Big God runs up and down a subtler emotional scale, while the heartfelt Hunger emphasises Welch's admirable desire to connect. Yet High As Hope often feels like The Greatest Showman for people of drinking age, This Is Me for art students--an affirmation, not a challenge. [Aug 2018, p.88]

Vanished Gardens is ultimately an uplifting and deeply satisfying record, due mostly to Lloyd's ethereal saxophone, which complements Williams beautifully. [Aug 2018, p.95]

As with Daptone's soul projects, the emphasis is on authenticity and integrity and the result is spot-on. [Jun 2018, p.94]

This album was submitted to Radio 1 in lieu of a mix, and in many ways it works better when considered on those terms. Because lots of the tracks have a similar vibe they could blend in perfectly well with each other, and it’s a shame that they don’t overlap at any point as this could have improved the overall experience. However, the album is still immensely enjoyable and generously rewards repeat listens.

There are some hammy moments on Americana Act II, but Davies' status as one of pop's great storytellers endures. [Aug 2018, p.92]

HML offset the filthy turbo riffage with moody atmospherics and surprise left-turns. [Aug 2018, p.94]

More quirks and rough edges would have added tot he thrill, but this is nonetheless a heart-warming set from a cultural treasure. [Aug 2018, p.88]

Not a bad track here, but extra points to The Youngbloods' Get Together and excellent Woody Guthrie's Deportee. [Aug 2018, p.93]

It's a record full of fabulous intros. [Aug 2018, p.100]

A debut proving the universal emotional weight in teenage preoccupation with romance. One to watch. [Aug 2018, p.96]

Sweet, but you couldn't eat a whole one. [Aug 2018, p.96]

The pace occasionally saunters, but this is an ultimately positive exercise in the group's titular "reflection and response." [Aug 2018, p.95]

Big, beautiful new record. [Aug 2018, p.94]

Providence Canyon is one of those brilliantly timeless albums that could have been lost in someone's dusty attic for decades. [Aug 2018, p.93]

Daytona stands loud and proud among Pusha T's best work. [Aug 2018, p.91]

While Maltese's playfulness extends to queasily imagining Theresa May and Donald Trump in flagrante as a nuclear holocaust rages on As The World Caves In, both Less and Less and doomy ballad Mortals prove he can deliver without relying on irony as a crutch. [Aug 2018, p.89]

A beautifully honed vision of an often-harsh landscape. [Aug 2018, p.89]

This is a record that manages to feel both trapped and rootless. [Aug 2018, p.90]

Inspired stuff, though its slightness feels like a tease, and leaves us hungry for more. [Aug 2018, p.88]

There is a levity to Uniform Distortion that differentiates it from all James's previous work. Indeed, work is the last thing it resembles. [Aug 2018, p.86]

If the circus-field antics are superseded by darker, sleeker dance-floor shapes, it remains a volatile, persistently disconcerting record. [Jul 2018, p.93]

A series of near-overwhelming musical epiphanies. [Jul 2018, p.94]

Just when it seems it's an invitation to drift away, Kazuashita sags the attention, demands vigilance; a record of the world, rather than out of it. [Jul 2018, p.95]

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]

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]

Parish underscores his composing skills wit these uneasy instrumentals and tight-wound songs. [Jul 2018, p.98]

Mambo Cosmico is largely a carnival of delights. [May 2018, p.95]

A boldly fresh album that veers between lithe wit, sinister landscapes, big choruses and coolly adventurous instrumental arrangements. [Jul 2018, p.90]

A beautiful slice of contemporary singer-songwriter craft that gently nods to their love of Sandy Denny. [May 2018. p.98]

The duo's valiant attempt to circumvent the buzz-kill of pre-meditation can only take them so far, however, and Arthur Buck is not without the odd dud. [Jul 2018, p.89]

It's when Marr stops thinking "big festival rock sound" that this LP shines. ... Ultimately, it's all about the angle of his jangle--ever unimpeachable. [Jul 2018, p.88]

The album has its own voice. [Jul 2018, p.95]

Throughout, she oozes charisma, sophistication and soul. [Jul 2018, p.92]

There are enough off-kilter moments to stop complacency setting in. [Jul 2018, p.90]

This is a sumptuous and personal record capturing universal human themes of hope, fortitude and loss. [Jul 2018, p.95]

The most fun comes, unsurprisingly, on the funkier first side. [Jul 2018, p.93]

