"We're blossoming," she sings of a new romance, but she could easily be talking about herself and her artistic trajectory, having pulled off a daring makeover with such style. [Apr 2026, p.104]

Non-Believers offers up a more fragile, exposed side of the songwriter. While the catchy, jangly hooks that have defined Superchunk for so long are present on these 10 tracks, they feel more tentative, gentle--even slightly unsure of themselves.

Given the source material, There’s A Riot Going On was never going to be the sonic revolution that Sly & The Family Stone-referencing title might suggest, but it is an invitingly disparate sound collage that will seduce fanboys and newbies alike.

This is a remarkably confident, intimate and rocking debut. Grunge fans need not necessarily apply.

A welcome return to form. [Mar 2024, p.105]

While the album is relatively low-key and meandering, that’s arguably what we want from The Orb--and hence it might just be the one you’ve been waiting on from them for 20 years.

With enough reference points for old heads to spot and enjoy, but enough invention and melody to stand entirely on its own two feet, To The Bone--with its tales of paranoia and love in the fake news era--is thoroughly recommended.

Get Sunk is a return to the energy of early National. The driving, New Order-indebted single Bonnet Of Pins is a case in point, all vivid and surreal wordplay delivered deadpan till pent-up frustrations burst through. [Jun 2025, p.103]

Deerhoof's revolutionary rumpus feels like a beacon of open-minded light for dark times. [may 2025, p.103]

[I’ll Be Killing You This Christmas is] a rare misstep that might return to haunt him, and detract from the less raw protests on another solid album of satirical sideswipes.

Make no mistake, this is a chilling album, but one with just enough of Haines’ own addictive madness to charm. Best take cover.

Yet, while neo does hark back to the logger-heavy, plaid-clad revolution from the Pacific North-West, it rarely sounds wearily derivative.

Numero have sifted through its cremains and found many precious relics.

Murry reaches their greatest heights on Wrong Man, which treats a relationship’s death as a foregone conclusion to gorgeously unfiltered effect. It’s little wonder the evocatively scraped strings and precarious piano of When God Walks In barely hold themselves together, though Murry’s capacity for clarity is equally pronounced.

Dessner's patronage will hopefully propel her to the Radio 2 attention such consistently insistent, early evening festival potential singalongs deserve. [Jul 2024, p.104]

It feels almost improvised half the time, but there's a quiet, escalating intrigue to their murmurings. [Mar 2026, p.105]

Another highly enjoyable country set that sees Ringo wear many (cowboy) hats. [Jun 2026, p.103]

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]

[Phoenixes is] given layers of treated guitar and robotic backing vocals, creating a stillness that ramps up the emotional effect of the song. It’s indicative of the qualities of the album as a whole; potent stuff.

Anger suits Garbage’s most recognisable mode, often on forceful display here: dense, layered noise, all buzzsaw guitars, harsh electronics and industrial clatter. Yet there’s sonic variety.

While his delivery remains pleasingly rough roud the edges, Lewis has come a long way since initially finding recognition as part of the “antifolk” scene. Pleasing aspects of Manhattan are the lengthy likes of Back To Manhattan.

McCombs’ work can be a stylistic patchwork, charming and sparkling in its variety. But across what it’s fair to call just 10 tracks, and with an over-arching theme, it feels constrained, perhaps waiting in the station.

Smash The System is another complex smorgasbord that fans of Haines’ music and sense of humour will lap up. And that non-concept thing might just be another arch attack.

Lighthouse sees Crosby at his most stripped-back; rather than attempting to update his sound to suit the times it feels as if he has distilled it, leaving something akin to Essence Of Crosby, despite being crafted in cahoots with Michael League of Snarky Puppy.

While the concept may be suitably unhinged and the music boundary pushing, little of it ultimately sticks in the mind.

It makes for an uneven, unbalanced experience that, sadly, is better on paper than in practice.

Invite The Light is music to soundtrack late-night drives on LA freeways and, when it works, it’s sublime stuff.

A sparse recreation of her hymnal Second Sight from a previous album, This Coming Gladness, sums up the sound: unorthodox, riveting. Fantástico.

The result sometimes trips messily over its eagerness, but it’s also a sharp and bright, clever and fresh debut, with good ideas usually on-hand for whenever the intended effect isn’t fully banked.

Humanz’s flaw is what gives it its energy: like the scattered flashes of (mis) information flying out from every handheld and household device, the album throws it all at you in one gloriously delirious barrage that has no real anchor. Richly energised and energising, it’s not only infectious for the listener.

It’s a grower--and a cunningly deceptive one at that.

The Coincidentalist, recorded by M Ward and Sonic Youth’s Steve Shelley, often sounds inauthentic and contrived.

