It's no instant hit, but some cracking songs like Moths In The Gas Light and Dancing In The Ruin rise to the top and a brilliantly vivid production keeps you riveted. [Dec 2017, p.90]

From the title track onwards, he slaps down 25 minutes of spring-heeled and rump-shakin' bumpin' Bootsy funk, which will pick up again after ballad Heaven Yes, gentler Ladies Nite, and the poppy Candy Coated Lover and Snow Bunny. [Dec 2017, p.93]

Equally comparable to Sleaford Mods' savage lo-fi and Leonard Cohen's fatalist poetry, Prince Of Tears is an outright triumph. [Nov 2017, p.94]

A singular voice, in more ways than one. [Dev 2017, p.90]

Occasionally, the strings seem like an afterthought to a seemingly traditional Malian griot set-up, but the majestic title track demonstrates the power of the pairing. [Dec 2017, p.89]

Souleyman's high velocity dabke-techno hybrid keeps the BPM and bleep count high on his third LP. [Dec 2017, p.96]

A best possible blend of odd and good. [Dec 2017, p.96]

While their writhing, panic-driven noise never fails to excite, sustained across an entire album it makes for an enervating, overwhelming listen, and its hard to discern what substance might lie beneath their bristling, steely carapace. [Dec 2017, p.94]

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

Like Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man's Out Of Season, say I'm A Harmony operates on a different plane. [Dec 2017, p.93]

The unfamiliar are advised to check out his first three solo albums. [Dec 2017, p.92]

There are some sumptuous moments, but it's also arch and mannered, and rather awkward to embrace. [Dec 2017, p.93]

The Beloved Scouse songsmith's virtues are writ large: heart swelling hymns to the common man, irrepressible shanties, imaginatively deployed strings and brass, affectionate songs of booze-love, as unhinged a school-days memoir as you'll ever hear, and, at the closing Adios Amigo, the fondest of farewells. [Dec 2017, p.92]

The album's eight, unusually varied essays largely eschew sonic wallpaper stereotype, invested as they are with playfulness and a genuine sense of Eastern-flavoured spiritual uplift. [Dec 2017, p.92]

The delivery is folk emo. [Dec 2017, p.92]

It's no double-set, however, its sprawl contained within 10 tracks and 42 minutes. [Dec 2017, p.91]

The sprawling Montreal ensemble [is] nback at their most spirited, their Weltschmerz poured into wordless music of soaring transcendence and, on occasion, fierce beauty. [Dec 2017, p.91]

Strip away the wearying kung-fu skits and there'a s hard-boiled 12-tracker at The Saga Continues' core. [Dec 2017, p.90]

A densely orchestrated album that, even by his standards, is full of reflective melancholy. [Dec 2017, p.90]

End Of The World could be Don't Fear The Reaper Mk II while a fad cover of NRBQ's I Want You Bad delivers Heart-racing teenage kicks. [Dec 2017, p.89]

Allen is inspirational throughout, creating a range of personalised drum patterns, and hey! You can dance to every darn thing. [Dec 2017, p.88]

The Curious Hand is that rare thing in folk: original, self-contained and unencumbered by the genre. [Dec 2017, p.88]

It doesn't quite blow the emotional lid off, but Open is rich in subtle variations. [Dec 2017, p.88]

Never one to be soul-bearing or crass, Corgan pulls off his "Songer" task with enigmatic, starlit aplomb. [Dec 2017, p.86]

Lotta Sea Lice feels like a happy and deliberate mind-meld, rather than the work of two competing songwriters duking it out knee-to-knee over their guitars. [Dec 2017, p.84]

SpiderBeetleBee is part history lesson, park New World exploration; the familiar made strange by glistening harmonics. [Nov 2017, p.102]

An exquisite, meditative experience. [Nov 2017, p.108]

The whole thing only underline what a ferocious rock band they had become. [Nov 2017, p.106]

Pulsing, hazy, addictive. [Nov 2017, p.100]

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

Musical touches such as Stephen Large's baroque harpsichord solo on Patchouli and the little three0note 'now boarding' motif that opens Departure lounge cement the sens e of an act that know exactly how to proceed. [Nov 2017, p.94]

