On his 11th album, that gloss is pared down, revealing just how well-crafted and intricate Bejar’s songs have become.

It's a hard-hitting statement album that raises the bar the band set with their previous offering to an insanely higher level. The grooves seem deeper, the horns punchier and the hooks catchier. [Oct 2024, p.100]

It's a hell of a noise for just three men to make with SLIFT effortlessly achieving white knuckle transcendence across eight very long tracks. [Jan 2024, p.99]

Most of these songs (with the exception of the spooked, slow burner Hawaii--featuring a fantastically creepy snigger on the intro--and the yearning, melodically twisting beauty of Give Me Strength) would find their way onto various Young albums of various vintages over the years, but there’s an accumulative effect in hearing performances of songs as powerful as Pocahontas, Powderfinger and Campaigner unadorned and fresh in their authors mind.

An album aglow with a clear-eyed confidence in hushed, honeyed quietude.

Badbea fair glows with uncomplicated affirmations, literally buzzing with Collins’ unique wasp-tone guitar interjections--a sound that no one else has come close to approximating.

Talking Heads: 77 is truly fascinating. From the demos and outtakes through the album to the live show, it demonstrates a young bad, without a route map, re-writing pop music. [Jan 2025, p.95]

[A] challenging, deeply odd at times and hugely enjoyable album.

In short, if you collect Jansch you won’t regret investing in these for a second. If you’re new to him, you’ll find a musical universe opening before you.

Ratboys have definitively made one of 2026's first brilliant albums. [Feb 2026, p.103]

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

With expressive restraint, key collaborators John Parish and Flood utilise instruments and field recordings to tactile effect, while leaving room for Harvey’s voice to resonate. The results hold their folk-horror secrets close and harbour dark suggestions on investigation.

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

Fittingly, Central Belters ends on the monstrous My Father My King, the band at their most uncompromising and vital.

The Overload is quite the debut.

Overall, the sound is pristine--it’s been remastered from the original 24-track tapes by esteemed engineer Paul Blakemore--and is accompanied by a thick booklet packed with essays.

A rich and dense record that rewards repeated, attentive listening. Yet despite the lyrical prowess on display, it's the incredibly detailed soundscape that really impresses. ... Grant is well on the way on creating a musical language all his own. [Jul 2024, p.102]

Bruised but still brawling, Relatives channels the horror and embattled hope of our times with a vital insistence.

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

Overall Sleep Well Beast is a more subdued record that shows evidence of their solo side projects having shaped their new direction. Those who know that a new National album often requires multiple listens to fully grow and reveal its charms and nuances will have their patience rewarded, as this is a beautiful piece of work.

Relentless is a masterly achievement, tasting of truth.

As he goes on to dig into toxic masculinity, his own ageing process and urban isolation (on the striking Safe & Well), Malcolm Middleton’s music is masterful, a combination of dense electronics and angry guitars which perfectly meet the mood of a fiercely current album.

I See You may represent a sonic shift towards the light, but The Xx are still singing dark songs concerned with introspection, heartache and regret. The more things change, the more they stay the same. Good.

Cosmically cool. [Apr 2025, p.101]

The album would have benefitted from a slightly wider variation in pace, with an additional up-tempo song or two. [Jun 2024, p.103]

Iif you’re not in on the joke, the album might fall flat sporadically. Still, taken with the right level of salt, ICC is a brave, bold and multi-faceted experience that can knock one’s socks clean off.

Overall, Bird Songs Of A Killjoy is the sound of someone recording exactly what they want to. Nothing here feels out of place, or sounds like a pastiche of another era. Bedouine has found herself a winning formula.