It’s a smart meld, digging up some real finds and gesturing towards a switched-on DJ mind. [Jan 2020, p.70]

It's a rich and layered work that refuses to be easily summed up. [Jan 2013, p.69]

The parsimoniously arranged, mostly acoustic sound of the record enhances its projection of intimacy. ... Callahan doesn’t entirely give up his old taste for blankly delivered disturbance; his memory of childbirth includes the blood. But he’s never sounded so open or so genuinely happy. [Jul 2019, p.48]

[Bachman] offers a pretty good idea of where he's coming from. If it sometimes feels like the stream of America pimitivist fingerpicking artists is neverending, Bachman does at least apply his digits to a variety of instruments. [May 2015, p.56]

As The Forest In Me progresses, it’s interesting to consider which sounds are made with purpose and which are accidental – what is substance and what is ephemeral. When locked in to Xylouris and White’s deeply connected sound, it can feel like great secrets are being offered up to the listener, but heard in passing it’s barely anything at all. What magic. [May 2023, p.59]

Judging by the music on And The Anonymous Nobody, their sights are set firmly on the future. [Sep 2016, p.49]

The result is, even more than Blunt's previous work, an enigmatic emotional tenor. [Nov 2014, p.62]

An exciting second album. ... Their otherworldly fetishisation of dystopian collapse is so exhilarating it’s almost tolerable. [May 2020, p.48]

Although the album is ostensibly live, the natural effects Galás can create in her voice places the album in an uncomfortably solitary place, as if the audience has been struck dumb, the piano close, Galás herself able to fly like a spirit to any point within the church’s space. [Apr 2017, p.53]

Optometry is a success in terms of both sound and vision. [#221, p.53]

The sense of loss and longing becomes so physical at points that rather than respond, it's simpler to go with it until the ride ends in a drained silence. [#219, p.72]

As half-familiar figures and distorted memories of long forgotten acid mood jams drift in and out of view, one is reminded that sometimes the most exotic species are those living in our own minds. [Sep 2016, p.50]

Kamaru expertly composes in a broad field. The sounds he favours are expansive on their own, but together they narrate an impossibly vast space, offering a lingering glimpse into the composer's ability to work within constraints. [Mar 2026, p.52]

Mandel's combination of virtuosity, shopworn aesthetics and lustful neediness is ultimately winning. [Jan 2017, p.73]

The [guest] musicians have the good sense to know when to let Chesnutt's dry-leaf vocals and muted acoustic guitar carry the songs, and when to swell up and bring heightened Gothic intensity to the feelings of melancholy and dread. [Oct 2007, p.55]

This is a beautiful record, but I wish it had a little more chaos in it. [Oct 2008, p.58]

As interesting for what it carries over from the past as for the future it foreshadows. [Feb 2013, p.47]

Refusing facsimile, Galás’s music attains its weight and power not from its oddity but from its humanity. [Apr 2017, p.53]

Flamagra is still more accessible than either Quiet or Dead! and this is most likely due to Ellison’s choice of vocal collaborators. [Jul 2019, p.49]

Micachu & the Shapes have yet to blunt their edge. [Jul 2012, p.60]

John Foxx’s last few records have been both a late career second wind and a shameless romp through 20th century art rock tropes – but here it’s done with a level of glee and fuck-it energy that makes even the obvious references hard to resist. [Sep 2020, p.64]

The refreshing result being space music that is neither soporific nor dystopian. [July 2013, p.54]

Earl has delivered a remarkably clear and impressive record. [Sep 2016, p.52]

The entirely instrumental Deep Fried Grandeur is too cohesive to be a mere jam, and even though Walker’s bandmates – drummer Frank Rosaly, bassist Andrew Scott Young, and guitarist Brian Sulpizio – are skilled improvisors, the performance remains centred by rock pulses throughout. [Mar 2021, p.60]

Gabriel’s not trying to be clever here, he’s being sincere. And because I favour savoury over sweet, I can strongly recommend the Dark-Side Mix which has more room to breathe, a fatter bottom end and weirder edges all round. [Jan/Feb 2024, p.84]

