It's disappointing that there aren't one or two more inspiring moments, especially when there's a roughly equivalent number of duds. [Jan 2017, p.92]

This album opts throughout for classy tristesse, perfect for Close To You and A House Is Not A Home, too steadily composed for Walk On By and Another Girl, both heartbroken songs behind the on-point style. [Nov 2016, p.87]

It’s not all perfect. You could rightly question whether the Q-Tip/André 3000 duet Kids… has any place on a ATCQ album. Or whether a glut of guest spots including Elton John, Jack White and Kendrick Lamar are strictly necessary. Yet ultimately it’s the original, immersive Tribe vibes that conquer all.

Woman looks set to keep the leather-clad pair trucking for the foreseeable by bridging the propulsive beats of 2007's sweeping debut with the more baroque, borderline-cheesy prog aesthetic of 2011's Audio, Video, Disco. [Dec 2016, p.89]

Though still no barrel of laughs--far from it--there is evidence of green shoots of hope here. [Dec 2016, p.91]

These are superior soundtracks for sure, but just a little low on levity. [Dec 2016, p.93]

This ace duets set builds around extant Miller vocals from vintage demos. [Nov 2016, p.96]

Intoxicated Women makes you fall in love with Gainsbourg and his women all over again. [Dec 2016, p.95]

As with its predecessors, Compulsion Songs is jammed with feedback-laden throwback journeys that still worship respectfully at the altar of Spacemen 3, The Jesus And Mary Chain and Sonic Youth. [Nov 2016, p.93]

More a set of unconnected pieces than a single, cohesive whole, while not short on individual charm it's hard not to see this as anything other than a warm-up for the main event to come. [Dec 2016, p.91]

Fans of Porcelain Raft will go nuts for the aural sigh that is Pavo Pavo. [Dec 2016, p.94]

James ford and Jas Shaw's command of synth hardware lends itself to organic songwriting. [Dec 2016, p.93]

Pyramids’ borrowing of Chuck D’s mantra “I don’t rhyme for the sake of riddlin’” is emblematic of his still-abrasive mood, whether dissecting the prison system’s failures on A Bigger Picture Called Free or unleashing his most heartfelt rallying cry on the thrilling Robert Glasper-produced, Stevie Wonder-starring title track.

This stripped-back retro-retread is in danger of playing to the opposite of their strengths. [Dec 2016, p.88]

A strange, haunted phantasmagoria that explores atmospheres and moods more suited to the score of an art film than to a rock album--despite the gratuitous use of grungey guitar noises and distortion. [Dec 2016, p.94]

Onstage his confidence was sky-high, his command total, much as it was in the studio. [Dec 2016, p.105]

Heading South On The Great North Road drags, and Pretty Young Soldier, a tale of gender confusion in the military, is slightly laboured. However, most of 57th and 9th has a youthful energy suggesting that Sting hasn't faded yet. [Dec 2016, p.90]

There's a distinctly Mitteleuropa aura to her enigmatic Nico-like vocals. [Nov 2016, p.96]

The pace rarely rising above languorous, the lyrics resolutely wistful, with the now 50-year-old Sandoval's vocals the compelling focus across 11 drowsy, folk-rock noir essays. [Dec 2016, p.88]

Freed from that angst, the group sound more savage, more inspired and, crucially, more fun than they have for a quarter of a century. [Dec 2016, p.88]

Primitives finds him channeling the celestial overlaid vocals of AnCo, Toro Y Moi's soaring gauzy electronic pop, the live, looping sample techniques of tUnE-yArDs and D.D. Dumbo, and even Steve Reich's shuddering, percussive experiments in repetition--with charming results. [Dec 2016, p.93]

His singing has improved beyond recognition and, while rooted very much in the vintage storytelling values of the folk tradition, Upcetera is very much a landmark album for our times. [Dec 2016, p.95]

The set pivots around its experimental jazz title track, where warming Rhodes are counterpointed by fractured beats, fidgety bleeps and trills. [Dec 2016, p.93]

This is a remarkably strong set. [Dec 2016, p.88]

Moddi's own arrangements, translations and distinctive Donovan-esque tones ensures Unsongs coheres as a n album as well as an eye-opening lesson in the importance of music. [Nov 2016, p.88]

This eighth album is very much business as usual. [Dec 2016, p.92]

Lustman's been musing on the conflict between the intimate, solo nature of his music making and the shared listening experience of his audience on dancefloors. Lustman's solution is the intimate, expansive Heaven Is for Quitters. [Dec 2016, p.93]

The music draws on '70s fusion, post-rock and free jazz, and throughout McCaslin's sax expresses boldness, anger, beauty, joy. [Nov 2016, p.92]