Remarkably, the performances by current artists from Ralph Stanley down the generations to Angel Snow are all superb. [Feb 2014, p.91]

Most of these 11 new songs begin with Tutlle's solo finger-picking guitar, and it's lovely. So's her voice. [May 2019, p.90]

Brisbane trio navigates teen psychodramas with the sort of wry reportage that makes Courtney Barnett such a charming indie narrator. [May 2016, p.96]

The righteousness is on full display in New York City. On Sunday Bloody Sunday, Bono howls, “We’re so sick of it!” If such declarations were beginning to sound sanctimonious at the time, 30 years of legit activism--including sitting down repeatedly with ideological adversaries such as Trump VP Mike Pence--casts Bono’s piety as the real deal. ... Thirty years later, U2 continue their pursuit of the righteous; looking back to be sure, but suited to this moment all the same. [Jul 2017, p.104]

This Material Moment is a reassuringly complicated fusion of Bjork and Richard Dawson with intense mid-'70s Virgin records vibes. [Aug 2025, p.80]

Cameos by Vampire Wekend's Ezra Keonig and Tamil rapper M.I.A. add to a joyous but knowing smorgasbord that will play equally well in a Lilongwe disco or Shoreditch/Brooklyn trend hole. [Oct 2009, p.107]

Instead of warm colours they work with a more monochromatic palette. There's darkness, rain, a chill in the air, remoteness, a sense of nature--and more of than not, a very British remoteness and sense of nature. [Feb 2010, p.90]

Murphy has smartly subverted the dancefloor diva image, and these songs come from the uncanny valley, android beauty not quite hiding their off-centre menace. [Aug 2016, p.98]

Casey and collaborator Shawn Creeden deliver a bold album that eschews their previous organic approach in favour of a more electronic direction. The effect is intoxicating. [Apr 2010, p.92]

Deliriously provocative, Amnesiac is as splendidly other and awkward as its sister album. [Jul 2001, p.104]

A grimier, more uncomfortable listen. [Nov 2004, p.100]

The results are generally spectacular. [Jul 2014, p.93]

This is manna for hip hop fans starved of basic but ballistic beats-and-breaks fare in an increasingly litigious age. [May 2004, p.102]

The understated widescreen desolation of their eponymous second album marked a breakthrough for Warpaint, their artfully washed-out funk-punk making more sense than ever. The follow-up, Heads Up balances that downbeat vibe with more upbeat, poppy elements, creating a tension that's electric. [Nov 2016, p.91]

There's a new directness, a more linear approach to melody, and, most unexpectedly, the overt presence of synthesizers. [Mar 2022, p.86]

It moves musical mountains with joyous funk, ecstatic hand-clappers, and fine redemption blues. [Sep 2014, p.95]

Ritual is enchanting and transportive. [Sep 2024, p.84]

The result might be Orcutt's most beautiful album, a phantasmal union of folk, blues, rock and country visions that crackles with the intense fire of his own country's turbulent history. [Jan 2020, p.89]

It's both far-out and potentially pack-leading. [Jan 2017, p.99]

A record designed to ensnare the as-yet-uncommitted listener without abandoning their extant fan base. [Aug 2006, p.103]

These six albums attest to the depth of Fela discography, and to the diversity of his message. [Feb 2018, p.104]

It's as much fun as it needs to be--as it should be. Reflective, restless, fiercely engaged, it feels like it's in constant process of rethinking and remodeling, slicing off bits of musical flesh and slapping them back on elsewhere as it dips and bounces along the street. [Feb 2018, p.94]

Just one problem: at 38 minutes, it's over far too soon. [Jul 2022, p.91]

[It] burns with pop ambition. [Feb 2007, p.105]

Ocean Roar exists deep in extreme nature, a journey's end of madness, memory and Euphoria. [Nov 2012, p.95]

Condon has a tendency to over-emote vocally, but even at its most melodramatic this music's rhapsodic swirl is undeniable. [Nov 2007, p.104]

Premiership stuff! [Sep 2010, p.103]

This repeat performance from marginally less familiar names might seem like a poor substitute for a new project. Happily, it's not. [Mar 2016, p.97]