It's one of those records where less is most definitely more. [Apr 2013, p.90]

Each track on Under The Sun has its own unique, haunting spirit, lingering long after the final note decays. [Jun 2016, p.95]

Gay's treacly voice and keening cornet pierce the static on another initially oblique musical jigsaw, whose pieces begin to fit after a few listens. [Aug 2025, p.85]

The Old Fabled River deals only in wistful enchantment, with four, typically bardic, otherworldly Roberts originals augmented by traditional ballads and a brace of Norwegian hymnals, achingly emoted by saxophonist Marthe Lea. [Aug 2021, p.88]

Vile's no relic-treasuring throwback, finding a unique, laconic voice of his own among the tangle. [Apr 2011, p.95]

Short, spellbinding, almost painfully beautiful album. [Sep 2020, p.96]

It's impressive stuff. [Jan 2003, p.100]

A transformation beyond all recognition. [Sep 2001, p.114]

With very few exceptions, there's a real sense of unity throughout the album. [Oct 2011, p.106]

Peaceful Place slips in a bit of Afrobeat and That’s What I Love echoes Channel Orange-era Frank Ocean, and throughout Bridges’ vocal talents continue to shine. [Dec 2024 p.84]

Proves again what an unnerving space the interior of his head must be. [Aug 2006, p.104]

If the pace and mood start to become a tad predictable, Satomi "Deerhoof" Matsuzaki's Twinkle Twinkle Little Star is more of a spectral journey into a far stranger world. [Jan 2016, p.96]

Dan Snaith goes liquid disco on his fifth album. [May 2010, p. 96]

Stragglers carp it's not as good as 1985, fans thrill to the fractal energies. [Dec 2014, p.102]

A likeable troika of covers--Neil Young's Revolution Blues, The Monkees' You Just May Be The One and Sandy Denny's Bushes And Briars--effectively locate Acoustic Dust on the stylistic spectrograph. [Jan 2015, p.98]

Psychedelic Country Soul puts them right back at the top of a world they helped create. [Mar 2019, p.91]

Even after three intervening decades of teknoid endeavour, these pioneers remained uniquely disturbing. [Feb 2013, p.88]

A definate contender when those Best of the Year polls gets underway. [Aug 2008, p.105]

Laveaux may have set out to rediscover Caribbean roots, but she also underlines how much the islands influenced the early rock'n'roll and soul that emanated from New Orleans ... but with the modernist sheen of France's A.L.B.E.R.T production team. [Apr 2018, p.94]

The Blind Boys Of Alabama and Norah Jones pops up in Sweet Things Just For You, but no guest can overshadow June's sweet and salty tones. [Jun 2025, p.89]

Foxx reaches pensionable age in 2013, but the creative fires still burn white hot. [Mar 2013, p.90]

Les Revenants is more about establishing a complex, unsettling atmosphere than slashing Bernard Herrmann-esque quiet/loud dynamics. [Apr 2013, p.90]

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]

Metronomy have tapped into a rich seam of eccentric pop for their third studio release. [may 2011, p.114]

A suite of songs that are more reflective than self-pitying, and unlike her last, beats-free album, often grounded by solid grooves that allow her bewitching melodies to soar. [May 2024, p.85]

Succinct and entirely self-preformed, Regan's typically poetic sixth album conjures a singular, almost meditative mood via fingerpicked guitars, backwards-recorded instruments and subtle textures. [Sep 2019, p.95]

O'Brien sees dead people, spits at love, puts himself inside the heads of fellow bus passengers and defies anyone to categorise his music. It's a rich experience making the attempt though. [Jul 2010, p.92]

For all the grey matter on display, this is a Technicolor record. [Jul 2013, p.94]

They know their limits, and while they are prepared to test them, gently, Marauder isn't in the market for revelation. With songs this subtle and steely, though, reinforcement is good enough. [Sep 2018, p.87]

Slimmer, leaner, more disciplined than its predecessor.

She further unleashes her psyche in a voice of throaty, Diamanda Galas-style intesity. [Jan 2022, p.88]

Makes for some striking textures. [Apr 2005, p.97]

Though the album opens with an isolated funky bass line, Butterss proves a democratic bandleader, often ceding the spotlight to saxophonist Josh Johnson and guitarist Gregory Uhlmann, Butterss’ companions in another fine group, SML. [Dec 2024, p.87]

Its [an eccentric take on the Stones' Wild Horses] unlikely beauty is typical of Taylor's bold approach here. [May 2026, p.85]

This covers collection moves with mysterious grace. [Feb 2017, p.90]

As the album progresses, a powerful expansion of Del Rey's folkier inclinations. [Apr 2021, p.80]

Black Rivers is an excellent surprise. [Mar 2015, p.94]

Song Of Co-Aklan definitively affirms Coughlan's place amid Ireland's poetic pantheon. [Apr 2021, p.80]

One of Neubauten's very best releases. [Jan 2014, p.98]

This union [with Lady Gaga producers Yves Tumor and Lawrence Rothman and Taylor Swift co-writer Jack Antonoff] pushes his emotional, sophisticated rock in vivid new directions. [Mar 2025, p.84]

Any goth undertow is easily outweighed by post-rock grandeur. [Nov 2004, p.95]

Kudos goes to the French Afrobeaters Fanga and Moroccan trance master Abdallah Guinea for finding a new spin on Fela Kuti's funk. [Feb 2013, p.89]

Forever Is A Feeling is layered, lush and contemplative. [May 2025, p.86]

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

Devotees of J Dilla and Flying Lotus in particular should investigate. [Apr 2013, p.95]

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]

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

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

You have wit, wisdom, and yet another Adamson sonic script you wish someone would film. [Oct 2002, p.100]

The balance between Joe's resigned words and uplifting melodies remains sublime. [Aug 2003, p.100]

The bona fide release is a triumph, there's an understated elegance about Logos, which dabbles in Kraut-and math-rock and slacker-styled electronica. [Nov 2009, p.91]

Bluesman's solid soul and guitar chops fit snugly with Hi band. [Aug 2017, p.97]

As with all Stephin Merritt productions, the real stars are Stephin Merritt's wonderful songs, and the 14 love songs on Hyacinths And Thistles are as sweet and prickly as the title suggests.

