A more austere, exploratory affair. [Jul 2016, p.97]

From Clapton to cosmic rock, Afro-pop and experimenting with dizzying ease. [Oct 2012, p.96]

In all, a deep treat almost on a par with Common's mid-'90s prime. [Sep 2014, p.88]

On over half of the songs, the marriage works.... But the titles and the lyrical obsessions are generally those of the Sparks oeuvre. [Jul 2015, p.89]

Few of his collaborations stick or turn out to be more than the sum of their parts. [Aug 2017, p.88]

Evilly powerful, filmic and flowing. [Jun 2017, p.88]

Not everything hits the mark. [Aug 2016, p.98]

This remains at its essence an album of beguiling, rain-splashed intimacy. [May 2007, p.106]

[Evokes] sun-baked panoramas. [May 2012, p.89]

Typically, there are also infuriating moments... but overall, this marks a welcome return to form. [Jun 2005, p.106]

Pleasing as Trevor Horn's simpatico production on 2003's Dear Catastrophe Waitress was, Tony Hoffer has picked up the baton and ran with it, capitalising on the band's increased musical confidence while preserving vital hints of indie scuzz. [Feb 2006, p.92]

Charming and cherishable. [Sep 2014, p.94]

Hit reset is stronger overall, because here The Julie Ruin fixes the spotlight on its raison d'etre, a woman who, in her own words, "can play electric guitar while shaving my legs in a moving car." [Aug 2016, p.94]

While there are enough inspiring moments on here to suggest Beck hasn't yet run out of ideas, it demonstrates that the best way for him to revisit former triumphs would be to travel somewhere new. [Apr 2005, p.92]

Barzelay's eye for quirky detail and ear for delicious melody keeps a nice balance to things. [Jun 2005, p.105]

There is a stark grandeur in songs like the almost Leonard Cohenesque title track, and the gritty, abstract New York Is Killing Me. [Mar 2010, p97]

His first, full-tilt protest record... he comes out swinging, in every respect. [Oct 2004, p.110]

As the concerns that drive Lytle's lyrics lift out, the well-known tremulous quiver and fragile vocals become increasingly irreplaceable, the perfect medium for songs about articulating the intangible. [Jun 2003, p.94]

The work of a genuine individualist. [Aug 2001, p.108]

Epic, exhilarating, extraordinary. [Feb 2004, p.98]

This crisp, Rick Rubin-produced outing packs away a machine that was well-oiled to the last. [Jan. 2001, p.107]

Earthquake Glue sees a return to the satisfyingly stylistic cohesion of 2001's Isolation Drills, ... while retaining the impressionistic aural fug that's so key to the band's appeal. [Sep 2003, p.98]

Arguably Plant's most Zeppelinesque solo work to date. [May 2005, p.92]

Calla aren't only as unique as NYC new wave gets... but beautifully tense too. [Feb 2006, p.103]

She gives each song an unforced intimacy. [Feb 2009, p.115]

On opener 'Satellites,' with Neu!-like locomotion, big guitars and electronics, and melodic twists, they trump their better-known neighbours. [Dec 2008, p.111]

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]

The Chieftains lay a vibrant carpet of colour but veering between joyous and heartbreaking, the fiery Mexican element is what makes it so compelling. [Apr 2010, p.105]

The rest is equally compelling, oscillating between eccentric skronk essays, woozy nocturnes, and harmonic hymns. It's jazz shorn of cliche that demands to be taken on its pigeonhole rebuffing merits. [Mar 2010, p.92]

The very subtlety of Hon Hoopkins' production may be why it sounds so unique. [May 2011, p.114]

Stars offers deep dreamlike comfort, undercut by the melancholy violin of founding member Noel Sayre, who tragically died during the album's recording. [Sep 2011, p.96]

Sometimes playful, sometimes starkly beautiful. [Dec. 2011 pg. 95]

Two dark, roiling 22-minute tracks that conjure up a world of nature in turmoil. [Feb 2012, p.97]

With Audience of One he applies his mastery of both instruments [drums and guitar] to a surprisingly diverse four-part suite. [Apr 2012, p.95]

