It's frequently beautiful psych-pop songs throb with a gentle electronic pulse. [May 2026, p.93]

Like Bridgers, Nagler is clearly fond of Elliott Smith's slow-release devastation - see Hammer And Nail or Another Mona Lisa - but even her most downbeat songs come with an easy, melodic shrug that keeps her on the sunnier side of the street. [Apr 2026, p.92]

Eternal Hand, Dream Of Mine and the love-up, XTC-flavoured relish The Possibility honour the band's history and mystery. [Apr 2026, p.86]

It sets the same intense listening pace as XTC, Jim O'Rourke or second-act Black Country, New Road. Amid the coiled violence (In The Blink Of An Eye) and brutalist romance (One Night) lie moments of pastoral loveliness. [May 2026, p.86]

Befitting the audiophile sonic explorer that Vernon is - sound reliably excellent. [May 2026, p.86]

Motorpsycho's commitment to their heavy cause is admirable, but even part-timers will benefit from a day trip through their universe. [May 2026, p.88]

On fire indeed. [May 2026, p.89]

Three singular voices, one might murmuration. [May 2026, p.90]

One of their best, with most tracks written by various band members. [May 2026, p.89]

Despite being awash with regret, this record never falls apart, keeping its integrity, holding itself together with warmth and grace. [May 2026, p.88]

Indigo Park finds Hornsby in a curiously reflective mood, singing about his past while touching upon many of his signature jazz-inflected idiosyncrasies. [May 2026, p.84]

Bear witness to the city's enduringly restless guitar-led, predominantly white male aesthetic - obnoxious, inventive, middle finger raised. [Mar 2026, p.95]

Positivity lights up the British Nigerian's debut. [Apr 2026, p.94]

Thundercat has finally made the all-out pop album he's been hinting at. It fits like a glove. [May 2026, p.91]

The album's nine tracks oscillate between driving neo-Krautrock and string-caressed pastoralism, everything garlanded by Kaye Gibson's euphoniously harmonised lead vocals and buffed to a gleaming finish by John Entire's mix. [May 2026, p.91]

This is, ultimately, music you feel in your body, your gut, your skull, a sensation of constant sonic regeneration and psychoactive power that, like the group's use of grim robes and smoke machines when playing live, survives on its enduring air of mystery. [May 2026, p.82]

Mosquito is enticing. [Apr 2026, p.90]

They're bowing out on a high. [May 2026, p.93]

There's beauty here, but Pine slowly melts away the frosted surface to reveal it's not an uncomplicated joy. [Apr 2026, p.88]

Yielded their finest collection to date. [May 2026, p.87]

Throughout, Susman's serene croon delivers tantalising oblique images - "We'll talk a different language eventually/Shape every disaster carefully" (Mediocre Demon) - which add more layers to an already rich hue. [May 2026, p.88]

Placing a rich overlay of guitars, piano, banjo and synths over bleak and difficult circumstances, Cullum restores a gentle magic to the world. Heads, he wins. [May 2026, p.86]

These new songs see González deepening his palette with subtle gradations, his response to a chaotic world reassuringly measured yet still heartfelt. [May 2026, p.84]

Overall, a compelling set clearly completed in the aftermath of a storm. [May 2026, p.87]

This is the message of Barnett’s fourth: that a blind leap of faith is better than wearing a further groove into your rut; that actually, if it is broke, you should fix it. Because perhaps songs as rewarding as those on Creature Of Habit are waiting on the other side of such a change. [May 2026, p.85]

The Twilight Sad’s first album since reducing to founding duo James Graham and Andy MacFarlane yields the most powerful version of the band’s cathartic soundworld. [May 2026, p.92]

Flea proves to be a nice rather than barnstorming trumpeter, allbeit a subtly ambitious sone: witness his Chet Bakerish take on Funkadelic's Maggot Brain. But ultimately, he respects the collectivist energies of the LA scene he's infiltrated. [May 2026, p.84]

Daunting? Yes. Fun and engaging? That too. [Apr 2026, p.86]

A deceptively simple set of songs that manage to explore his Southern roots while sounding as if they've always been around. [May 2026, p.84]

The track I See Red radiates synth euphoria but the Pet Shop Boys-ish Death In London and single Kingdom Undersea are more about introspection than rapture. [May 2026, p.88]

Some of the 22 tracks teeter on the edge of pure corn. [May 2026, p.86]

Ultimately, Transmitter is a quiet beauty. [May 2026, p.86]

