There’s a strongly conceived sense of contrast and drama to “Sorcerer” and "Copter," the latter transforming from overwrought mid-80s action show theme to a slick and drugged R&B jam. [Oct 2016, p.63]

It’s hard to know exactly what he’s singing about much of the time, but Dawson’s ardour for the sound of language is irresistible. ... The Ruby Cord is Dawson’s most accessible album yet, but as elaborate as his futuristic visions may be, they remind us of the mess we’re all in the middle of right now. [Dec 2022, p.52]

The tracks don’t so much develop as flow--and don’t so much flow as slide slowly, tidally, from one pole to another. Those poles are, to put it crudely, a smooth Badalamenti-like gloom and a more polyphonic, Vangelis-style choral sound. [Dec 2016, p.69]

Darran Cunningham's most immediate and body-rocking record to date. [May 2017, p.44]

The deep funk veteran garlands Black Thought’s words with a heavy bottom, making for an experience that’s less psychedelic and decorative than Cheat Codes. Although Black Thought doesn’t stray from the tendencies that distinguish his solo material from his work with The Roots. [Apr 2023, p.68]

Slightly rawer and more aggressive than the duo’s last couple, Fearn’s productions cleave towards the minimal and raw, stripped right back to choppy beats and lurking bass. ... Success has not diminished Williamson’s need to grind an axe, which may not be pretty or noble, but is at least honest and undeniably consistent with what came before. [Apr 2023, p.60]

Paternoster locks in with bassist Mike Abbate and drummer Jarrett Dougherty for 34 minutes of joyous thump with no filler in sight. A tough but open-hearted and ultimately life-affirming rock record. [Apr 2023, p.64]

It might take you a few cuts to pick up on the gagaku thing. [Oct 2018, p.54]

This is an overgrown jungle of music; ideas bury one another, making it all the more striking when a pure, clean line manages to weave its way through the tangle and rise, like a flower turning to face the sun. [Mar 2024., p.46]

Haino’s signature detonations and Yacyshyn’s punctuation leapfrog each other, creating a Möbius strip of energy that escalates freely without falling--a tightrope walk that American Dollar Bill has been building towards all along. [Mar 2018, p.48]

Drawn from a live show Anderson first staged in 2000, Amelia is a narrative of Earhart’s final adventure, split for the album’s sake into 22 short parts, but flowing together, with Anderson’s voice and violin floating above the deep swells of music made by a band including guitarist Marc Ribot; Sexmob’s drummer Kenny Wollesen and bassist Tony Scherr; a string quartet; and the Filharmonie Brno, under Dennis Russell Davies. [Sep 2024, p.45]

Herbert still seems like the same oddball he ever was. But the first half of Scale underlines how much fun there is to be had in playing the misfit. [#268, p.56]

Thankfully, her second solo album Blueprint is not a punk revival record, but a great grab bag of tracks showing that Armendariz still has not only her patented hair-raising and blood-curdling shriek from the 70s, but a voice that can reference the evocative beauty found in the pipes of both Patti Smith and Judee Sill. [Jul 2018, p.59]

Kaani is a tireless surging wave of uplifting music. [Sep 2013, p.65]

This is darkly delicious pop--with no smiling. [Mar 2019, p.64]

The 27th OSEES album is their most synthheavy yet, but those Blurt-like grooves are still in place and the songwriting is still tight as a gnat’s chuff on a record that in typical Osees style ranges all over the shop from new wave to skronk to punk to disco. [Oct 2023, p.56]

The mix between organic and technological sonics, including the harmonious tones of Williams's own voice, makes for a mesmerising debut. [Sep 2016, p.59]

Most tracks feature piano and vocals in a mix of essentialised South African stylings. A highlight is the simple, lilting hymn “Nomayoyo”, with Ntuli’s gentle, breathy vocals. “Lihlanzekile” is a quietly rolling piece of melancholia. [Dec 2023, p.58]

The ten laptop compositions of Platform are brilliant, thrilling articulations of many of her ideas. [May 2015, p.50]

Things improve markedly when he plays to his strengths with the nuanced narrative of “A Boy Is A Gun”, but ultimately such moments [are] hard to hear over the pitiable “Puppet” and “Earfquake”, functional pop wisely rejected by Justin Bieber and Rihanna. When the narrative sags and his mind seems to wander, it just isn’t enough, no matter how stylish the trimmings. [Aug 2019, p.68]

Punish, Honey is also a diverse and sonically surprising work, infectiously odd and encouragingly bold. [Oct 2014, p.63]

It's a well-worn concept, but one which Gorgun works through with curiosity and clarity of purpose. [Oct 2018, p.61]

EBM equals R Plus Seven. [Sep 2013, p.49]

In spite of daft moments, the chilly shimmer of Push The Sky Away works its magic. [Feb 2013, p.45]

Throw in an evocative, anthemically chanted lyrical snapshot, some cryptic tales and a blues rock cover and almost every successful Fall trick familiar from the last two decades is also deployed. All of which amounts to a vital late period masterpice. [June 2008, p.47]

If it was possible to see the debut Carbeth as a local gem of modest proportions, it's hard to receive The Constant Pageant as anything other than a finished masterpiece, with four or five songs that have longevity written in and the rest of them as musically sharp as they're lyrically alert. [May 2011, p.56]

It's a much quieter album than its predecessor, more interested in fingering the tears and rips in its luxurious, ambient textures than Black Up's intergalactic boom-bap. It pulses and shimmers like light bouncing off gold, burnishing Palaceer's radiant visions. [Aug 2014, p.51]

It moves with a tighter, more mechanistic gait than 2012's similarly relentless Sagittarian Domain, but it's no less transfixing. [Nov 2014, p.72]