Jana Horn is a singing magic eye picture somewhere between the scratchy emotional static of early Cat Power and itchy Talk Talk Spirit Of Eden jazz. Unfocus and see. [Feb 2026, p.84]

An effervescent rush of melody, invention and magic. [Jan 2006, p.119]

The music is too futuristic--and, more bizarrely, too rooted in Indian Ocean folk roots--ever to get weighed down in heaviosity. [Mar 2015, p.96]

A first strike of the match before they burn their own path forward. [Sep 2019, p.94]

Original, but with traces of early Dizzee, Rodney P and The Streets in Slowthai's savvy grime-punk. [Jun 2019, p.96]

As ever it's the small details they alight upon which resonate. [Jul 2025, p.79]

Hard Headed Woman sees her big personality fire straight-talking, sometimes blackly comic lyrics "All the cocaine in existence/Can't keep your nose out of my business" - while taking her music to new places. [Oct 2025, p.82]

An exhilarating brand of digital soul. [Nov 2001, p.103]

It's not all strum und drang though. The beatless despair of Källans Återuppståndelse shows the harmonic subtleties at play within Von Hausswolff's bewitching repertoire of dissonance and drama. [Feb 2022, p.87]

Protector feels rooted in the psychedelic quicksand that surrounded 2020 debut, and Of No Junction. It's no less enchanting though. [Dec 2022, p.92]

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]

Caribou meets late-period Madonna, perhaps, but given DIA's depth of melody and nuance, Minus might be the Phoebe Bridgers of Techno-pop. [Feb 2025, p.82]

Makes for some striking textures. [Apr 2005, p.97]

At Weddings quickly coalesces into an utterly compelling presence. [Sep 2018, p.88]

As with earlier records, Build A Rocket Boys! is touched by ambitious, intuitive invention. [Apr. 2011, p. 92]

Never just black and white, nor blatantly "cinematic," it operates in subtle shades of grey and sepia, flushing with urgent instrumental colour when the internal simmering becomes too much. [Feb 2016, p.94]

Barbed but beautiful. [Nov 2017, p.103]

Aoba's hushed voice makes for an immersive meld of indie-folk, classical and jazz. [Jan 2022, p.91]

This is a new band, but it already sounds primed for the long haul. [May 2025, p.90]

On first listen, warm Chris is les obviously immediate than Designer, though the songs don't take long t worm their way into the mind. [Apr 2022, p.78]

Any band that can record something as impressive as the gently swelling Radiation deserves to be taken on their own merits. Even Elbow may have to doff their hats this time. [Sep 2010, p.106]

Sun-scorched Californian jams. [Dec 2023, p.87]

Above all it rocks. A hooky, memorable album. [May 2012, p.87]

An enthralling step on her musical journey. [Aug 2021, p.83]

Weather is so deftly under-produced that you turn it up; so hazy and intimate you're drawn in close. [Jan 2012, p.98]

All American Made maintains Price's status as honky-tonk's most compelling new flame. [Nov 2017, p.97]

Nino Rojo is no mere best-of-the-rest affair, but a sibling piece of equal intimacy and inspiration. [Oct 2004, p.102]

A synth-heavy, sci-fi opus that hits its celestial climax on 10-minute standout Space Oddity. [Dec 2020, p.89]

Vibes, instrumental and psychic, are crucial to Angeles' reverberant keys or redemptive LP coda, Pigs. [Apr 2021, p.88]

Hellswinter refrains from overdosing on distortion before the title track's 20 minutes of funereal beauty. [Mar 2011, p.99]

Funky, playful but sinister like the best children's stories. [Jun 2005, p.98]

[A] collection of pithy two-minute lo-fi soundtracks. [Feb 2018, p.97]

Football Money is breezy and concise--10 songs, 28 minutes--but generously ladled with charm. [Feb 2020, p.86]

Following 2009’s ‘re-enactment’ shows, here, finally, is this fabulous, full-blooded seventh LP. Aficionados will be punching the air within the first minute of opener Hide & Seek: it’s all there. [Oct 2024, p.82]

The results are largely sublime. [Aug 2017, p.91]

A resounding and concise restatement of core values. [Jun 2020, p.93]

While traces of Deacon's former giddiness punctuate America, there's an ambitiously hefty, almost John Doe Passos-like engagement with the ambiguities of the Land of the Free. [Sep 2012, p.88]

Without sounding like a faintheart, it comes as a relief that this album features a crop of high quality songs and instrumentals playing with dazzling finger-picking. [Mar 2017, p.90]

This one is a real keeper. [Mar 2020, p.86]

Like its closest Amos siblings, Scarlet Walk (2002) and American Doll Posse (2007, it's far from immediate, but the delayed gratification reaps rewards aplenty. [Jun 2026, p.86]

The Glass Bead Game sees him broadening his palette to even greater effect. [Aug 2009, p.96]

Ghost... has most of the more straightforward roots songs... Guttertown mostly contains the weirder stuff. [Dec. 2011 p. 97]

Like Marianne Faithfull’s grazed, rueful daughter telling fragile stories of heartbreak. Or sometimes like Faithfull’s hopeful but world-weary grandmother.