Its [an eccentric take on the Stones' Wild Horses] unlikely beauty is typical of Taylor's bold approach here. [May 2026, p.85]

High Noon Hymns is possibly the Ryders' most directly activistic LP of all, from the title itself through to the anti-Trump sentiments of Four Winters Away and the T. Rex-powered Stand A Little Further In The Fire. [May 2026, p.87]

In turning inward, back to their own natural successors, Tinariwen have made a fine tenth album befitting of that milestone. [Apr 2026, p.86]

Besides A Sympathetic Person's skippable spoken-word intro, every move lands securely, with melody and frontman Ramon Shanker further assets. [Apr 2026, p.90]

It's to the band's credit, then, that Only You Left spins in its own unpredictable orbit, pulling out new mysteries from their off-centre helix of goth, shoegazing and post-punk. [Apr 2026, p.85]

It all conjures visions of student unrest, mud-strewn festivals and the pink island label, and the chutzpah and belief at work make it pretty much irresistible. [Apr 2026, p.89]

As closing track Assagasswar fades out, we are left with a synthetic breeze, the sound of the 21st century Sahara. [Feb 2026, p.89]

Another vibrant, joyful, fun rock'n'roll record, albeit 'fun' with a slighter smaller 'f'. .... The music world is a better place for having The Black Crowes and A Pound Of Feathers in it. [Apr 2026, p.82]

It seems to have been compiled via the randomness of fridge poetry, but that's a strength rather than a weakness. [Mar 2026, p.96]

Musically satisfying. [Apr 2026, p.93]

The guests - six singers including Belle And Sebastian's Stuart Murdoch and SFA's Gruff Rhys - seem attuned to Wasylyk's rising star, all sounding suitably entranced and inspired. [Apr 2026, p.93]

While Oldham frames his Bonnie 'Prince' Billy alias as a group name this time out, it's a collaboration which enhances his long-running idiosyncrasies rather than blandifies them. [Apr 2026, p.92]

In Of The Earth he has slipped its bonds almost entirely, crafting a holistic, electro-acoustic world music that defies categorisation. [Apr 2026, p.89]

Crooked Fingers' downcast Americana hues always felt like Bachmann's most commercially potent mode, a point Swet Deth proves time and again. [Apr 2026, p.91]

With [producer Justin] Raisen, she creates a powerhouse sound, one that twists so it can't be easily "curated", labeled, boiled down for vibes. [Apr 2026, p.87]

Forgotten outfits like The Romans and Mod Fun come on like the '60s band Thomas Pynchon invented in The Crying Of Lot 49, but the prevailing geekdom suggests a scene that's ultimately as indie and introverted as our own C86. [Apr 2026, p.98]

GENA craft deliciously anachronistic R&B, rewiring the lushness and melodic complexity of '70s soul and funk for the post-Dilla era. [Apr 2026, p.91]

West's intimations of mainstream modern pop sit alongside the less direct and impressionistic. [Mar 2026, p.89]

It is - and it sits comfortably besides Squeeze's finest works of the late '70s. It might even be better. [Apr 2026, p,92]

Yet if neurosis, despair and paranoia remain his materials, here he uses them well. In as impressive voice as ever been. [Apr 2026, p.84]

Eleven-minute workout Don't Look Down's shifting continents of influence cement the notion of a band tightrope walking with aplomb. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Even though Marathon is rife with such oblique, ominous trails (Safety offers "Compleete us/King snake ringed with rust"), it still feels like a personal and revealing testimonial. [Apr 2026, p.93]

Excellent comeback. [Apr 2026, p.90]

Meek may wander but he can't help but drift back to idiosyncratic introspection which gives the album an entrancing sense of dream logic. [Apr 2026, p.85]

Frisell is travelling a unique, but to old admirers, rather familiar path here. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Sounding sharper than they have done in years, they’re more up for the fight than perhaps ever before.

