[Producer John "Spud" Murphy] brings a sense of space and simplicity to the music, the better to listen to Savage's warm, consoling voice and lyricism. [Jan 2025, p.105]

Roberts’ latest work is full of sonic space and warmth: an intimate and classically manifested set of tracks in which his melodic arpeggio fingerwork on the guitar is reflected by a soft and expressive voice.

In short, this compact collection is all quite interesting, and the Rashad Becker mastering makes it sound appropriately big, but it’s essentially one for the black turtleneck crowd, and sports soberly black artwork in order to ram the point home.

There’s the odd filler track, such as Phantom Bride--an experimental shriekathon, which even guitar parts from special guest Jerry Cantrell of Alice In Chains can’t save--but those aside, Gore is an album with the depth and emotional range that Deftones fans have come to expect.

There is heart here, despite the often airless production, deliberately claustrophobic, like the city that inspired it. Repeated listens make the gems shine brighter.... Yet other moments weather less well, sounding exactly like what they are: raw material worked up in just five days.

Distance Inbetween may not sound entirely like they are back on top form yet, but that’s not to suggest they’re far off.

Occasionally, the rhinestone pop of Carter’s earlier records sneaks into the mix, but for the most part this is a cheery celebration of the old timey tunes she remembers from when she was knee-high to a sharecropper’s shin.

Beautifully played, arranged to perfection, crystal clear recording and production with the vocals to the fore, but cushioned by immaculate musicianship. A classic of the genre.

[The Glowing Man] finds Swans ever so slightly more playful, and on the cusp of a new era.

This is intimate, timeless music performed with respect, tenderness and a heavy heart. Just another Unthanks record then.

This is exactly the album Gallagher should be making to remind people how good he can be.

A covert moral conscience underpins Williamson’s lyrics, in among the barbed and barbarous wit, the austere reportage, the vitriolic calumny and the pop-culture detritus: and, almost despite itself, the scattergun English Tapas can’t help but represent a telling state-of-the-nation address.

Six years on, Crack-Up is deeper, richer and more literate (starting with the title’s F Scott Fitzgerald debt), overflowing with ideas and destabilising tonal shifts. You might call it challenging, but Fleet Foxes were never likely to settle for anchoring comeback gestures of easy reassurance: rather, Crack-Up re-asserts their exalted tug on the heart by testing it at ever-greater distances from known shores.

For the most part, it’s hard to deny that Granduciel has succeeded in pimping his wheels for bigger journeys.

Sometimes, these songs are set to a more traditional backdrop--most notably the finger clicks and atmospherics of Sitting In The Stairwell--but for the most part, Lilies is no sonic reverse from the experimentation of Blackened Cities.

Goin’ Platinum, meanwhile, places him in Auerbach’s Easy Eye Sound studio with his house band--comprising guitarist Duane Eddy (yes, that one) plus Memphis Boys Gene Chrisman and Bobby Woods--and the results elevate his work even higher.

Not quite the music one might expect from the California coast where Segall grew up ... in fact, wildly at odds with just about anything. [Jan. 2024, p.99]

The title track is suitably dreamy and orchestrated and Ghost Of You has a hint of 70s John Cale in its enjoyably opulent chord sequences. There's still room for a little Welsh. [Sep 2025, p.103]

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]

At 68 minutes long and 16 tracks, its length becomes an issue during a third quarter which drifts. But as an exercise in breaking with consistency, I Am Easy To Find shows The National remain open to new possibilities after all.

Cale remains the star of the show, however, still crafting richly textured songs that don’t always go where you might expect them to, and refusing to pander to expectations.

While the musical performances are expert, the real appeal of the record lies with Friedberger.

Seven albums in, Pond-life is exhibiting clear signs of accelerated own-terms evolution.

With no hint of hype (but a lot of alliteration), The Usual Suspects is perhaps chef Wobble’s most appealing musical smorgasbord to date. It’s rare for one album to evince comparisons to both Lee Perry and Lalo Schifrin in style, or to Lonnie Liston Smith, Eddie Van Halen and Keith Moon with its musicianship.

If they skip between genres with less restlessness than on their best albums, the more focused precision presents its own strand of guile, with repeat plays revealing hidden depths. [Nov 2024, p.99]

It is sad and striking in beautiful waves. [Dec 2024, p.106]

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

A joyous release that's as eclectic as the vinyl selections in a first-rate junkshop, anchored by long serving ex-R.E.M. sideman McCaughey's exuberant yelp. [Aug 2025, p.105]