It's also the group's most exciting, most engaged, most breathtaking album this century. [Mar 2023, p.85]

The French singer renders smoky blues. [Oct 2016, p.100]

[For Bteer, Or Worse] maintains the same innate love of his subject and feeling of bonhomie. [Nov 2016, p.94]

Her characters will wander through your imagination for days after the record's stopped spinning. [Nov 2016, p.86]

Lavishness their deep influences merits. ... Endless Indian summer. [Feb 2020, p.107]

Happy Hollow swings with the nutty abandon of Madness, sharpened with the literate punk frenzy of Fugazi. [Oct 2006, p.104]

At times it's spellbinding. [Dec 2006, p.118]

[Teenage Kicks is] arguablt not even the best song on this compilation. Wednesday Week's gorgeous melody, You've Got My Number's killer riff and the haunting, fragile Julie Ocean are superb, while we can even forgive them for their Human League-baiting My Perfect Cousin. [Mar 2020, p.101]

This is a fine balancing of distance and engagement that put the shier back into chill out. [Mar 2012, p.103]

Chelsea Light Moving's sound and fury certainly thrill. [Apr 2013, p.88]

This is bruised, bruising music, intellectually satisfying, animalistic. [Jul 2017, p.91]

Produced by Tortoise's John McEntire on this, their second outing, BO channel such solitary American composers as Harry Partch and Charles Ives, rattling from distorted second line jazz to mournful Moondog horn stomps and sweet chamber melancholy, creating a claustrophobic city suite that taps into a whole other area of American vernacular music. [Dec 2009, p. 96]

The melancholy Tumbleweed sound become the sound of '70s country rock. [Jul 2017, p.100]

This covers set is a fine entry-point. [Jul 2009, p.97]

Ben Chasny's annual solo folk extravaganza. [March 2011, p. 95]

The album is packed with sunny tunes which carry a '60s and '70s feel, but Prewitt never coasts. [July 2002, p.104]

Sound[s] like a typical Elephant 6-related band--absolutely fantastic. [May 2003, p.108]

Somewhere between Faultline's bedroom-boffin invention and Stephen Merritt's pensive elegance. [May 2003, p.99]

The follow-up has richer, dreamier contours, but the mood is gaunter. [Sep 2018, p.94]

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

It’s another uniquely memorable record, encapsulating its creator’s restless spirit. [Apr 2023, p.86]

Permanent Signal drinks from a similar, if sonically expanded pool [as 2012 debut Strange Weekend]. [Sep 2013, p.94]

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

A glorious melange of love, loss, regret, homesickness and romance. [Sep 2005, p.86]

The sound of a band untethered, revelling in their resurrection. [Jan 2020, p.98]

For a studio album it sounds remarkably like a live one. [Mar 2006, p.90]

Michael Chapman sounds just fine exactly where he is, deep in the knowledge of what is coming, but finally aware of how far he's come. [Feb 2017, p.88]

Completists will enjoy having the single edits of many tracks and the sound is sparklingly good. [Jan 2015, p.112]

Rare Birds unpacks a wealth of sonic detail. In the best way, this feels like a record you could lose yourself in for months. [Apr 2018, p.87]

This, their literally titled second, is equally arresting [as their debut]. [Apr 2013, p.94]

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

His delievry now possesses a wry, self-deprecating warmth which, along with Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker's unobtrusive production, suggests a man coming to terms with it all and who realises he's as much a part of this mess as anyone. [Sep 2008, p.110]

The stories collected on Death Cab For Cutie's tenth album are rich in both detail and substance, with solidary lines that can unravel you. [Oct 2022, p.82]

Thirstier comes on like a bold, heady catharsis. [Sep 2021, p.86]

While White Wilderness lacks the edge of Emerald City it's an inspired set of songs decorated by Minna Choi's imaginative orchestrations. [Apr 2011, p.101]

This time there's more of an improvised, experimental feel. ... Once again, Beam wrote most of the songs, but the imprint of both acts is pretty equal. [Jul 2019, p.94]

