Complements her poetic lyrics with intricate, arpeggiated folk guitar to haunting effect. [Jan 2026, p.103]

Westerman has crafted a collection of songs steeped in nostalgia and simplicity. [Jan 2026, p.103]

The luxurious strings are heavenly, while the twang of an electric guitar and understated drums push it gently forward. [Jan 2026, p.103]

There’s a taut, garage-like sensibility to the arrangements, a discipline lacking from the originals, in a satisfying, worthwhile salvage expedition. [Jan 2026, p.101]

The four Memento Mori outtakes included are sub-par, but the concert material turns moody introspection into a black celebration of life with thunderously affirmative power. [Jan 2026, p.101]

The nine studio rarities and 16 live tracks add light to the story. .... The live recordings from Los Angeles Sports Arena in April 1975 are a revelation. .... Wish You were Here 50, riding the gravy train or not, really does have plenty to delight. [Christmas 2025, p.120]

Ultimately. Black And White deserves this bells-and-whistles resuscitation (though collectors may be stretched by Zoetrope and marbleised wax incarnations!). [Christmas 2025, p.129]

Spira finds Arnalds' talent revivified, blooming to earthy, dreamy and transporting effect. [Christmas 2025, p.132]

Holy Island is a magnificent opening statement and the mind boggles as to where they might venture next. [Christmas 2025, p.135]

His own trio take garage rock to new levels with the inane vocals, throbbing bass, crashing drums and screaming guitar of Sherlock.... [Christmas 2025, p.133]

The latest from equally thunderous Childish girls for a mostly covers collection. .... On balance, the girls come out ahead, but get them both. [Christmas 2025, p.133]

The voice is perhaps a little too polite in places, but lets loose in fine testifying form on the closing Heart Of Mine. [Christmas 2025, p.133]

Expressive and resonant, this is an accomplished work. [Christmas 2025, p.133]

Racing through 13 tracks in just 30 minutes, their third album (and first for new label, Domino) is no less succinctly potent. [Christmas 2025, p.135]

The results plugs directly into Tron's AI-apocalypse mainframe. It's the end of teh world as we know it, essentially, but NIN fit in just fine. [Christmas 2025, p.134]

Start casting the stage version now. [Christmas 2025, p.134]

The music is as gauzy as sugar-spun candy floss. .... The downside of this approach is Liquorice largely lacks the distinctive moments of past Hatchie albums. [Christmas 2025, p.133]

Tugs gently but effectively at every heart string. [Christmas 2025, p.133]

Fans of Joni Mitchell and early PJ Harvey will relate to Fatal Optimist on a visceral level. [Christmas 2025, p.133]

While unearthed solo cuts like the eerie Child Bride intrigue, it's the stab at rocking up one of the most wilfully unrocking albums in the canon which really fascinates. [Christmas 2025, p.128]

While heavier moments such as the scuzzy, stoner-grunge Heaven's Breath and the Nick Cave-esque gothic folk epic The Ox Driver's Song shine, the more straightforward folk/country tunes are pleasant but not distinctive enough to be memorable. [Christmas 2025, p.132]

Elements of it are among the boldest, most enjoyable experiments of his career. .... There are clunkers too. [Christmas 2025, p.132]

A pretty good, not great, pop record. [Christmas 2025, p.132]

True, tangible contrasts in their approaches to singing emerge, with Katie’s voice often soaring above the backdrop and Allison’s delivery more often immersed in the arrangements. Yet when they harmonise, as on supremely confident album standout Wasteland, they sound innately simpatico. [Christmas 2025, p.134]

The four volumes of the Anthology offer an impressive overview of 12 years of work (plus the Threetles and the Twotles). [Dec 2025, p.88]

The compelling results span creepy lounge music, homebrewed pop, suicide folk, the attempted channelling of Simply Red and a lo-fi glam piece that's about as sexy as the dimmed lights scene from I'm Alan Partridge. [Dec 2025, p.101]

A hard bop masterclass, that's for sure. [Nov 2025, p.95]

The Miracle Year pairs this [First Avenue club] show with other assorted tracks, most of which sound like a glorious, scratchy cassette bootleg, led by the galvanizing Celebrated Summer and Chartered Trips. [Dec 2025, p.91]

Reimagines songs from his catalogue alongside some new cuts and captures him on brilliant form. [Dec 2025, p.101]

At every turn, the vocal powerhouse reminds us why her songs have connected on such a large scale. [Dec 2025, p.101]

Among the highlights, Taking Out The Trash's dissonant, Herbie Hancock-esque electronics are grounded by punk funk basslines; Stepping In/The Loop's repetitive, guitar-and-synthesizer rhythms prove giddily hypnotic while the shimmering Brood Board SHROOOM embraces celestial strains of ambient jazz. [Dec 2025, p.103]

There's a lot going on here on what is a balanced and well-crafted album. [Dec 2025, p.98]

A solo album full pf easygoing blues, folk and rock that boasts insightful observations about aging and forging forward while navigating the modern world. [Dec 2025, p.102]

