After the past 12 months, you might feel you want and need more escapism than Spare Ribs really offers. Yet if everyone's been made to gaze into the abyss this year, it's a relief, a comfort--maybe even a pleasure--to find Sleaford Mods in there, gazing right back at you. [Feb 2021, p.80]

Throughout Seek Shelter delivers the sort of ragged MC5/Stooges/Stones cocktail Primal Scream have spent a career trying to nail. [Jun 2021, p.85]

Angels of Darkness, Demons of Light, Vol. 2 is a looser affair, showcasing Carlson's improvisational chemistry with long-term percussionist Adrienne Davies, bass player Karl Blau and cellist Lori Goldston. [Mar 2012, p.102]

It is - and it sits comfortably besides Squeeze's finest works of the late '70s. It might even be better. [Apr 2026, p,92]

The more elemental moments - Sour Flower's mournful rustle of handclaps, cymbals and Fender Rhodes, or the intimate, guitar-led Green Papaya and Can't fight - are understated, introspective and more powerful. [Aug 2020, p.84]

In Of The Earth he has slipped its bonds almost entirely, crafting a holistic, electro-acoustic world music that defies categorisation. [Apr 2026, p.89]

Wrongtom's enthusiasm for collaboration is everywhere apparent on In East London's salute to the capital. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Transience is another reminder that Eric Goulden is arguably the only one of his Stuff-era peers to remain a scarily powerful and forward-moving musical threat. [Jun 2019, p.90]

A return from the wilds. ... Some of the best vocal melodies Tabish has yet channelled. [Jun 2020, p.93]

This is an absolute joy. [Jun 2023, p.92]

This record shows an artist stretching out to fill space, refusing to settle for anything small. [Oct 2024, p.85]

Vocal melodies take a back seat to the overall 'vibe', but it's a groovy corner of the musical universe to spend time in. [Apr 2025, p.87]

This parting gift from Philadelphia-based guitarist Jack Rose stands as a superlative statement of his love for pre-war American music. [Apr 2010, p.95]

[The Trinity Session was] An alt-folk classic--and this might be one too. [Aug 2018, p.93]

Ten spare, spacious folk-Americana songs, many of them lovely, and the instrumentation is subtle and beautiful. [Sep 2020, p.87]

Nine wordless, shape-shifting essays. [Oct 2021, p.93]

Beautifully elusive. [Apr 2024., p.85]

Star Wars confirms that Wilco now fully own a unique American noise wherein nothing is wholly traditional or wholly experimental. But if the band’s own sense of self is stalwart, the characters they detail are consistently unmoored.

Louis Carnell crafts grime's own I Hear A New World. [Dec 2015, p.91]

While Powell's bruised vocals evoke early Cat Power, she does remarkable things with that sound. [Sep 2020, p.87]

Altogether, with added depth and melody, it’s Maries’ best yet. [Jun 2025, p.88]

Songwriter Darnielle expertly renders the acute emotions of adopting a new tribe and the resignation that life often forces. [Jun 2017, p.89]

Stubborn Persistent Illusions may be their best yet. [Aug 2017, p.96]

The results are often magical, the tracks' man-versus-machine provenance never jarring, the music often utterly liquid in feel. [Apr 2020, p.95]

Overflowing with ideas. [Apr 2021, p.83]

This one's a real keeper. [Apr 2025, p.87]

By turns numinous and spectral. [Feb 2026, p.81]

Heroic riffing and Joe Cardamone's raw yodel ensure they never disappoint. [Aug 2013, p.98]