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

Viva Lone Justice reminds us of all that made the original line-up special. [Dec 2024, p.92]

Currie ceding power to him [producer Mike McCarthy] has worked a treat. [Nov 2013, p.90]

Topaz conveys a strong undercurrent of social commentary. [Apr 2021, p.82]

There's something quietly masterful about The Other Side Of Make-Believe. Strong, dignified, scarred but moving forwards, it's the sound of a band charting emotional disturbances, but emerging renewed. [Aug 2022, p.91]

In Mind is an altogether lovely album that quietly demand to be heard. [Apr 2017, p.91]

This third Sun il Moon album demonstrates Kozelek spinning luminescent textural webs on original compositions which, like the ravishing 'Moorestown,' rank among his very finest.

A multifaceted--yet cohesive--creation that burnishes anew the golden age of space exploration. [Mar 2014, p.93]

They push forward by recasting the music around them and assimilate it into who they already are. [Apr 2019, p.88]

Rosewood Almanac more than transcends its influences. [Jun 2017, p.93]

The Hull five-piece treads the queasy tightrope of prime Cure, Ride etc with real dexterity. [Aug 2020, p.94]

This is a rarity--an album designed to be listened to as a piece. [May 2013, p.84]

Beautiful and surprising album. [Jul 2019, p.88]

It's a glorious entente of old and new technology. [Jul 2003, p.101]

This treads similar terrain [to 2016's Last Days Of Oakland], burrowing into Delta blues, weaving in elements of Leadbelly, Prince-style funk and hip-hop loops. [Jul 2018, p.96]

The result is an unexpected throwback to the pop noir of Foxx's 1980 debut Metamatic. [Apr 2011, p.104]

From captivatingly woozy opener State Of new York to the languid euphoria of Everything, this challenging but addictive record cocoons the listener in chloroformed candy floss. [May 2011, p.109]

They've carved a bleak and beautiful album; their best, in fact. [May 2004, p.106]

Richman gets more reflective with age. [Aug 2004, p.86]

The Goon Sax have created a glorious pop album that perfectly captures those awkward confusions on the road to adulthood. [Oct 2018, p.90]

His voice surprises. [Jan 2022, p.88]

Clark is over 70 these days but he's never over the hill--not as long as he and his co-writing buddies keep on providing visions of Texas few can emulate. [Aug 2013, p.93]

Amid these diaries of dissolution, there is defiance - plus a consistent compositional potency that suggests latter-day Damon Albarn. [Dec 2025, p.85]

Almost everything here sounds pre-designed for drone-shot driving sequences in a slow-burning indie film, but in a very good way. [Dec 2019, p.86]

Stranger Me is accurately titled. It's both intriguing and entertaining throughout. [Sept. 2011, p. 106]

Barzelay's eye for quirky detail and ear for delicious melody keeps a nice balance to things. [Jun 2005, p.105]

Tough, yet with just enough tenderness. [Aug 2005, p.101]

As unique and poignant as a family bible. [Nov 2005, p.104]

Were every song as great as I'm Free, Blue Skies and Call Me Faithful, this would be a classic too. [Jun 2014, p.94]

[John Renbourn & Wizz Jones] playing with such joy, skill and passion that unequivocally shows they were both still on to of their game, successfully marrying two contrasting guitar styles. They both sound good vocally, too. [Oct 2016, p.95]

Expressing both righteous anger and relaxation of spirit, this is her most assured record yet. [Jun 2026, p.85]

It is the most raw and intimate long-player in the 15-year career of this fine Nashville-via-New England singer-songwriter. [Feb 2016, p.93]

Timeless. [Jun 2021, p.89]

At 70 minutes it's worth wallowing. He's pushing his own boundaries. [Aug 2022, p.90]

A record that twinkles with a smart electronic pop sheen. [Feb 2014, p.97]

An effervescent, ebullient record. [Mar 2014, p.97]

While the line-up expands for Candace Of Meroe's infectious drunk-funk and CIYA's breezy romanticism, it's the original trio that smash the joint on throttling finale LDN's Burning--a short, sharp distillation of the fierce talent lighting up the capital. [Mar 2019, p.93]