It takes awhile to get some traction on these unassuming songs. But once inside it is a strange and enticing world. [Jul 2018, p.95]

So joyful, so tender, so warmly anthemic, its vintage moves are timeless, and irresistible. [Jul 2018, p.89]

Well-crafted third from the south London art pop duo with a playful spirit to match their impeccable post-punk influences. [Jul 2018, p.98]

Heavy with atmosphere, Dream House doesn't disappoint, corralling their genius for cerebral house chicanery, subtle techno and motorik rhythms. [Jul 2018, p.95]

Ultimately, the record triumphs via Rolling Blackouts; deep inhabitation of their music, ans the space of its creation. [Jul 2018, p.92]

Bold emotional directness supplanting gobby perpetual-teen 'tude on a set of soulful urban pop. [Jul 2018, p.98]

This second volume maintains the high standard. [Jul 2018, p.104]

The most striking thing about Listening To Pictures is how effortlessly contemporary it sounds. [Jul 2018, p.94]

A record out of time, and, in terms of quality, out of this world. [Jul 2018, p.91]

It's all imbued with such unhinged energy and genre-skipping abandon that Warmduscher collectively concoct some weird pop voodoo, perhaps best heard on the swampy bastard blues of the title track. [Jul 2018, p.96]

Nothing is off limits, the entire artistic palette is there to be used. And Diawara exploits that uniqueness with aplomb. [Jun 2018, p.92]

Muscular adaptations of Stephen Stills' How Far and Parliament's Get On Out Of The Rain stray into '70s Who territory, with stirring arrangements and hot Townshend licks, while his courageous tilt at Nick Cave piano ballad Into My Arms roils with heartache that can;t be faked. [Jun 2018, p.89]

This collaboration was always going to produce something sonically elegant. Accordingly, this six-song cycle is built around a drone, its individual tracks manifesting as if in curls of smoke. [Jul 2018, p.93]

Frequently overwhelming yet unconventionally comforting, there's a bebop-style envelope-pushing at work. [Jul 2018, p.95]

Babelsberg is, without doubt, one of the finest expressions so far of Rhys's talent. [Jul 2018, p.90]

A somewhat arid listening experience. [Jul 2018, p.104]

The Future and the Past is a triumph, a coming-of-age that over-delivers on all Prass promised, and suggests limitless skies in answer to where she might go next. [Jul 2018, p.86]

Images both earthy and heavenly make repeated showings, but case's vexing concern is troubled humans. [Jul 2018, p.88]

Eight songs that drift and haunt with layered voice and moody strings. [Jun 2018, p.97]

[The E Street Band] are barely present. Despite the sterile production, it's a vivid portrayal of personal torment, with great songs. ... Human Touch and Lucky Town make sense: the work of a man focused on changing nappies or seeing his therapist. ... In Concert/MTV Plugged confirms, the sacred texts were better served by E Street's idiosyncrasies. [Jul 2018, p.105]

An off-the-mark stab at Nebraska-era Bruce Springsteen vocals casting a grim shadow over what was a slow burning lament. Thankfully, Wildness's remaining portfolio is stuffed with hooky but soul-bruised cuts. [Jul 2018, p.96]

This vital, vintage-sounding hook-up with dusty jazz fiend Ben Lamdin and reggae producer Prince fatty--packed with wilding horns and lurching bass--bridles with unwearied defiance on How Many Bullets, The Music and She Is. [Jul 2018, p.90]

V. creates a sense of space, both mental and physical, as well as the idea of an alternate perception that is the calling card of West Coast psychedelia. [Jun 2018, p.91]

For an artist who is often too much, however, it is just enough. [Jul 2018, p.89]

While the soundscapes offer subtle rewards, lyrics' emotional perseverance takes a toll. [Jul 2018, p.92]

[Sleep] have customarily not rushed into nailing The Sciences, nor departed from their rubric of burroughsian ganja mythspinning, set to eardrum-busting, down-tuned slo-mo jams. [Jul 2018, p.88]

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]

Self-producing for the first time, Jurado's colour palette retains occasional ornamentation, including orchestration, Wurlitzers and a choir, but his immaculate velvet baritone is more often set in the starker relief of voice/guitar basics. [Jul 2018, p.93]

It's still raining in Ray's heart, but this is radiant stuff. [Jul 2018, p.92]

