She takes on the Trump administration in "ByeBye25!", one landmark among many in her forward-thinking solo career. [Apr 2026, p.33]

This record’s full engagement with its modern moment refuses to engage on that moment’s terms, instead offering its own blissful, unified escape.

Any compilation that roams from Chris Bell's "I Am The Cosmos" to Husker Du's Hardly Getting Over It" and The Cynics' "take Her Hand" will surely kickstart your day. [Mar 2026, p.49]

With their abundance of charm and good cheer, the performances ensure the patchier numbers still satisfy. More genuinely impressive are "You Get The Feeling" and "Hell On Earth", corkers that demonstrate the creative chemistry that was there since moment one. [Mar 2026, p.37]

Features eight lengthy original instrumentals, om which his guitar playing is as vibrant and virtuosic as ever. [Mar 2026, p.34]

Amelia Fletcher and Cathy Rogers' harmonies remain charmingly sweet. [Mar 2026, p.33]

The Mirror is, in many ways, peek Meek - a batch of candid and deceptively affable country/folk-leaning songs that occasionally kick up dust and whose lyrics are an unfussily poetic pleasure. [Mar 2026, p.32]

The title track lurches woozily like it's about to break out into a waltz but never does, and "hard Times" is an aching Celtic/Appalachian ballad. We end with the loveliest take on "Home On The Range" you've ever heard. [Mar 2026, p.31]

"Never Come Never Morning", propelled by chunky drums and a vulnerable lyric, showcases a more accessible heart and introduces the spirit of openness that sits at the centre of an excellent record. [Mar 2026, p.34]

Hen's Teeth is where Beam truly leans into the possibilities of dropping simple songs into the laps of intuitive musicians and delighting in what emerges. [Mar 2026, p.27]

It's hard, then, not to view My Days Of 58 as among his most transparently autobiographical works, as brimming with self-scrutiny and pontification as it is elegant wordplay. [Mar 2026, p.26]

Its 15 tracks are filled with cheery major-key singalongs, sitar-soaked synth-pop bangers and whimsical waltzes that serve as ecstatic celebrations of life, rebirth and reinvention. [Mar 2026, p.20]

Altin Gün's more psychedelic tendencies are less overt this time around, though there's still plenty to enjoy. [Mar 2026, p.25]

Curiously retro-sounding production and accompaniment. .... Her gift for infectious topline melodies manages to transcend such stylistic quirks. [Feb 2026, p.31]

The Dreamin' Kind is far more persuasive when it allows room for his more nuanced tendencies. [Jan 2026, p.30]

A voyage of rediscovery through terrain whose appeal remains undimmed by time and familiarity. He treats the blues with the respect it deserves, but he aims to have fun along the way, while proving that, at 80, he still has the voice – albeit an octave or so lower than in his early days – to make the material live again. [Mar 2026, p.24]

A truly singular record. [Mar 2026, p,33]

Peaches still bangs, in more ways than one. No Lube So rude, her first album in a decade, drips with fluids, fragrances and various viscera. [Mar 2026, p.36]

The opportunity to behold such a comprehensive survey of Wilson’s artistry even in this compromised state can be both startling and staggering. That’s especially true of The Beach Boys Love You. .... The vocals-only versions of “The Night Was So Young” and “Let’s Put Our Hearts Together” and other demos emphasize the songs’ childlike spirit of joy and invention. [Mar 2026, p.42]

The lurching tempo shifts of opener "She Makes Me Real" set Masquerade's brooding, anxious mood. [Mar 2026, p.26]

The good news is that their sound has not dated, nor has the vision dimmed. [Feb 2026, p.35]

An ambitious and spirited album. [Mar 2026, p.29]

Smart work all round. [Mar 2026, p,31]

Lightweight but charming covers collection. [Jan 2026, p.29]

Imaginative, poignant and fundamentally, achingly human. [Feb 2026, p.30]

Despite the references to Oxford Circus and the Northern Line, Smith's baritone voice often strays into mid-Atlantic territory, but the highlights see him lean into English pastoralism. [Jan 2026, p.35]

It's the smart pop and clever arrangements of "Glance" and "Songbird (Forever)" that suggest Whitelands are in danger of evolving into a heavyweight proposition. [Feb 2026, p.39]

An album of gently textured art pop, the lightness of her voice and almost ethereal sounds in direct contrast to the diaristic darkness of lyrics that explore raw, familial emotions. [Mar 2026, p.29]

Snaith largely maintains the requisite club-friendly bpm rates while deftly integrating more surprising elements. [Mar 2026, p.29]

EXPO grooves, booms and unspools in ways all its own. [Mar 2026, p.37]

This is a record that has both groove and bite. [Feb 2026, p.37]

As ever, he's at his most engaging playing slide and singing in a gentle baritone on acoustic compositions such as "Go Down Ol' Hannah" and the title track. [Jan 2026, p.27]

An almost comically seductive blend of luxe funk, disco strings (arranged by Owen Pallett) and analogue synths, which he pastiches with affection and elan. [Feb 2026, p.39]