The slower songs could sometimes do with more polish but there's enough doomy intent to keep the devoted happy. [Dec 2025, p.103]

Dressed to impress. [Dec 2025, p.103]

Rich, warm and suffused with a lambent light of hope, A Bridge To Far sustains Midlake’s core values with a spirit of care and community that seems built to endure. [Dec 2025, p.102]

Her voice may sound a little deeper and more gravelly and her delivery might be punctuated with a few more breaths at times, but there's no denying her command and power. [Dec 2025, p.100]

Lloyd creates sound tapestries that are by turns ethereal (Abide With Me), haunting (Desolation Sound), and imbued with the evocative earthiness of the blues (Chulahoma). [Dec 2025, p.90]

A little more of Final Girl's filmic atmospherics might have added life and range, but when Drank The Sap hits its stride, Witch Fever max the catharsis with satisfying force. [Dec 2025, p.103]

A beautifully rambling set that sounds like chums making it up as they go along deep in the woods. [Dec 2025, p.92]

The result is low-key and likeable. [Dec 2025, p.101]

A fun, compelling caricature of 80s heavy rock which will be enjoyed by those whose favourite version of Iron Maiden is when they really go overboard. [Dec 2025, p.101]

Opening track Woman IS The N***** Of The World has been quietly omitted, which will probably enrage Lennon completists, surely the set's biggest buyers. [Dec 2025, p.91]

Through The Open Window has, by necessity, a limited aperture – those inclined to do so will argue passionately over the merits of this take or that performance, officially or unofficially sourced, in forums where such discussions can be a bloodsport – but it nonetheless offers an expansive view of the many sides of Bob Dylan. [Dec 2025, p.93]

And Your Song Is Like A Circle may not be overly diverse in its palette, but as every track flows gracefully into the next, listeners might just appreciate that fact. [Dec 2025, p.103]

Most of these instrumentals packs a punch, and in a variety of different ways. For the most part, crucially, it sounds as though the musicians are enjoying themselves. [Dec 2025, p.103]

At times, Katie Ball's high-pitched vocals bring a somewhat incongruous phantasmagorical element. But they bring the tunes, too. [Dec 2025, p.101]

This 14th offering is less reunion comeback, more business as usual. It's an album which follows a similar blueprint to most of their others. [Dec 2025, p.101]

Their innate feel for a hit pop chorus is deployed to best effect on Dearest Amygdala and the soaring It's Chemical!. [Dec 2025, p.100]

Although Holy Visions teeters on the wrong edge of mope-rock melodrama, it's an exception; otherwise, Silver Bleeds The Black Sun is a black-clad, clove-smoking triumph. [Dec 2025, p.100]

The ghost Nation majors in slow-burn melodies that soar serenely, with nothing edging excessively over the seven-minute mark and the band maintaining a majestically unhurried pace. [Dec 2025, p.100]

The four-piece have expanded their sound with synth loops and a cleaner production. [Dec 2025, p.100]

There are elements of grunge on Deep End and curtain-raising single, albeit with a keen ear for melody that suggests Dando's pop sensibilities are as strong as ever. [Nov 2025, p.104]

But whether or not Tower Block In A Jam Jar changes his fortunes to any great degree, as an introduction to Lawrence’s singularly weird and wonderful world, it’s an ideal place to start. [Nov 2025, p.100]

Nobody particularly wants the descriptor "mature" to be slapped on their work, but it applies perfectly here. [Nov 2025, p.102]

Meshell Ndegeocello contributes electric bass and vocals on the track Maxim. [Nov 2025, p.92]

Emma Pollock’s fourth – and finest – solo set navigates studies of ageing, loss, relationships and her autism diagnosis, all with a nimble poeticism to counterpoint seemingly weighty material. [Nov 2025, p.105]

Between the framing piano passages of Pills And People Gone and Distant Symphony, an edge of techno-paranoia permeates the lyrics, especially the title track and the strident False Economy, and there are fierce club beats to match their best, not least on Run Free. [Nov 2025, p.105]

Insanely rich with ideas, hooks, smart artifice and real emotion, From The Pyre is a feast of giddy raptures. [Nov 2025, p.102]

Led by Paul Janeway's dramatic vocals, the Birmingham band's material is more hook-laden, partly due to their collaboration with Eg White. [Nov 2025, p.105]

In the extensive sleeve notes, Gedge, with music writer Mark Beaumont, offers valuable insight into the songs that made the cut. [Nov 2025, p.98]

It's not that the music is especially innovative, but songs such as Darkness Always Wins and Like A Woman Can sound highly compelling, thanks in part to frontwoman Lzzy (sic) Hale's commanding presence. [Nov 2025, p.96]

It's an edgy, sometimes brilliant, jazz-meets-art-rock mash-up. [Nov 2025, p.92]

Here they come full circle, embracing the very essence of their classic ambient dub masterpiece Adventures Beyond The Ultraworld. Moreover, there's a return to the dancefloor of the early nineties. [Nov 2025, p.104]

