Guest backing vocalists galore this time, too - the Osees' Brigid Dawson among them - hence the hooks really pop. [Jul 2026, p.88]

Castle Park strikes a perfect note of callow romance, all Merseybeat lunchbreak gossip on the spiky Alright and Billy Says, tipping into Zombies intrigue on When You Find Out. Yet there’s a depth of melancholy to the vibraphone haunting of Isn’t It Funny or Dripping Soul’s flamboyant Love flamenco that sees Coxon straying from the main paths and into the dark corners. [Aug 2026, p.84]

Great moments like a 13-minute Cortez The Killer, the harmonica break on Harvest Moon, and the energetic Trump-baiting make it a fine addition. [Aug 2026, p.90]

Three previously unreleased Ifans tracks feature on this pre-Creation collection, with Chocking On Your Lust suggesting a far more orthodox proposition had he stayed. [Aug 2026, p.99]

The Bobby Lees' Kemdall Wind (bass) and Spider Bowman (drums) help Spencer steer his garage punk life raft through the direst of straits. The mood is defiant, even cathartically daft in places (see Mr Lion). [Aug 2026, p.88]

Shapes and Thinking are just two highlights on a collection of delicate, crystalline moodscapes. [Jun 2026, p.93]

These songs resonate as loudly as when they were first created. [Jun 2026, p.93]

A set of austerely lovely improvisations. [Aug 2026, p.91]

The Oceans Are Crying is the track to hit for Sonic Youth-adjacent sprawl; duo vocals appear at the death, on a sacred glide through Joy Division's Insight. [Aug 2026, p.91]

An assured and articulate local history. [Aug 2026, p.90]

Setting is totally compelling throughout. [Aug 2026, p.91]

Amba's tales of working-class lives are full of wit, pain and joy. [Aug 2026, p.91]

The Landfill might just be the most archetypically Fruit Bats album he's made. [Aug 2026, p.89]

While Aurora lacks some of the momentum, power and sheer pizzazz of their '70s material, the title track exemplifies their mix of pop melody and prog exploration. [Aug 2026, p.88]

Modest Mouse's first LP in five years is confident and restlessly inspired, juggling prickly melodicism and hard-earned optimism with left-hand turns that make clear Brock is as creatively plugged-in as ever. [Aug 2026, p.85]

If this is the last broadcast from BOC it is one that finally feels fully attuned to the queasy nightmare of the present as opposed to the cloudland sanctuary of the past. [Aug 2026, p.85]

The album picks up on and gleefully runs with a vibe which hasn't been so nimbly utilised since Kathlen Hanna's Le Tigre tinkered with similar building blocks. [Jul 2026, p.87]

A stoned summer picnic. [Jun 2026, p.85]

Shows their gift for romanticising the darkest corners of daily life. [Jul 2026, p.93]

The result is a sense of dreamlike disorientation, terrible events unfolding in a state of divine, fragile calm. [Jul 2026, p.91]

Mouse On Mars complete another mean feat - bottling The Upsetter's slippery shamanistic spirit. [Jul 2026, p.89]

These are bright, elastic songs. [Jul 2026, p.83]

Way beyond pastiche, this is soul music filled with passion and attention to period detail. [Jul 2026, p.86]

The New Order effervescence of The Flavor of Metal and keening anthemics of Riptides ensure these bruised wisdoms resonate as deeply as they do. [Jul 2026, p.87]

This piece tests the bounds of memory, with slow-motion repetition leading you to wonder if you've heard this before, what has changed, wat is changing. [Jun 2026, p.85]

Grey marks a further fine-tuning of Sutherland's trad country sensibilities, even if Simpler Time's nostalgia feels a little too cutesy. [Jul 2026, p.83]

10 hot, groovy tunes. [Jul 2026, p.88]

Wolter's songwriting unfolds in elegantly nuanced shades of grey, its bedroom-pop melancholia low-key but lush, judiciously coloured with synthesizers and saxophone. [Jul 2026, p.87