The Balance between deftness and density underpins much of the record, as light and airy as it is atmospheric and tactile. [Feb 2026, p,38]

On Selenites, Selenites! they create a party anyone would want an invitation to. [Review Of The Year 2025, p.29]

"Bodies" and "Sludge" bring some metal chops to the show, but experimentalism comes in the shape of "Giraffe", based around a beat by David Sitek. [Feb 2026, p.31]

A few moments recall the Venusian blues of Loren Connors, but that comparison only gets you part of the way - these cryptic explorations are Dorji's alone. [Feb 2026, p.33]

Daniel's sumptuous offering provides some brightness in days of darkness. [Feb 2026, p.39]

While there are moments when you pine for Pete Shelley’s distinctive whine, subtle wordplay and clever vocal melodies – for variety’s sake but also straightforward nostalgia – Steve Diggle is clearly committed to maintaining the Buzzcocks’ story and pushing forward into the band’s 50th year. [Feb 2026, p.32]

Unfurls a desolate systems music that simultaneously feels a love letter to the timbres and patters of analogue synthesisers, and a paean to the post-industrial north. [Feb 2026, p.33]

Demonstrates a continued forte for hooky songs that are just as likely to draw from '80s inspirations like The Smiths and Aztec Camera as from Joyce Manor's rowdier predecessors on Epitaph. [Feb 2026, p.35]

Weitz shreds and manipulates the instrument [hurdy gurdy] so it becomes the record's distinctive voice. the nine-minute dubs "Compact Mirror/Last Names" and "Sonora" are especially spellbinding. [Feb 2026, p.33]

At times (“Matter Of Taste, “Got A New Car”), the inventiveness lands with a clunk. However, it’s a generous record, emotionally fearless and thoroughly likeable on first listen, while Perry’s voice can’t help but convince. He’s only just begun.

Power's voice is improving with age, especially confident and commanding on the closing, psych-baroque "Birds Heading South". [Feb 2026, p.33]

Producer Joe Henry keeps the atmosphere warmly intimate, like a slate-night jam session in a smokey club, which keeps the focus squarely on the interplay between the instruments and personalities. [Feb 2026, p.37]

The vibe is mid-'60s grindhouse. [Jan 2026, p.25]

Some of her finest vocals, full of wit and humour and immense loneliness. [Jan 2026, p.34]

The addictive, chant-like vocals of Whitney Johnson, AKA Matchess, combined with some satisfyingly spacious grooves, periodically aligns Desert So Green with the contemporary psych-rock swirl of Warpaint and Moon Duo. [Feb 2026, p.39]

Imaginative album. [Jan 2026, p.32]

The music is straight and soothing, a band coming together in a rootsy salve as Williams returns to a favourite theme, deliverance through music. [Feb 2026, p.24]

Producer Luke Potashnick (Paloma Faith) has collaborated in a polished sound, as Motown-style brass lifts Bailey's gritty soul shout on "Take A Step Back". [Feb 2026, p.30]

These are dark and heavy songs for dark and heavy times. [Jan 2026, p.31]

Lattimore's harp is beautifully clean, and Barwick's vocals less affected than usual. [Jan 2026, p.27]

An explicitly confessional record attempting to make sense of, and give vent to, a degree of personal turbulence. [Jan 2026, p.25]

The Cribs' wild, unfinished edge is elsewhere polished by producer Patrick Wimberly (MGMT, Solange) in a lyrically rueful but musically soaring record. [Feb 2025, p.27]

Unabashedly emphatic songs that nod to Robyn (notably on skyscraping opener "Good Intentions"), Cyndi Lauper ("Every Ounce Of Me") and Kate Bush ("Appetite"), though the settings are largely those of a US mainstream, '90s grunge-pop band. They flatten the resonance of Hollingworth's lyrics. [Feb 2026, p.35]

Its songs are as poetically heartfelt as they are acerbic. [Jan 2026, p.34]

The resulting set is intense, clamorous and deranged (often thrillingly so). [Jan 2026, p.31]

Secret Love, produced by Cate Le Bon, obliterates the thought [they would struggle to surprise a second time] entirely. [Jan 2026, p.29]

The softer edges and new accessibility only makes the fury and dread eerily heavier. [Jan 2026, p.35]

Generally her pop is as adult as her lyrics. [Feb 2026, p.29]

Your Picture is full of love, radiating Beach Boys bliss with that killer thread of melancholy, and evoking Pastor TL Barrett's choral devotionals. [Review of the Year 2025, p.28]

It's a shame that Night Light fails to cohere, especially since the suave, Roxy Music-like shades of Euro-disco in "Going Nowhere" and "In The Middle" suggest another route out of the stylistic quagmire of recent efforts. [Jan 2026, p.36]

A Dolby Atmos mix deepens the sound of the album and a steven Wilson makeover of a legendary 1975 live bootleg from Los Angeles is another welcome inclusion. [Review of the Year 2025, p.40]

White digs deeper into the seemingly symbiotic, drums/keyboard relationship, playing both with intuitive flair to hypnotic effect. [Review of the Year 2025, p.29]

An exhausting yet improbably exhilarating listen. [Jan 2026, p.31]