The influences--Shadow Morton, Nina Roti, '80s dream pop--are easily detectable, but intuitively utilised. [Jul 2016, p.96]

Sprawling yet rewarding, Blume is a sprightly, athletic consolidation of the journey so far. [Sep 2019, p.93]

This whole album is a desert rock classic. [Oct 2019, p.82]

It's a beautifully eclectic one. [Dec 2020, p.97]

Moments of odd musical cosplay, meanwhile, are outshone by such hits as Silly Love Songs and Let 'Em In. [Jan 2026, p.96]

This improbably excellent debut album eschews the studied blankness of many of that race's [psych revivals] current front-runners in favour of a playful yet intense engagement with psychedelic rock traditions. [Sep 2013, p.95]

There are sweet moments on The Demise Of Planet X - not least guest appearances from Aldous Harding (Elitest G.O.A.T.) and Life Without Buildings' Sue Tompkins (No Touch) - and a more delicate musical palette, but the overwhelming mood is one of weariness; with the state of the world and the tedious, endless gotchas. [Feb 2026, p.85]

The most natural sounding album of his career. [Mar 2022, p.83]

The mood is all of a piece, the songs are stronger, and nobody suggests lightening the atmosphere with a high-energy single. [Sep 2013, p.84]

Affecting and shot-through with tension. [Dec 2017, p.92]

Thanks to The Roots, Costello has new access--and Wise Up Ghost should bring new listeners to mess with. [Oct 2013, p.94]

Last Days Of Wonder is rich in history and nature imagery, yet the couple are equally obsessed with modern life. [Jul 2006, p.101]

[It] delivers a pop-art contrast to the prog-opaque sprawl of its underrated predecessor. [Nov 2006, p.106]

From a brilliantly tense 1977 cover of the Detroit Emeralds’ 1972 disco hit Feel The Need, to a Velvets-drone re-murking of Dylan’s She Belongs To Me and his recent doomy techno-goth NIN collaboration Star, these rough, raw and unfinished gems remind us that Ferry’s art was never just about surface perfection but always in what lies beneath. [Dec 2024, p.99]

The Slow Rush proves the rewards of taking time; Kevin Parker is an artist worthy of yours. [Mar 2020, p.90]

Though the production is by no means slick, the music emerges vividly from its hithero murky world. [Jul 2010, p.93]

Superbly eerie and echoey evocations such as View From The Mirror and The Golden Bough don't need big productions to make your ears prick up, just their disturbing use of minor chords and subtle sound effects. [Dec 2014, p.90]

A transporting, densely layered record which retains a certain lyrical opacity. [Mar 2020, p.89]

This Family album goes toward capturing the band's undeniable genius, in music that lingers like the most terrifying dream. [Feb 2016, p.91]

The Czars only had minuscule--if fanatical--support, but Grant's current profile should see retrospective justice done. [Jan 2015, p.112]

A superlative crooner with grit, soul and impeccable phrasing, James caresses and finesses every syllable of his highly literate, deeply personal songs. [Apr 2020, p.88]

All told, Dead Magic is Hausswolff's finest work to date; a record of remarkable potency and intent. [Apr 2018, p.87]

This is a more colourful record than its predecessor, but it’s troubled, too.... Meanwhile, aficionados of pure sonic treats are well served. [Feb 2015, p.89]

The results present a dense mesh of disparate tempos, hypnotic rhythms and passages of glittering beauty. [Apr 2017, p.97]

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

The US albums is a fascinating document of American music industry practice in the mid '60s. [Mar 2014, p.103]

Producer Hal Willner has dug deep to improve on [the original Rogue's Gallery] and reckons he has a happier collection as a result. [Apr 2013, p.88]

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

This compelling song collection offers an abstract journey through the themes, influences and emotions of a most eventful year. [Apr 2017, p.94]

Its mood affecting. its melodies haunting, Fading Parade is spellbinding. [Apr 2011, p.101]