A country classic (yet tempting for rock fans, too) made up of leftovers that would have been career greats for so many artists. [Nov 2025, p.97]

Poised and exquisitely crafted, Blight's mediations on the effects of human actions are delivered with a gentle sincerity that disarms cynicism. [Nov 2025, p.102]

This is a no-quibble five-star release and truly essential listening. [Oct 2025, p.120]

John Congleton's production energises the festival-ready ructions of Cowards Around, though the indifferent arrangements of Quiet Life and Nothing Better struggle to distinguish Shame's snapshots of suburban frustration. [Oct 2025, p.133]

It's a warm, happy-go-lucky record dominated by rinky-dinky pianos and honey-sweet harmonies. [Nov 2025, p.105]

Several songs misunderstood Molina's stripped-down approach as frailty, which leads to some rough and rickety performances, but overall, I Will Swim To You is a more than solid salute. [Nov 2025, p.98]

There's no way of guessing what's coming next. Americana doesn't do it justice. [Nov 2025, p.105]

It may take a while to get past opener I Shaved My Head, but once you do, the apocalyptic intensity of Environmental Catastrophe Film and unfolding drama of Sibling Fistfight At Mom's Fiftieth/The Un-Sound are absolutely stunning. [Nov 2025, p.103]

Conceptually distinctive album. [Nov 2025, p.103]

There's also a shiner, more recent 80s aesthetic shot through on (I Can't Help) Back Then You Found ME and the epic final End With Sunrise, for a catchy and affecting portrait of the many ages of Idlewild across one album. [Nov 2025, p.103]

While this long-gestating album bears very little for those artists' fans to immediately relate to, it conjures something new and different instead. [Nov 2025, p.103]

Deeply thoughtful, it's a raw, heartfelt work, articulated by Johnson's superb voice. [Nov 2025, p.103]

The rhythms are as timeless as they are tight. [Nov 2025, p.103]

It's a 17-song trip into beautifully strange music. [Nov 2025, p.103]

Of wider interest will be the small handful of demos (although they're hardly revelatory) and a full live show from the subsequent tour. It's here the songs seem less confined, more direct and powerful. .... Lamb... remains an album that relishes its ability to surprise. [Nov 2025, p.99]

Even if stronger records would follow, the fuel that energised them is on often glorious show here. [Nov 2025, p.95]

It's clear that the lines so easily drawn between this and the Fleetwood Mac epics to come give this not only a familiarity but a slightly spurious contemporary feel. [Nov 2025, p.90]

Ash balance the experimental and traditional like the seasoned pros they are. Ad Astra is a delight. [Nov 2025, p.102]

With Neil Tennant adding to the sense of occasion on a joyful Rebel Rebel, a celebratory There Is A Light... affirms Marr's undimmed bond with his audience. [Oct 2025, p.131]

A loving feat of minimalist yet atmospheric collaboration, executed with exquisitely controlled restraint. [Oct 2025, p.133]

The result is Case's finest yet: a record of fire, felling and finely detailed distinction. [Oct 2025, p.132]

Michelangelo Dying, her seventh, is her most refined accomplishment yet. [Oct 2025, p.130]

Saving Grace may sound organic, but make no mistake; this carefully curated mix of British and American influences, both ancient and modern, clearly bears Plant’s personal stamp. [Oct 2025, p.128]

Generous and unguarded, Twilight Override contains multitudes. [Oct 2025, p.133]

Each of the 14 songs here is a gem in its own right, packed with witty wordplay and sophisticated hooks. [Sep 2025, p.105]

Joy In Repetition carries on where last year's augmentation of their debut album, Coming On Strongerer, left off. [Oct 2025, p.122]

Hasn't sounded so confident since his 90s commercial peak. [Oct 2025, p.131]

With style, charm and feeling, Lekman's lush valentines to love songs revel in all they survey. [Oct 2025, p.131]

Although Alex Farrar's production is slightly more refined, that only means vocalist Karly Hartzman's conspiratorial storytelling is crystal clear and the North Carolina band's musicianship is thrown in sharp relief. [Oct 2025, p.133]

These albums aren’t grand artistic statements, nor do they need to be. Nothing’s gonna touch him in these silver years (wah wah wah), and he’s tossing them out there for fun alone. He also sounds like he’s enjoying himself, chatting and joking, on the much-seen Montreux Jazz Festival gig from 2002, preserved here (and featuring a near-complete performance of Low). Montreux isn’t the only extra: Reality Live is also here, as well as Re:Call 6. .... His next two albums were grand artistic statements. [Oct 2025, p.116]

Dim Probs engages with deeply rooted truths. [Oct 2025, p.133]

This is intelligent easy listening in a band setting. [Oct 2025, p.132]

His most compelling album in almost a decade. [Oct 2025, p.131]

A career high to match her attention-grabbing 2016 debut. [Oct 2025, p.133]