Shades of Harry Nilsson and the odd splash of Allman Brothers-like lead guitars further distinguish this one-man band outing. [Jul 2021, p.84]

U-Roy remains on form throughout, delivering everything in his relaxed yet confident style, all testament to his enduring talent. [Aug 2021, p.87]

Riotous takedown of eco-hypocrisy and corporate greenwashing to the accompaniment of rhythms so wildly exuberant they could rearrange loins. [Aug 2021, p.89]

It's his best original work by some yards. [Aug 2021, p.84]

The musicianship's great, Lloyd Maines' production's gorgeous and there's a slew of highlights. [Aug 2021, p.87]

It's like watching people chuck matches into a box of fireworks: sparks everywhere, but - excitingly, frustratingly - you're never sure where they're going to land. [Aug 2021, p.80]

Bowie's live vocal is excellent on a cover of Jacques Brel's Amsterdam, and the sound is seriously beefed up by the addition of Tony Visconti and Mick Ronson partway through the set, but massively new or consistently brilliant it is not. [Aug 2021, p.98]

Overall, Preacher's Sigh & Potion ... has a sketchy feel that will likely only appeal to those keen to hear every stage of Dear's musical development. [Aug 2021, p.95]

Vibrant and uninhibited, dotted with rule-bending twists, Mood Valiant is the sound of summer. [Aug 2021, p.88]

Mvula is a gifted arranger with a distinctive cri de coeur, and this is where she soars. [Aug 2021, p.83]

It throws up its fair share of sunshine treats. ... Consumed in one siting though, the relentlessly Day-Glo vibes can get a little sickly. [Aug 2021, p.81]

Magnificently unsanitised ramalams in the shape of Please Come In and BFIOU. [Aug 2021, p.88]

10 tracks of grainy electronic drift, tension and poignancy. [Aug 2021, p.81]

It's not easy listening, but profoundly engaging and redemptive. [Aug 2021, p.80]

Brainy, jazzy, prescient. [Aug 2021, p.88]

Crafty, insidious creations which gradually accrue substance and emotional heft even as they remain soothing on the ear. [Jul 2021, p.83]

All coalesces, near-inexplicably, as yet another excellent album. [Aug 2021, p.80]

Tries to understand where to go, and whether he's already there. ... Life is a casket. And it's golden. Both are true. Brock apparently has figured it out. [Aug 2021, p.80]

Taylor's balm-like burr delivers a blissful moment of healing. [Aug 2021, p.81]

Some of the vocals sound like first takes, which gives them an honesty (maybe a bit too honest on opening track In the Summertime). But from here on, it's just lovely. [Aug 2021, p.82]

Lyrically she still falling in love, but the slow burn of Consequences reveals more nuance with each sitting. [Aug 2021, p.83]

Some artists, such as Beck and Khruangbin with their art-funk overhauls of Fund My Way and Pretty Boys respectively, build traditional, if inventive remixes around Macca's vocals. Other go further and basically cover the songs. [Aug 2021, p.83]

Reflective, lyrically and musically. [Aug 2021, p.84]

Convocations - conceived in lockdown and isolation - represents anguish and discombobulation, without having yet reached acceptance. [Aug 2021, p.84]

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]

Peace Or Love is sophisticated without being easy, a quiet storm all of its own. [Aug 2021, p.86]

There's a pleasing, Bowie-ish swagger to Elfman's vocals and a steam-punk thrust to Big Mess's heavy, junkyard percussion, the album's caustic, chaotic arrangements utterly fearless throughout 18 rather exhausting songs. [Aug 2021, p.86]

An intense, slightly avant chum. [Aug 2021, p.86]

While autumnal gems like Rabbit chime with recent months' universal experience of isolation and inertia, Earth Trip also mirrors the salvation many have found in nature, its gentle, J.J. Cale-esque country-rock tempos evocative of restorative rustic rambling. [Jun 2021, p.82]

Boy From Michigan is Grant in panoramic mode, looking back and looking forward to create his biggest picture yet. [Jul 2021, p.86]

Dacus finds the pages of her diary she just can't shake, turning them into songs that are destined to stay with you, too. [Jul 2021, p.78]

Hardcore fans will be sold on the passion, others may struggle. [Jul 2021, p.86]

While not short on garage freakouts there's added twang to Hell In Texas and a spaghetti western shimmer on New day's unheavenly chorus. [Jun 2021, p.90]

