Genderbender is a born star, charisma dripping from every syllable, while The Melvins’ trademark heaviness complements and contrasts her bohemian, dramatic delivery like sea salt in caramel. This fairy wears boots and is ready to kick ass.

The Feelies’ grip of melody remains very much in place throughout, as do their love of jangling intertwining guitars and a strict sense of rhythm.

24-track double album of brittle, emotive folk pop and alt.rock.

It’s the pastoral style of Pentangle overlaid with crazed early-70s wah-wah duelling--think a pistols-at-dawn affaire d’honneur between Larry Wallis and Mick Bolton--and it’s very good indeed.

Where once they would gallop, here they lope, they slide, giving themselves all the time in the world. Hardcore fans of the weird stuff are going to hate it. ... This is clearly the right music for this stage in their musical evolution. [Nov 2022, p.70]

Some of it’s inescapably retro, such as The Times’ I Helped Patrick McGoohan Escape and Firmanent & The Elements’ The Festival Of Frothy Muggament. However, there are plenty of better-known names, sympaticos such as The Monochrome Set and TV Personalities, as well as an early demo from Doctor And The Medics, Barbara Can’t Dance, whose number one single Spirit In The Sky was the commercial highpoint of this movement.

Its shorter, pacier tracks up the dynamism, making for a pummelling - if somewhat relentless - experience as deep-strata hardcore tracks like Detroit and Blackage shift gears into more ponderous interludes. [Jun 2025, p.72]

Songs is a doozy. [Sep 2014, p.93]

His words and sentiments are left deliberately smudged and indefinite in places; sardonic Dylan phrasing sticks to some words, double-tracked Lennon wails on others.

Marvellous album. .... A rock'n'roll record that's funkier than a tramp's kacks, more soulful than a gospel convention, warmer than a mother's love and groovier than the Grand Canyon. [Apr 2024, p.78]

The result: low-key mastery from a songwriting lifer. [Oct 2013, p.86]

Picking up from last year’s Big Bill Broonzy tribute Common Ground, here the Alvins run riot on another covers set.

Wraith wrestles drums, bass, guitars and trumpet into sinister electronic shapes informed by towering noise makers such as terminal Cheesecake and textural experimentalist James Holden. [May 2019, p.87]

She has made her masterpiece; remarkable at any age. [Oct 2014, p.91]

The Book Of Souls will doubtless be celebrated most for its epics, and if you thought Maiden had pulled out all the stops in the past, you may need to strap yourself in and say a quick prayer to Eddie this time round.

Primitive And Deadly is a whole other beast, perhaps the closest that core members Dylan Carlson and Adrienne Davies have ever come to a remotely conventional rock album. [Dec 2014, p.105]

At just 39 minutes, they've packed so much into this entirely mad record, you'll be left happily exhausted by the end of it. [May 2015, p.103]

The best moments here find Thompson more restrained, particularly the sinuous, fingerpicked beauty of Beatnik Walking and the rueful, all-acoustic Josephine.

The thick fuzz of guitars is at the metal end of grunge, impact and volume kept almost oppressively in the red. But once you settle into Kentucky’s MO, the band’s songwriting strengths and musical reach are still here.

Although micro-melody whimsy is at its heart, there’s a Tangs/Radiophonic Workshop slant that gives tracks such as Midwinter Rites a spooky Kill List/Children Of The Stones edge.

For all the grim despondency, this is an album steeped in the acrid stench of beauty. [Mar 2019, p.88]

Simms certainly knows how to deliver Wire energy - compact, disciplined, no waste, no spray, as on Primed And Ready. There are also lovely moments of Wire pop here. [Mar 2020, p.87]

Tail-chasing indie adequacy. [Summer 2020, p.89]

The music hits hard enough on its own. [Dec 2020, p.82]

Solo piano pieces drag, but with a floating line-up in intuitive complementary support his trademark guitar tones soar. [Sep 2021, p.81]

Full of infectious, summery pop melodies, acoustic guitars and abrasion. [Apr 2022, p.77]

It bursts with the wide-eyed, childlike wonder that has underpinned so much of his work, interwoven with his uniquely kind, gentle and spiritual voice of wisdom. [Summer 2023, p.79]

The roaring 20s has finally arrived. [Dec 2023, p.79]