It's even more tightly coiled, its motivational and cautionary messages immediate and often terrifying, its roots as ancient as the rolling landscape around is native Holly Spring, Mississippi. [Aug 2021, p.86]

By far the most streamlined and purposeful Animal Collective record. [Jan 2008, p.98]

If Solomon Burke and Will Oldham had a baby. [Mar 2009, p.105]

Still totally themselves, Madness have made the album of their career. [Jun 2009, p.100]

The result is mesmerising--one lone, moving meditation on love and England and murderous empire. [Jul 2019, p.86]

An edgy outing vividly redolent of downtown Manhattan--as was--this composed studio transition keeps OC's sawn-off edges intact. [Jul 2018, p.94]

Vega's spirit still blazed with righteous passion even when his body was giving out. Now it glowers like a ghostly light sculpture from beyond the grave, predicting current atrocities and still bang on for modern times. [Sep 2017, p.89]

There's a sense throughout of Weller, the inveterate seeker, grasping for something tantalisingly out of reach - and, n doing so, creating a record of recurrent intrigue and frequently sublimity. [Jul 2024, p.93]

Giles Martin hasn't dug up Abbey Road; but his subtle improvements have smoothed out the odd bump. [Nov 2019, p.103]

The soundtrack to blissful bucolic afternoons threatened by the black clouds of the coming apocalypse. [Jul 2014, p.95]

Like Baldwin, Ndegeocello isn’t one to look away, but both are generous enough and have the artistic skills to let you walk a mile in their shoes. [Sep 2024, p.87]

Five minutes in her personal company would likely be exhausting, but for this album's duration her brain salad music is fantastical. [Apr 2022, p.82]

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]

The 13 songs, mostly slow to midtempo with some very fine lyrics, sound pensive and personal. [Jan 2018, p.86]

[An] irresistibly immersive fourth album. [Nov 2014, p.89]

Ritter has taken his time delivering album number five after stepping back from a period of writer's block. So Runs The World Away suggests every artist should have such problems, Ritter's most freewheeling album flitting between waltzes with Egyptian pharaohs to the tongue-in-cheek murder ballad Folk Bloodbath. [Sep 2010, p.92]

An edifying spin baited for hardcore fans with an unreleased acoustic Strummer strum through Junco Partner and two live Mescaleros Clash covers. [May 2021, p.95]

The album certainly sounds fresh and is hallmarked by Spigel's knack of shaping memorable pop melodies out of a few notes or chords. [Dec 2012, p.85]

Pulsing, hypnotic 13-minute opener Tardis Cymbals is a tough act to follow, with its primitive drum machines and rippling bassline, yet they trump it with voyages into scything death disco, bright Floydian vistas and even '60s vocal pop on Liquid Gate. [Mar 2016, p.95]

At best, Fear Fear is as compact and airless as its title, an existential crisis dancing in warm leatherette. [Aug 2022, p.87]

Their third album is a confident return with staccato guitar/vocal interplay re-infused with wit and mechanical melodies. [June 2008, p.106]

This is an intimate portrait painted in bold strokes. [Dec 2023, p.90]

The heavy-breathing White Rabbit and Scarper comes with a prickle of John Carpenter Menance, while Last Transmission or Imminent are hyper-vigilant Tangerine Dream. There are times when a less obviously doctored emotion bleeds through, though. [Jan 2024, p.94]

Unlike her previous solo release, it's all music, no spoken word (her other job is poet), though the lyrics are often good enough to make you sit up. [Dec 2009, p. 101]

Disturbing. [Feb 2012, p.102]

Despite these songs' sensuous abundance, deepened by McEntire's lush, chlorophyll-rich voice, there's a sharp modernity here. [Sep 2020, p.89]

The very subtlety of Hon Hoopkins' production may be why it sounds so unique. [May 2011, p.114]

This comes together perfectly as he preens and stalks and sneers, like a sulky, world-weary Bowie. [Aug 2019, p.90]

With this fluid, free-raging music, Raymond is in a world of her own - one with several moons and its own intoxicating atmosphere. [Oct 2025, p.85]

