Over time, however, it can feel like Clarke has excised the excitement along with the Extraneous matter, his balefully lovelorn tenor, now right out front without distracting clutter, often too reedy to carry the show. [Sep 2023, p.84]

Fate Of The faithful is ostensibly No Quarter, Meeting The Master is Thank You, and The Falling Sky cribs a Robert Plant-style harp solo so perfectly that GVF can likely taste his spit. Be in no doubt, however, that frontman Josh Kiszka's Olympian wail can part the waves of cynicism and make the scales fall from your eyes. [Sep 2023, p.88]

While Django Django's eclectic impulses roam wild - Krautrock, house, techno, acid rave and electronica - on this sprawling set, they're anchored by duets. [Sep 2023, p.92]

A profoundly satisfying album, unreservedly recommended. [Sep 2023, p.86]

For all these disturbances, this grappling with difficult stuff of life and death, there is lovely, graceful ease to The Ballad Of Darren. This isn't the sound of a band trying to react against their past, or challenge their Britpop audience with US noise, or justify their existence - it's Blur simply showing what they do best. [Sep 2023, p.80]

Blackwell remains an inveterate magpie of all things psychedelic. [Sep 2023, p.84]

He and his guests have history, but the second half of Mountains might have benefited from fewer backing singers - however good, they over-egg the songs. [Sep 2023, p.86]

It's as if the quintet has not yet achieved lift-off velocity. As such, the most fascinating tracks here are the older standards. [Sep 2023, p.94]

The spartan structure makes for an intimate if one-paced experience and Potter's singing us more spoken in Marianne Faithfull style, with a hint of Weimar, but she's a beguiling storyteller. [Sep 2023, p.83]

There's also a cameo by Ruben Blades on the lively Pajarito Volo, but Ochoa remains the undoubted star of the show. [Sep 2023, p.82]

At times City Of Gold may sound a little hungover after the euphoric heights of 2022, but Tuttle shows every sign of pushing through. [Aug 2023, p.78]

This opens with rocking electric blues guitar, rolling piano and a singalong chorus. The warm, barroom feel continues in Alcohallelujah. [Aug 2023, p.80]

Discs two and three mostly consist of unedited or alternate takes of material on the main disc. A full-length Transylvania Boogie, previously released in edited form, turns out to have been mostly a long, meandering shuffle with a drum solo. Hitherto undocumented titles Halos And Arrows and Moldred turn out to be, respectively, an exploratory guitar overdub piece (all that’s missing is Joni Mitchell at the mike) and a brief Tommy/Vincent composite with added bass. [Aug 2023, p.90]

...Bolgatanga is easily AHC's most accessible, vivid approximation of Brian Eno's fabled "vision of a psychedelic Africa". [Aug 2023, p.78]

Welcome echoes include Bramah's sinister, cogent non sequiturs and the contorted, sharp-edged rock sounds, and the urgent to interpret everything as a reference to MES becomes flesh with the spectral/beefy Harlequin Duke. [Jul 2023, p.85]

While all but a handful of the songs from the 13 track Angels & Queens have already been drip-fed via a series of singles, EPs and last year's seven-track mini-album, Gabriels' desire to take their time with the making of their long-awaited debut album has certainly paid off. [Jun 2023, p.84]

Signs of life: abundant. [Aug 2023, p.82]

Coming in at just 28 minutes. .... But the grand old man of Afrobeat is on fine form throughout, challenging the horns and bass to follow his lead. [Aug 2023, p.83]

Stands as both love letter and elegy and encompasses the deeply held emotions of both. [Aug 2023, p.86]

It's a record of fierce seriousness, a demand for engagement as inescapable and immediate as somebody shaking you by the shoulders. [Aug 2023, p.82]

Augustine's fourth is celestially good, his own fevered vision. [Aug 2023, p.78]

Extraordinary. [Aug 2023, p.88]

I Inside the Old Year Dying holds itself at the biting point between old and new, re-evaluation and revelation. What lies on the other side, only Polly Harvey knows, but this is a record she was born to make. [Aug 2023, p.76]

It's a coherent entity which should be heard as a whole. [May 2023, p.89]

Ayers is a lovely singer in both English and Spanish; he rather less so on the London homage It's Another Night or the gently barbed I've Never Had A Good Time.... In Paris. When they harmonise on Room At The Top, though, they're a joy. [Jun 2023, p.89]

A left-field jazz date transversing elation and sadness, and electronic weirdness peaking on off-radar standout Gecko Sound. [Aug 2023, p.88]

His rueful lyrics are mostly about relationship woes, although Florida Man is more serious, dealing with racism. [Aug 2023, p.82]

Even Russell's most intimate recordings could make him feel like a phantom; as details are filled in, the phantom expands. [Aug 2023, p.94]

Sure, these blues are familiar, but at least these friends make 'em fun. [Aug 2023, p.82]