His whispery delivery on "Sonkind" over buzzsaw synths evokes Nine Inch Nails, and Monstera Black's sweetly resigned vocals on "Rabbit Hole" hit like a lullaby in an abattoir simulator. "During Elevation" is punctuated by the throat-catch of tears but somehow, it's all still squelchy, pounding good fun. [Nov 2023, p.63]

London based trio The Comet Is Coming unleash their finest yet, letting rave electronics, jazz funk and a dancefloor directed low end meet and mingle and mash, again suffusing everything with a positivist but markedly apocalyptic mysticism. [Jan 2020, p.71]

Sunn O))) tend to proceed like a river frozen down to glacial subsonics, or molten rock creeping slowly across parched land, and have referred to the processes of nature in their work before. Here, however, they feel directly linked to some universal essence of landscape. [May 2026, p.57]

Deerhoof are as playful, inventive and delightful as ever. [May 2025, p.63]

With its crashing together of narcotic pop, serialism and motorik rock, Find Me Finding You is in a similar mould to Sadier’s compatriot Pierre Henry’s concrète pop nugget Psyche Rock. Or, closer to home, Stereolab. [Apr 2017, p.55]

Slikback pours the joy of a new marriage and baby into this collection of chaotic and innovative tunes. [Sep 2025, p.58]

False Idols could be seen as a retreat to his comfort zone, a style he's already mastered, But the terrain he staked out during his days in The Wild Bunch, and later with Massive Attack, was far more fertile than many give it credit for, and its influence resonates through a spectrum of subsequent subgenres. [Jun 2013, p.55]

Da Mind of Traxman Vol 2's density feels cryptic, a series of questions posed to listeners and the floor. [Jun 2014, p.57]

Sadier's faith in the replenishing properties of silence has reactivated her production line of perfect pop miniatures. [Jul 2012, p.62]

The results are deceptively impressive. [Sep 2016, p.54]

The songs have an irresistible quality of self-reflection. [Oct 2016, p.60]

What's so delightful is how everything instantly clicks back into place for the listener who is familiar with Dab's work, how accessible and pleasurable his sound is for anyone coming to it for the first time. [Mar 2018, p.46]

In truth, what World most resembles is Mclusky circa 2002 – the same explosive energy, the same alarming imagery and sarcastic tone, but directing their exasperations in different directions. [May 2025, p.56]

This one hits the mark more confidently, with all the earthiness she once brought as foil to John Martyn's aerier levitations. [Apr 2014, p.57]

Those expecting a return to the group's former electronic shock treatment will be sent reeling by the subtlety of this latest release, where ceaseless sonic bombardment has been replaced with a more studied and intricately forged set of almost-songs and mangled machine shop melodies. [Jun 2013, p.56]

The methods of its creation are the most interesting thing about Melk En Honing, but the music has impact and staying power. [Aug 2015, p.48]

The closing track "Temptation" proves that electronic producers who refuse to be typecast are the ones who keep the music exciting. [Aug 2012, p.44]

Valentine has gotten undeniably skilled at being slick; even at its weirdest, this record is quite easy on the ears. ... A welcome tonic. [Apr 2022, p.51]

Tahoe is a record for after the fall, after the collapse, a compulsive soundtrack for an age that is both post-natural and post-virtual. [Mar 218, p.46]

A Common Truth is far more intimate, focusing on arrangements and whispered songs erupting around Foon’s distinctly emotive cello. Due to the shifting blend of fear, despair, togetherness, hope and anger that characterises the battle for climate change awareness, her song cycle aptly seeps its way into all nooks and crannies of the emotional spectrum. [Apr 2017, p.55]

Real feast of words expressing a way more convoluted and realistic portrait of a conflicted British psyche. [Jul 2019, p.55]

An even deeper dig into the wound exposed on her debut. The album is drenched in divinity, its consideration of good and evil as polar concepts is biblical, elevating vengeance to a God-given imperative. Her classically trained voice deals in spiritual cadences, and commands gothic instrumentation of strings and drones. [Aug 2019, p.58]

