It's a triumph for experimental chemistry: dramatic, deeply felt, dynamically designed. Minor Victories might've been put together at a distance, but it's all there. [Jul 2016, p.92]

Though Fry's take on affairs of the heart is more sedate, less conflicted than 1982's fraught quest for something authentic in a jungle of cheap representations, there are enough A1 tunes and ambitious lyrical conceits to satisfy fans of the original. [Jul 2016, p.95]

Smooth soul or hip hop tropes being largely the order of the day here. [Jul 2016, p.95]

The one-nature of the wracked, robotic torch songs does wear thin by closer Smoke Rings, however. [Jun 2016, p.95]

The influences--Shadow Morton, Nina Roti, '80s dream pop--are easily detectable, but intuitively utilised. [Jul 2016, p.96]

The main strength of this album is how the guitar playing, which is superb throughout, feels inextricably bound to the structure and shape of the melodies. [Jul 2016, p.95]

There's some fight in Hard Habit To Break's elastic boxing-ring bravado, or the ambiguous needling bleep of Doing It To Death, but behind the pair's rangy insouciance lies a hollowness that, this time round, doesn't entirely convince as a deliberate artistic position. [Jul 2016, p.92]

Amid all its big, primal energy there are enough ideas to suggest the fans' early faith is justified. [Jul 2016, p.94]

This set is more ambitious, sometimes bonkers [than his previous two albums]. [Jun 2016, p.91]

The Brooklyn foursome's debut is the work of some feverishly creative minds, as it effortlessly genre-hops between dusty Americana, Breeders-style angular art-pop and off-kilter folk. [Jun 2016, p.93]

The eight tracks on Rojus rise and fall like a club set. [Jul 2016, p.95]

Four decades and eight albums in, however, their own status as much cherished melody makers seems perfectly secure. [Jul 2016, p.93]

Their most accessible outing yet. [Jul 2016, p.91]

Blending bossa with trip-hop and samba with vintage synths, she creates an entirely contemporary blend. [Jul 2016, p.91]

At their best, the band conjures a delicious mix of slippery funk and soaring horns, a feelgood soundtrack to roaring down the freeway--or pootling to the off-licence. [Jul 2016, p.90]

Vision Fortune and then Spectres themselves serve up two slices of white noise, and even the hardiest listener may question the necessity of any further submissions. More substantial things arrive further on. [Jul 2016, p.93]

Stott again collaborates with opera singer Alison Skidmore on decaying digital laments, warped twilight anthems and claustrophobic club bangers; stuttering songs of mourning for 21st century club culture. [Jul 2016, p.93]

The Machine Stops proves that Dave Brock's sonic adventures still have plenty to say, and inspired ways in which to say it. [Jul 2016, p.95]

This album delivers rather less than the hoped-for thrilling mix of Latin rhythms, scorching organ and lyrical blues-mariachi guitar solos, but does so in bulk. [Jul 2016, p.96]

A more austere, exploratory affair. [Jul 2016, p.97]

[A] dark and glorious vision, reinterpreting Nashville country-soul hits from the '60s and '70s. [Jul 2016, p.97]

The better interpretations come from artists who embrace the Dead's improvisational essence. [Jul 2016, p.97]

All told, another luxurious wallow in art and agitation. [Jul 2016, p.98]

If Congrats is no less aggressive than its three predecessors, the crisp Neon Dad qualifies as pop and Acidic is a weird kind of joyous electronic ska. [Jun 2016, p.92]

What Dylan gives us in these recordings is something of a sentimental memoir.

Shauf paints an endearing sketch of his house party's many moods. [Jun 2016, p.97]

Another sprawling, somewhat overwrought Ashcroft solo record. [Jun 2016, p.88]

Toledo's ability to craft songs that swerve from fuzz-pop to jaded melancholia making him a cut above his underground contemporaries. [Jun 2016, p.92]