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]

Heavy, expressive and uncompromising, both Wrecked and Analog Fluids Of Black Holes gesture at fresh, purposeful possibilities for noise and experimental music. [Nov 2019, p.49]

Few among us can craft an album as seamlessly fine as Fade. [Feb 2013, p.51]

These processes are slow, sometimes painful and on multiple scales, but with each track and each album, the producer is changing our understanding of sound, data, memory and our own bodies in musical space. [Jun 2016, p.56]

The unreachable past collides with a dark, unpredictable future, leaving the listener with a pit in the stomach and endless respect for the way that Ishibashi has upped her game. [Jan 2019, p.67]

This is Ambarchi at his most user-friendly, waxing nostalgic for a music that never was. [Aug 2019, p.50]

What works so well here is that all the elements are pursued with equal intensity. It is not that noise cedes to the electronics, or the guitars make way for the voice, or turns are taken. On the contrary, everything is plugged in, blindly ongoing without lessening. [Dec 2017, p.50]

A few tracks stand apart: "Story Of OJ" and "Mercy Me" both impress for verve and venom if not his every chain of thought. Otherwise it's all so dry that after a couple of listens it feels more like spoken word. [Sep 2017, p.62]

This feels like a love letter to dayglo dreams of the online world of 20 years ago, with beats and samples too evolved, too exuberant to sink into mere nostalgia. [Oct 2016, p.51]

The signature sounds of each ensemble have been stirred together, so that Cooper Crane’s organ, Dan Quinlivan’s electronics and Lisa Alvarado’s harmonium pulse as one, and synths and woodwinds entwine like multiple species of ivy that have grown together on the same wall. [May 2025, p.58]

Though some of the genre mixing does feel abrupt rather than fully integrated – for all its charms, “Asha The First” is a bit overstuffed – the album largely works, unified by Washington’s unwavering vision and exploratory spirit. [May 2024, p.58]

Bringing further gravitas and grace to mundanity, he continues in the business of poetically detailing everyman strife and significant moments. [Oct 2019, p.50]

If their forthcoming albums match the confidence and uniqueness of Bible eyes, Night Slugs may enjoy another year in the spotlight. [May 2011, p.49]

As its title implies, Dark Times is a total bummer, but it’s a sumptuous bummer – warm, bluesy, funky. [Aug 2024, p.58]

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]

"K9 Reliance" indulges in faux harpsichord to conjure a convincing giallo theme, devilishly nervous and hush-hush, with brass swells that underscore the cinematic funk. There are a few odds and ends in the mix, too. "K12 Uplands" is a gorgeous pastoral led by woodwinds, tailor made for some adventure game's soundtrack. On "K13 Vigilant", strings and piano chase each other frantically. "K14 Welbeck" closes the album with a glorious organ dirge, reminiscent of Jenkinson's collaborations with James McVinnie. [May 2026, p.56]

A sound thrumming with bold analogue synthesizers and beefy rock drums. [#254, p.67]

This LP kicks off with a run of tunes that are wistful and simply beautiful. [Nov 2019, p.56]

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]

Fela’s youngest son inherited Egypt 80 from his father in 1997 when he was 14 years old and keeps alive its joyously angry spirit. “Last Revolutionary” is a passionate tribute to the wider inheritance of anti-colonial effort and courage that comes down through Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba and Jomo Kenyatta, as well as the Nigerian founders. It gives way immediately to the signature title track, which owes much of its airplay to a typically intense but refreshingly unmannered Carlos Santana feature as well as some of Seun’s most intense tenor saxophone. [Apr 2018, p.51]

Bardo Pond's most focused work to date. Who knows whether the group would take that as a compliment? [#206, p.61]

This is a dark night of the soul record, a distant country cousin of Young's Tonight's The Night, but it feels flooded with light and air and space. [#232, p.73]

A whole album of these bolts would be nuts, in a good way. [Jul 2013, p.66]

In C Mali has a delightfully loose and relaxed feel. [Mar 2015, p.51]

The clunkier, funkier patterns mapped out here have something proufound to say about the relationship between us and our technological world, about where our dancing and moving bodies fit in among the conurbations and databanks of our lives. [Apr 2015, p.57]

It’s clear he’s still able to switch on a plausible menace when the situation demands. In that balance and his gleefully amateur unretouched singing lies the heart of a great album. [May 2019, p.68]

Brassy and direct, it looked north and west, toward the coastal Caribbean and into the forest. Kicking carimbó, bangué, siriá and other up-country sounds are ably documented on Jambú. [Aug 2019, p.67]

With its mix of anxiety, fun and catharsis, it provides a compelling listen for a tumultuous year. [Oct 2020, p.56]