Starts with elegant Congolese rumba then transforms into something angrier and more powerful... What lets it down, however, is an unfocused mid-section. [Jan 2012, p.101]

Their fourth LP might be their best. [Jun 2012, p.93]

Exquisitely sung, swept over with stormy emotions, Wild Dog's autumnal mysteries are alluring indeed. [Jul 2012, p.85]

This fierce debut [is] an essential purchase for anyone who has fallen for the jazzier end of the Ethiopiques spectrum. [Sep 2012, p.97]

This is effectively one long, fuzzily fragile, ever-orbiting tone poem. [Aug 2013, p.91]

Toure sounds at his best, then, with distorted guitars behind him, brooding on an album of menacing, slow-burn songs reflecting on a rough year in Mali. [Aug 2013, p.96]

As soulful and vital a British jazz record as there's been in a while. [Nov 2013, p.89]

Defiant, confused, heartbreaking: Hank3 is country music in a nutshell. [Jan 2014, p.101]

There's always a soulful undercurrent to James's work, exemplified by album's deliciously dream title cut. [Jul 2014, p.92]

The overall effect is more organic and rock. [Jul 2014, p.94]

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

They are strange, sibylline and gorgeous. [Nov 2014, p.94]

He sounds the most determined he has in over two decades. [Feb 2015, p.94]

Adrift in a sun-warped dome of guitar wah, wobble and dub. [Apr 2015, p.89]

Even if consistency isn't their bag, Pond have genius at their fingertips. [Apr 2015, p.96]

The Cree folkie in fine bellicose form at 74. [Jun 2015, p.96]

Such is the breadth of ideas and chutzpah here that you can even forgive Godin for having the temerity to name one track Bach Off. [Oct 2015, p.89]

Mind Over Matter's sleazy rockabilly nightmares and Captain Beefheart-channeling psychedelic detours are entirely keeping with the group's '80s records. [Jun 2015, p.93]

While the peppier River Of Longing and Palace Of Love are rousing, it's when the brakes are applied that Illegals in Heaven leaves a durable residue. [Nov 2015, p.90]

These transformations prove entirely worthwhile. [Dec 2015, p.92]

While none of these 19 tracks reach four minutes, the music has an epic, quasi-devotional quality. [Jan 2016, p.94]

There's a '60s simplicity that's instantly engaging. [Feb 2016, p.93]

There's a warmth and careless spirit to 96, Rome and myriad others that hasn't always been there down the years, and they've seldom bettered Save You. It really is heart-warming to have them back on point. [Feb 2016, p.90]

Enlightened and challenging... an incredible String Band for a brave new world. [Mar 2016, p.99]

Inventive, swinging, dud-free and very musical: terrific entertainment by any standards. [Mar 2016, p.94]

From thrilling and ecstatic to confounding and even infuriating-- Bailing Man's A Day Such As This, and David Thomas's vocal freakery throughout, is all of these--post-punk Ubu is one of a kind. [Apr 2016, p.104]

Her gift for unearthing colourful material and then delivering it with both swagger and soul is compelling. [Mar 2016, p.99]

Brought To Book starts off as a classic Hammill Piano ballad, but like many songs here it goes through metric convolutions while still keeping its melodic coherence, crashing through the hedges of its own maze to get from A and B. [Oct 2016, p.97]

A strange, haunted phantasmagoria that explores atmospheres and moods more suited to the score of an art film than to a rock album--despite the gratuitous use of grungey guitar noises and distortion. [Dec 2016, p.94]

There's a palpable connection to their country's dread history that allows Wolf People to transcend their music's fantasy elements, whiles still being properly fantastic. [Jan 2017, p.96]

Definitely one of 2016's better achievements. [Jan 2017, p.99]

A rump-shaking whole. [Feb 2017, p.99]

Mehldau sounds at home on folksy rambles like Tallahassee Junction while Thile imbues the jazz standard I Cover The Waterfront with a desolate tone, his plaintive vocals accompanied by suspenseful mandolin tremolos. [Feb 2017, p.90]

Deceptively simple-sounding, beautifully constructed folk songs. [Jun 2017, p.95]

