Slightly fey at the start, this album gets better as it goes on. [Aug 2016, p.96]

Hit reset is stronger overall, because here The Julie Ruin fixes the spotlight on its raison d'etre, a woman who, in her own words, "can play electric guitar while shaving my legs in a moving car." [Aug 2016, p.94]

Power sings in an emotion-laden, ever-modulating voice that summons the spirits of Tim Buckley and Tim Hardin as readily as Sibylle Baier or Sandy Denny. [Aug 2016, p.93]

Singer-songwriter Ala.ni's debut story of doomed love is a hazy mix of innocence and experience. ... A pearl. [Jul 2016, p.97]

A bloody-nosed hardcore ruckus that makes no bones of its debt to Black Flag's vintage thuggery. [Aug 2016, p.97]

Sublime stuff. [Jul 2016, p.92]

William Bell has forgotten nothing, it seems, least of all how to make wonderful, eternal soul music. [Aug 2016, p.88]

A fascinating pleasure and a 21st century classic-in-waiting. [Aug 2016, p.95]

The sound a minibus of demons might make stuck in a bank holiday A303 tailback. [Aug 2016, p.99]

The Follower places him alongside Caribou as a master of emotional reverie. [Aug 2016, p.99]

Not everything hits the mark. [Aug 2016, p.98]

A tad less confrontational than previous Pita releases but no less powerful. [Aug 2016, p.97]

While this ninth LP retains Plaid's signature style, it also offers far more range than dependable recent outings Reachy Prints or Scintilli. [Aug 2016, p.96]

The intensity of MC Dalek's worldly-wise apocalyptic wordplay on Guaranteed Struggle and Masked Laughter (Nothing's Left) help reinvent their trademark sound without sacrificing its essence. [Aug 2016, p.95]

Drake's genuinely fleet-footed flows and sly humour prevent his pained introspection descending into a cheesy whine fest. [Aug 2016, p.95]

With more hits than misses, Shadow is back in the frame. [Aug 2016, p.95]

Expansive and coherent, yet always subterranean and claustrophobic, this is easily Fearless's finest hour. [Aug 2016, p.94]

Life In The Dark constantly threatens to fall apart at the seams but the Felices miraculously hold their world together, the greatest campfire band imaginable. [Aug 2016, p.93]

Doubtless, it will all sound great in the car. [Aug 2016, p.93]

A challenging listen. But such is Blake's sonic invention and flair for extricating beauty from the murk, it's well worth sticking with. [Aug 2016, p.92]

Locally focused yet state-of-the-nation, in their inventiveness and force such songs as Working Poor, Lost In A Crowd and The Worst defy pessimism, good art in bad times. [Aug 2016, p.92]

The only problem is that her lyrics are sometimes relegated to back-drop status as Jarosz creates an array of enchanting sounds, set against harmonies provided by back-up musicians Jedd Hughes and Luke Reynolds. [Aug 2016, p.92]

There's often been a whiff of contrivance around the Avetts, but by coming of age they come up smelling of roses. [Aug 2016, p.92]

There is a single-minded intensity to the writing and the production which makes The Bride a very strong proposition indeed. [Aug 2016, p.91]

Gorgeous from beginning to end, Luck Or Magic is evenly split between originals and covers. [Aug 2016, p.91]

While outstanding musicianship is guaranteed, it doesn't always go hand in hand with great songwriting, but by its judicious mixing of the avant-garde and smart pop, alt rock and low-slung funk, Patience is always engaging. [Aug 2016, p.90]

The 13 eco-friendly songs from across his career are augmented to varying degrees by nature sounds: rain, thunder, frogs, horses, ducks, crickets, chickens and several critters I can't identify. Sometimes intrusive but they're often atmospheric. [Aug 2016, p.90]

There's some blurring over 17 tracks, but as a whole piece, Freetown Sound is a record with unusually sharp focus. [Aug 2016, p.90]