[The] third album's title is a funfair metaphor for life - sometimes scary, sometimes cathartic. The record stands firm in between. [Jul 2025, p.103]

Big names bookend this collection, courtesy of Johnny Cash's stately narrative on Johnny 99 and Steve Earle's pleading State Trooper (both songs originating from Bruce's Nebraska album), but the remaining 18 tracks are a mixed bunch. [Jul 2025, p.99]

It's as widescreen as anything he's ever done. He's back. [Jun 2025, p.105]

The mid-tempo results and on-the-nose lyrics can wear thin over 15 tracks, but Haim's melodic ease provides fitful featherweight uplift. [Jul 2025, p.104]

Where Rubin as co-producer, threaded some cohesion through the playful instrumental idiosyncrasies of Yiung and his long-running cohorts, Talkin To The Trees is, like the idea of a "chrome heart" itself, an uneasy hybrid. [Jul 2025, p.104]

Stupendous stuff. [Jun 2025, p.104]

Simz takes on several different genres, handling punk, samba and soul. The atmosphere is dark at times, but emotional honesty is always the priority: whatever style Simz tackles, she delivers it with impressive commitment. [Jun 2025, p.103]

As ever, a feeling abides of Cocker looking around him at the stuff of life – parenthood, divorce, marriage, loss, religion, class – and turning it into relatable and (yep) grown-up pop music. [Jun 2025, p.100]

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]

These 10 tracks will undoubtedly please longterm fans, even if there's little here that doesn't revisit already well-trodden ground. [Jun 2025, p.103]

MAD! is ‘just another’ adroit, bold, clever, distinctive, epigrammatic, fascinating, groundbreaking, highbrow, inventive, jocund, kaleidoscopic, lowbrow, maverick, nonconformist, observational, piquant, quizzical, ravishing, smart, tough, unconventional, versatile, witty, xenodochial, youthful, zeitgeisty Sparks album. [Jun 25, p.102]

Five albums in, These New Puritans are still finding new ways to startle and surprise. [Jun 2025, p.104]

While the lyrics are typically sharp, reflecting righteously on "Systemic Extortion", the parlous state of truth and more, the music unspools along almost cosily familiar tracks. [Jun 2025, p.105]

It's an album which rewards repeat visits, and whose creator sounds more vibrant than a man of his noble vintage has any right to do. [Jun 2025, p.104]

There's delicacy, not least on the softly breathless title track, but sometimes much more... Witch, with thumping drumbeat, turns things up a notch, and by the time we get to Rats we have full-blown rock. [Jun 2025, p.105]

It becomes quickly apparent that Weirdo is a more personal record - gut-punchingly so, at times - but for all the pain that inspired it, it feels like a celebration too. [Jun 2025, p.105]

Returning to their core of stupid fun. [Jun 2025, p.105]

The album presents a dynamic artistry, full of ideas and emotional power. [Jun 2025, p.105]

The abstract industrial textures complement tastefully and spookily rather than overwhelm in confrontational fashion. [Jun 2025, p.103]

The result is a record of ever-changing moods, navigated with lush detail, care and subtlety. [Jun 2025, p.103]

Iris Silver Mist gently wafts through the metal space of a listener. [Jun 2025, p.103]

Theis ruminative reminder that at their core they're equal parts inspired by Cohen and Bowie is a shrewd, often stirring step. [Jun 2025, p.103]

There's no slouches on this exquisite release. [Jun 2025, p.105]

These are new songs sung in a familiar voice. [May 2025, p.103]

Starts out as you might expect from an electronic album made by Yorke mid-pandemic: a sort of cold, edgy, distant electronica for a cold, edgy, distant world. .... But in-between, the album takes some unexpected turns. .... An album that resonates in uncertain times. [May 2025, p.104]

Everything works. .... Genius. [May 2025, p.105]

Despite the turbulent emotions of the lyrics, Teitelbaum keeps her sound tight and focused - giving the album enormous impact. [May 2025, p.103]

Theirs is a sometimes hazy, sometimes pristine blend of guitars and harmonies which respects the succour of story-telling and implies empowerment without heavy-handedness. [May 2025, p.105]

A suavely stirring reboot, thanks largely to a flair for cinematic style and melody. [Apr 2025, p.103]

While there are thematic similarities, There Is No Space For Us is sharper and more urgent than last year’s jazzy Stories From Time And Space. It has fewer songs. Half of these last around eight minutes, with multilayered instruments and effects galore, so nobody will feel shortchanged [May 2025, p.100]

