An album that's warm, honest, awash with tuneage, never corny, and really rather marvellous. [Jun 2018, p.95]

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

A concise 10-song encapsulation of Kilgour's eternal virtues. [Oct 2014, p.87]

Lattimore's deftly played, sometimes heavily processed concert grand harp unfurls mellifluously against yearning keyboard ambiences to generate immersive, natural world-inspired soundscapes. [Jul 2018, p.96]

Americana shows a man still writing to find out his place in the world. He's seen it all, he's seen through it all, but there's still open road ahead. There's no better adventure than that. [May 2017, p.86]

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

Lovely vocals from both Mitchell and Johnson and a mellow, timeless mood. [Nov 2022, p.87]

But there is nothing here that will leap out of the speakers to entice the unconverted, despite the Weezer-like spod-rock of Fot Nuffin and Trouble's garage pop stomp. [Feb 2010, p. 92]

The album feels confessional, courageous. ... Yes it can be bleak as hell but Flamagra's artistic artistic triumphs are sublimely uplifting. [Jul 2019, p.92]

Changes redefines the Bradley Soul sound again. [May 2016, p.87]

It's gauzy visions suggesting some rediscovered private press folk oddity from the '70s, Segall's faultless melodic instincts lent an edge by Bolan-esque warble, inward-looking lyrics and, on Saturday Pt 2, wild saxophone duets. [Aug 2022, p.87]

Her Dusty-meetsNancy tones glide as imperiously over violin-caressed opener 'French Navy' as on lustrous indie-country upgrade 'You Told A Lie,' reaching sublime lvels of heartache on the Spectoresque title track. [Jun 2009, p.109]

While Drunk is occasionally muso brinkmanship there's a human touch that grounds it. [May 2017, p.91]

The duo's songs may employ no chords and few notes to sing against, but they are brillantly structured via Andreas Werliin's melodic drum patterns, with Mariam Wallentin's flamboyant, unfettered voice a huge presence. [May 2009, p109]

A psych-folk bent for harmonic discord and atmospheric dread finds something forever sinister lodged at the album's heart: the kind of beauty that makes sailors run aground. [Dec 2008, p.102]

It's not morose--his voice is too engaging, his songs (and band) too good. [Jul 2013, p.92]

A deceptively simple soundworld of banal electronic tropes that gradually pulls you into blissful wormhole depths. [Nov 2013, p.94]

Aficionados will welcome a renewed emphasis on Vudi's idiosyncratic string-bending, erecting iridescent frames around Eitzel's through-a-glass-darkly vignettes. [Feb 2008,p.105]

Rufus Wainwright-goes-to-grad-school lushness dominates, though, and despite Bird's Death Of Marat pose on the cover, My Finest Work is not quite revolutionary. [May 2019, p.93]

This is special, many-layered stuff. [May 2005, p.108]

The overall tone is one of forbearance rather than rabble-rousing provocation. [Mar 2015, p.100]

It sounds surprisingly, hypnotically groovy. [Jul 2017, p.96]

Its second pits their sharp improvisational wits against Evan Parker, Byron Wallen, Tori Handsley, Sarathy Korwar and Yussef Dayes. [Sep 2017, p.90]

Rainford is a late-career answer to 1978 Roast Fish, Collie Weed & Corn Bread, and beyond all reasonable expectation, fully its equal. [Jun 2019, p.94]

An irresistibly raucous entree to their world. [May 2020, p.88]

There's an early Daptone feel to this strong set. [May 2020, p.96]

Highlights include the cool Old Men, beer-soaked Dance With Your Spurs On and 90 Seconds Of Your Time, a dark, true-life tale that sounds both intense and insouciant. [Sep 2020, p.87]

There's a new directness, a more linear approach to melody, and, most unexpectedly, the overt presence of synthesizers. [Mar 2022, p.86]

Lemmy-recalling rocker The End finds chief pilot Dave Brock poignantly recalling years of adventure as past Hawkwind sonic signatures collide, while the mordantly comic The Beginning looks in electronic/acoustic fashion to a post-human existence of uploaded consciousness. [Jun 2023, p.85]

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

Appaloosa Bones is prime Isakov. [Oct 2023, p.81]

Crowell's clear eye for detail is evident throughout, but what gives the album its kick is the lean, clean attack that allows both barroom ravers and haikus of Zen wisdom to linger in the imagination. [Oct 2025, p.89]

She's still drawn to the edges like a death's-head moth to an inferno, but once you are in Wolfe's distinctive headspace, it's easy to believe they are her comfort zone, and maybe even yours. [Mar 2025, p.85]