Every song on Nothing's About To Happen To Me bears Mitski's distinctive mark. [Apr 2026, p.85]

Hen's Teeth is benchmark roots music from start to finish. [Apr 2026, p.85]

Nearly seven years and three albums after Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest, the first record to emerge from Callahan the family man, listeners should probably be acclimatized to his mid-life openness by now, but even by his recent standards, My Days Of 58 exhibits a clarity, a directness – even, on the tender depressive ramble of Stepping Out For Air, a sharp vulnerability. [Mar 2026, p.78]

The result is Gorillaz's most ambitious (and moving) record to date. [Apr 2026, p.84]

The clarity of Eçevit's tenor, the quality production values maintained throughout and the contrasting styles make for a thoroughly enjoyable ride. [Apr 2026, p.85]

This is a musically assured, soulful descent into life's messy middle. [Mar 2026, p.81]

Starts with a raw, retro-rock song with a big, catchy chorus - one of several swaggering electric guitar numbers (Strange Companion; Loyalty; On fire) But there's a lot more going on in these 12 songs. [Mar 2026, p.87]

Largely an album of blues covers that isn't terrible just, well, perfunctory. [Apr 2026, p.84]

Debut arrives fully-formed. [Apr 2026, p.94]

Drifts toward sounding like Sonic Youth. .... Lots more here, though, including elevated noiserock, early Factory-style nihilist post-punk, and a clanking highlight, I see Poseurs Every Day. [Apr 2026, p.93]

Light but ultimately sunblinding, things really get going in the second half. [Apr 2026, p.93]

Though overly familiar for boomers, perhaps, Wasted On Youth's sibling rivalry-fuelled irreverence will likely chime with Gen Z kids seeking their own Oasis, not mum and dad's. [Apr 2026, p.86]

As candid as Steiner can be, this doesn't play like a primal scream: her naked vulnerability makes it a remarkably moving experience. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Dizzying stuff. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Despite the numerous positions, No Lube So Rude becomes a little no-note. [Mar 2026, p.80]

Confirm Mumford & Sons are back in business. [Apr 2026, p.85]

What makes this combined reckoning of Brian's last, fully-engaged studio albums for The Beach Boys, with all of their peaks and flaws, such an enlightening, unexpected pleasure is the chance to hear the earnest dedication and breadth of inspiration in this brief window of renewal, long obscured by false promo and Brian's ongoing trials. [Apr 2026, p.96]

The trio's key facet is their instrumental nous, all hypnotic tension and release with abrupt chord/gear shifts. [Mar 2026, p.88]

Anyone who fell for Fontaines D.C.'s 2019 debut Dogrel should find plenty to love in this first offering from Cork's Cardinals. [Mar 2026, p.81]

Strange Life warrants recognition, Stein and co's passion undimmed. [Mar 2026, p.80]

An extraordinary comeback. [Mar 2025, p.84]

Few can match The Cribs for their facility with bruised melodies and crunchy dynamics, perfecting here a transatlantic noise that draws equally on Smithsian jangle (the jaunty Never The Same) and Sonic Youth squall (Dark Luck). [Mar 2026, p.86]

Buchanan's Voice is the star, but his songs rarely let him down. [Mar 2026, p.86]

The covers format doesn't facilitate too much untamed Scabies (sadly), but Brian himself poignantly appears on The Last Time. [Mar 2026, p.81]

A powerful and uplifting experience. [Mar 2026, p.84]

It's late-night, it's autumnal and it's really rather lovely. [Jan 2026, p.82]

Brutal and delicate, merciful and relentless, [Ahmed] luxuriate in the new spaces and sightlines the studio opens up. [Feb 2026, p.87]

Casually devastating. [Mar 2026, p.86]

A sprawling Daphni DJ set in microcosm, Butterfly is feel-good music of the purest kind. [Mar 2026, p.89]

EXPO's bleak outlook is explored inventively, live and electronic elements expertly collaged from an unpredictable sonic palette. [Mar 2026, p.81]

He makes it all the juxtapositions and fusions feel fresh and natural.[Mar 2026, p.80]

The cumulative result begs a position beyond the band's canon, in an intriguing mini universe of its own. [Mar 2026, p.80]

Craven Faults harness electronic power to recount compelling stories. [Mar 2026, p.88]

Wormslayer feels like the band's most consistently corporeal record since the Britpop era's iconic K. [Mar 2026, p.83]

Splitting the difference between the digital and the hand-cranked, Geologist has opened up his own haunting little universe. [Mar 2026, p.81]

The album burns brightly, like a widescreen musical travelogue. [Feb 2026, p.87]

Often startlingly brilliant. [Mar 2026, p.85]

It's the limpid slow tunes - Opal, Night Shade and more - that stand out. Only Storyville overstays its welcome, spinning off into a free-form scrabble, but the lovely Something More restores harmony. [Mar 2026, p.86]

It's the rarest of soundtracks: one that makes you excited to watch the documentary, not the other way round. [Feb 2026, p.80]

Yes, it can be formulaic, but when it's this deadly, bring on the soundalikes. Mar 2026, p.97]