Pylon is propulsive, girder-heavy and demands to be played loud. But like the best of their oeuvre, from early single Requiem to last album MMXII, it features chord progressions of intense melodic beauty like glimmers of the divine shining through the depths of hell.

While the album’s rear end succumbs to repetition, redemption arrives in the wistful Day Glow Fire and a bright-eyed duet with Debbie Harry on Shadows, where romantic doubts are treated as a spur to dream bigger.

Anderson says the album’s 10 songs form a loose narrative of journeys and experiences coming to an end, yet at the same time Pearlies points to a bright and fulfilling solo future.

2t2 is divided between rhythmic and meditative material, and it is never less than enthralling. [Aug 2025, p.105]

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

The overarching sentiment of the album - that development isn't linear, and healing is often cyclical. [Oct 2025, p.130]

The arrangements may never veer too far from recognisable country templates, but Shaver imbues everything with great charm and wit.

Bird changed up the backing group from his previous three records and picked a producer he worked with during 2005 solo breakthrough, The Mysterious Production Of Eggs. The result of all this makes Are You Serious arguably his best, at least since Eggs.

Ultimately, it may not include anything that will endure as long as some of his Wings classics, let alone the Fabs’, but it’s a powerful and persuasive album from a man whose innate knack for melody is still firing.

The songs sound more muscular than on record, swollen by live strings; Cripple & The Starfish, from his debut, is a standout.

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

Like all Los Lobos albums this owes little to anything else, the band single-mindedly going their own way--and getting away with an extraordinary collection.

The misty, murky sound he strives for, regardless of its influences or genre, works best when a voice or idea makes itself known clearly, and though those moments are few, their inclusion just about justifies the whole project.

The mixing of the waters, swirling around Merritt’s pure, soaring vocals, produces a record that’s elegant and intelligent, only country in the same way that Emmylou’s own later work (think Wrecking Ball) could be said to be.

Fleeting pleasures aside, the focus becomes wayward afterwards.

Lacking a common language (they were forced to communicate via sign language) the sessions--recorded in a garage on the outskirts of Lisbon--have nevertheless resulted in a winning hybrid of styles.

Bereft of freestyle ivory plonks, You’re Not Alone captures WK doing what he does best: that utterly distinctive fusion of metal riffs, Springsteen bombast, pristine ABBA hooks and choruses bigger than Hercules’ biceps.

The cumulative impact on Mother Of The Village and Take Me Home (featuring the Beaufort Male Choir) is potent: packing robust poignancy, these lullabies for working-class pride deep-mine history with great storytelling skill, sensitivity--and, pointedly, a kick of sustained political relevance.

Bardo Pond often shine brightest at their most long-form and Volume 8’s closing track is a case in point. The only conceivable criticism that could aimed at And I Will is that it winds down after just 17 short minutes.

He lends his delicate, soulful voice to just one track--a delightful cover of Paul Simon’s American Tune--and the rest of the time is heard on piano. There are several unaccompanied solo pieces, including his own composition, Delores Boyfriend, which is rendered in an ornate style that encapsulates the New Orleans sound.

Not every track is brilliant, but Petty’s intention to make a rock album has been realised for the most part.

A great record in short and well worth hunting out.

It crackles with a credible contemporary energy and parades a succession of brutally accessible would-be hits courtesy of Still Hurt, Insecurity and the soaring, Hüsker Dü-ish Tides.

The band doesn’t come off sounding as distinctive as Gane’s most praised ensemble, but there’s certainly potential in abundance.

There is perhaps a great album here. But amid this 17-track sprawl, it’s hard to find.

With its subtle and strange arrangements, Be Ok is a most engaging listen.

Beneath the noisy sludge and distorted mire of these six tracks there lives a gorgeous, golden majesty.

He writes songs that could be straight out of Allen Toussaint and Dr John’s repertoire. It’s intentional--both are touchstones for the cult hero, and he uses them well, conjuring his own sound from them.

Sing It High deserves investigation, and LITA do Tumbleweed more than justice, documenting a time when risks were actually backed, regardless of whether they paid off.

His latest set sees no let-up on the quality, yet feels a lot more home-made than 2015’s The Boombox Ballads.

Eight songs from an artist with 20 years of amazing in his back pocket is way too frugal, but as a proper introduction to Karl Blau, it’ll do for now. More please.

Their eighth studio LP, is fearsome stuff. Tracks like The Grind, Lung and A Slow Reaction display perfectly pitched aggression to fine effect but Unsane are at their best when they allow a circular groove to really take hold and lock down for the duration. Not all is quite as compelling--Distance and Avail feel rather leaden, but this remains a fierce listen.