The apple doesn't fall far, as they say, and a 62-year-old Femi is still raging against the system on Journey Through Life. [Apr 2025, p.102]

Don't let the bubblegum lightness obscure her visionary talent. [May 2025, p.105]

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

A bit more variation to the glistening soundscapes would have been welcome, as each track sounds rather like the others, but the core sound is a sweet one. [May 2025, p.103]

Anxious shows she had a genuinely effervescent talent, [May 2025, p.105]

Is often highly demanding yet repays the listener's commitment, revealing some fascinating, imaginative ideas. [May 2025, p.105]

Death Hilarious rattles through dizzying space-thrash, slow-riffin' stoner rock and Motorhead gone cosmic glam, with extended passages that defy the tag of "post-metal" because they're far too FUN. [May 2025, p.105]

Production from The War On Drugs' Adam Granduciel an layered, liquid backing from his bandmates makes the record soar and swoon, delivering the cracked grandeur these songs for the "overwhelmed and overtired" demand. [May 2025, p.105]

Loose Talk is a tightly crafted exploration of live unmoored. [May 2025, p.104]

The Darkness are big. It's rock that got small. [May 2025, p.103]

Keery frequently channels synth-rockers The Cars (Link finds Keery doing his best Ben Orr impression, while Delete Ya is reminiscent of Ric Ocasek); ELO's crisp pop (Charlie's Garden); and Cake-meets-OK Go jauntiness (standout Basic Being Basic). [May 2025, p.103]

The record works best at its most direct and personal. [May 2025, p.103]

Bejar's MO remains a richly cinematic pleasure: alluring, allusive and absorbing. [May 2025, p.103]

Send A Prayer My Way exceeds any expectations, no matter how lofty. [May 2025, p.102]

Adebimpe's solo bow is a bracingly personal blast of emotion, invention and radiant positivity. [May 2025, p.102]

Another step forward from a rare talent. [May 2025, p.102]

They still throw molotovs at the tabloid milieu's toxic rhetoric, decisiveness and xenophobia. Yet the music is, generally, more pensive and poetic and, thus, more powerful. [May 2025, p.103]

A Study Of Losses is ultimately a pleasant (if sometimes monotonous) release. [May 2025, p.103]

A work of powerful, gothic solemnity. [Apr 2025, p.105]

[Rathlin From A Distance] assert his niche in the near-minimalist canon. .... The Liquid Hour is a contrasting group of ambient electronica grooves. [Apr 2025, p.105]

Often embraces sophisticated dance-pop, led by the disco-kissed single Baby and the introspective, percolating Spirit. [Feb 2025, p.103]

Liberated by the lack of drums, the songs are fluid and exploratory, organic yet tinged with electronica. The feathery settings range freely, creating room for the variably thoughtful, reflective and playful lyrics to breathe. [Apr 2025, p.104]

An album that's found the singer engaged again, hungry to work and with a keen eye on quality control, given a creative kickstart by a younger talent whose reverence is tangible but never submissive. [Apr 2025, p.98]

Ultimately, it's an well-executed update on his storied history. [Apr 2025, p.102]

A homespun but thoughtfully energetic package which recreates the intimacy of its creation. [Mar 2025, p.104]

This is a delightful, delicate return. [Apr 2025, p.105]

There's a freaky, hippy-ish feel. [Apr 2025, p.101]

Certain tracks are closer to the power ballad moments of Skunk Anansie. Spellling's vocal skills remain impressive as ever. [Apr 2025, p.103]

He was at Slowhand's side for MTV Unplugged, and this Vinyl/download release has very much the same vibe. [Apr 2025, p.102]

Upliftingly different. [Apr 2025, p.102]

All of this music is a blast, an affecting display of the emotional textures which Collins has always dealt in so confidently, regardless of his health issues. [Apr 2025, p.100]

Cosmically cool. [Apr 2025, p.101]

These are stripped-back songs rich in detail and full of heart, studded with everyday moments and cultural references. [Apr 2025, p.101]

D'Addario’s melodic flair and virtuosity are on full, inviting display here. [Apr 2025, p.101]

A collection encompassing wistful dreampop (Football), evocative indie (Gumshoe (Dracula From Arkansas) and delicate introspection (Beautiful Girl). [Apr 2025, p.105]

Both halves are part of the ever-changing whole, ebbing and flowing, lyrics taking in the reality of life, from doing the shopping to grander visions. [Apr 2025, p.105]