Reorderd, with three more excellent songs, copious sleevenotes, and some remixing and updated vocals that never detract from the authenticity of the project. [Aug 2023, p.93]

Deer Tick impress with their pop nous and sheer verve. [Aug 2023, p.81]

A beguiling sigh in itself. [Aug 2023, p.81]

She might feel her work-life balance is out of whack, but Power's creative scales are perfectly aligned. [Aug 2023, p.80]

bdrmm's murky spider play tugs at the listener's emotions in unanticipated ways. [Aug 2023, p.87]

The self-analysis is elevated by Chatten's scowling poetry and producer Dan Carey's bright detailing. [Aug 2023, p.80]

As it swivels between rock hymns like the Boss-backed New York comeback and country laments like Jukebox, it becomes a primer for newcomers, not a unified statement on a par with 2020's raw Good Souls Better Angels or the landmark Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. Still, it is a triumph that this exists at all. [Aug 2023, p.80]

It's exquisitely crafted and the backing vocals on North Country Ride are beyond beautiful, but a little more colour in their palette wouldn't go amiss. [Aug 2023, p.78]

A richly detailed synth-pop LP of admirable sophistication. [Jul 2023, p.82]

Re-contextualises them as an act who wrecked glorious havoc on their unchanging musical parameters for decades. [Aug 2023, p.95]

The tunes recall artworks born of constraint and a strictly limited palette, a very specific kind of less equalling more. [Aug 2023, p.80]

Like a wonderous and very clever piece of musical brain onomatopoeia. [Aug 2023, p.84]

Confident and expansive, yet intimate and subtle, Bonny Doon are in a good place here. [Aug 2023, p.81]

Excellent third LP aligns with riot grrrl-era pop for its force and intelligence. [Aug 2023, p.88]

It's hard world for little things, pigeon or human: these songs fight to ease the way. [Jul 2023, p.88]

The 10 tracks of Brain Worms don't outstay their welcome, but as the title suggests, they do linger. [Aug 2023, p.84]

The result is the Foos' finest since There Is Nothing Left To Lose. [Aug 2023, p.82]

Rarely has a plunge into apocalyptic hell been such a hoot. [Aug 2023, p.82]

As The Murlocs wave their freak-flag high, the party raves on via the taut Southern rock riffage of Common Sense Civilian and Russian Roulette's rogue Farfisa. [Aug 2023, p.78]

Throughout, you feel Homme's pain, but ultimately marvel at his ability to channel it into music so brutally uplifting. [Aug 2023, p.79]

A furiously funky soundtrack to impending doom. [Aug 2023, p.85]

44 minutes of scourging song broken up by ambient drone, terrifying din and choral interludes - is both uncompromising and brilliant. [Aug 2023, p.85]

Despite a surfeit of guests and some over-embellished kitchen sink production, the hit rate is remarkably high, reminding just how far Killer Mike's unflinching, candid style has evolved since he debuted on Outkast's Stankonia. [Aug 2023, p.84]

These dozen songs are a prime distillation of their essential pantheism. [Aug 2023, p.84]

Versions Of Us is full of such emotional blue plaque moments, small humans marking their time on a grandly heartfelt scale. [Jun 2023, p.85]

Based on what's here, it's impossible to guess which could follow next. [Jul 2023, p.84]

At times, the tracks seem almost overburdened with poignancy - typically, the tectonic major to minor chordal shifts of Gold push Birgisson’s ululations into ever more heartrending melodic shapes – and everywhere a kind of voluptuous awestruck sublimity pervades. [Sep 2023, p.84]

King Of A Land is an elegant, warmly orchestrated work. [Jul 2023, p.89]

Time Ain't Accidental has a blazing confidence. [Jul 2023, p.84]

Harmonious stuff, in every sense. [Jul 2023, p.86]

Beguilingly, knowingly rendered debut. [Jul 2023, p.92]

Though shorter and lighter than 2018’s magnificent Dirty Computer, it delivers its full measure of pleasure. Doing just what it says on the tin, a 21st century pop peak. [Sep 2023, p.89]

At times, her fluency leaves you wishing for a smudge or run that hasn't been place deliberately, but from the Tom Petty love-the-one-you're-with of Apples And Oranges to Cherry Baby's soft-focus disco, Lewis is a smart, fluent builder of her world. [Jul 2023, p.90]

These witches are still burning. [Jul 2023, p.88]

O Monolith is no less bold of palette - opener Swing (in A Dream) embraces taut post-punk chug, jazz trumpet and enveloping synths - but always follows a lucid, compelling logic. [Jul 2023, p.86]

Brightly flags up their sixth album's abundant strengths. [Jul 2023, p.98]

Another mesmerising, profound, excellent record. [Jul 2023 p.86]

