Recorded with a wilful lack of finesse, it’s nevertheless the production that gives Abyss much of its heft and intrigue. [Jun 2025, p.48]

Shell~Wave is as sharp and incisive as any of Surgeon’s recordings of the last 30 years. Like the best techno, while it resonates with many rhythms, it never forgets what it is or what it does best. [Jun 2025, p.60]

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]

Accompanied by dohool drum, Heydarian plays with harsh and montane clarity; motif and pattern emerge within a matrix of rapidly and continuously strummed chords, giving the six tracks a drone-carved, severe beauty. [May 2025, p.66]

Dance Music 4 Bad People features some of his headiest and most luscious productions, which conjure imagery of bodies glistening with sweat while moving in unison within the dusty confines of some basement club. [May 2025, p.54]

Time Indefinite feels closer to a documentary soundtrack than a regular solo album. And it tells a poignant story. [May 2025, p.63]

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

The frenetic, almost no wave angularity of that track ["Camera"] calls to mind Last Exit or James Blood Ulmer's most punk-accented moments, while the contrast between hymnal vocal harmonies and brutalist sonics in "Scene 4" recalls Swans' "A Hanging". Early in the closing track "Scene 5: Breathing Fire" we hear one of the album's more conventionally structured post-hardcore movements along with an oblique ascension narrative about “basic instructions before leaving Earth” continuing, “but what do we return to?”.

These recent realisations of Ono’s scores by that flexible collective sound remarkably current and fresh. [May 2025, p.53]

The music has the translucent character of Ishibashi’s soundtracks for Ryusuke Hamaguchi’s films, where its resonance and weight change depending on the attention you pay to them. Ishibashi’s vocals are airy, light, almost noncommittal, but this only adds another layer of enigma and malleability. [Apr 2024, p.54]

Loose Talk is an engaging listen. [May 2025, p.52]

Her own voice breaks sometimes, and it’s in these moments – when she seems to drop the mask – that the album lands its most impactful blows. Tracks like “Cosmic Joke” and “Anthem Of Me” bring more dense, pressurised operatics. [May 2025, p.51]

Albums like this serve as a stark reminder of the UK scene’s capacity for reinvention in place of stagnation. With a start as strong as this who knows what direction Glacier will take next? Whichever way she goes, we should gladly follow. [May 2025, p.67]

Whatever The Weather II showcases James’s creativity and technical mastery as much as her capacity for emotional subtlety, depth and warmth. [May 2025, p.62]

Hersh’s lyrics are pithy character portraits (“Nola nobility/And you her superhero in drugstore plastic”) peopled with lovers and wanderers (“Where are you walking?/Can I join you?”). Her lyrical brevity matches the straightforwardness of the musical set-up, as well as a well-honed confidence and swagger. [May 2025, p.60]

After The Flood is a great spin, and should be revelatory to the many folks who’ve not been able to keep up with Kuepper’s Australian-only output. [May 2025, p.57]

It has an ethereal, cosmic beauty that in less accomplished hands could be mawkish, but here feels almost miraculous. The whole album feels like an invitation to think alongside it about the end of life – and in these moments typically characterised by fear and isolation, to feel accompanied by anything at all is an unusual and precious thing. [May 2025, p.62]

A lot of All Worlds could be bundled onto daytime radio playlists without standing out too starkly. .... Echoes of these acts’ more severe youthful excursions shines through on “Akkadian” – an audacious combo of jungle breaks and coldwave verses – and “Dummy”. [Apr 2025, p.55]

It’s an abstract, often harsh, sometimes silly listening experience. [Apr 2025, p.56]

The Beach Boys and Merseybeat stylings are still present, only without a single note wasted; every gesture, shaker, blurp of synth, bubble of spring reverb feels deliberate and functional. The songwriting benefits from this directness, striking an effective balance between chipper pop hooks and more introspective, often sombre lyricism. [Apr 2025, p.56]

Ultimately, the album aligns more closely with the 1990s power pop and alt rock of Sugar – and those influenced by them, such as The Thermals and Ted Leo – than the posthardcore of Hüsker Dü, but easily bests all of Mould’s previous releases that did the same. [Apr 2025, p.55]

The music is smooth, the message is simple and the demands aren’t easy, but they’re vital. [Mar 2025, p.51]

Wonder at the natural world has been an inspiration for musicians for as long as there has been music, but the mournful, realist shade to Park’s work makes that wonder all the more resonant and poignant now. [Mar 2025, p.52]

While it was surely a blast to see Styles hoofing it in person, the busy clatter of the tap shoes translates to an audio recording with only limited success. .... The seven Monk tunes presented are well chosen favourites, tackled with wit, verve and a subtle sense of invention that never strays too far from their origins. [Mar 2025, p.45]

Like Eye Of I and The Messthetics & James Brandon Lewis, it seeks to engage a larger audience while remaining true to the musical values that Lewis has affirmed throughout his career. [Mar 2025, p.51]

The net result is pure expression, where themes and narratives matter less than how he speaks and twists his words into sound art. [Mar 2025, p.63]

Each song on Universe Room offers up a unique aural sensation that becomes more acute with repeated hearings. While some of the material takes several playbacks to fully tune into, other songs such as the opening “Driving Time” (with its crackling night-time cricket chorus intro), the mysterious “I Will Be A Monk”, the Pixies sounding “Elfin Flower With Knees” and hit single (surely!) “Fly Religion” become instant ear worms burrowing their way into your brain. [Mar 2025, p.59]

MIKE is a charismatic voice who excels at the art of humblebragging: “They tellin’ me I’m big, I’m shorter inside/But the remainder what I give when I’m recording these lines”, he raps on “Lost Scribe”. But one wishes he’d offer a few actual choruses instead of modest refrains. [Mar 2025, p.63]