The curveballs keep flying through the climactic triptych - the Kid A-evoking eruption "Bow Down", the incantatory "Taxes" and the hallucinogenic "Long Island City Here I Come". [Oct 2025, p.27]

Ultimately, it's that out-of-time devotion--along with soaring choruses to put most contemporaries to shame--which makes this a debut record to cherish. [May 2004, p.104]

Packed with brilliant, bohemian songs that combine affecting lyrical honesty, beguiling melodies and a voice that has a touch of Alanis Morissette. [May 2005, p.96]

It works best when her vocal is minimally adorned. [Oct 2011, p.105]

The record to funk up your festive period. [Jan 2016, p.77]

Richard Koch's trumpet and Shards' choral vocals on the spooky "Human Range" confirm his quiet urge to defy expectations. [Feb 2018, p.27]

The harmonies are exquisite, lending a sense of timelessness to gently understated melodies. Listen harder, and the subtleties of Howe Gelb's production blow in. [Feb 2018, p.29]

A glowering inferno. [Mar 2019, p.24]

Each song works brilliantly in isolation, making this a treasure trove of Wyatt’s finest work ever.

The result is one of his most varied but distinct albums. [May 2020, p.35]

There's not a moment on this album when the session players intrude on the song or on White's vocal. ... It makes you forget, if only for a few minutes, that he wasn't actually in the studio with them. Instead, they simply let him tell his stories. [Jun 2021, p.26]

Kurt Wagner’s appetite for change hasn’t dwindled, and Lambchop’s succinct 16th is, thanks to his MIDI piano experiments, particularly tempting. [Jul 2021, p.30]

Whether observing modern Manson cults gathering “silent as a snowdrift in the hills, or delivering a sunrise eulogy bearing David Berman away, Darnielle’s sympathy never fails. [Aug 2021, p.31]

The Road To The Sea is a blithe but bittersweet affair. [Jun 2025, p.35]

You Have Already Gone to the Other World, produced by Deerhoof's John Dieterich, is their best yet. [May 2013, p.65]

Wonderful stuff. [Aug 2016, p.76]

Inventive, playful and utterly engrossing, Celebration, Florida has much to revel in. [Jun 2011, p.92]

Sincere and beautiful. [Nov 2003, p.116]

Collingwood remains, however, the guy out of Fountains Of Wayne, and therefore can't help himself from confecting soaring, sumptuous melodies. [Sep 2016, p.75]

Page's notion of what might catch the ear was eccentric, but generally infallible. Duly, these remasters aren't asking you to extend your idea of the Zeppelin canon, but retract it--to realise why the albums have the power and mystery they do. [Jul 2014, p.86]

This could be his masterwork. [Sep 2004, p.108]

A passionate and muscular record that oozes cool in every note. [Nov 2019, p.30]

Irresistible examples of Bejar's blend of soft rock, dream-pop and more idiosyncratic elements. [Mar 2020, p.27]

The whole album, across a wildly varied and genuinely unique 18 tracks, feels like tuning in to some kind of revolutionary post-apocalyptic radio station. [Sep 2023, p.31]

[Endless Arcade's] follow-up is even more impressive, the five-piece creating an organic song cycle largely concerned with the roll of time hope's eternal promise and an unerring sense of where their natural strengths lie. [Oct 2023, p.34]

Her real metier is the conjuring of moods via soft layers of twangy guitar, piano and understated strings, her voice bringing an impressionistic air to stand-outs like "Have You Seen" and the balletic "Wouldn't Go Back." [Sep 2013, p.92]

There are a number of lovely themes that repeat through “Unraveling In Your Hands”, though its central phase – an unrelenting, hypnotic stream of shivering strings, tiny flecks of light dazzling as you plunge deep into the repetition, while following a snaky melody through the thickets – is certainly unforgettable. [Jan 2025, p.33]

A rare rock record with the rage, urgency, wit and shattering of complacency usually found in grime. [Apr 2017, p.32]

A Mad & Faithful Telling is an impeccably titled album [Apr 2008, p.88]

Marten’s stripped-back early work drew comparisons to Lucy Rose and Nick Drake, and while her voice is as gentle as ever, a wider sonic palette adds both brightness and depth. [Jul 2021, p.31]

Black Bayou is a showcase for Finley the storyteller, an artist who can convincingly inhabit narratives that may not be entirely based on his own experiences, lifestyle or even beliefs. [Nov 2023, p.27]

The partners deftly sustain a mood of languor through a dozen tracks of varying tone and texture. [Apr 2013, p.67]

Pretty straight by the Puppets' wobbly standards, but still bewitchingly unhinged. [May 2013, p.74]

