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

He's at his best, however, when he takes it all very seriously indeed. [Feb 2017, p.96]

Rueful, ruminative and ultimately hypnotic, Garden Of Ashes sings a welcome blues for the coming apocalypse. [Mar 2017, p.97]

Deep immersive dream landscapes of calm and uncertainty that seem to push at the boundaries of space and time. [Mar 2017, p.97]

Greene here pulls together abstract R&B, twisted 2-step and crunching house, skillfully adopting vocal techniques employed by his heroes, Masters At Work. [May 2017, p.91]

Jo Bevan declaims like Siouxsie leading The Smiths, on fevered melodies worthy of a band named after a Cure rarity. [May 2017, p.98]

The sound they conjure is often heavenly. [May 2017, p.95]

The Psalms comes with plenty of mainstream country--in the supple, drawling warmth of Colter's voice--and spiritual certainty. But it is easy to recognise the broader, ecumenical grace and relief of Joni Mitchell's early records and Laura Nyro's salvation songs in Colter's passionate focus and rolling, intuitive aplomb at the piano. [Apr 2017, p.91]

All told: a mighty uplifting wheeze. [Feb 2018, p.97]

The vignettes pack enough detail and emotion to work as well in short fiction form. [Jun 2018, p.97]

Their voices have contrasting timbres and they produce some gorgeous harmonies throughout. [Feb 2019, p.87]

A set weighted towards her 2007-to-present day material, mainly modern freedom songs performed with energy and joy. At 79, Mavis's vocal retains its gutsy passion and vitality. [Mar 2019, p.95]

Fine follow-up [to 2016's Lovers & Leavers] ... has a wider range of emotions and some new classics. [Apr 2019, p.91]

Sitting down with this album is like listening to a friend who assumes you know all the same people they do. [May 2019, p.90]

Oddly seductive, genre-refuting curio. [Jun 2019, p.91]

Vibrates with a thrilling energy. [Jul 2019, p.94]

Colorado feels more focused than Pill, especially so the backing vocals. [Nov 2019, p.87]

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

A raw, often unnerving experience, but it delivers compelling and uplifting catharsis. [Apr 2020, p.94]

With hooks as deep as heartbeats, this has the sweep of the desert dunes in it. [Apr 2020, p.93]

A heady cultural cocktail where the Sahara meets the Rising Sun. [May 2020, p.87]

Universal Energy sucker-punches with an 11-minute masterclass in shapeshifting disco, and Vasto's clanking delirium clinches these industrial shadow-dwellers' influence on everyone from Derrick May to Underworld. [Dec 2020, p.83]

Their unique gift for sounding at once thoroughly unhinged and ferociously in control is intact. [Aug 2021, p.80]

The sextet returning to their complex basics. ... They still struggle for hooks, though. [Mar 2022, p.83]

The propulsive beats, loping low-end and metallic synths of Glass Effect push the swirling arrangements of last year's Breathe Suite EP into a deeper realm. [Jun 2022, p.89]

Lengthy spoken-word soliloquys (in German), sonic paintings of air raids and oracular avant-classical minimalism sit alongside more familiar Laibach Strum und Drang - the group's disorienting way with reframing materials makes for an unnerving experience full with violence, trauma and insight. [May 2022, p.86]

The pop and alt-country arrangements shine throughout, with all concerned inspired and on point. [Dec 2022, p.85]

A terrific set that explores the themes of loss, friendship, aging and legacy, in 12 songs that are both familiar sounding and something new. [May 2023, p.84]

Fluid, cultured, but never wilfully indulgent, Days In The Desert refuses to sit still. [Sep 2023, p.89]

They are spare but complete, as rich as old letters or photographs. [Dec 2023, p.86]

The imaginative fire still burns. [Jul 2024, p.93]

[Nelson] sounds in great shape. There are some upbeat moments (good ol' boy Made In Texas) but mostly it's on the slow side, a tempo in which Willie excels. [Jul 2024, p.84]

That on-the-road-again feeling is all over the album, with a well-honed band that plays like they still get a kick from it. [Jul 2024, p.91]