Throughout Francis Lung turns dark emotions into bright and welcoming songs. [Jul 2021, p.83]

Scintillating electronics that line-up nicely with the space pulsations of Terry Riley, Cluster, or 9coincidence?) Matthew Bower's Sunroof! [Jul 2021, p.90]

Candlepower isn't the full picture yet, and it only lasts seven tracks and 19 minutes, but it's a fine start. [Jul 2021, p.81]

Wolf has established his own distinctive and mighty voice. [Jul 2021, p.89]

A deep, powerful and satisfying album. [Jul 2021, p.82]

Exhortations are soundtracked by languid funk that occasionally stumbles into trip-hop autopilot but is mostly electrified by Peng's restless inspiration. [Jul 2021, p.87]

They've added anger to their traditional wall of ferocious sleekness built on sizzling guitars and unyielding electronica. [Jul 2021, p.80]

The quantity and quality of the songs they have unearthed that didn't make it onto Deja Vu is pretty amazing. [Jun 2021, p.99]

Each member is the main player in their sphere, while remaining part of the whole. [Jul 2021, p.92]

Idles and Tom Morello score highly by taking an edgy staccato approach, faithful to the original songs, but La Roux's synthy take on Damaged Goods teases out an unexpected amount of melody. [Jul 2021, p.83]

Gibbons' gnarly guitars and sand-blasted voice are impeachable. [Jul 2021, p.80]

Dreamers Are waiting is possibly the most Crowded House-sounding album crowded House have made since their Crowded debut. [Jul 2021, p.83]

It's his most moving writing of his career. [Jul 2021, p.83]

From experimental to twisted pop, drill to R&B, techno to Ambient, James draws a precise and brilliant musical Venn diagram. [Jul 2021, p.87]

A mixed bag then, but a welcome return that promises much. [Jul 2021, p.80]

It moves sedately and seductively, a brooding mass of reverb, drone and throb, all counter-pointed by Trappes' gossamer-light vocals. [Jul 2021, p.87]

A breathy soundworld throbs with chillout opportunity and toggles toothache-sweet grunge buzz, Laurel canyon lilt and skyward soundtrack The Last man On Earth. Alive with confessional ideas. [Jul 2021, p.80]

Sustaining a dreamworld mood throughout, Changephobia is a quiet beauty. [Jul 2021, p.87]

Humanity's end sounds grim; but beautifully rendered. [Jul 2021, p.90]

The gigantic lokombe (slit drum) and buzz drums no longer shock in the way they used to, although the synths suggest one route forward, and the guitars and harmonies look to South Africa for inspiration. [Jul 2021, p.88]

VWETO III occasionally struggles to transcend its origins as a collection of essentially unfinished pieces. ... More often, however, her lop-sided rhythms, offbeat electronics and uncanny sense of mood are compelling in their own right. [Jul 2021, p.82]

Clara is neither ostentatiously glitchy, nor overburdened by its conceptual heft. [Jul 2021, p.87]

Tge Waves Pt 1's ebb-and-flow is closer to Phillip Glass's pulsing minimalism than anything calming or restorative. [Jul 2021, p.87]

The music swings again, even if Currie's damning viewpoint hasn't lightened. [Jun 2021, p.87]

The frankness of yore remains intact, but his focus has shifted, and the intimacy that once sometimes made Barlow's solo work a white knuckle ride now amplifies the tranquility of these strums. [Jul 2021, p.81]

Deep into side two You Hear Georgia starts to drag a little as they ditch the choogle and attempt to foray into the cosmic Americana territory of My Morning Jacket. [Jul 2021, p.82]

For all its lofty subject matter, Lost In The Cedar Wood is the raucous sound of modern-day sea shanties. [Jul 2021, p.82]

Cavalcade harbours considerable thrills for those up to its challenges. [Jun 2021, p.83]

The music - a little Lumineers, a little Fleet Foxes - stands up for itself. [Jul 2021, p.88]

For all the grown-up entanglements and era-specific worries, it's championship-winning stuff. [Jul 2021, p.85]

Over time and repeated plays, Showtunes weaves its magic, maintaining its mysterious atmosphere throughout, along with a welcome sense of stillness amid life's ongoing dramas. [Jun 2021, p.81]

Clark and Squarepusher's more radical deconstructions expose deeper enigmas at play in GGP's source material. [Jul 2021, p.90]

What we get more of are melodies that stick. [Jul 2021, p.87]

