Signals a further burst of creativity, suggesting there are still great things to come from the Australian Lennon & McCartney. [Jul 2002, p.123]

The acid-daze reveries are rich in detail, thought the baleful undertow and samey melodies lose momentum over the 22 tracks. [Apr 2002, p.113]

Hey Venus! is an attractive album with a broad appeal – Rough Trade wanted a pop record and got one--but it also feels like a missed opportunity, a consolidation of affairs rather than a step forward.

Great, if a little pointless. [Apr 2012, p.77]

A slickly accomplished affair, rarely inspirational. [Jul 2006, p.101]

Ultimately Bailiff sounds too much in thrall to her shoegazing peers. [Dec 2012, p.69]

Abstract, but curiously engaging. [Mar 2011, p.83]

A continuation of a grand tradition rather than a feeble descendant, Jones' custom tunings strike sourly sweet notes, occasionally--as on the title track--touching on raga modes. [Oct 2011, p.89]

When he's not making party music, he stretches out and delivers deep fluid grooves. It's the naggingly simplistic melodies and dumb call-and-response choruses of tracks like 'U Want Some?' that spoil the fun. [Aug 2009, p.92]

Luckily, the music, a tapestry of harmonica, bass clarinets and bamboo flutes, is a florid, textured joy. [Jan 2011, p.86]

This simply sounds like junior Jay-Z. [Mar 2008, p.96]

Either annoyingly sweet or refereshingly well-adjusted, depending on your mood. [Oct 2002, p.107]

Here childrren's voices, crazed yelping, psych-surrealism and Jesus freakouts combine to create a phantasmagoria that is fun, disturbing, inspired and childlike all at the same time. [Jan 2008, p.90]

A cycle of slushy but well-written R&B ballads which pay tribute to his soul heroes. [Feb 2011, p.84]

Their The Fool traces out similar shapes as east coast cousins Effi Briest: dreamy, faintly pagan psychedelia, their tumbling vocal harmonies, undercut by inexorable, tidal bass. Their softly-softly approach does breed some earworms, though. [Dec 2010, p.104]

Her simple, repeitious music is predominantly listless and washed out. [Jun 2003, p.102]

Besides the odd burst of surf guitar and filigree finger-picking, the basic musical parameters remain unchanged. [May 2011, p.85]

Derek Miller's flashy axemanship and Alexis Krauss' swoon are compromised by sanitized production. [Mar 2012, p.98]

Sometimes this nomadic approach produces some sublime pop, but more often the results are erratic--odd even--but never dull. [May 2018, p.33]

A collection that feels more art project than album. [Nov 2012, p.71]

The execution falls vexingly short of ambition, principally because a little of Darnielle's limited voice goes a long way. But the best of the songs are great. [May 2011, p.93]

"The Reason Why" and "Motoring" swath Tom Dougall's sighed vocal in sheets of Ride-like guitar. [Oct 2012, p.87]

Basar is marred by a couple of misguided forays into coffee-table trip-hop, but when Africaine 808 aim for the dancefloor, they usually hit the spot. [Feb 2016, p.71]

More by accident than design, it works sometimes. [Aug 2010, p.79]

Its high-beam intensity and near relentless drive triumphing over the niggling familiarity of some songs. [May 2017, p.30]

Black gothic grandeur, but with a beige, biscuit-coloured centre. [Oct 2013, p.72]

The buoyant beats of his debut seem well-judged to invite a wiggle whether your "booty" is on the dancefloor or wearing a groove into you favorite armchair. [May 2008, p.94]

Welch delivers clunky self-help lines wrapped in elemental metaphors. [Jul 2015, p.76]