeatedly cast as the heartbroken survivor. That role serves to foreground her mighty impressive vocals, but also encourage the showboating overkill that is a staple of the X Factor generation. [Feb 2011, p.79]

Where the album suffers, however--especially in comparision to the Jenny Lewis record--is the absence of any real lyrical verve or personality. [Aug 2008, p.94]

They strain for transcendent, neo-religious euphoria; sometimes they get there. [Feb 2011, p.99]

The Blondes' expansive synth jams can sometimes feel a little directionless. [Mar 2012, p.81]

The ubiquitous use of the hang, a sophisticated modern take on the old-fashioned steel pan, gives a distinctive sound to this east London quartet. It's a surprisingly versatile instrument from which Nick Mulvey and Duncan Bellamy coax melodic and rhythmic patterns to complement Jack Wylie's inventive sax riffing. [Nov 2009, p.99]

The LP struggles a little in variation of pace and tone, and the auspicious spark fizzles out somewhat but the end. [Jan 2017, p.24]

Shrill, theatrical, and unhinged. [Feb 2007, p.71]

Gleefully adulterated here with generous slugs of dubstep, dancehall, rock, R&B, baile funk and anything else that fits the fervent party mood. [Jan 2012, p.82]

The result is exhausting, an album of songs that all want to be showstoppers. [Dec 2011, p.86]

Atmospheric post-grunge is the order of the day, but while the likes of "Census" is dynamically tight, the impression is of talented technicians, not great songwriters. [Sep 200, p.83]

Too often, though, these chant-a-long anthems are too damn chirpy for their own good. [May 2012, p.71]

Reuniting her ex-bandmates adds a rock impetus to Doiron's more fragile solo work. [Feb 2007, p.74]

In their careers, this band might prove to be a sideshow. But right now, it's one with the possibility of being as gripping as the main event. [Jan 2010, p. 104]

As ever with Canadian German duo King Khan & BBQ Show, this offers little in the way of subtlety and a lot in the way of entertainment. [Dec 2009, p. 100]

Mala finds his skills somewhat exposed across a whole album as he seeks to balance frisky Cuban percussion with his own muscular poise. [Nov 2012, p.77]

It starts promisingly.... Elsewhere, sadly, The Traveling Kind is rather a plod. [Jun 2015, p.84]

At its peaks, it remains bracing in its intensity. But between climatic passages defined by Nathan Weaver's hoarse roar and stern batteries of kickdrum, the band seems to recede into misty, ambient washes that are engaging in their heavy melancholy. [Apr 2009, p.105]

The caustic wit of their first two albums is too often buried under shouty non-choruses and dirgey post-punk bluster, either side of a couple of more notable moments. [Mar 2023, p.35]

While house purists might find it juvenile, and there are some aimless passages, the lo-fi production is beautiful. [Mar 2012, p.87]

Arguably, they are a little one-paced and some looseness would not have gone amiss--but the candid, striking honest lyrics about sex and love bear the strain. [Jul 2017, p.26]

Their combination of new wave rhythms, with such conspicuous use if strings is impressive, but it falls a little short of grandeur. [Oct 2008, p.105]

It's no drastic reinvention, but the PRS cheques keep on coming. [May 2018, p.37]

When the adrenalin stops pumping, the reality is that labelmates The Constantines do this stuff much more effectively. [Dec 2006, p.118]

The album come out riffing, with a packed list of guest guitarists. ... Ozzy sounds world-weary, sometimes a bit knackered. [Nov 2022, p.35]

The results have a clinical, cerebral appeal, but--perhaps predictably--sometimes fail to deliver instinctive musical kicks. [Mar 2007, p.100]

The scuzzy arrangements ate trickier and less cute, while the lyrics fester with hard experience. [Feb 2010, p.104]

The album could sometimes benefit from a shift in pace from its often locked-in, mid-tempo state. [Jun 2018, p.35]

It's those who deviate furthest from Fela's template who reap the greatest rewards. [Dec 2013, p.71]

Beginners is sweet and sorrowful with a writerly eye. [Sep 2020, p.31]

Youth Novels attampts to repeat the trick [the single 'Little Bit'] 13 more times, with varying degrees of sucess. [July 2008, p.103]

The suspicion remains, though that heavy cosmic rock is probably the best vehicle for his apocalyptic romances. [Jun 2009, p.99]

In places it's impressively monolithic. [Feb 2011, p.82]

Everything flows and nothing jars, but Craft's soft voice and often orthodox songcraft makes Blood Moon merely pretty rather than stunning. [Jul 2016, p.73]

Forever Turned Around hovers in a midrange that's objectively nice, but lacks the vigour required of something memorable. [Oct 2019, p.39]

Its muted feel is accented by folk-blues tones that rarely break out of a shuffle, enlivened only by some buzzing electric guitar cameos by guests including Johnny Depp and Bob Mould. [Mar 2015, p.84]

As a whole, 4everevolution lacks the decisive sonic focus his fierce and funny lyrical barbs deserve. [Oct 2011, p.98]

His blurry lullabies, full of crimson moons and devils' wings, carry a Biblical sense of foreboding and disquiet, somewhere between J Tillman and a more whiskery Neal Casal. [Dec 2009, p. 106]

It's exuberant dorkiness, as well as fluidity of playing, that makes !!! stand out. [Jul 2004, p.106]

The mourning is palpable, but only on a few tracks is it tuned into art. [Jun 2016, p.71]

Dedekind Cut is playful and emotionally varied, allowing for moments of rapture and joyful release amid the brooding, quasi-industrial hum. This tips over into sentimentality on the rippling strings and splashing water FX of Tahoe's tittle track, but the album remains an intriguing hybrid of Arca's fleshy rumble and the KLF's Chill Out. [Mar 2018, p.25]

It's still excruciatingly fey in places, but then you know what to expect by now. [Nov 2010, p.81]

For the most part, there's nothing wrong with the lyrics. "Do Unto Others" is a fine secular hymn, while "January Song" has some smart digs at the Tea Party, but, in both cases, the voice never convinces. [Apr 2013, p.80]

Acid Tongue is imperfect, but nevertheless slightly more than halfway to astounding.

These tracks feel less like performances than private reveries on which the listener eavesdrops. [Aug 2006, p.108]

It's a shouty, attitudinal set that connects Ke$ha to Britney Spears and Cyndi Lauper. [Feb 2015, p.75]