Expertly miked to capture Cannell’s own sharp recorder breaths and the church’s own otherworldly reverberations, the result is both a hallucinatory venture into sonic time travel, and a consciousness-expanding act of medieval meditation. [Nov 2024, p.88]

What might be his [Zac Condon's] most beautiful record to date, particularly the instrumental numbers. [May 2025, p.88]

A mix of sentimental parenting and venal cynicism, the orchestral Pot Of Gold is peak Doherty. [Jun 2025, p.88]

Where Ribot's electric guitar commands attention on other records, this acoustic picking is languid and warm, lending the album the intimate intensity of a midnight conversation. [Jul 2025, p.78]

What might be Morrison's best album since 1991’s Hymns To The Silence. [Jul 2025, p.88]

Honeydew is one of Ritter's best. [Oct 2025, p.84]

The LA portion of the album is a noticeably better recording - the drum sound has improved for a start - and it's a high energy show featuring William Bell and Carla Thomas. [Oct 2025, p.94]

A lean collection of blues and ballads accentuated by discreet overdubs by the surviving members of Waylon's backing band The Waylors, along with some occasional new blood. [Nov 2025, p.101]

If Love And Fortune covers messy terrain, the 22-year-old traverses it with cool panache, plus shades of Gen-X touchstone Juliana Hatfield and Eleanor Friedberger's glistening Rebound. [Dec 2025, p.84]

Many of the songs... are short, some feeling cut off in their prime, others a little undeveloped. [combined review of both discs; Feb 2004, p.90]

Tip of the Sphere's greatest riches, though, lie in McCombs' mystical, questing songcraft. [Mar 2019, p.88]

Chemist eschews masturbatory scratch showcases in favour of artfully constructed, utterly oddball 'songs'. [Aug 2006, p.103]

Power Up is one mighty curtain call, and listening to it feels a bit like playtime. [Jan 2021, p.80]

Surface and feeling, Neon Neon dream the life with boundless imagination. [May 2008, p.108]

The trio's chanting, loops and metal-bashing framework is now fleshed out by some beautiful ambient-noise balladry. [Mar 2006, p.106]

A surprisingly consistent listen, albeit one that's akin to gorging on Christmas cake. [Feb 2006, p.102]

It's far from disappointing. [Apr 2006, p.106]

An astute writer whose lyrics--frank, observational, brutally self-aware--make her songs feel deceptively simple. [Oct 2016, p.100]

It's music that's soothing as transportive. [Dec 2021, p.87]

The changing seasons--and death--haunt This Old Dog without ever hamstringing its perfectly weighted, sometimes deceptively chipper grooves. [Jun 2017, p.94]

Kindness sees Andrews play the traditional diva, brilliantly so on the swelling, epic title track. Elsewhere, shadowed by atmospheric tremolo guitar and elements of Memphian soul, Andrews injects Americana archetypes with tenderness and empathy. [Jun 2018, p.96]

At their most affecting and cohesive to date. [Dec 2015, p.91]

Kasabian have always talked a great album, but Velociraptor! sees them deliver with verve and imagination. [Oct 2011, p.94]

If Elvis Costello's an all-timer it's because he knows what high seriousness is about. [Nov. 2010, p. 103]

Ultimately Prisoner is tethered by sturdy, familiar images of tightropes and trains. [Mar 2017, p.94]

Persuasive R&B with strident lyrics and sharp sonics. [Jan 2016, p.98]

Here never becomes too cosy, there are also plenty of sparkling textural buzzes and blips to ensure that Teenage Fanclub's traditional consistency remains impressive rather than soporific. [Sep 2016, p.91]

Pure Bloom is a cleaner, more austere work, yet just as emotionally overpowering. [Sep 2019, p.95]

A sometimes-striking record that suggests new ground without actually reaching it. [Jun 2023, p.84]

Her impact remains astounding, but a The Sporting Life-style left-turn is long overdue. [May 2017, p.95]

The blend of lushness and rusticity is beguiling. ... Still, for all its accomplished loveliness, there's also a suggestion that Nash's sense of wonder is a little less wild eyed than it once was. [Sep 2018, p.89]

Beyond such vivid, often thrilling caricatures, however, the acrid smoulder of The Donkey, the mysterious haunt of Legal Ghost and the nuanced pop of New Romeo Agent prove that Tropical Fuck Storm have yet to succumb to glib nihilism, and that tenderness and poetry are still within their grasp. [Nov 2021, p.87]