Each compositional element is perfectly judged, not a note wasted, and it's very beautiful indeed. [Jun 2013, p.61]

Ultimately, these elements mostly serve to contextualize some beautifully conceived programmed music within an edgier club culture. [Jul 2012, p.62]

Callahan is a true original. [#255, p.65]

Masculin Féminin documents a youthful band impulsively pouring noise into rock, free of machismo or the urge to ape what was then hip. [Oct 2016, p.61]

Both NV and Deradoorian maintain their musical identities but balance each other’s urges with concision to the point where the record emerges as a holistic, kaleidoscopic transmission from a duo at play with each other and with the possibilities conjured by their shared will. [Jul 2023, p.51]

What's Your Sign is a brash, vigorous session that maintains discipline and freedom in equal measure. [Jan 2017, p.74]

Measurable, replicable perfection has never been Smith's raison d'etre and Re-Mit--their 30th studio album in 37 years--possesses all the eccentricity of the group in their early pomp. [Jun 2013, p.49]

This part of the past is not so much a source of rare metals to be strip-mined, but a seed bank of rare or lost varieties. [Jul 2012, p.63]

Refusing to conform to any one style, Die Spitz surprise throughout with songs like "Voir Dire" and "American Porn" that lash out and sting, alongside the seemingly endless looping guitar stutter that accentuates the glorious roar of "Down On It". [Dec 2025, p.60]

The thick consistency of America is of a different sort: lusher, more polished, wider in scope, almost symphonic in its conception and structure. [Aug 2012, p.43]

Walker's latest project effectively balances the saccharine with hovering fear, demonstrating his continued capacity for writing cinematic music invested with strange drama. [Sep 2016, p.57]

Melnyk’s playing has a rare capacity to energise and exhilarate, and in that respect Fallen Trees does not disappoint. [Jan 2019, p.82]

Trap Or Die 3 is a uniformly strong effort. [Jan 2017, p.77]

A striking document of Swans' current live form. [Jul 2012, p.64]

Beautiful. [Jan 2022, p.64]

Strange Passion's careful curation and lavish sleeve notes give a belated but generous and welcome salute to an overlooked epoch in musical history and the passions it provoked. [Aug 2012, p.52]

Every lick of synth, guitar or bass, let alone the vocal lines, is an earworm. [Nov 2014, p.63]

As Four Tet, Hebden has devised a musical identity that is distinctly different from his work with Fridge, but both projects share a passion for defying boundaries. [#231, p.60]

A great part of the pleasure of Banga is revelling in the medium conveying the message. For the most part, the album is a smooth listen, its revelation couch within relaxed AOR-ish arrangements. [Jul 2012, p.64]

There are plenty of surprises on Bright New Disease, and much to admire. Joined together, the essences of each band are recognisably present, their unique flavours seemingly intensified and emboldened by the other. Enjoyably diverse and satisfyingly coherent. [Jul 2023, p.48]

The audio material is an illuminating reflection of the group’s transition from pop copyists to psychedelic adventurers, en route to becoming champions of rock’s progressive faction. [Jan 2017, p.82]

Pick A Day To Die pieces together Sunburned fragments dating back to the late 2000s, resulting in an endearing zigzag of moods. [Mar 2021, p.58]

It scores over its predecessor with a refreshing spontaneity and an illustrious guest cast. [Jan 2015, p.65]

Everything here is balanced in a way known to collectivist jazz but unknown to egotist pop, and it makes for something refreshingly human, engagingly communal and ultimately convivial. [Oct 2023, p.56]

They were the first on the block with this particular subgenre and are still in front of a massive paxk following in their wake. [Dec 2008, p.72]

Droneflower is both the most persuasive release Nadler has put her name to since 2014’s July and one of Brodsky’s finest efforts outside of Cave In. It gestures at a beautiful future, should the duo choose to pursue it. [Jul 2019, p.52

A set of powerfully written and unfussily executed songs. [#248, p.50]

An unequivocally rocking set on which Chasny is backed by his former group Comets on Fire. [Aug 2012, p.56]