Jeniferever rise above cliches with 10 beautiful songs that take the Sigur Rose blueprint and expand on it. [May 2009, p.89]

Inspired by Alfred Stieglitz's photographs of clouds, it's inevitably founded upon lengthy drones but there's subtle drama here, too. [Oct 2019, p.29]

The resultant tracks are dominated by Allen's fidgety, polyrhythmic Afrobeat rhythms, particularly the Fela Kuti-ish "Bade Zile." But the Haitian singers and FX-laden soundscapes of Glasgow guitarist Marc Mulholland take things into other dimensions. [Aug 2017, p.69]

Twilight Override is a 30-song triple album of mostly mellow consolation, insightful rather than intimidating. [Nov 2025, p.26]

A fine record. .... The title track and "Come As You Are" are creations of Jimmy Webb-ish sumptuous lachrymony. [Nov 2025, p.35]

Anthology is no means definitive, but it remains a comprehensive overview of a terrific and influential band. [Aug 2014, p.89]

White Noise/White Lines is a compelling showcase for both her admirable songwriting skills and, as Prine puts it, "One of the more authentic country voices I've heard in a long time." [Nov 2019, p.24]

The results are so convincing, the only question is what took him so long. [Mar 2013, p.73]

His finest album yet. [Nov 2015, p.70]

It's often mournful in tone, dwelling on loss and abandonment. But Bevan infuses his music with a glowing warmth, these tunes framed like prayers for happier times ahead. [Apr 2022, p.25]

When Nevermind rocks, it does so extremely. [Oct 2011, p.101]

It is a remarkably assured piece of work, gracefully furnished and artfully wrought. [Feb 2017, p.36]

It all combines to paint a picture of a band entering a distinct new phase. [Jun 2022, p.33]

This one finds him plugging in and creating a doleful jangle that often feels like a bedsit Velvet Underground fronted by Lawrence or Ray Davies. [Feb 2016, p.73]

The core of the album lies in a cluster of gorgeously restrained, piercingly evocative pieces built mostly from acoustic instruments. [Jun 2007, p.94]

Best of all are the lyrics, with fragments of nursery rhymes, playground chants, witty wordplay and light hearted braggadocio which, rather like The Go! Team, will leave you with a big, stupid smile on your face. [Oct 2007, p.101]

This long-awaited follow-ups sees them improvising live as a quintet, with a few overdubs. [Sep 2008, p.100]

It's an impeccably tatsteful tribute to their record collections, though mystifying they can find no room for anything by The Cure. [Jan 2009, p.114]

It's U2's least immediate album--but there's something about it that suggests it may be one of their most enduring.

Skillfully blending soft and harsh sonic moments: heartbreak, anxiety, lust. [Jan 2024, p.30]

This recording demonstrates what he was capable of out of his element: a skillful entertainer working the crowd, reaching into his trick bag and pulling out just what he needs to get the job done.

Channels sledgehammer power into 11 tunes with a filthy, deeply groovy core. [Mar 2005, p.104]

Fresh from his role as bandleader/producer on Robert Plant's Band Of Joy, Miller has corralled fellow guitarists Bill Frisell, Marc Ribot and Greg Leisz for this fine ensemble project. [Jun 2011, p.92]

This is the best Raw Power has sounded since it was first humiliating people's turntables in the 1970s.

Like such fellow travellers as Horse Lords and Still House Plants, the band often seem hellbent on inaugurating a post-rock revival. [Nov 2025, p.39]

Droning brass, atmospheric melodies and Cross's otherworldly vocals blend to absorbing effect on the lush, wild "Ocotillo," while on "Breaking Waves Like A Stone," the vocals lift the melody out of frantic, piano-driven chaos. [Nov 2020, p.33]

With guests including trumpeter Terry Edwards and The Clientele's Alasdair MacLean, theses pure, poetic songs advance their euphoric yet melancholy quest for improbable romance. [Jun 2011, p.79]

Even without the dramatic backstory, heart-tugging earworms like "All Thing New" and "Purifier" work on their own terms as healing meditations. [Jan 2020, p.23]

Summer Camp are no longer a memory of a pop band, but the real thing. [Oct 2013, p.75]

While Jack McNeill’s woodwind accompaniment lends “In The Green Chapel” and “As” a bucolic atmosphere with an edge of ever-present threat. Meanwhile, snatches of Macfarlane’s elegant words add further intrigue to a wonderfully original piece of work. [Oct 2024, p.43]

A great album but, compared to their live shows, this is like listening to a circus. [Aug 2006, p.100]

Such self-conscious nostalgia is stifling at times, but the best tracks transcend retro pastiche. [Dec 2015, p.71]

