The line-up gel beautifully on these three long instrumentals. [Oct 2018, p.86]

The album lags in some of its quieter moments, but still stands as a fine successor in the righteous roots line that includes The Band and The Staples Singers. [Oct 2018, p.93]

His piano-playing is a joy, his vocals a dramatis personae of lively characters. ... The whole thing feels--thrillingly, poignantly--like you're in the room with him. [Oct 2018, p.84]

Cosmic roots reassert themselves; best on New History and the Mercury rev-ish Waves, Breaking. [Oct 2018, p.94]

There's no faulting Shemekia Copeland's voice. [Sep 2018, p.91]

Inspired by a tumultuous period in his life, the 13th album from the guitar virtuoso has distinct shades of dark and light, making for some of his most interesting work to date. [Oct 2018, p.88]

Chris is an imposing structure, one likely to dominate 2018's skyline. There are, however, still heights left to hit. [Oct 2018, p.89]

An album like this could be relevant at any time, really, but it takes the past couple of years to make it quite this livid. [Oct 2018, p.91]

The Dubliner's fourth album of original material is his most varied sonically, yet is perversely his least fussy, happy to let a simple melody be carried by his distinctively sweet, slightly prim diction. [Oct 2018, p.84]

Emanon is unequivocally a visual treat but in purely musical terms, it's nothing less than stunningly breathtaking. [Oct 2018, p.88]

Their latest warms the electronic pot with quirky pastoralism--brass, melodica, clattering-teacup percussion and tangible emotional warmth. [Oct 2018, p.94]

While never the greatest singer, Escovedo's lyrics more than compensate. [Oct 2018, p.91]

The Goon Sax have created a glorious pop album that perfectly captures those awkward confusions on the road to adulthood. [Oct 2018, p.90]

Almost flawless record. ... It alights on an entirely new air of depth and fascination, in keeping with its author's age and experience. [Oct 2018, p.85]

This London quartet's third LP avoids indie cliche, taking various routes to achieve electro-pop lift-off. [Oct 2018, p.94]

Kravitz's stylistic schizophrenia remains on Raise Vibration, whether in the early-80s electro-beats of Who Really Are The Monsters? or the What's Going On moves of It's enough. [Oct 2018, p.87]

Coates uses an eccentric blend of rich strings and muffled hardcore rhythms that are seductive, haunting and deliciously weird. [Oct 2018, p.87]

While the playful spirit and precise progressions of his previous albums linger, it's demonstrably darker entries that capture Gonzales's disarming craftsmanship best. [Oct 2018, p.91]

Its dense analogue assault envelopes you like a pea-souper. [Oct 2018, p.87]

It's more varied and interesting: angular, Cure-guitar shapes, echoing shapes. [Oct 2018, p.94]

He's still a whiz with a tart lyrical couplet, too. [Oct 2018, p.94]

Overall, Love, Loss, And Auto-Tuned is a deviant masterpiece. [Oct 2018, p.92]

Kingdoms In Colour is a bright, pan-global musical jaunt delivered as a glitter cannon explosion. [Oct 2018, p.87]

Driven along by a renewed sense of urgency and purpose, this may be Richard Thompson's most creative album in decades. [Oct 2018, p.92]

Monsters Exist feels like a stadium rave washing machine, stuck on infinite cycle. [Oct 2018, p.88]

Glenn Jones's repeated trips to the well of John Fahey's American Primitive legacy seem to yield even more refreshing results. [Sep 2018, p.90]

His commitment is palpable, the sequencing deft, and whole wilfully hit-free bombast-fest commendable, if scarcely palatable to anyone apart fro card-carrying Suede-heads. [Oct 2018, p.93]

Her lyrics draw you in, as she explores the chemistry of attraction on the title track to an appropriately sexy descending chord sequence, while a fly-by-night lover gets his comeuppance on Easy Street. [Oct 2018, p.84]