These moonlit serenades and hand grenades are, as ever, ingenious. [Apr 2025, p.105]

Perhaps the strongest work yet from a unique talent. [Apr 2025, p.102]

Night Life is enigmatic, entertaining "dark" rock which will thrill those too young to be familiar with the work of Psychedelic Furs, Sisters of Mercy or Depeche Mode. [Apr 2025, p.102]

A record built around contemplations on healing and taking on your demons isn't always a soothing ride, though - at times the quirky freak folk elements come to the fore, somewhat shaking up the ground for meditation. Still, A Blade Because A Blade Is Whole is a bold and successful attempt to express oneself as he is. [Apr 2025, p.102]

That voice is wisely placed front and centre, where it bristles with energy, elevating the superior indie-rock of Fist Of Flowers and Knockin' Heart into heart-in-mouth anthems. [Apr 2025, p.102]

This isn't quite up there with his very best efforts, but it nevertheless includes some typically excellent (and poignant) reflections on human existence. [Apr 2025, p.102]

It's most intriguing when Lennox deviates from catchy pop nuggets. [Apr 2025, p.103]

A fluid, fully felt album of artfully crafted confessionals and catharsis. [Apr 2025, p.103]

Long-time Jacket-watchers might miss the wig-outs of their previous album, but the band’s range and power haven’t been compromised so much as integrated and harnessed. .... My Morning Jacket’s ongoing momentum feels earned and assured. [Mar 2025, p.102]

Tull’s strangely titled 24th studio effort breaks no new ground, yet would fit seamlessly into the band’s run of polished 80s albums like Crest Of A Knave and Rock Island. [Mar 2025, p.105]

Exhaustive and impressively curated. .... The "fundamentals" are a bit like Get Back without the laughs, exras surely reserved for the fanatics. Patience may lead to moments of revelation for intrepid listeners, though on the whole, these experiments demystify the process of songwriting itself. [Feb 2025, p.95]

Banks forsakes "overthinking" on this slick, sensuous mix of seductions and aggressions. [Mar 2025, p.102]

This is a dreamily delightful debut. [Mar 2025, p.105]

Little here quite matches the inquisitive methodologies of Allison's Consciousology, but this like-minded pairing's double vison is a beguiling place to lose yourself in. [Feb 2025, p.102]

Possessing a kinetic, free-spirited energy. [Mar 2025, p.103]

The theme of loss crops up regularly in the lyrics, as well. Loss of what? You name it. Sleep. Youth. Innocence. Life. Looks. The list goes on. None of this is to say that Here We Go Crazy doesn’t still rock hard, however. [Mar 2025, p.

Stylishly crafted. Manchester has an exciting new voice. [Mar 2025, p.105]

there's also a powerful, invigorating beauty about their best work yet, [Mar 2025, p.103]

Luminescent Creatures confirms Aoba as one of folk music's most consistently beguiling artists. [Feb 2025, p.102]

The album's experimental second half verges perilously on sketchy, but serene motorik closer Space Station Mantra offers a finely modulated sow of its maker's tastes and instincts. [Mar 2025, p.103]

Doves have endured intact, hopeful, and with a document to perseverance that is fitting for one of indie-rock’s great survivors. [Feb 2025, p.100]

Young Knives will thrill the faithful, but the lapsed should consider a catch-up, too. [Mar 2025, p.105]

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

Imaginative, reflective and confident, complemented by Thomas Healy and Samuel George Taylor's empathic production work, there's fine songwriting here. [Mar 2025, p.105]

Ollie Judge's vocal drawl may remain slightly too post-punk 101, but otherwise Cowards teems with ideas that land. [Mar 2025, p.105]

Welcome evidence of a still young band stretching themselves and maturing at a pleasing pace. [Mar 2025, p.105]

A wonderful debut that's heartbreaking and heartwarming in equal measure. [Mar 2025, p.104]

With Hayden's measured voice resembling a sigh from the grave and her plucked banjo brittle, When I Was In My prime exemplifies the record's sustained evocations of melancholy poise and elemental emotions. [Mar 2025, p.103]

Manages to bridge the gap between electronic experimentation and unabashed pop. [Mar 2025, p.103]

Their gentlest yet. [Feb 2025, p.104]

Handled with a care the world has refused them, these characters' tales make for devastatingly immersive listening. [Feb 2025, p. 103]

The songwriting and its deadpan delivery are still engaging but the overall feel is so understated as to be frustratingly bashful. [Feb 2025, p.103]