Lillies is an album which the solo Siouxsie Sioux would have been proud to record. [Nov 2017, p.96]

[The Selecter] haven't sounded so energised since their 1979 debut, Too Much Pressure. [Nov 2017, p.100]

[A] powerful debut. [Nov 2017, p.103]

For Carry Fire, Plant has written Lion In Winter love songs. [Nov 2017, p.96]

The resulting sound is suitably celestial, mysterious and awe-inspiring. [Sep 2017, p.93]

Their third album keeps an open mind. [Nov 2017, p.97]

Marshall's irregular flashes of idiosyncratic brilliance impress, though The OOZ's 19 tracks contain many longueurs that merely baffle or bore, so tread carefully. [Nov 2017, p.100]

The cast of Beautiful fits with unforeseen subtlety. [Nov 2017, p.103]

For Sale ratchets up the band's ever-present anxiety with a dose of on-stage adrenaline to make this the Holy Grail 'Mats fans have hankered after for decades. [Nov 2017, p.109]

Dark, intense and utterly compelling record. [Nov 2017, p.98]

It's a messy, vibrant record, and if his palette occasionally blurs into muddiness, at least he's still trying for a rainbow. [Nov 2017, p.102]

[It's Alright Between Us as It Is] finds the Stavanger native matching more vocals to his grandiose productions. [Nov 2017, p.99]

French Touch unfolds as a warm, stylish tribute to great songs from one of continental Europe's most affecting voices. [Nov 2017, p.98]

The Darkness have regained much of the joy, silliness and virtuostic songcraft that made their 2003 debut Permission To Land such fun. [Nov 2017, p.96]

Although still rooted in rockabilly terra firma, with cameos from the likes of Nashville groovester Aaron Lee Tasjan, McPherson's horizon has never sounded so open. [Nov 2017, p.102]

Part 2 wins with the garage-guitar-pop of Hollywood and the hard edged though sugary Teflon. In keeping with Brix's own memoir, Part 2 suggests that pasts remain unpurged. [Nov 2017, p.100]

Her pearlescent, Joni Mitchell-style voice and feel are the clearest yet. [Nov 2017, p.101]

The upbeat rockers certainly pull no punches. ... Better still, some gentler tunes reveal his more vulnerable side. [Nov 2017, p.95]

Almond has certainly never sounded better as a singer than on this, largely a collection of covers of often obscure source material. [Nov 2017, p.102]

The material and performances here are uniformly strong, affirming that Wright is now a recording artist of significant stature. [Nov 2017, p.98]

All 12 songs have a warmth and, often as not, a jangle and sweet harmonies. [Nov 2017, p.100]

An often winning fusion of power-pop, electronics and blue-eyed soul. [Nov 2017, p.103]

A collection of judiciously orchestrated, densely textured tracks that often demand accompanying visuals. [Nov 2017, p.94]

[Weatherall] indulges in more motorik rhythms, frazzled post-rock and glam rock beats. [Nov 2017, p.103]

Only the tart Princely funk of Boyfriend lets light through lacquered layers of modern pop production. [Nov 2017, p.103]

The insistent, even patient, rhythms that propel most songs on Wolf Parade's fourth album are some measure of hope. They suggest there's someplace the synth-rock band is trying to get, and that there is some place worth reaching. [Nov 2017, p.96]

The ’70s resonate within the 10 exquisitely crafted tracks.

The overall effect is affecting and exhausting, the listener feeling queasy and spent. [Nov 2017, p.96]

These 11 songs never let the beats-per-minute lag, and this--coupled with the easy abundance of melody with which our host continues to leaven his left-field power pop--makes for some deliciously easy listening. [Oct 2017, p.91]

Producers Ron Anielo and Matthew Koma stick to the formula. And it's not enough. [Oct 2017, p.94]

It has a head, a tail and a massive great beating heart. [Nov 2017, p.92]

Hallelujah Anyhow needs a shade more definition to cut through the reassuring vintage fug. [Nov 2017, p.94]

L.A. Witch is brief, ultra-basic, not particularly varied and all the better for it. [Nov 2017, p.97]