This is a terrific ride. [Apr 2005, p.88]

[A] luscious layercake of flange and Echoplex. [Jan 2013, p.90]

This is a brave, bold, inevitably flawed record from the kind of talent we should be esctastically happy to have around. [Aug 2009, p.92]

This curiously beautiful little album has retained the surreal, daydreamy quality and rustic chill of its predecessor, while adding a lot more warmth. [Feb 2012, p.99]

What some might reckon to be Drift Code's one significant weakness--that Webb is not a conventionally beauteous singer--is once more a strength. [Mar 2019, p.86]

The album's urgency and purpose is irresistible; there's a riot goin' on, and Algiers just lit the touchpaper. [Mar 2023, p.87]

Ultimately, this is music with therapeutic benefits, for the listener as much as for its creator. [Jun 2025, p.89]

Studded with sardonic, Pavement-y wit. [Dec 2017, p.96]

Ex-Orange Juicer bounces back, against cruel and unbelievable odds. [Oct. 2010, p. 96]

Autumn of the Seraphs is some of their punchiest work, packed with euphoric melodies, wry lyricism and subtly enhanced grooves. [Oct 2007, p.99]

It is her most intense, but perhaps also her most pleasurable excursion yet. [Jan 2008, p.104]

Drifts toward sounding like Sonic Youth. .... Lots more here, though, including elevated noiserock, early Factory-style nihilist post-punk, and a clanking highlight, I see Poseurs Every Day. [Apr 2026, p.93]

Occasionally, the album threatens to go Spinal Tap-ish. ... But when Dwyer steeps the prog in garage frenzy, the pot boils. [Sep 2018, p.92]

It makes for a spiritual and mind-stretching experience one minute, woozy and disorienting the next. [Jan 2013, p.100]

A chilly conference of Cold War atmospheres and modern kleptocratic dread. [Jun 2016, p.95]

What follows is a quietly substantive if still somewhat pallid, meditation on faith and death. [Mar 2023, p.92]

A must for fans of either protagonist, plus devotees of classic Todd Rundgren and Ween. [May 2017, p.94]

Breakthroughs can never be predicted with certainty, but Kinder Versions is Mammut's convincing international calling card. [Aug 2017, p.90]

No consolation, no platitudes: just stark commitment to picking up human signals through the storm. [Dec 2024, p.93]

[Her] supple vocal sounds are partly obscured here by loops and electronics or resonant layers of Eno'd guitars. [May 2021, p.88]

Stereolab had similar starting blocks--there's no reason why Fujiya & Miyagi shouldn't become as notable. [Jan 2007, p.110]

Thematically thin and, consequently, lyrically disappointing. [Jan 2004, p.96]

The seemingly effortless confidence displayed throughout is startling. [Apr 2002, p.108]

A similar osmosis of Bunneymen and Chameleons' dramarama as Interpol. [Mar 2004, p.106]

For a genre whose young bands are increasingly concerned with girls and girls only, the Alkaline Trio have delivered an album offering far more than the pink blush of awkward adolescence. [Jul 2003, p.108]

A drizzly doomsday masterpiece. [Nov 2004, p.108]

Fractured but never broken, Arc takes chaos and crunches it into a satisfying and surprising whole. [Feb 2013, p.92]

Other artists covered include Gnarls Barkley, Tom Waits and Neil Young, but this is Bettye's record, these are her songs now. [Nov 2012, p.86]

As with Sufjan Stevens' Illinois, we're dealing with an invigorating, many-faceted work of diverse instrumentation and durability. [Jul 2006, p.106]

An album of great beauty and quiet power. [Jan 2016, p.91]

There remains a mood off unease here, as if these transportive pop chants were also magic spells designed to awaken something ancient and terrible. [Sep 2014, p.90]

The lyrics tackle domestic violence, female genital mutilation, forced marriage and proceeds go to charity--but if all you care about is the sound it's still terrific. [Apr 2017, p.98]

A band effort. And it shows in the diversity and quality of the songs. ... A fine album. [Aug 2020, p.93]