The sound palette utilised here by Visible Cloaks (aka Spencer Doran and Ryan Carlile) is rich and nuanced, seemingly from a constant synthesized source, but the way the glassy, bell-like tones are stretched, shifted and smeared lends a hazy, metallic dreamlike edge to what might otherwise veer close to new age. [Jul 2026, p.60]

Dreijer's innate pop sensibility gives these tracks a fluorescently fresh bounce, which his choice of vocalists only enhances. [Jul 2026, p.64]

For all its internal violence, its vandalised sounds, structures and conventions, Lavender Networks has a kind of utopian charge - even if that utopia might be personal to Marcloid. [Jul 2026, p.63]

The tracks are up to the usual high standards of MOM creatively and in execution. [Jul 2026, p.63]

For this fourth full length, brothers Jean and Rémi Fossat and Canek Flores tighten their sprawling jams, contracting the space rock crescendos of 2024's Ilion into potent shorter songs. [Jul 2026, p.61]

Seefeel respond to our hyperdigitised zeitgeist with music evocative of a time when technology could still inspire wonder and electronic music was made by hand - when a loop was a fragile ouroboros of materiality. Basking in this vibe in our particular historical juncture feels deeply, affirmingly human. [Jul 2026, p.58]

The group, now a trio with the addition of bassist/banjoist Michael DeVito, have never blended their various interests so seamlessly and effectively. [Jul 2026, p.54]

An album built from emotion and defiance. [Jul 2026, p.52]

Whatever its message, Inferno is heavy, unsettling and as compelling as anything they've made before. [Jul 2026, p.52]

It's the first time that singing has appeared on a Horse Lords recording. But while shape note singing requires no electricity, Saylor and Guo's voices have been so liberally dipped in AutoTune that the words are indistinguishable. [Jul 2026, p.49]

While the trio bring together pop literacy and experimentation on an equal footing like, say, Broadcast or even Cornershop, there's not the sense of mystery or storytelling of those groups. [Jul 2026, p.46]

You could (quite reasonably) object that this is a re-enactment of a duo that never really existed. Yet, with the help of two slinky compadres - Eric Random on keys and guitar, Oliver Harrap on beats - the old tunes sound as sinister and infectious as ever. [Jun 2026, p.54]

They stick with the lysergic pastoral shuffling while subtly expanding the skillset. .... Carrie Keith is more Elisa Ambrogio than Stevie Nicks, admittedly. Elsewhere, her voice has the ghostly quality of Grouper's Liz Harris. When Dylan Sharp takes lead, it's a drawly affair. [Jun 2026, p.56]

Not a lot happens on the surface across the album's 37 minutes, but unlike so much ambient music these days, it's rich in internal detail, particularly the twin viola lines played by James Sanders, a veteran figure on Chicago's improvised music scene. [Apr 2026, p.46]

A lot of Licks And Diabolik Kicks sounds like demos or at least the skeletal framework of lggy Pop and James Williamson's Kill City. But James still has a great guitar tone. [Jun 2026, p.53]

The acclaimed spoken word poet works with a sterling cast of musicians, from co-production by Meshell Ndegeocello, Justin Brown and others, to vocals from Georgia Anne Muldrow ("Elsewhere"), Mereba ("Love Is A Choosing"), and Chicago rappers Mick Jenkins and Vic Mensa ("Melting Clocks"). [Jun 2026, p.69]

Bishop knows this stylistic territory like a master smuggler, and he delivers the goods. ]Jun 2026, p.52]

The rave and kosmische elements converge in some ways and pull apart in others, and Blumenfantasie is at its weakest is where the vibes are simply too misaligned. The combined effect the rhythms surging forward and the melody luxuriating outwards feels like trying to drive a car in too low a gear. [Jun 2025, p.65]

The dignified transitions between the different movements of Requiem get a little predictable at times, and its sense of tight control is anathema to the turmoil of Can's most memorable moments. But there is a poignancy in the weight and pressure of Requiem, and the way Schmidt tries to get all of its pieces in order. [Jun 2026, p.61]

The bulk of what's presented here is a relentless cathartic pummelling - a necessary soundtrack for the surreal ugliness of our current state of affairs. [Jun 2026, p.60]

This slippery set ends with Fras gazing into a void. The lyrics of "Das Göttliche Kind" were written using AI, and they find the singer chanting (in German) a strange messianic hymn. [Jun 2026, p.58]

Detached From The Rest Of You is James's most assured-sounding project to date, taking the sounds of scattered transmissions, broken signals, atomised moods and quiet voices and fashioning them into fragile and affecting songs of doubt and self-belief. [Jun 2026, p.56]

At only 25 minutes Anata is a brief but wonderfully intense and empowering experience that, like Wak'a, represents another foundational step in the Los Thuthanaka narrative. [Jun 2026, p.55]

Here, the answer is a fragrant sigh rendered by a chorus of collaborators on synth and harp, guitar, woodwinds and strings. .... Delightful Times wears its heart on its impeccably tailored sleeve. [Jun 2026, p.53]

A slow burning spectacular. [Jun 2026, p.52]

The slick professionalism of Let X=X may, superficially, seem antithetical to the realisation of exploratory art, but it's integral to the personal discipline that supports her incisive insights and formal ironies. [Jun 2026, p.52]

Knats's brass arrangements are complex with lengthy, sinuous melodic lines. .... Throughout the album, Robson is both gritty and witty, and while he details some struggling characters in hard times, his verse carries a message of positivity. [May 2026, p.59]

Lightning Bolt's Brian Chippendale and Brian Gibson unleash a set of five powerful tracks where their trademark drum and fuzz bass attack is more terra firma based than 00100's cosmic glide. That said, the addictive adrenalin rush they inject into tracks like "Wavers", "Cloud Core" and especially the more ritualistic sounding "Headless Horsefolk" suggests that both groups are spiritually entwined. [May 2026, p.60]