Gregg's vocal technique was remarkably intact despite his illness, as was his trademark ability to convey love, honesty, anguish. [Nov 2017, p.97]

It wouldn't be a Ray Wylie album without an anthem and the title track is a good one. [Nov 2017, p.97]

Not an easy listen, but admirable. [Nov 2017, p.97]

His third album in as many years, while not among his most consequential, proves that, at 71, Morrison can still perform with gusto. [Nov 2017, p.98]

If Three Futures lack depth, then, it's only because everything inside has been dragged out, up to the surface, into the light. [Nov 2017, p.98]

Like all of Numan's greatest work, Savage sounds timeless. [Nov 2017, p.100]

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]

Barbed but beautiful. [Nov 2017, p.103]

Where Gunshot Lips fits in only adds to the intrigue of this exquisite dark jewel. [Nov 2017, p.102]

Business as usual: expansive, often magical, raw rock'n'roll classicism. [Nov 2017, p.103]

Vol. 1 here is mellow, introspective and rootsy. [Nov 2017, p.103]

Fox spins electro-acoustic polyrhythmic patterns and grooves of a deep-space spirituality. [Oct 2017, p.98]

Tricky effectively goes missing as sultry vocal proxies Avalon Lurks, Mina Rose and Terra Lopez takes the weight, before beautifully briny closer When We Die, with original foil Martina Topley-Bird, reminds us of his peculiar strengths. [Oct 2017, p.94]

Each song struggles to reach the three-minute mark, and are all the more enjoyable for it. [Aug 2017, p.97]

Thrice Woven stirs in Norse and Gaelic legend into a bewitching barrage of arboreal-metal fury and black-winged flight, somewhere between early Darkthrone and Godspeed You! Black Emperor. [Oct 2017, p.93]

A desire to keep old traditions alive while redefining them for the 21st century drive Son Little aka Aaron Livingston, and with his excellent second album, he's achieved that. [Oct 2017, p.95]

New material like See What Love Did To Me sits well alongside these [four songs from 1967's New Masters album]. [Oct 2017, p.91]

The gauzy seductive songs feel like euphoric conjuring, chinks in the doors of perceptions that reveal another hidden capital, a misty tapestry of late-night idylls, laced with a rapturous melancholy magic. [Oct 2017, p.91]

Follow Clementine's muse, and the pay-off is huge. [Oct 2017, p.91]

Heavy matter, but eminently danceable, too, thanks to some glorious playing and an adherence to the spirit of Kuti. [Oct 2017, p.95]

Lee is free--and it sounds wonderful. [Oct 2017, p.96]

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

Mike Scott still has something worthwhile to say, but on Out Of All This Blue you wish there was a little less of it. [Out 2017, p.91]

His socially conscious lyrics can be clunky but never overwhelm the light, acoustic setting. [Oct 2017, p.98]

At least Wake Up Now lifts its voice in protest during turbulent times, rising even when it doesn't quite shine. [Oct 2017, p.93]

It's the "ballads," for want of a better term, that provide V's definitive highlights. [Oct 2017, p.89]

In conception and execution, Concrete And Gold stands as Foo Fighters' most beguiling record to date. [Oct 2017, p.88]

Though this debut might lack any real moments of surprise, guitarist Tom Morello still manages to squeeze unholy sounds out of his instrument while Chuck D's apoplectic anchorman baritone reminds us of his lyrical power and unique timbre. [Oct 2017, p.96]

What stands out most about Give More Love is that Ringo's vocals have matured stylistically from his trademark amiably blokeish tones, and are stronger and more expressive now. [Oct 2017, p.90]

A supercharged, hook-heavy pop-metal attack that impresses but rarely convinces. [Oct 2017, p.98]

Songs packed with breathless synth and guitar drama, yet still sounding deceptively simple. [Oct 2017, p.98]

An album of miasmic, trippy electro-pop, heavy krautrock rhythms and sinuous digital funk. [Sep 2017, p.93]

Raw yet warm, Love What Survives has a distinctively comforting setting. [Oct 2017, p.92]

A more focused excursion. [Oct 2017, p.98]