The level of consistency remains high throughout a 14-track running order encompassing the belligerence of Evil Never Dies, and the title track, mid-tempo maulers (Lone Wolf) and epic closer Sea Of Red.

After a handful of stirring ballads set to create further communal festival experiences, Here Is Everything peaks with Magic, golden funk worthy of Odelay-era Beck. The album cover depicts singer Jules Jackson during her pregnancy: her band have given birth to something magical here.

The voice charms at every turn, brimming with personality on what might just be the party album of the year.

Veering between raw intimacy and a suffocating world-weary sigh, O'Brien mostly gets the balance right. [Jun 2024, p.103]

It's a beautiful album, finely written and exquisitely executed. [Dec 2024, p.106]

This uniquely personal set will resonate with the wide fanbase she's gathered. [Aug 2025, p.103]

Her eighth and arguably most satisfying musical adventure to date. [Sep 2025, p.92]

It benefits from listening in stillness rather than on a speedy walk. [Oct 2025, p.132]

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]

Remarkable album. [May 2026, p.101]

This reckless abandon practically screams out of La Isla Bonita, but the record falls short of total reinvention.

The album itself feels like a lost Oldham classic, it’s a joy to hear him tackling some of the more obscure corners of his repertoire in such an intimate fashion.

III has a highly melodic crossover feel that is somewhat different to many of the players’ other, grittier projects, although the beats remain a little itchy. Songs about crowd mentality and medieval jesters are novel in theme but overthought and bombastically dramatic in their lyrical phrasing.

Despite all the cosmic Englishness on display, Furfour also boasts a deeper side that offsets the saccharine.

Writing to script, the Scottish post-rockers have produced a powerful and fitting score, though as an album in its own right, it lacks the cohesion of their previous soundtrack, to French drama Les Revenants. It’s no cause for dread, but it’s one that doesn’t quite live up to its promise.

With a smooth, olde worlde sound, appealing melodies and impressionistic imagery, the album, at best, conjures up affecting vignettes and, at worst--Giant’s Rolling Pin, about the NSA/Edward Snowden affair--borders on the twee.

Understated is an absolute triumph, matching any of the high-water marks of his past career.

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]

While Vernon's use of autotune is excessive at times, his stripped-down cover of Mahalia Jackson's A Satisfied Mind reminds us that it can be a compelling stylistic choice. [Jun 2026, p.101]

A high watermark in the canons of all involved.

Second LP Seems Unfair offers the kind of melodic prowess, lyrical wit, sensitivity and social awareness that harks back to the days of Felt, Hefner and The Smiths with the band capable of effervescent, wonky guitar attacks more in keeping with the early material of Stateside benchmarks Weezer, Pavement and more recently, Waxahatchee.

These are not easy songs to sing, but Harvey, more than anyone, gets to the heart of darkness within even the most luscious Gainsbourg arrangement.

The group are at their best when melding reverb-soaked, crunchy multiple guitar layers, playing with dynamics atop a kind of jungle-drum thump.

The messages of richly-orchestrated missives like Gun Clap Hero deserve to be heard; hopefully their contagious settings will take them to the masses.

Tracey Thorn is a singular talent, and in a career that spans over four decades she’s achieved much. Record though has set a new benchmark.

A magnificently moving elegy in musical form. [Nov 2024, p.101]

Strange Life makes for a very agreeable comeback. [Feb 2026, p.101]

The problem isn’t simply that he starts the album fixating on his reflection in Mirror and rarely budges. It’s that without a foil to contribute drama or dynamism to his doldrums, Pierce’s echo chamber of mithering is all-consuming.

Far more than background music, this is a reasonably static, and yet moving, listen.

With BJ Cole on pedal steel, backing vocals by Gillian Welch and Bernie Leadon alongside numerous other top notch contributors, there is no doubting the quality of the music on offer.

An engrossing work in which the organic and electronic intermingle to create complex layers of sound; Felder invites you to explore its singular terrain.

A series of Eloe Omoe’s vein-poppingly furious bass clarinet solos follows before a period containing some of Ra’s most unhinged moog playing. June Tyson is given the responsibility of playing interstellar pied piper before a six-minute stretch of keyboard bleeps and whirrs that sonically alternate between an arcade game racing car, space ship and vacuum cleaner. A tough act to follow and in truth the rest of this collection suffers in comparison.

Armageddon In A Summer Dress is brimming with musical and lyrical invention. Sensational. [Mar 2025, p.105]

The album has a twin-guitar roar urging forward fast, furious and catchy numbers - (How How How) How Do You Wanna Be Loved - but there's also a thoughtful side, a deft delicacy on tracks such as Ramona. [Apr 2026, p.98]