Williamson outlines her personal mythology; as a lover, a daughter and, by the closing Piano Love, a future mother, via songs sung in a resonant, often Patti Smith-like voice, over a heat haze backing of Rhodes piano and guitar. [Jul 2018, p.90]

She repeatedly refers to her inability to express her emotions fully--which is exactly how Dirty Computer leaves you feeling. [Jul 2018, p.88]

Its sprawling, ambient techno is a sensory overload of submerged beats, like windscreen wipers during drizzle, over which drift icy phrases and fragments. [Jul 2018, p.95]

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]

Eldritch psych-folk that recalls Meg Baird's work in Espers. [Jul 2018, p.98]

Songs of promise, resilience and the occasional unpredictable turn. [Jul 2018, p.98]

A misbegotten romance plays out across the album in disturbing, always enthralling fashion. [Jul 2018, p.98]

Many sure-footed, instantly memorable songs. [Jun 2018, p.88]

Country-soul songs full of warmth and comfort. [Jun 2018, p.97]

It's deliciously hauntingly odd. [May 2018, p.93]

Old and new, sweet and sharp, Welcome strangers holds you in an ambiguous, but utterly enchanting, embrace. [Jun 2018, p.90]

There, is, alas, something much more formulaic sounding about All That I have Left, but for at least 42 of its 46 minutes, Islands is an invigorating place to be marooned. [Jun 2018, p.94]

This ambitious record loses subtlety in the grand Springsteen-ish gestures of songs like Just For Tonight. Bay fares better with the looped, crunchy soul and more nuanced lyrics of Fade Out and Slide. [Jun 2018, p.95]

Their easy familiarity is evident throughout The Siren's Song, with its beautiful mix of of Kacy's crystalline vocals and Clayton's inventive, deep-groove country guitar. [Jun 2018, p.91]

Dance AM and Triangles carve a deep motorik opener; then rave euphoria and swoony breakdowns trail Lyubov Soloveva's vocals. [Jun 2018, p.97]

A superbly crafted reiteration of Walker's aesthetic, with the Chicago scene influences of 2016's Golden Sings That Have Been Sung given greater prominence. [Jun 2018, p.90]

It's an all-instrumental, but through eight focused tracks bringing to mind the non-vocal aspects of Eno's Another Green World, Vini Reilly at his most hard-edged, and mid-period Popul Vuh. [Jun 2018, p.91]

As well as blending linguistic elegance and musical levity, Sparkle Hard affirms Stephen Malkmus's increasingly contemplative approach. [Jun 2018, p.94]

Built on Phair's self-taught chording and a melodic sense of rich DIY potency, these compelling narratives blossom into a transfixing (and profane) particularity. [Jun 2018, p.102]

Cooder magnificent way with bottleneck on steel is often in evidence, while his son Joachim's percussion-rich soundscapes with loped and sampled elements help contemporise his dad's inherently rootsy sound. [Jun 2018, p.90]

The group have been honing their craft for over 20 years and all their trademarks can be found here. [Jun 2018, p.96]

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

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

The group's double-messages coalesce most finely on the few occasions they pause for ballads, like th aching I Can Change. But the nostalgic melodicism, and relentless pep, of the rest will thrill even those who miss what lies below. [Jun 2018, p.91]

Pay No Mind plays appealingly like The Jesus And Mary Chain slowed to 16 rpm. Then, just as you're settling into drowsy twilight, out of nowhere, a lyric smacks like citrus on the tongue. [Jun 2018, p.89]

Panic Blooms generates fond memories of a recent past. [Jun 2018, p.89]

All in all, the Monkeys' sixth long-player is a bold move. [Jun 2018, p.95]

While still connected to soul's sacred wellspring, frames his artisanal songcraft in more modernist settings. [Jun 2018, p.95]

While a little slavish in worship of her influences, these seven icy near-instrumentals conjure a gripping imaginary thriller in the mind, their glacial electronic melodies underpinned by taut rhythms. [Jun 2018, p.89]

Upbeat episodes are outweighed by melancholic drama. [Jun 2018, p.88]

The magic of DJ Koze lies in the unique complex musical terroir he's built. [May 2018, p.93]

Meticulously constructed, yet with melodies and rhythms born out of improvisation, it's an album of two halves, moving from euphoric collapse to an uncertain contentment. [Jun 2018, p.89]

It's often a mess, but to witness he process is genuinely exhilarating. [Jun 2018, p.88]