Easy to be cynical about Miracle Focus's natural-high alternative to Showalter's lysergic past, perhaps, but spacey, transcendent opener More You finds him in a wonderous, enviably alive place. [Jul 2024, p.91]

Not ideal for newcomers, perhaps, but a recumbent feast for fans. [Jul 2024, p.101]

Discs 2 and 3 are essential if familiar, given they document sessions taped for the BBC, from an unreleased January 1972 Peel session to the version of Starman taped for Top Of The Pops in July. .... By contrast, everything on Disc 5 is fresh to this box. [Jul 2024, p.96]

Morton & Russell rarely overplay their emotional hand, the music colour-changing to match the narrative of damage and resilience. .... Once it locks in, Daffodils & Dirt is hard to shake off. [Jul 2024, p.88]

Ultimately, the only benchmark springing to mind is the similarly-styledearly-'80sFranco-Belgians Antena. Feu De Garde is that good. [Jun 2024, p.88]

It's the confessional aspect that makes this compelling stuff, whether relating mid-life disappointment in Living The Dream or detailing a life reset in the delicately chiming Clean. [Jul 2024, p.84]

The wild times end on a poignant, giddy high with Parful - a house-y banger raving about everyday hedonism transcending sectarian violence - an irresistible distillation of Kneecap's peacetime party music. [Jul 2024, p.94]

Maisha builds on the old man's legacy by digging deeper into their background while allowing British producers Oli Barton-Wood and Tom Excell to add further layers in the mix. [Jul 2024, p.86]

While the nebulous quality of Mercy was very much feature-not-bug, a cloudiness indicating the limits of memory, here Cale seems to have sharpened the edges of his songs, any mist or drift purely down to old fashioned meandering. [Jul 2024, p.86]

With aid of latter-day Grace Jones producer Ivor Guest, his upbeat tendencies manifest in talk box-voiced electronic funk (think Roger Troutman/Zapp) that is more flattering, particularly when matched to the singer's biting wit on All That School and the MAGA-bashing Meek AF. [Jul 2024, p.86]

Their ninth record proves their distinctive spirit is still unbroken. The mood is knowingly mordant. [Jul 2024, p.84]

With childhood friend Sean Coleman aboard to coax Brian Wilson-ness from the 1980s'-penned And You Run, and tunes as charming as Breezy Sweet Smile, let's be grateful that Eels Time! rolls on. [Jul 2024, p.89]

Bonny Light Horseman probably could've said just as much over half the tracks, but the fact they had the courage to keep digging ever deeper into their emotional turbulence has bourne spectacular results. [Jul 2024, p.87]

This is Williams winningly flexing his more substantial songwriterly muscles. [Jul 2024, p.92]

It's a rare delight to hear a band so accomplished take what it does so seriously without taking itself that way. [Jul 2024, p.87]

Goat Girl grapple with strings, makeshift choirs, electronics and mellotron in a quietly exploratory set of off-centre tunes and potent lyrical questioning. [Jul 2024, p.92]

With percussionist Sam Clayton growling the vocals here,they bathe in the blues, immersed in classics by masters Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon and Little Walter. [Jul 2024, p.89]

In the best sense, she ticks boxes. With a slightly kooky voice, the bravery to unconventionally strip things down (the acoustic Dark is propelled by drums), a winning way with a hook (Missing Out swings) and a turn of phrase which veers from acerbic ("She says 'I might be a genius'/Well, she could be a model...") to lovelorn ("I want you to come over/So I can lay in your lap"). [Jul 2024, p.86]

Lyrically, it's Merrick's diary of their delirious reaction to that vast continent, such as the sublime desolation of Somewhere near El Paso, bathed in "a half-lit Denny's sign", or Lily Pad, where Merrick, sounding almost horizontal. [Jul 2024, p.88]

[Nelson] sounds in great shape. There are some upbeat moments (good ol' boy Made In Texas) but mostly it's on the slow side, a tempo in which Willie excels. [Jul 2024, p.84]

In truth there's little here that wouldn't belong on the 1992 breakthrough, Let Me Come Over, their enduring warm embrace marking Buffalo Tom as a band you can grow old with. [Jul 2024, p.84]

Dizzied, delirious, conflicted, Night Reign draws in tight around you. [Jul 2024, p.91]

Hawley continues to enchant. [Jul 2024, p.85]

Thompson’s extraordinary, lyrical guitar playing squirts out in occasional Day-Glo flashes, but the magic remains in his ability to keep his little microcosmos tightly marshalled. Bleak midwinter 4 EVA; spring forever unsprung. [Jul 2024, p.82]

Gravity Stairs is the most Crowded House thing that Crowded House have made in 30 years. [Jul 2024, p.90]

Contrasting bleak truths with giddy popsike, bubbling defiance and a rebuff to arts-funding BS. [Jul 2024, p.95]

This album is bravely beautiful, and one of her best. [Jul 2024, p.84]

With its captivating melodies and sci-fi charm, News Of The Universe is as poignant as it is hopeful. [Jul 2024, p.88]