[A] smart and accessible record. [Nov 2011, p.95]

Their thrilling music rooted in old country with touches of blues and gospel can't help but remind you of Jack and Meg and Johnny and June. [Jun 2013, p.93]

Ne So is a thing of delicacy, it's a silky, immersive grooves and intertwined guitars weaving a subtly seductive canvas against which Traore's smoky vocals, often couched in close harmonies, waft. [Apr 2016, p.92]

The result is tender, powerful avant-rock to shake the walls. [Jun 2017, p.94]

Hyper-tense, but worth it. [Aug 2018, p.91]

These songs aren't quite the blast of fresh air needed after months of dreaming about new horizons, but as you'd expect from Damon And Naomi, they're a beautifully curated analogue. [Oct 2021, p.96]

This is the album to prove that great Afrobeat doesn't have to be a Kuti family affair. [Sep 2012, p.97]

You don't dip into this music--it fully engulfs you. [Oct 2015, p.95]

The album works better as [a] vehicle for Williams' fiery, lucid spiels and inventive productions than straight-up narrative. [Jun 2016, p.97]

This Fascinating, individual and exhilarating fusion welds classical tropes to such diverse elements as Arcadian folk, doo wop, Steve Reich and Greek Mythology. [Oct 2012, p.95]

This new box set offers a ton of unreleased tracks (47 in total). Ranging from the ropey – Schoolyard sees him at the age of 32 singing about losing his virginity at 16 to, erk, a 14-year-old girl; Horny Pony features a toe-curling rap – to the bafflingly binned, they nonetheless provide real insight into Prince’s creative mind. Highlights include ghetto chronicle The Voice, jazz instrumental tribute Letter 4 Miles (recorded two days after his friend Davis’s death) and, best of all, the gently trippy Alice Through The Looking Glass. [Dec 2023, p.105]

This is Nelson's best album in over a decade, following flirtations with blues, reggae and jazz. [June 2010, p. 94]

Distractions' expanded palette takes in grime, experimental R&B and robotic house, like an alternate soundtrack for an arcade racer. [Jul 2017, p.91]

Makaya McCraven's alchemical abilities and subliminal technical savvy offer both a sensitive update of the Blue Note label's depth-charged catalogue and a welcome pathfinder for the uninitiated. [Jan 2022, p.83]

Constant hitmaker or beautiful waste of time: like all great alchemists, Kurt Vile proves you can be both. [May 2022, p.87]

Unlikely to soundtrack your next dinner party, but it's hard not to marvel at Matmos's cut-and-paste mastery. [Jan 2023, p.93]

It's All True joyfully returns to the shimmering electronica of old. [Aug. 2011, p. 98]

It's hard to imagine a more perfectly realised Wire artefact. [Sep 2002, p.95]

Lean arrangements, never predictable melodic ticks and some of Byrne's most deliciously quirky lyrics ensure an event-packed listen. [Apr 2004, p.99]

Their second outing makes no effort to remap their coordinates: they remain riffy, distorted, full of nocturnal energy, possessed of rollicking good tunes, but also open up a more expansive goth-rock strain on indie-radio cuts. [May 2015, p.94]

If Congrats is no less aggressive than its three predecessors, the crisp Neon Dad qualifies as pop and Acidic is a weird kind of joyous electronic ska. [Jun 2016, p.92]

Blood Karaoke ought to be an incoherent mess. Instead, it's a sometimes beautiful, sometimes brutal sound collage, with unexpected twists and turns every few seconds. [Jun 2022, p.84]

Though couched in arrangements that sometimes camouflage their immediacy, the tunes are dependably strong. [Jul 2006, p.100]

A short, dynamic return to form is similarly earwrenching. [Nov 2012, p.95]

A gentle triumph. [Jan 2006, p.130]

Fans of dramatic Diamond are well taken care of here. But the real masterpieces are the opening and closing tracks. [June 2008, p.104]

This album elicits a powerful aura, which continues to resonate potently several hours, even days, after the last note has died. [Nov 2012, p.82]

Morse Code is more concerned with our collective lost soul rather than individual anxiety. [Nov 2019, p.86]