The set ebbs and flows, Cave alternating between charming and cajoling, vulnerable and scathing. [Jan 2026, p.24]

Stripped ac and stretched out, in Toral's hands these pieces become devotional as he zones in in on their essence. [Dec 2025, p.37]

A beautifully composed record that feels alive with texture. [Review of the Year 2025, p.23]

It’s a deep, melodic record, preoccupied – as you might expect from a sixty-something punk troubadour – with dreams, small kindnesses and the end of the world; all of these things feeling suddenly more prominent. [Review of the Year 2025, p.22]

Using banal sample does lead to some fairly bland passages, but Lopatin and his studio partner Nathan Salon squirrel enough unorthodox ideas into their sound design to give the likes of "Lifeworld" and "Rodl Glide" real verve. [Jan 2026, p.35]

Shifts them into a warmer, fully 3D landscape without sacrificing the songs' imposing build or the solipsistic intensity of Katie Ball's lyrics. [Jan 2026, p.34]

It's heavy R&B with a slight goth-punk vibe thanks to the pummelling rhythm section and Childish's dead pan vocals. [Jan 2026, p.31]

Love And Fortune is a reckoning with loss - of relationships, homes, a younger, more carefree version of herself - but one that does not wholly relinquish Donnelly's playful side. [Jan 2026, p.29]

This bold, moving and purposeful record proves De La remain eternal. [Jan 2026, p.29]

The resulting album is a joy. [Jan 2026, p.27]

[The new remix] is sympathetic and subtly revelatory. .... However, there is one near-unforgivable gaff: on "Hot Stiff", around 2 mins 50, just as Mick comes back after Keith's scribbling wah-wah solo, the new mix inexplicably omits the word "Hot", hitting is only with a mighty - "Stuff!" [Review of the Year, p.41]

A convincing demonstration of the group's rejuvenation and reorganisation after the departure of longtime frontman Duke Amayo. [Jan 2026, p.27]

The way Eric evokes the "shabby shires" brings to mind Ray Davies, while "Land Of The Faint At Heart" swings with the bruised energy of Springsteen (if the Boss had been raised on suburban terror and garden gnomes). [Jan 2026, p.36]

Her own material is far less raucous [than The Pogues], but the introspection is laced with dark humour and spurred on by her storytelling instincts. [Jan 2026, p.36]

These deceptively simple, acoustic songs of nature, family and love, so spritely they sometimes only narrowly escape mawkishness, could be centuries old, but sound as if they're being sung for the first time. [Review of the Year 2025, p.21]

Dove Ellis arrives fully formed on this self-produced debut. [Jan 2026, p.30]

There's a beautiful simpatico between Prochet and Danell throughout that elevates everything, and the El Michels Affair contribution points outwards, to new experiences. It's a lovely album - 30 minutes well spent. [Jan 2026, p.20]

Ireland shows the breadth as well as the depth of the scene. [Dec 2025, p.37]

Rich and immersive debut. [Review of the Year 2025, p.28]

There's no sign they're running out of steam. [Dec 2025, p.31]

Downey has the chops to convince as an alt.country diva if she can step beyond this pleasant ambling contentment into more trenchant and ambitious songwriting territory. [Nov 2025, p.31]

Beautiful, meditative music. .... Although it does its job cinematically speaking, this is much more than just background music. [Review of the Year, p.24]

Perhaps his knottiest - though once unravelled, its charms are hard to resist. [Review of the Year 2025, p.29]

While Workin' Man also marks the final studio contributions of Nelson's pianist sister Bobbie and drummer Paul English, the mood is very much celebratory. [Review of the Year 2025, p.27]

Telescoping the timeline and illustrating The Beatles' progress with new selections, delivering in an impressionistic, nouvelle vague rush. [Review of the Year 2025, p.103]

A most welcome return. [Dec 2025, p.31]

While there's room for marvellous deeper cuts such as "Goodnight Tonight", "Wild Life" and "Arrow Through Me", there's also filler like "Getting Closer" and "Call Me Back Again". In true Wings fashion, perhaps there really is something for everyone here. [Review of the Year 2025, p.45]

This ensemble, particularly the dynamic front line of Henderson and Shaw, didn't last very long, making this impeccable-sounding set of stone-cold Silver classics an even more crucial addition to the historic record. [Review of the Year 2025, p.44]

Though the variable recording quality of the later tracks can hinder their impact, the performance captured at First Ave and newly restored by engineer Beau Sorenson roars and gnashes and seethes with enough intensity to collapse the 40-year gap between then and now. [Dec 2025, p.45]

Stelmanis using her hurt as fuel for a series of sleekly designed tracks that alternate between surging, propulsive pieces of dancefloor-ready catharsis and more delicate yet still dramatic passages that emphasise the most crystalline properties of Stelmanis' voice. [Review of the Year 2025, p.21]

The new songs tend to be a little too blues-rock generic, but there's fun to be had on the self-penned "If You Wanna Rock'n'Roll". [Dec 2025, p.30]

Another satisfyingly robust effort. [Review of the Year 2025, p.23]