Despite the record's impromptu genesis, its results sound endearing. [Apr 2014, p.93]

Baroness's second full-length somehow tops their powerhouse debut for riffs, songwriting and cohesiveness. [Feb 2010, p. 101]

Ronson and Wainwright have dressed these songs to kill, not just to impress. [May 2012, p.84]

Should rightly have fans and newcomers alike punching the air in solidarity. [Nov 2021, p.88]

The likes of Beck and Stevie Nicks play supportive rather than starring roles, and the sonic flavours here recall the noir clubby pop of Humanz (2017). The woofer-pumping reggaeton of Tormenta however sees Albarn step aside to let Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny shine. [Mar 2023, p.85]

Unity Band is now a scintillating platform for Metheny's fretboard wizardry. [Aug 2012, p/94]

The main attraction of this six-disc box set reissue is a new ground-up stereo mix of Imagine by Paul Hicks at Abbey Road. These new mixes are clearer and more controlled, though respectful (maybe overly so). [Nov 2018, p.103]

Conjunto, corrido and jazz emerge from and mingle with R&B and pop as the band follow the story from innocent beginnings to the tragic, bitter end. [Jul 2005, p.98]

Setting Macfarlane’s words to music, the 13 tracks of Ness offer calm with a suitably disquieting undertow, rather like the place itself, with Thorpe’s countertenor adding to the melodrama. [Nov 2024, p.86]

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]

This latest doesn't noticeably monkey with their formula, and with good reason. [Dec 2015, p.93]

Another album of homages, jammed fast and loose in early 2025 at Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio in the wake of a cancer diagnosis for the singer’s father Chuck – who died soon after on March 29. The urgency and catharsis in these tracks makes sense in that context, but there’s something else here: a deep connection with music, felt in every groove and texture. [Jun 2026, p.89]

More than half of these 10 crisp, vital songs derive from guitarists Pete Astor and Andy Strickland co-writing for the first time, applying decades of hard-earned wisdom and fresh vitality to quintessential designs. [Jun 2026, p.84]

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]

The electronic treatments melt lusciously into the acoustic source material and only occasionally ... does dissonant incongruity intrude. [Aug. 2011, p. 106]

Discreetly excellent comeback. [Apr 2025, p.87]

Born from Locks' work with prison inmates, the likes of Distance are intricately funky collages, not a million miles away from recent tracks by Billy Woods. [Apr 2025, p.84]

The climax of Tumast is a trance0drone masterpiece that the band would be foolish not to stretch to its limits in concert. Only closer Ma S-Abok suggests there is a comedown side to the Saharan psychedelia. [Apr 2018, p.93]

That Cambodian rock band with a repertoire of the most obscure covers have grown up--and no snakes were harmed in the making of this album.

End Beginnings can fill rooms - but is equally devastating on headphones. [May 2025, p.91]

Anaïs Mitchell with guitarist/singer Jefferson Hamer unexpectedly proves that her precious storytelling art is equally mesmerizing on the great traditional ballads collated in the 19th century by Francis James Child. [Mar 2013, p.96]

Hieroglyphic Being aims to take you to a higher state of consciousness. There's plenty of fun to be had there. [May 2025, p.91]

One tiny complaint: the original tapes were intended as complete listening experiences, immersive acts of prayer with transportive qualities of a religious or psychedelic experience. For the time being, this is just a taste of the full bewitching trip. [Jun 2017, p.102]

This time around, the Gizz's experiments have resulted in a compelling macrame of blues, rock, electronica, country and more besides. [Jun 2019, p.90]

Fugazi's signature edge duly emerges. [May 2020, p.86]

More cohesive, languid and countrified [than Floaters and October Song]. [Sep 2021, p.83]

There's a full band, a string section Swarmatron and brass. Reassuringly, the songs are strong enough to carry the new load. [Mar 2024, p.85]

Lord Steppington simultaneously engages the grey matter while snapping at the neck muscles. [Apr 2014, p.93]

Impassioned, ambitious and accomplished. [Aug 2025, p.82]

This fourth record in six years is another gem, a touch rockier than 2011's saccharine Lollipop, but no less sublime. [May 2013, p.95]