Simian Angel is a continuation of those percussive ideas [in his previous albums], but with a far more abstracted, exploded view. [Sep 2019, p.91]

The big tunes--Push Upstairs, King of Snake, Born Slippy--are brasher and more powerful, and while the studio subtleties evaporate, they are replaced by thundering rock-n-roll energy and even wilder streams of lyrical consciousness.

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

Completists will appreciate the three-disc focus on the One To One charity concert from August 30, 1972: one disc apiece for the afternoon and evening sets and a ‘hybrid’ selection of the best of both. But intimate ‘home’ recordings, in fact taped in hotel rooms, are more tantalising. [Dec 2025, p.67]

He's still a whiz with a tart lyrical couplet, too. [Oct 2018, p.94]

It's not all folkie freak-out - on Djinn Pulse or Cupa Cupa they decelerate to conjure hypnotic beauty. [Nov 2021, p.87]

Showcases Prewitt as an original melodic writer and arranger. [Feb 2005, p.99]

This is very much a thoughtful, interior record, with its own distinct character and an unsettling quality that gets under your skin. [Jan 2021, p.91]

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]

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

His most honest, touching album yet. [Dec 2006, p.118]

Throughout, a recurring Satie-like piano motif floats in and out, soothing the raw emotions. [Apr 2021, p.83]

Might be one of the very best, and a neat entry point for new explorers. [Apr 2021, p.85]

Something for everyone on an album that should be a huge crossover hit. [Apr 2021, p.84]

She's found a gift for reinvention; the change suits her. [Mar 2025, p.84]

[Hank Cochran's] proven an inspirational figure for honky tonk star Johnson, who's managed to rope in half of Nashville for this revamp of Cochran's songbook. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Clinic fans will dig this. [May 2025, p.93]

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]

The results are largely sublime. [Aug 2017, p.91]

A richly rewarding album. [Nov 2002, p.114]

Richman sings with jaunty assurance in I Was Just A Piece Of Frozen Sky Anyway, the near-title entrance to his eighteenth solo album. [Oct 2025, p.86]

Fans of pre-grunge American alt-rock come on in. [Jul 2015, p.96]

The end result is a triumph; a late-night drive that starts somewhere in '90s Michigan but arrives home, in a gloriously disorientating future. [Aug 2017, p.90]

Despite the turmoil these songs describe, a flash of Elliott Smith-style emotional acuity every few seconds, musically Valentine tells a different story. Building on the confidence of 2018 debut Lush. [Nov 2021, p.87]

An almost austere album, the production deliciously dry, forcing lyrics and beats to share the foreground. [Nov 2002, p.106]

Apocalypse is a multi-storied cosmic rollercoaster that asks the big questions while relocating hip hop on the astral plane. No mean feat. [Aug 2013, p.88]

Driven along by a renewed sense of urgency and purpose, this may be Richard Thompson's most creative album in decades. [Oct 2018, p.92]

Otherworldly as it is ineffably uplifting. [Jan 2026, p.82]

An impressive follow-up album. [Sep 2013, p.96]

Half Moon Run may still be exploring a road that travels between Django Django's left-field indie pop and the wintry harmonies of Fleet Foxes, but the scenery is damned fine. [Nov 2015, p.89]

It eschews the compartmentalised, glossy, compressed production sound du jour for a red-blooded, powerful live feel full of adrenalin and excitement. [Oct 2013, p.90]

The Breaks is an album of staggering neo-classic rock ambitions. [Oct 2014, p.86]

Mostly loose and warm more than heart-stopping. [Apr 2006, p.104]

It’s late summer sunshine in music form. [Dec 2024, p.93]

Packs intelligence, colour and melody. [Mar 2020, p.93]

Sun-scorched heavy blues rock from Cosmic Californians. [July 2010, p. 94]

Mrs. Buffalo's boy's not one of the herd: weird, but kind of wonderful. [May 2010, p. 97]

Rejoice stands tall alongside both artists' greatest work. [May 2020, p.95]

It's extra-colourful and top quality. [Sep 2022, p.87]

Taken as a whole, it's an arresting step towards the light. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Some bands arrive as a work in progress. Others, such as Divorce, are fully formed from Birth. .... They tick boxes aplenty. [Apr 2025, p.86]

To Believe doesn't rush along the cutting edge, but after 12 years absent, it hits this particular spot in time and space: sombre, tense, watchful, looking for calm, but gathering storms. [Apr 2019, p.92]

Dracula simmers like The War On Drugs, and Calling Paul The Suffering has Latino touches, while Blue Rose dresses Greenwich Village rock in Fleetwood Mac silk. [May 2018, p.96]

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

150 minutes of challenging, organic electronica. [Apr 2013, p.95]