His overgrown rustic dream, though, is oddly modern and littered with fly-tipped rubbish, with free-ranging neo-folk mini-dramas drawing parallels between imagined past and haunted present. [Aug 2017, p.103]

It's a beautiful thing--its 10 songs have a drowsy, mizzled feel, reminiscent of the Cocteau Twins. [Aug 2017, p.103]

The music itself, a combination of gentle piano and tremulous, echoing synth, is mesmerisingly samey, like scenery rushing past your car window on a long road trip. [Aug 2017, p.102]

It's moments like this [on Malibu Man] when Auerbach hits the classic soul button that his versatility really shines. [Jul 2017, p.113]

Leftism is tough to improve on. [Jun 2017, p.114]

It's the interregnum between rock'n'roll and The Beatles and, if the line-up is disparate, the tone is constant, one of languor and melancholy, with re-creation rather than reinterpretation the aim. [Jun 2017, p.112]

Edgar Jones offers up grit and depth often lacking in modern production. [Jun 2017, p.109]

George Martin's son Giles's work here is superb. It helps you hear an album you know inside-out as if for the first time. [Jul 2017, p.116]

Sweet Kind Of Blue may shock people who only know Barker through her theme tune for Kenneth Branagh's Wallander, but it finally set out her true claim for stardom. [Jul 2017, p.104]

The Amazons are much better when they add a little intricacy to their snarling rock. [Jul 2017, p.110]

It's exhilarating in both its fury and its craft. [Jul 2017, p.114]

Baby filters modern life through psychedelia, early Beck and , on Graveyard Dawn, exciting imaginings of a Giorgio Moroder-produced Pink Floyd. [Jun 2017, p.105]

Some newer tracks while still enjoyably bleak, play straighter with acoustic guitars and a lot of vocal noodling, though it never feels like Radio 2-friendly folk pop is where Parker's strengths lie. [Jul 2017, p.112]

The inimitable genius of B.I.G.--the mordant wit, the complex lyricism--is painfully diluted here. [Jul 2017, p.107]

Remarkably fresh, contemporary and upbeat for a band's 13th studio album. [Jul 2017, p.106]

A concept record about femininity that finely balances intelligence with accessibility, The Witch gets better and better with repeated listens. [Jul 2017, p.112]

Green Twins is high on sonic invention. [Jul 2017, p.108]

Understated yet charismatic, Harding has the gift of making reality seem like a very fragile and porous thing indeed. [Jul 2017, p.108]

She's sometimes bogged down by her own weightiness, but Paradise won't stall her slow but steady climb. [May 2017, p.104]

Vince Clarke's melodic electro-motifs and Andy Bell's dramatic voice may be in place, but laments for long romance and fake news alerts make for sombre listening. [Jul 2017, p.107]

There's almost a manic feel to it. [Jul 2017, p.114]

Business-as-usual for Jones, cranked up to 11. [Jul 2017, p.108]

Eloquent, revelatory and moving. [Jul 2017, p.111]

There are clear parallels with Factory Floor, Mica Levi and early Grimes, but Owens has clearly found her calling. [Jul 2017, p.111]

Visuals spatters Mew's art-rock sensibilities on a pop canvas. [Jul 2017, p.111]

This sequel journeys into the light. [Jul 2017, p.111]

Big Bad Luv ramps up Moreland's passion for mainstream melody without compromising any of the heartache that sets him apart. [Jul 2017, p.111]

The pair mesh with ease. [Jul 2017, p.112]