Eleven-minute workout Don't Look Down's shifting continents of influence cement the notion of a band tightrope walking with aplomb. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Even though Marathon is rife with such oblique, ominous trails (Safety offers "Compleete us/King snake ringed with rust"), it still feels like a personal and revealing testimonial. [Apr 2026, p.93]

Excellent comeback. [Apr 2026, p.90]

Meek may wander but he can't help but drift back to idiosyncratic introspection which gives the album an entrancing sense of dream logic. [Apr 2026, p.85]

Frisell is travelling a unique, but to old admirers, rather familiar path here. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Sounding sharper than they have done in years, they’re more up for the fight than perhaps ever before.

Every song on Nothing's About To Happen To Me bears Mitski's distinctive mark. [Apr 2026, p.85]

Hen's Teeth is benchmark roots music from start to finish. [Apr 2026, p.85]

Nearly seven years and three albums after Shepherd In A Sheepskin Vest, the first record to emerge from Callahan the family man, listeners should probably be acclimatized to his mid-life openness by now, but even by his recent standards, My Days Of 58 exhibits a clarity, a directness – even, on the tender depressive ramble of Stepping Out For Air, a sharp vulnerability. [Mar 2026, p.78]

The result is Gorillaz's most ambitious (and moving) record to date. [Apr 2026, p.84]

The clarity of Eçevit's tenor, the quality production values maintained throughout and the contrasting styles make for a thoroughly enjoyable ride. [Apr 2026, p.85]

This is a musically assured, soulful descent into life's messy middle. [Mar 2026, p.81]

Starts with a raw, retro-rock song with a big, catchy chorus - one of several swaggering electric guitar numbers (Strange Companion; Loyalty; On fire) But there's a lot more going on in these 12 songs. [Mar 2026, p.87]

Largely an album of blues covers that isn't terrible just, well, perfunctory. [Apr 2026, p.84]

Debut arrives fully-formed. [Apr 2026, p.94]

Drifts toward sounding like Sonic Youth. .... Lots more here, though, including elevated noiserock, early Factory-style nihilist post-punk, and a clanking highlight, I see Poseurs Every Day. [Apr 2026, p.93]

Light but ultimately sunblinding, things really get going in the second half. [Apr 2026, p.93]

Though overly familiar for boomers, perhaps, Wasted On Youth's sibling rivalry-fuelled irreverence will likely chime with Gen Z kids seeking their own Oasis, not mum and dad's. [Apr 2026, p.86]

As candid as Steiner can be, this doesn't play like a primal scream: her naked vulnerability makes it a remarkably moving experience. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Dizzying stuff. [Apr 2026, p.91]

Despite the numerous positions, No Lube So Rude becomes a little no-note. [Mar 2026, p.80]

Confirm Mumford & Sons are back in business. [Apr 2026, p.85]

What makes this combined reckoning of Brian's last, fully-engaged studio albums for The Beach Boys, with all of their peaks and flaws, such an enlightening, unexpected pleasure is the chance to hear the earnest dedication and breadth of inspiration in this brief window of renewal, long obscured by false promo and Brian's ongoing trials. [Apr 2026, p.96]

The trio's key facet is their instrumental nous, all hypnotic tension and release with abrupt chord/gear shifts. [Mar 2026, p.88]

Anyone who fell for Fontaines D.C.'s 2019 debut Dogrel should find plenty to love in this first offering from Cork's Cardinals. [Mar 2026, p.81]

Strange Life warrants recognition, Stein and co's passion undimmed. [Mar 2026, p.80]

An extraordinary comeback. [Mar 2025, p.84]

Few can match The Cribs for their facility with bruised melodies and crunchy dynamics, perfecting here a transatlantic noise that draws equally on Smithsian jangle (the jaunty Never The Same) and Sonic Youth squall (Dark Luck). [Mar 2026, p.86]