It's not all bleak: within the lumbering inevitability that a drum machine brings, Broadrick pulls off a singular funkiness, which ensures that the titular 'purge' is fully transcendent, even enjoyable. [Jul 2023, p.90]

It's a familiar mix of delicate acoustic tracks and crunching country rock - but The 400 Unit has evolved via the deepening emotional heft of their leader's songwriting. [Jul 2023, p.86]

Songs hang in the air, implying rather than asserting uncanny dimensions. Dylan’s voice, again, is quite beautiful, with a control and nuance so many thought he’d lost. [Jul 2023, p.97]

Payseur's vocals might still sound diaphanous, his lyrics still concerned with small moments of sadness and pleasure, but there is now a structured professionalism here that will delight and confound others. [Jul 2023, p.82]

Baxter's third cracking album in a row. [Jul 2023, p.88]

If it has little earth under its nails, with any background maid or shepherd perfectly cast and choreographed, there are still plenty of lovely, curious tableaux - among them David Byrne's dreamy appearance on Moondog's High On A Rocky Ledge, or Nina Simone-inspired Cotten Eyed Joe, featuring Chaka Khan. [Jul 2023, p.89]

Margo's deep, stentorian tones have remained almost unchanged since 1986's Whites Off Earth Now!! and Hell Is Real could have graced that LP. Even so, there's real evolution. [Jul 2023, p.84]

What Matters Most is near faultless; a whole semester of song-craft in 40 minutes. [Jul 2023, p.90]

Council Skies is very much a creative success. It's the sound of Noel Gallagher pushing onwards, while once again playing to his strengths. [Jul 2023, p.85]

This is searching, quietly profound stuff. [Jun 2023, p.90]

Live At Berkeley 1971 powers through it all – relentless, often overwrought, often brilliant, too. [Jun 2023, p.99]

Trouble... is thrillingly fresh. [Jun 2023, p.86]

With its own low-key sparkle Archangel Hill stands testament to a musical third act every bit as engaging as anything that went before. [Jun 2023, p.91]

Sus Dog is the sound of Clark finding his voice in more ways than one. [Jun 2023, p.95]

Her lovers rock take of Patsy Cline's Walking After Midnight further strengthens reggae and country's fine romance, and who could have predicted that Morrissey's Everyday Is Like Sunday would sound like an out-take from the Special AKA's IN the Studio when reworked as rocksteady with woozy horns? [Jul 2023, p.82]

Something notable about Albarn's tracks is how hard they are to pick out from the others. [Jul 2023, p.83]

Their anarchic cut'n'paste confections can baffle on first exposure, but with repeat listens the inventiveness of their compositions come to the fore, savvy hooks materialising from the seeming chaos of loops and samples. [Jul 2023, p.84]

The result is a bold, career highlight that's dizzyingly inventive on the surface, with a powerful emotional undertow. [Jul 2023, p.87]

Too much of My Soft Machine is too smooth by half. [Jun 2023, p.95]

Ron Mael's lyrics are elegiac, witty and forensically detailed; Russel Mael delivers them exquisitely and they specialise in ear worms. [Jul 2023, p.82]

It's really hard not to feel the absence of David Crosby's harmonies. [Jun 2023, p.92]

Villagers lives in its own hermetic and compelling space; it's not too late to pay a visit. [Jul 2023, p.84]

By this double alum's end, it feels like a breakthrough in every way, the sound of an artist who has not only forged on, but also hit a glorious peak. [Jun 2023, p.84]

It's the small, tragic details you notice on TLROE. [Jun 2023, p.84]

There’s only one moment when the production distracts from the players, a brief yet clunky guitar overdub on Arajghiyine. Listeners who love a wide soundstage, however, with well-separated guitars coming at you from all angles, will be in heaven. Thankfully, the guests shun the spotlight, leaving Ibrahim, Alhassane Ag Touhami and Abdallah Ag Alhousseyni to concentrate on that elusive sound, the guitars cleaner and crisper than those that introduced Tinariwen to the world 20 years ago. [Jun 2023, p.82]

One of the most compelling and stone-cold beautiful albums Simon has ever made. [Jul 2023, p.80]

End Of Everything surface gloss barely conceals a raw intensity. [Jun 2023, p.90]

The interplay between their vocals is tense and compelling, suggesting early Blonde Redhead. Their lyrics, meanwhile, are mysterious knots of angst. [Jul 2023, p.87]

Never tumbles into dissonance. Rather, tracks like the Reichian round of Rytmy shimmer like heat haze on the horizon. [Jun 2023, p.95]

Lux Æterna [is] a prime example of 72 Seasons' astonishing vigour. ... Metallica are worthy again. [Jul 2023, p.82]

A tightly coiled album, covering 17 tracks in 45 minutes, Maps leaves much to unpick. [Jul 2023, p.87]

Tyler and band lean deeper into kosmische country rock. [Jul 2023, p.92]