Daniel conveys an expert melancholy. its ups always just on the brink of an elegant down. [Mar 2024, p.88]

Some of the most powerfully surging melodies from a British band since the second Travis album. [March 2002, p.114]

I've Been Trying to Tell You works wonderfully on many levels. Those harsh first impressions give way to something altogether more beautiful. [Oct 2021, p.94]

The resulting 10 songs are an intriguing genetic mix of modern psychedelia and eccentrioc pop. [Apr 2010, p.93]

While her impressively expansive band needs little bidding to cut loose, Carthy's lush vocals, and cryptic lyrics keep you on your toes. [Jun 2011, p.103]

A delicate, inward-facing set. [May 2024, p.80]

These are epic soundtracks for the lost adventurer within us all. [Jun 2014, p.91]

12 solo guitar pieces conjure spatial evocations. [Jan 2022, p.91]

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

It benefits from producer Jim Sclavunos's emphasis on a place-you-in-the-room live approach, bringing the dark to labelmates Temples' light, as Heavenly's neo-psych vanguard marches onwards. [Nov 2016, p.94]

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

Those attuned to the harsh aspects of existence, who despair at the forces shaping the world, won't find any answers as such, but Angels & Devils' blend of fever dreams and corporeal nightmare articulates the confusion beautifully and brutally. [Sep 2014, p.86]

Cooler Returns proves Kiwi Jr have the skills to match their smarts. [Feb 2021, p.86]

Meek may wander but he can't help but drift back to idiosyncratic introspection which gives the album an entrancing sense of dream logic. [Apr 2026, p.85]

Josh conjures a light, affectless mood which quietly promises happiness without ever sliding into schmaltz. [May 2006, p.100]

A bold and celebratory affair. [Feb 2017, p.90]

Their second album is a delicate collection that welcomes you back into their magical world. [Mar 2018, p.95]

His phrasing the rare product of a lifetime spent refining how to sing plain and true yet always with the hint of a raggle-taggle tune pulsing beneath the surface. [Jan 2025, p.84]

After a few spins its beautifully arranged songs get scratched into your soul. [Jun 2007, p.100]

Any sketchiness only adds to the impressionistic atmospheres that the musicians create. [Apr 2018, p.93]

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]

They really do sound like a band more than a group. [Jun 2019, p.92]

Consistently absorbing, as good as any of Foxx's early-'80's benchmarks. [Apr 2012, p.86]

We get strings, care-worn piano, and lots of subtle detail, the last deepening the listener's relationship with the excellent, lyrical mature songs over repeat plays. [Mar 2011, p.97]

A potpourri of country, rock, bluegrass and folk, the constant being top-shelf picking and soaring harmonies. [Nov 2022, p.93]

City Pressure, the military-industrial complex, social injustice, ganja and plague/lockdown frustration are soundtracked by city-sized industrial noise and merciless rhythm. [Oct 2021, p.88]

An elegant, thought-provoking record. [Mar 2024, p.86]

The highlights are among the closing duets, however, with both men warming to their task on a sinuous Um Canto de Afoxe Para O Bloco Do Ile and a delightfully rickety Heaven, Byrne screws up the chords, but they bring the house down nonetheless. [May 2012, p.87]

Bowel-rattling rhythmic rock that's as viscerally exciting as it is grubby. [Feb 2005, p.101]

Not many bands who've been going since Kurt Cobain was alive are capable of improving on their work. [Apr 2010, p.94]

The tunes are a panorama of Crowell's favoured styles. [Jun 2014, p.91]

Its second pits their sharp improvisational wits against Evan Parker, Byron Wallen, Tori Handsley, Sarathy Korwar and Yussef Dayes. [Sep 2017, p.90]

There are shorter tracks, but the longer songs (averaging seven minutes apiece) are the real gems. [Dec 2021, p.89]

The shadowy melodies of New Case and Forgotten Token, a pulverising meditation on displacement, display a depth and sophistication suggesting greatness in Upchuck's future, if the dystopia doesn't get them first. [Jan 2026, p.84]

This is as back to basics as it gets. ... Highlights: Baby Please Don't Go, Sundown Blues and a truly broken-sounding take on Heartbreak Hotel. [Oct 2018, p.93]