Brings a little focus--and some memorable tunes--to the proceedings, though Wolf's muse remains doggedly eclectic. [May 2005, p.108]

One of the best rock'n'roll albums of 2014. [Dec 2014, p.96]

The Soderbergs seize the day. [Jul 2014, p.91]

No vintage-gear replicator, he's modern-sounding, fresh, fun--a genuine contender for 2007. [Mar 2007, p.105]

Heartrendingly eerie. [Jan 2018, p.91]

Their fifth album still features plenty of trademark thrills - Brian Chippendale drumming junglist breakbeats at heart-attack velocity, bassist Brian Gibbon's' riffs sounding like a grindcore group playing gabba - while the bark-spitting tempo-shifts of opener Sound Guardians wouldn't alienate the Metallica set. [Jan 2010, p. 96]

Pig Lib is full of as many little mysteries as it is revelations. [Apr 2003, p.91]

Her sinuous, Lady Dayish voice sets her apart. Unfortunately, it's not to be heard in full effect until about a third of the way through Mama's Gun... [Jan 2001, p.104]

Damon and Naomi haven't so much altered what they do as augmented it, often beautifully. The results are occasionally breathtaking.... A rare and graceful record. (Oct 2000, p.92)

In every sense, committed rock'n'roll. [Jul 2005, p.105]

Sauser-Monnig spins a gorgeously spare, frail web, as if she and instrumental allies Nick Sanborn and Phil Cook only pressed record as dawn was breaking. [Jul 2019, p.95]

Their most remarkable record in years. [Feb 2015, p.95]

Spektor has lept from black and white into joyous colour. [Aug 2006, p.88]

A record that exudes the glee and relief of emotional recovery. [Aug 2017, p.93]

Avoiding the experimentation of their earlier work, No Age's second album-proper delivers winningly subterranean pop, bruised and vulnerable tuneage haunting their feedback racket reveries. [Oct. 2010, p. 97]

Despite the lulls, the resistance to ending songs, Reflektor lets Arcade Fire shed expectations along with a skin, an act of rejuvenation few at their level manage with conviction. [Nov 2013, p.82]

A slushfest it isn't....Melodically sussed, wryly observed post-60s pop nuggets are humorous, trenchant and reflective. [Nov 2008, p.104]

[A] gem-filled recording. [Aug 2008, p.111]

With its profusion of delicate acoustic guitar arpeggios and fine string arrangements by Beck's father David Campbell, much of the rest of IRM steers a more organic, at times almost skiffle-like path, but the twist is Gallic melancholy. [Feb 2010, p. 93]

C'mon suggests their state of grace deserves a wider congregation. [May 2011, p.108]

For all its survivalist blues and everyman politicking, Mourning really connects when the Ali gets up close and personal. [Oct 2012, p.89]

The results are generally spectacular. [Jul 2014, p.93]

Distractions is one addictive rush of spiky DIY energy. [Aug 2015, p.96]

Ought's sound is stamped with enough original invention for them to stand tall amongst the art-schooled crowd. [Nov 2015, p.90]

The result is a most ambitious, rewarding and soulful debut. [Nov 2016, p.86]

The amount of recording distortion on some pieces, like on the sparse, meandering piano instrumental Last Of The Lantern Oil, can tip the balance over into ear-buzzing discomfort. [Apr 2020, p.87]

As much as his guests shine amid his contemplative synth odysseys, it's the solo Njoku, stripped and vulnerable on Weapon that cut closest to the bone. [Aug 2025, p.84]

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]

Playfully eccentric, it pushes the boundaries of the psych-pop revival in a way that's thankfully more redolent of MGMT's Congratulations than Ariel Pink's more self-conscious "mature" themes. [Mar 2013, p.88]

By putting some warm flesh on her musical bones, Chan Marshall is punching her considerable songwriting weight. [Jan 2006, p.116]

Get To Heaven feels both like a band at the peak of their powers and self-consciously dialing everything up to 11 before things go up in flames. [Jul 2015, p.90]

Amadou & Mariam have created a thought-provoking time capsule for future historians; a genuine masterpiece documenting the Malian unrest that is poignant, passionate, and directed equally at the head, feet and heart. [Nov 2017, p.101]

On paper, it looks so wide-ranging as to be in danger of coming out gloopy and overdone; as it turns out, Rhys glues everything together with a crisp sense of confidence. [Feb 2007, p.98]

There are few moments where Director's Cut offers anything close to a bold deconstruction. [Jun 2011, p.95]

It's a brave and brilliant refocusing of her energies, virtually a rebirth. [Oct 2007, p.91]

The songs on Mr. M might be mostly slow and beautiful but they don't have the drifting dreaminess. [Mar 2012, p.96]

Encouraged by the hazy presence of co-producer Jim James, few traces remain of his previous wood-chopping ruggedness, the singer holing up with a saucerful of secrets for Homecoming, or raising inertia to an art-form on Another Day’s time-lapse blur.