Amid all the bleakness and despair, Goulden emerges as a true shining light. [May 2018, p.92]

An evocative, synesthesic aura halos the second LP from the transatlantic trio. [Jan 2019, p.93]

It takes its time luring listeners in. [Feb 2020, p.91]

A charm offensive, rewarding casual observer with a supreme precis of Pollard's genius: the bombastic rock anthem rationalised into naive-pop jewellery. [Sep 2020, p.92]

Offers many perfect showcases for their ability to take lounge inside a groove 'til something remarkable happens. [Nov 2020, p.85]

Tina's mesmeriing pop-psych is also a fascinating conundrum. [Jan 2021, p.91]

Summoning up the warm, intimate glow of a special day located somewhere in the past or up ahead in our unknown future. [Jul 2021, p.85]

Animal admirably slips standard musical taxonomy to take on a life of it own. [Aug 2021, p.83]

A trip that feel like it's over way too soon. [Sep 2022, p.89]

This is music that needs to be heard in as long a form as possible, so nothing breaks the immersive hallucinatory effect, and you can lose all sense of time direction and place. [Mar 2023, p.93]

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]

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

It's absorbing stuff, even shorn of the images. [Aug 2023, p.87]

It's the confessional aspect that makes this compelling stuff, whether relating mid-life disappointment in Living The Dream or detailing a life reset in the delicately chiming Clean. [Jul 2024, p.84]

Impassioned, ambitious and accomplished. [Aug 2025, p.82]

A huge step forwards: certainly professionally but surely personally too. [Jan 2026, p.84]

With Childish producing, they pick up where they left off. [Jan 2026, p.84]

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]

This is unmistakeably the Arctics, only stronger, harder, sharper, faster.... An extraordinary and fulfilling sequel to their debut. [May 2007, p.100]

Floating Coffin is manna for the faithful, but also an excellent point for newbies to get onboard. [Jul 2013, p.87]

Bowel-rattling rhythmic rock that's as viscerally exciting as it is grubby. [Feb 2005, p.101]

A palpably open and free atmosphere underscores these songs, on which the same exotic and dexterous musical arrangements Rostam honed with his old band allow Leithauser's sandpaper Sinatra to truly swing. true dream team. [Oct 2016, p.96]

The material is faultless. [Apr 2015, p.92]

Immunity never drags. [Jul 2013, p.86]

Above all, there's a genius for economy. [Aug 2014, p.94]

Thematically, Radical Romantics can be seen as a mellow follow-up to the angrier, gender-politics-driven Plunge. Instead, it celebrates self-exploration. [Apr 2023, p.88]

Encyclopedic US indie rock--American Civil War, Walt Whitman, Hold Steady, Shakespeare all included.

This album has been well worth the wait. [May 2018, p.91]

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

Limber, spacey music, pitched somewhere between jazz, funk and ambience, in the company of an innovative new class of sessioners. [May 2021, p.87]

Unsurprisingly, it flies the Wire and Minutemen flags high. More surprising are the occasional nods to funk and '60s bubblegum. [Jun 2018, p.95]

A series of melodic sunset tales in which the bright light of Moore's piano is shaded and scattered by the dusk notes of his accompanists. [Nov 2014, p.99]

This is terrific, 90-minutes of ice-quaking noise, jet-engine feedback, histrionic metal screaming, Gothic doom and ambient euphoria that feels simultaneously ecstatic and terrifying. [Aug 2015, p.95]

Loma are quite capable of drawing listeners in with their own perspective. [Dec 2020, p.86]

Wainwright's fifth LP has artistry galore. [Sep 2021, p.78]

Mavis's voice is still strong and convincing. [Jun 2019, p.87]

There was potential for so much more. [Jun 2009, p.98]

With You Are Free it feels like she's reached some kind of accomodation between a celebration of her vocal gift and a context within with she can happily offer it to everyone else. [Mar 2003, p.102]

There are more retro-sounding pop-R&B numbers with "sha la la" backing vocals than the subject matter might indicate, a stadium rocker, some soulful ballads recalling early Van Morrison, and stirring gospel. [Sep 2002, p.94]

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

This is a hugely enjoyable landmark release. [Jan 2018, p.103]

His reliably nerdular delivery and thoughtful lyrics still make it sound box-fresh compared to the generic macho fare that still dominates mainstream hip hop. [Dec 2008, p.100]

Field of Reeds is a startlingly listenable proposition. [Aug 2013, p.92]

Sometimes I Wish We Were An Eagle is a record of grand hopes and epic imagery, and powerful, uplifting music--the most accomplished of his 20-year career. [Apr 2009, p.102]

It's an uncannily beautiful listening experience. [Oct 2021, p.92]

A dreamy, immersive mood piece that is as personal as it is instantly accessible. [Nov 2014, p.93]

This extraordinary record is more refreshing burst than last gasp and its timelessness speaks more to life than death.

The whole is deeply bittersweet - but also a joyous farewell from this most wonderfully acute of English pop ensembles. [Oct 2025, p.80]

There's considerable ambition at play here. [Dec 2021, p.90]

Her rich, soulful vocal sounds wonderful on the darker material. [Oct 2013, p.98]

More sharp work from these urban outfitters. [May 2015, p.91]

This new nine-track album catches the duo performing together in Europe during 2011 and clearly shows that despite their infrequent collaborations, they create a special telepathic musical synergy in each other's company. [Oct 2016, p.97]

Their natural domain is bouncing festival stages, but, with pounding beats and attitude, this is the perfect way to usher people there. [Mar 2017, p.94]

Both parties in this collaboration have been firing off great records at will lately: here's another. [Sep 2018, p.88]

Unique and hugely addictive. [Apr 2020, p.95]