Ruiz's best mode is mocking fury, wielded against Trump, scene exclusivity and the consequences of silence. The leering tone makes an already fearless record genuinely fun. [Sep 2017, p.86]

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

Leeds quintet serve up sonic catnip for post-punk nerks. [Dec 2017, p.96]

Protest and dissent rarely sounds less strident than on Widdershins, but any resistance to the dark tide is an inherently good thing. [Mar 2018, p.96]

GoGo Penguin build on its momentum with the most insistent distillation of their potent brand of piano-driven melody and groove. [Mar 2018, p.91]

Feels like a belated sequel to Laraaji/Eno's 1980 Day If Radiance. [Jun 2018, p.97]

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

Their latest warms the electronic pot with quirky pastoralism--brass, melodica, clattering-teacup percussion and tangible emotional warmth. [Oct 2018, p.94]

Solemn, aesthetically rigorous environment this music occupies. [Dec 2018, p.93]

Amor's main reference point is arguably Arthur Russell, though there's little of his joie de vivre--unless you count the cowbell on Heaven Among The Days--and more the cold fire of Martin Hannett-era A Certain Ratio. [Jan 2019, p.89]

There's a real bleakness here, so 7's motif is the confession that "I will always be alone," while the haunting Lisa Hannigan collaboration, Thousand, confronts Carney's grandmother's dementia. But there's optimism and strength too. [Mar 2019, p.92]

From the jaunty beat group undertow counterpointing his melodramatic vocal style on the opening title track, through the almost self-consciously traditional slide guitar and harmonica combination of Devil Got Me, to his most adventurous use of the mouth harp as a bringer of Dionysian frenzy, to the pastoral backwater of the penultimate Sundown--is actually more in keeping with his experimental rock beginnings. [Apr 2019, p.94]

A precision, Sleater-Kinney-ish rewiring of new wave guitar with cool, no wave delivery. [Apr 2019, p.96]

This is one of Bowness's most vivid collections. The sound is rich and full of depth. [Apr 2019, p.86]

A sumptuous, sonic world built from dense, sampled snippets, repetitive phrases and percussive sound design. [Jun 2019, p.95]

Their needling attack punctures fevered egos on There's No One Like You, and cooks up some pleasingly wonky acid-rock, but best of the bunch is the closing flourish When Do I Get To Sing "My Way." [Sep 2019, p.88]

The S.L.P. might be a one-off, but right here, right now, he sounds liberated. [Oct 2019, p.85]

Her queasy, pitch-shifting sound aligns with labelmate Flying Lotus's high-end head music. [Sep 2019, p.96]

A clutch of moving haikus. ... Knowing, experimental, hopeful, ironic, this could be Mary Margaret O'Hara--wringing your heart, engaging your brain. [Dec 2019, p.89]

They're five albums in and they keep getting better and better. [Mar 2020, p.91]

Surrender Your Poppy Field's focus delivers GBV's strongest set in years. [Apr 2020, p.88]

As ever, Heaton's whipsmart lyrics lurch between grumbling and lovesick, but he and Abbott bounce off each other like a couple who still relish being married. [Apr 2020, p.93]

Their cover of Got Love If You Want It is a raw, gritty highlight. [Apr 2020, p.96]

It sounds as spare and intimate, as if Jurado were singing inside your head. The songs are up there with his best. [Jun 2020, p.91]

There are transcendent moments. ... But Atkins tries on so many hackneyed faces during these 11 tracks that the overall effort feels faceless. [Jul 2020, p.82]

Howl is most powerful on the aptly titled Everything Is Happening At The Same Time and the Yearning Strange Beauty. Seeing him play these songs live might flesh-out Howl's sometimes too-deliberate feel. [Jun 2020, p.94]

The songwriting revealed another unique strength: commercial hooks wedded to allegorical poetry. [Dec 2020, p.96]

Juliana Giraffe's elastic phrasing on Doctor Says or Wednesday Baby's Carpenters lilt is key to the LA duo's second. [Feb 2021, p.90]

Recorded remotely, Distractions is febrile and modern but cries out for a through-line. [Mar 2021, p.88]