Remaining loyal to Laurel Canyon and the NY underground, the collision of '60s classicism and noise is joyous. [Oct 2017, p.94]

There's real beauty here and Silberman marries eventual accessibility with gentle boundary-pushing to create his own, thoughtful world. [May 2021, p.84]

Sim's painful journey also feels like catharsis, and packs a vivid statement of musical intent. [Oct 2022, p.87]

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

From the lurking threat of 'Street Walkin'' to the pretty sadness of closer 'Goin' Home,' this is outsider's music. Therein lie its real strength. [Mar 2009, p.110]

Hardcore Julius fans might recognise old tunes but the London-based musicians have given them all a fresh coat while the boss blows up a storm. [Nov 2014, p.94]

Foster's is an oddly moving, crepuscular and dream-like world to get happily lost in. [Jan 2018, p.91

In trying to make an album that pointed to where he wants to go as an artist, Hawley has taken the best parts of his past and uploaded them onto one sublime record. [Jul 2019, p.90]

It might not look like it's going to leap out and grab you, but Beam here launches a soft emotional ambush. [Sep 2017, p.87]

Eight brief fragments in which the ghostly vocal harmonies and echoing piano seem to exist just out of comprehension, as if playing in a distant hall, or half-remembered from a dream. [Jul 2018, p.95]

Merrick's smoke-ring vocals rarely become agitated; the lyrics are unforced, unadorned, conversational to the point of artlessness. ... Yet there is tension here, lurking in the disconnect between Merrick's nonchalant vocals and the simmering volatility of the music. [Apr 2022, p.82]

Molly Hamilton's languorous, seductive vocals further elevate simple Velvets-meets-The-Cowboy-Junkies arrangements, guitar foil Robert Earl Thomas entices with wobbly curlicue riffs and minimalist twang and psych-flute motifs on While You Wait keep things fresh. [Apr 2022, p.87]

No Home record offers few tunes you could whistle, but at it's best Gordon's no-wave din and take-no-shit snarl offer unabashedly militant thrills. [Nov 2019, p.87]

The line between hypnotic and tediously repetitive is occasionally crossed. [Sep 2002, p.94]

Almost exclusively orchestral, this soundtrack works brilliantly as a half-hour suite. [Sep 2016, p.90]

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

The album's dozen essays zigzag with the same unpredictability as Veirs's vertiginous melody lines, everything united by her compellingly aerated vocal tone and Tucker Martine's deep focus production. [Sep 2013, p.88]

The vibe is six herberts sinking the sherbets inviting you over for banter, yarns, setting the world to rights and all of the fun of rhyme, rhythm, blues and country-rock back in the day. [Jul 2015, p.94]

Beach House's second album in three months underlines just how precision-stylised their frosty, often glacially-slow dream-pop has become. [Jan 2016, p.88]

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

Familiar bittersweet flavours are sensitively tweaked - Looking For You's orchestral surges; Live Learn And Forget's flickering piano - Nada Surf's cathartic heartbursts remain in perfect harmony. [Mar 2020, p.96]

It builds a new stoic eloquence into her vulnerability, even if the stark, birdsong-imbued Darkish drips with Radiohead-like ennui. [Jun 2022, p.84]

What might sound like a depressing work of angsty indulgence is in fact an uplifting record of angular alt-folk. [June 2008, p.108]

If it wasn’t for a couple of unfortunate lulls and longueurs, the odd dubious creative choice, it could easily look Norman Fucking Rockwell in the eye. [May 2023, p.85}

There's still a warm heart beating under all this newly-assembled machinery.

Sits to the right of the likes of Philip Glass and Glenn Branca while outdoing the experimentalism of either Radiohead or Sigur Ros. [Jan 2003, p.98]

Hate is a record of immense ambition and sophistication, a bold vision, a beautifully calibrated meditation on the messy business of life. [Nov 2002, p.98]

Brace yourself. This album is more clinging than quicksand, it is uncompromising, transcendent voodoo. [Sep 2014, p.92]