Cornershop's Midlands-Asian mainspring, looks back to the homeland with an album joyously sung all in Punjabi. [Apr 2011, p.100]

Powerplant sees Girlpool's naif-pop mature into a brittle, unpredictable, subterranean pop that recalls Pod-era Breeders. [Aug 2017, p.92]

Ultimately, this is a work of lush, immersive harmonic beauty and escape. [Jun 2024, p.86]

Baudelaire & Piano isn't instant, but it lingers like a vivid dream. [Oct 2020, p.89]

Sounding like lost transmissions from classic '70s AM radio, it's Stringfellow's best yet. [Dec 2004, p.116]

Wolfe is the epicentre of the maelstrom, a banshee wailing through songs called things like Welt and Scrape. [Dec 2017, p.94]

Shaping billowing waves of electrostatic to articulate the sound of his hometown, Nairobi, at night. Worth resurrecting an old ’90s genre tag from The Bug’s past for Natur: illbience. [Nov 2024, p.87]

An intriguing, undeniable gem. [Dec 2017, p.92]

The four songs drawn from eco-themed album The Crying Light gain particular vitality.... The other major beneficiaries of Muhly and co.'s top notch orchestral work art Antony's earliest songs. [Aug 2012, p.82]

Via radio hiss and cut-glass samples of the long dead, worlds beyond are accessed. [Oct 2023, p.89]

The album appears as a warm, welcoming pool, soaking its balms, and its messages, deep into our bones. [Jun 2020, p.84]

Goat Girl's vision is as unique as an oily fingerprint, their confidence dizzying, and richly justified. [May 2018, p.90]

"It's not too late to find where you are," he sings on The Tern; Hadsel seems to tremble on the brink of that revelation. [Dec 2023, p.88]

180 is filled with such a sense of unyielding joie de vivre and spirit that you can't help but be seduced by its unfettered feel. [Apr 2013, p.88]

It's never morbid, but mortality is a running theme. [Jun 2018, p.91]

Hanna's sub-Kevin Shields guitars and Chikudate's sparkling keyboards eddy across the Blondie-esque layers. [Feb 2009, p.113]

By doing exactly the same thing for all that time, and by avoiding building up a public image that would come before the music, Cale has come full circle and now sounds fresh and relevant once more. [May 2009, p.110]

More a growler than a singer, Ayisoba plugs in and lets rip from the start, his heavily rhythmic songs wasting no time on subtlety, his band driving the trance sounds home. [Jul 2017, p.91]

It's an LP of insight and empathy. [Mar 2024, p.82]

Ishmael Ensemble cleverly, psychedelically blur the lines. [Jun 2019, p.91]

With its major keys, funky breakbeats, scorching guitar solos and soothing flutes, here's one Gizzard Magnum opus not to miss in the deluge. [Dec 2022, p.92]

Uneasy listening at its ghost-in-the-machine best. [Apr 2011, p.104]

It's a more straightforward offering than their previously tangential records, though no less compelling for it. [Aug 2025, p.79]

Originally intended as a YouTube offering, The Palace Guards teeters between alt country and folk rock in a diverse and totally appealing manner. [Jun 2011, p.103]

Los Lobos' ingenuity with arrangements and atmosphere makes The Ride something special. [Jun 2004, p.102]

Gibb's voice--not to mention his lyrical outlook--is endearingly astringent. [Aug 2004, p.98]

The wait, rewarded. [Dec 2025, p.85]

A compelling blend of 21st Century world music. [May 2003, p.106]

Their shortest statement yet, offering seven songs in 34 minutes, with a stripped-down, countrified focus. [Feb 2022, p.91]

[A] hazy smoked-out amalgam of shoegaze, analogue synths and surf-pop harmonies. [Sep 2013, p.95]

A sprawling Daphni DJ set in microcosm, Butterfly is feel-good music of the purest kind. [Mar 2026, p.89]

Tyron unpacks its creator's complex character, flaws bravely to the fore. [Mar 2021, p.88]