Rhys excels at holding anxiety and unease up to the light without becoming harsh; Seeking New Gods keeps that balance beautifully. [Jun 2021, p.83]

Make Me Feel Alright is a joyous call and response; Souled Out On You a heartbreaker with deep feeling; Country Child, meanwhile, is pure Hill Country hypnotic boogie. [Jun 2021, p.89]

From the gentle breeze of the Tala Tannam to the howling gale of lead single Chismiten, the little clumps of ambient sound - village chatter, footsteps, maybe a cockerel - hold their ground against every new gust of virtuoso fretwork. [Jul 2021, p.89]

It's packed tight with wayward ideas. [Jul 2021, p.89]

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]

The simultaneous warm/cold currents, recalling Broadcast, are reflected in Ramani's word. [Jul 2021, p.84]

Seventy-five non-stop minutes of high-end squawk and groove. [Jun 2021, p.83]

His 20th album has production that sounds home-made, as if he's singing besides you on the sofa while the bass player, drummer and peep-y keyboard player are playing in the empty attic upstairs. [Jun 2021, p.87]

Overall, The Chills' seventh album is about Phillipps drawing a line between now and what was seen on screen, gathering strength and moving forward. [Jun 2021, p.82]

This act of restoration convinces as a good Tony Joe White album that could have been plucked from anywhere during his career. [Jun 2021, p.80]

A little strange, a little strained, Mercy still rings with its own truth. [Jun 2021, p.88]

Barry also produces with an ear to the sonics of yesteryear. ... But some of the vocal sections aren't as strong. [Jun 2021, p.87]

A melancholic air pervades Mist's untutored playing and soul-searching raps. [Jun 2021, p.90]

It's sonically deeper and more emotionally engaging, from start to finish, than any previous SOK release. [Jun 2021, p.83]

The Ohio duo's mastery of the unmathematical Hill Country style oozes here from every groove. [Jun 2021, p.87]

Lavish enough for fans of Amon Duul II's headshop tribal rituals. [Jun 2021, p.90]

The 12-tracker doesn't feel as "big" as 2020's funky On Sunset, nor as even as the woody True Meanings, but the array of styles means no one will walk away untouched. [Jun 2021, p.88]

It's masterful stuff: a full conceptual realisation, filled with great melodies, deep grooves, colourful characterisations and sonic detail that reveals itself over repeated plays. ... A keeper for the decades to come. [Jun 2021, p.84]

The song titles alone tell the story: The Long Con; Stop Bitching, Do Something; Big Lie; What Are You On Facebook? Plus 24 (24!) more tracks that take a swipe at a modern world controlled by conspiratorial forces. ... Even the music is largely route-one. [Jun 2021, p.87]

He's less scattergun and easier to pin down. More crucially, Graham's songwriting has blossomed. [Jun 2021, p.85]

NOW is a pretty intense 31 minutes. But while Locks and co's intent is radical, it's never forbidding. Instead, a punchy accessibility informs even their wildest excursions. [Jun 2021, p.88]

The sentiments charm and Cuomo's nose for a tune endures, but the drive-time metal supremacy of Def Leppard and Mutt Lange is never under serious threat. [Jun 2021, p.84]

Throughout Seek Shelter delivers the sort of ragged MC5/Stooges/Stones cocktail Primal Scream have spent a career trying to nail. [Jun 2021, p.85]

Strip off the rock'n'roll trappings of Spiritualized circa Pure Phase, or tune in to Terry Riley at his most horizontal, and you are close to the immersive pleasure here. [Jun 2021, p.85]

Producer Dan Carey brings cohesion to the multiplicity. ... An absolute tonic.[Jun 2021, p.86]

These tracks feel more like intimate conversations, with Allen's boundless curiosity shining through. [Jun 2021, p.82]

Sixty Summers is a record of imagination and scope. [May 2021, p.87]

Funky as early-80s Judas Priest, the title track and Trouble's Coming will become era classics in lat-out over-amplified party music. [May 2021, p.82]

Matt Sweeney's commitment to supply Bonnie "Prince" Billy with "guitar parts that hold his voice like a chalice holds wine" is fully delivered upon here. [May 2021, p.76]

Rare, Forever's prevailing mood is sensuous and luxurious. [May 2021, p.88]

When Bills, Aches & Blues works -and it nearly always does - it's more complex, though, pulling together the threads of an enduring artistic legacy to intriguing effect. [Jun 2021, p.85]

Rose's songwriting revels in its directness. [Jun 2021, p.90]