Ants... represents a substantial step forward for them. [Mar 2022, p.84]

The album has a clear, organic sound. [Sep 2014, p.90]

This is special, many-layered stuff. [May 2005, p.108]

Despite the elegant grey-sky thinking, deep beneath the emotional permafrost, Piramida isn't as cold as it seems. [Oct 2012, p.86]

So out gores the vintage, spiritual sound of 1995's nourishing debut Soul Food and in comes a job lot of dizzying electronica, schizoid stylistic shifts, screeching strings, sonorous sub-bass and beats verging on hi-NRG. [Oct 2013, p.90]

Henley's discourses on ageing and feeling adrift in the modern world are poignant, and, on A Younger Man, painfully well observed. [Dec 2015, p.93]

With echoes of caribou, Chemical Brothers and Underworld also fluttering in the mix, Avery's is a compelling, club-friendly debut with crossover appeal to the headphone set. [Nov 2013, p.89]

A great blue-eyed soul record. [Dec 2006, p.108]

An exotic, often rapturous reading of Tzur's Sufi-meets-Hebrew song forms. [Jan 2016, p.91]

Thoughtfulness never rocked so hard. [Mar 2017, p.96]

A cathartic wrestle with identity, Deliverance will sit well with fans of the original Some Bizarre roster. [Sep 2023, p.91]

Monstrous stoner-psych jams from, of all places, Williamsburg. [July 2010, p. 95]

Not least of the record's triumphs is its vindication of a band at its peak even after all these years. [Mar 2018, p.94]

Both in the consummately ominous sonics and EGL's graceful baritone, there's a pervasive end-times mood. [Mar 2025, p.90]

His gentle mantric vocals and concise, evocative lyrics drift through layers of treated instrumentation and ambient electronica. [Apr 2008, p.112]

Lahai is less introspective and far from lonely, its persuasive positivity carried by a contained riot of euphoric synths, swelling violins, Chic guitars and skittering percussion. [Dec 2023, p.90]

Remorselessly absorbing debut from stars in waiting on dub-step's Def Jam. [Dec. 2010, p. 107]

Super Natural is a wholly visceral experience, plugging into the same socket that animated Jerry Lee Lewis back in '57. [Jun 2017, p.92]

It's all oddly refreshing, aurally exciting and a whole lotta fun. [Jun 2019, p.94]

Pleasing, odd. [Apr 2015, p.98]

His modified piano is used sparingly throughout, making its most telling contribution on Mount hood, a smouldering invocation of the misty Oregon peak--but the complex, emotional ensemble arrangement is what impresses most. [Jan 2011, p.105]

A powerful introduction to a compelling artistic presence. [Apr 2015, p.92]

The skittish energy of a Lene Lovich is still there but now that quirkiness is crossed with slices of JAMC-fuzz and dream-pop trails. [Apr 2014, p.94]

Ten songs in all, played on acoustic and electric guitar and occasional banjo, with a perfectly understated band. [Aug 2025, p.80]

The trio have delivered thier most tuneful collection yet. [Oct 2009, p.106]

Sauser-Monnig spins a gorgeously spare, frail web, as if she and instrumental allies Nick Sanborn and Phil Cook only pressed record as dawn was breaking. [Jul 2019, p.95]

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]

Acquaint yourself with this successor to 2009's Notes From The Treehouse and it doesn't take long to see what Bella Union honcho Simon Raymonde saw Laurent-Marke. [May 2011, p.112]

Hard Headed Woman sees her big personality fire straight-talking, sometimes blackly comic lyrics "All the cocaine in existence/Can't keep your nose out of my business" - while taking her music to new places. [Oct 2025, p.82]

It's a little fragmented, maybe two or three songs too short, but still brimming with his sweet-sour magic. [Sep 2017, p.88]

Woodland Echoes is an unhurried album full of paeans to passion and nature. [Sep 2017, p.94]

This package is more than worthwhile because it gets closer to the original vinyl. [Jun 2010, p.112]

I Don't Live Here Anymore is the most grounded War On Drugs record and the best: a calm space amid a world in collapse. [Nov 2021, p.82]