Amid these diaries of dissolution, there is defiance - plus a consistent compositional potency that suggests latter-day Damon Albarn. [Dec 2025, p.85]

Nelson still plays Trigger. .... Willie's technique varies 'twixt hard blues and laid-back swing. This novel approach is a perfect description for both Nelson and Hagard's personal interpretation of how they perform country music. [Jan 2026, p.83]

Nugent's own stately take on I Am Asleep And Don't Waken Me, Caoimhe Hopkinson's lovely Jamieson's Favourite and Junior Brother's joyous tumble through The Lark In The Morning bring playful spirit to old pub session favourites. [Dec 2025, p.87]

Frequently gorgeous collection of slow-motion jazz standards. [Feb 2026, p.87]

Her songwriting pen has never been sharper. [Jan 2026, p.83]

If you like your teen dreams served a la Smokey Robinson And The Miracles, you'll find plenty to swoon along to here. And no nonsense. [Jan 2026, p.87]

Brown's post-production science turning these intricate guitar matrixes into something smeared, meditative and wholly transporting. [Feb 2026, p.97]

He makes it all the juxtapositions and fusions feel fresh and natural.[Mar 2026, p.80]

Brutal and delicate, merciful and relentless, [Ahmed] luxuriate in the new spaces and sightlines the studio opens up. [Feb 2026, p.87]

Besides A Sympathetic Person's skippable spoken-word intro, every move lands securely, with melody and frontman Ramon Shanker further assets. [Apr 2026, p.90]

These new songs see González deepening his palette with subtle gradations, his response to a chaotic world reassuringly measured yet still heartfelt. [May 2026, p.84]

Throughout, Susman's serene croon delivers tantalising oblique images - "We'll talk a different language eventually/Shape every disaster carefully" (Mediocre Demon) - which add more layers to an already rich hue. [May 2026, p.88]

The album's nine tracks oscillate between driving neo-Krautrock and string-caressed pastoralism, everything garlanded by Kaye Gibson's euphoniously harmonised lead vocals and buffed to a gleaming finish by John Entire's mix. [May 2026, p.91]

Those smitten with Myriam Gendron and Josephine foster's more direct missives will be instantly seduced. [May 2026, p.89]

Expressing both righteous anger and relaxation of spirit, this is her most assured record yet. [Jun 2026, p.85]

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]

Every song on Two Dancers reflects the meticulous intelligence of master stylists. [Sep 2009, p.90]

Heal's molten flow of grandiloquent '70s rock and '80s electronica is unstoppable. [Jul 2014, p.88]

With Memories Are Now, she understands exactly when to use the bridle and bit on these wild, wise songs. [Mar 2017, p.98]

But as personal as all of these songs sound, there’s a universality to Small Changes that, as with all Kiwanuka’s records, will emotionally connect with others. Everybody hurts, it seems to say, but this might help. [Dec 2024, p.86]

Sometimes futuristic, at others surprisingly formulaic, it’s another stepping stone on Sinephro’s path to greatness but one where the parts are worth more than the whole. [Oct 2024, p.87]

Ever predictable, funny and imaginatively constructed, Viagr Aboys is a total gas. [Jun 2025, p.80]

There’s always been a debt to The Beatles percolating around within Segall’s vast discography: a certain elegant way with a tune, a Lennonish rasp, that’s suggested he could make a more straightforward album, with a little more appeal beyond the garage rock illuminati. Possession is essentially that record, one where his Beatlesy nous aligns to a sort of strutting glam-baroque, without losing the dynamism that made Segall’s scrappier projects such fun. [Jul 2025, p.82]

Never sounds less than game. [Nov 2021, p.87]

The more chances Tears For Fears take, the more they thrive, and they take chances here: seems like a new album was a good idea after all. [Apr 2022, p.88]

Much of Everything Was Beautiful has a vital, thundering pulse. ... Utterly beautiful, as advertised. [Mar 2022, p.80]

Live In Paris is a pure window into the troubled soul of the mid-2010s Tuareg. [Jan 2016, p.92]

Fidelity is beautiful, diaristic and a very real portrait of modern black womanhood. [May 2026, p.86]