The torch chanteuse of yore is still much in evidence, but with some pleasing detours into more varied terrain. [Aug 2024, p.105]

The results occasionally come within touching distance of essential. .... Yet more often than not it resembles a New York-flavoured spin in the retro coffee table house of Zero 7 or Lamb. [Aug 2024, p.105]

True, the stoner-rock Passengers interrupts the flow - but not for long. Ironically, it makes for Kasabian's most epic album since Empire 18 years ago. [Aug 2024, p.104]

My Light, My Destroyer is the work of a master storyteller, capable of inhabiting characters with real empathy and noticing evocative details. [Aug 2024, p.104]

Harmonics is another bold step in the world of the grown-up youth club. [Aug 2024, p.104]

X's unspools warm, rarefied variants on his meticulously maintained minimalism. [Aug 2024, p.103]

Overall, the record harks back to past glories, but it's doubtful it would have reversed his fortunes quite so dramatically as the Rubin makeover. [Aug 2024, p.103]

The intimate piano ballad Poor Symmetry, indie-pop of Sign Of A Past Life and the anthemic Wild Geese, Wild Love (think Cat Power fronting War On Drugs) emphasise her versatility. [Aug 2024, p.103]

It’s a whole lot of matter for Mind, but it acts as a fascinating documentary, as does the extensive, detailed book. What are the takeaways? It’s like finding a hidden treasure in the middle of a catalogue that is well-known but only partially adored; Out The Blue, Aisumasen (I’m Sorry) and I Know (I Know) are deeply confessional and equal to anything Lennon has ever written. [Aug 2024, p.90]

The second disc hosts material that deemed "mellower". All that means is it's slower in tempo than the earlier tracks and still heavy as fuu-ck. [Jul 24, p.105]

From the very start, the listener is made to feel as if they're in the room with the band, privy to an unfiltered outpouring of creativity. [Jul 2024, p.106]

A remarkable and imaginative album. [Jul 2024, p.106]

There’s an ethereal feel, something that transcends the boundaries of folk, a gentleness yet something more, helped by the guitar of Richard.

The odd, bleeping internal monologue My Name Is Duglas (Don't Listen To What They Say) aside, it's classic Bandit country. [May 2024, p.102]

Heady stuff that pays imaginative tribute to the duo's shared Latin American diasporic heritage. [Jul 2024, p.105]

Miracle Focus testifies to the revivifying powers of curiosity and communion with invitingly expansive, epiphanic fervour. [Jul 24, p.107]

Among the highlights are Carla's Beads, with its enveloping synth swirls and ringing percussion, and the mellow ambient jazz of Bi-Location. [Jul 2024, p.107]

There's a decent hardcore punk song, Two Fists. Elsewhere, there's too much mid-tempo chug to make this album fully adrenalised. [Jul 2024, p.105]

The guitar-laden Switch and psychedelic Submarine are familiarly winning alternative pop. Everywhere else, Templeman bounces over into muscular funk, propelled by his new startling falsetto and the kind of meaty basslines that have kept Phoenix in business for 25 years. [Jul 2024, p.105]

This album digs beneath the taut skins of White's kit, charting a mutually invigorating relationship between player and instrument, alternating from visceral frolics to pointillist sensitivity at the drop of a beat. [Jul 2024, p.107]

He's ultimately birthed another milestone. [Jul 2024, p.107]

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]

There's a lot to admire about Hovvdy's quiet wonder - and a lot to skip over too. [Jul 2024, p.105]

The album bristles with tunefulness and class. [Jul 2024, p.105]

Over the course of 12 bittersweet tracks, it becomes clearer and clearer just how lucky we are to be around for any time at all. [Jul 2024, p.105]

"Time's wasting out," she sings, but Below The Waste, cultivates a bracingly resourceful mindset. [Jul 2024, p.105]

Their most ambitious to date. Presented as an old-school double album split into four thematic sides, it serves (by design or otherwise) as a thoughtful precis of the band's 20-year history. [Jul 2024, p.105]

POPtical Illusion is another engaging set that rewards repeat plays on account of the inventive electronic textures and Cale's reflective, often politically tinged lyrics. [Jul 2024, p.104]