Honeydew is one of Ritter's best. [Oct 2025, p.84]

Evocative songs of Cornish coastal contemplation. [Sep 2015, p.95]

There are no punk-lite hits here, but cult stardom is knocking at the door. [Mar 2003, p.112]

Perfect-pitch harmonies and chiming guitars glide through 10 tracks of heartbreaks, make-ups and drunken misadventures disguised as glorious summertime breezes. [Aug 2013, p.91]

Jewel-sparkly and gently devastating. .... Devotees of Judee Sill, loved-up Bill Callahan and When Harry Met Sally will find it bright-eyed, glossy of coat and gentle of snout. Take it home. Feel less alone. [Aug 2024, p.85]

An unexpectedly weird bolt from the blue, an ultimately outstanding crack at brokering an accord between spiky noo wave and fuzzy '70s stoner rock. [Nov 2004, p.116]

It's in a familiar lineage [of meditative alt-rock]--shoegaze, Sigur Ros--but very much at the quality end of the spectrum. [Oct 2013, p.87]

Thresholder is the sound of celestial awe striking, albeit sometimes opaquely. [Jan 2019, p.89]

Smart, sensual, self-loving and self-critical, pissed-off and hilarious. [Jun 2006, p.112]

Warm and full of feeling, an LP as instinctively cosmic as it is epic. [Feb 2018, p.99]

This panoramic attempt to make sense of life's one certainty beyond taxes flutters far above the digital static of 2008's breakthrough Los Angeles into twisted, ethereal jazz territory. [Nov 2014, p.89]

It's a welcome upgrade, more considered yet catchier. [Jan 2016, p.98]

The trio's debut album is rich in textural sophistication, carving hooks from fidgety harmonics and swooning whammy-bar abuse. [Jul 2022, p.86]

Rebooted with tender opulence, affectionate awe, and full commitment o a widescreen, almost transcendental experience. [Mar 2019, p.94]

It's a gloom that suits them both. [Apr 2008, p.112]

Their debut album triumphs, thanks to how well those constituent parts complement each other. [Apr 2016, p.91]

Realm's refusal to shut up after a radio-friendly 180 seconds, surely, make them all the more cherishable. [Feb 2014, p.96]

At Carnegie Hall, doesn't so much add to the legend as confirm the original was no studio-contrived fluke. [Nov 2008, p.109]

Anderson's lyrics have rarely sounded more transparent. ... Autofiction builds its own emotional momentum as Suede, once again, write new chapters of their story. [Oct 2022, p.88]

Whatever they're called, Sabbath still rule. [Jun 2009, p.99]

The fire is back in his belly. [Apr 2012, p.88]

With Audience of One he applies his mastery of both instruments [drums and guitar] to a surprisingly diverse four-part suite. [Apr 2012, p.95]

Clark has incubated this elegant, eclectic collection that shuttles between haunting modern classical and folktronica, complex sound design, brutal beats and scabrous noise. [Aug 2019, p.93]

It's vintage Boards Of Canada--a beautiful, shimmering, electronic maelstrom of liquid, vintage synths and slo-mo beats. [Jul 2013, p.82]

Schmilco in particular is best consumed as a contemplative whole. [Oct 2016, p.94]

Anarchic Breezes is a fully-fledged new direction, and as coherent and powerful a record as McBean has made in his 10-year career. [Aug 2013, p.88]

Nothing nosebleedy in its warm, evocative patchwork. [Oct 2016, p.100]

The whole album unfolds at a pace somewhere between stately and glacial. [Oct 2015, p.93]

Nugent's own stately take on I Am Asleep And Don't Waken Me, Caoimhe Hopkinson's lovely Jamieson's Favourite and Junior Brother's joyous tumble through The Lark In The Morning bring playful spirit to old pub session favourites. [Dec 2025, p.87]

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

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]

There's a real bleakness here, so 7's motif is the confession that "I will always be alone," while the haunting Lisa Hannigan collaboration, Thousand, confronts Carney's grandmother's dementia. But there's optimism and strength too. [Mar 2019, p.92]