WWWINGS deliver an album that has the rumbling force of feet stomping in unison but which is finished with a hi-tech sheen. [Sep 2016, p.57]

It isn't always the role of political music to come up with solutions. But nothing could be more urgent than the questions SLeaford Mods pose. [Apr 2014, p.58]

A set of intelligently performed rock tunes distinguished by Karen O's smart and smarting lyrics. [#232, p.74]

We Have Dozens Of Titles is a view into a fascinating kind of processing, digesting and inventing. The results exist outside of even microgenre, flummoxing the desire to categorise at every turn. [Jun 2024, p.68]

Consists of a reasonable ten discrete songs that feature a manageable number of guest vocalists. ... His focus on hybridity and virality keeps his work fresh and intriguing. [Oct 2020, p.52]

Without bass or rhythmic anchor, the pair create a sense of immeasurable depth, as though listeners bob helplessly on the surface above an unfathomable abyss; a feeling heightened by how Gordon’s vocals often resemble abject cries into the void. [Dec 2016, p.55]

Compact but effective EP release. “Mandrill” buzzes with metallic heft and 8-bit zips; “Capuchin” breaks into a melody that practically bounces. Gore is obviously having fun here. [Mar 2021, p.63]

The quartet’s albums represent a live sound that applies the means of a beat combo to frankly ecstatic ends via tuning while their mixtapes offer a more diverse and fragmentary accounting of collective interests. The twain finally meet on The Common Task. [Apr 2020, p.56]

Keef [has] formidable talent for writing hooks (and tracks) that are both naggingly catchy and strangely joyless. [Feb 2013, p.61]

With unobtrusive, yet telling contributions from friends including Meg Baird, The Cure’s Lol Tolhurst and Slowdive’s Rachel Goswell, she conjures up a bittersweet sense of location and changing times through six pieces that are subtly complementary, in their character and impact, meriting comparison to the finely nuanced ambient soundtracks of Angelo Badalamenti. [Jan/Feb 2024, p.96]

The utter rubbishness of Britain, its cruelty, inequality and blatant cultural crapness is once again perfectly captured by Sleaford Mods, a couple of middle aged blokes who are as grizzled and worn as the stuff Williamson shout-sings about. [Apr 2017, p.57]

Throughout the album there’s a palpable refusal to push forward a frontperson – the vocals are truly shared, so Coriky merge and blend around each other and it’s this intuitively generated mutual conciseness that’s so gorgeous to hear. [Aug 2020, p.53]

Just as Double Negative offered a catharsis of the confusion and despair that many felt in 2018, as a whole HEY WHAT promises hurt and healing in equal measure, its abrasive textures the companion to undeniable warmth, tenderness and optimism. [Sep 2021, p.57]

Ultimately, [“418 (Stairs In Storms)”] cannot avoid ending with a muscular crescendo, but those preceding moments of tranquillity provide the pinnacle of another excellent Mollestad record.

Glynnaestra feels like the project has moved beyond causal collaboration into something fully formed. [Jul 2013, p.56]

At times the tracks become as texturally rich and contradictory as those of Actress on 2014's Ghettoville. [Sep 2016, p.58]

No sound is extraneous, every lick is needed, a minimalist musicianship that focuses you on Jeff Tweedy’s heartbreaking words. Their best in ages. [Jan 2020, p.71]

What makes Lodestar a genuine progression from what has gone before--is the sinking and deepening of her voice. It is still neutral enough to act as the conduit it always has done, but the milkmaid’s lilt has been transformed into a maven’s burden. [Dec 2016, p.55]

The synthetic sounds are more liquid and alive, the rhythms more nonchalantly funky, the unfolding narratives more gripping than previous work. [Dec 2012, p.64]

MBV is a successful return. [Mar 2013, p.49]

She’s doing something unique and off-kilter on her debut album. She plays analogue synth and pedal harp, both essentially dreamy instruments, and her compositions are like gentle blends of spiritual jazz and ambient music, not that far from Alice Coltrane’s devotionals, if remixed by The Orb and minus the chanting. [Jan 2022, p.71]

Guero turns out to be much stronger than its provenance suggests. [#256, p.66]