A hugely enjoyable whole. After a fortnight's heavy rotation, it has yet to reveal its fatal flaw. [May 2017, p.89]

A return to fundamentals closest in kin to Lamar’s 2012 debut, proving that, questionable sleeve design aside, he’s in imperious form.

A record to welcome the morning light as it seeps through chinks in the curtain. [May 2017, p.91]

Both the rabbit hole ride of Comanche Moon and reverb-laden panic attack Death March--two highlights--could have been released at any point in the last half century. [May 2017, p.89]

Not as humorous as 2Bears nor as wistful as Hot Chip, here Goddard further explores the potency of the danncefloor combined with intelligent, leftfield pop. [May 2017, p.92]

Exactly the sort of angry rebel rock you want from a band with their backs it the walls and foes on all sides. [Apr 2017, p.96]

There's peace and a wild purity to it. [May 2017, p.92]

The coherent Volume 1 sounds like a Midlake-as-such album: a more direct follow-up to 2013's Antiphon. [May 2017, p.89]

Americana shows a man still writing to find out his place in the world. He's seen it all, he's seen through it all, but there's still open road ahead. There's no better adventure than that. [May 2017, p.86]

It's intensely personal. [May 2017, p.88]

Their sixth album doesn't veer too wildly from it [their MO]--lashing Krautrock grooves to a broad cross-section of dance music tropes, and embellished with Best's labuorous, conversational vocal style. [May 2017, p.91]

Shimmering, lounge-pop gives a velvet backdrop to fluent, Dylan-ish vernacular sung with flawless mitteleuropa cool. [May 2017, p.98]

Too much of this double album plods. [May 2017, p.98]

Occasionally things get laboured or dull; still, a powerful new direction. [Apr 2017, p.93]

There's a bit of power ballad journeying but taut pop hooks aplenty too. [May 2017, p.98]

Threat levels peak on Sewer Blues' ominous, John Carpenter reverberation. [May 2017, p.98]

The sound they conjure is often heavenly. [May 2017, p.95]

When the songs are this well-crafted, we'll be back again. [May 2017, p.88]

It's clever, funny, confrontational and touching. [May 2017, p.94]

Eventually Janka Nabay's updating of Sierra Leone's bubu beats gets under the skin. [May 2017, p.95]

The results present a dense mesh of disparate tempos, hypnotic rhythms and passages of glittering beauty. [Apr 2017, p.97]

The limits of comfort zones are not breached. [May 2017, p.89]

If previous Body Count efforts wobbled close to self-parody, Bloodlust nail-guns the impending doom of post-truth Trump America with incision. [May 2017, p.92]

Her impact remains astounding, but a The Sporting Life-style left-turn is long overdue. [May 2017, p.95]

The geo-political subtext only adds gravity to Foon's already compellingly brooding soundscapes. [Apr 2017, p.95]

This solo debut sits her ripe, occasionally darkly brooding voice--Rachel Sweet with a hatchet--against grungy country and knowing '60s vibes. [Apr 2017, p.93]

With an occasional propensity for mindless wigouts slightly curbed, it's windswept anthems a-go-go on their best album for years. [May 2017, p.96]

Pure Comedy is quite some trip and one that lifts Father John Misty to another level altogether. [May 2017, p.93]