There's a sense these weren't quite good enough for the main event - alternate versions - but even off-cuts "Memory Leak" and "Math Of You" swirl and swoon with a euphoric giddiness that comes with discovering new zones of pleasure. [Aug 2023, p.25]

Stately, thoughtful balladry. [Jun 2006, p.115]

It's a partial return to the jazzy pop sophistication of early-'80s sets Night And Day and Body And Soul, but with more aggressive percussion. His trademark wit is especially evident. [May 2026, p.32]

This is noticeably a slightly older, wiser o Age, one aware that the rigours of the age demand a little more than good-times positivity. Certainly, they've seldom sounded better. [Feb 2018, p.22]

It's a rare thrill to come across a time capsule like Dancing Mogadishu, , particularly when its contents appeals to funk connoisseurs and cultural anthropologists as much as the casual listener. Feb 2020, p.48]

It seems Allison has finally found her voice, on her own terms. [Sep 2023, p.23]

Feels like a peculiar reprise of [2007's Tromatic Reflexxions]. [Mar 2020, p.35]

Hackney Diamonds strains at the leash to show just how vital and dynamic the tones still are, with Jagger very much in pole position. .... Reborn again, the Stones kick back and celebrate. [Dec 2023, p.20]

Rather than the '80s rock Oh Yes I Can or the guest-strewn covers of 1993's Thousand Roads, this frequently lovely, folky album instead recalls the ease and space of that debut [1971's If Only I Could Remember My Name]. [Feb 2014, p.73]

Katy B weaves various threads of London clubland into glittering pop flax, and this second LP is a triumphant consolidation of her position as the voice of nocturnal youth. [Mar 2014, p.78]

Classy debut. .... Leaves you in no doubt who carries a great deal of weight in Ride. [Jul 2025, p.33]

Vermont find unexpected warmth in the almost mathematical precision of these restrained but seductive instrumentals. [Apr 2014, p.83]

There is a hint of Nashville in the production, a dash of steel guitar, but the main symptom is the clarity of the sound. It dares to be understated, pushing Real Estate's artful ambivalence into the light. [Feb 2024, p.35]

A near-masterpiece.... It's hip and urgent, formal and exhilarated, everything guitar pop aspires to today. [Dec 2001, p.118]

I've Been Trying to Tell You is immediate and soulful. [Oct 2021, p.26]

They have bell-clear voices, and a spooky ability to envince naivety and world-weariness in the same breath. [Feb 2010, p.88]

It is gleeful and vigorous, full of echoes, pan pipes, samples and shimmering surf guitars. [Jun 2011, p.94]

The highlight is "I'll Do Whatever You Want", a gentle nimbus of melody featuring fellow flute convert Andre 3000 and Floating Points' Samuel Shepherd on twinkling Rhodes. [May 2024, p.39]

Page's notion of what might catch the ear was eccentric, but generally infallible. Duly, these remasters aren't asking you to extend your idea of the Zeppelin canon, but retract it--to realise why the albums have the power and mystery they do. [Jul 2014, p.86]

A delicate album of soft '60s-inflected pop that mostly plays like a great Evie Sands or Bobbie Gentry record. [Sep 2016, p.78]

The greatest album ZTT never released. [Oct 2003, p.134]

Friday shamelessly rekindles the Eno/Lannois unforgettable shimmer, croons against the dying of the light and somehow emerges defiantly alive. [Jun 2011, p.85]

As disaster mounts for these ill-prepared moderns, the soft '70s New Orleans brass of "Through This Night" is among the musical balms. [Dec 2025, p.33]

If Psychedelic Pill was among his longest, strangest trips, Colorado has more rustic charms--Harvest Moon or Prairie Wind, but hopped up on guitars. [Nov 2019, p.16]

Lurch[es] from homecooked early Beck to the expansive hooks of Brian Wilson or Todd Rundgren. [Dec 2005, p.104]

A career milestone. [Mar 2006, p.91]

Johnny Marr, straps in for the mellow acoustic “Solitary Confinement”, a standout amid many high-calibre moments. [Dec 2024, p.37]

The live-off-the-floor Peaches! is the antithesis of 2024's overcooked Ohio Players, the duo's nadir, and a delectably scuzzy sequel to Delta Kream, complete with another seductively squalid William Eggleston cover photo. [May 2026, p.26]

A set of limber, largely instrumental funk shot through with Asian, African and Middle Eastern melodies, each track sounds like it could have come off as jukebox single purchased from some dusty overseas record kiosk. [Feb 2018, p.29]

10 more melodic guitar songs expertly weighted between worldly and coltish. [Jun 2026, p.33]

A world of suffering and ribald survival breathes here. [Review of the Year 2024, p.34]

Listening to Daddy's Home brings a sense of exhalation, a filling out, an openness, that is as unexpected as it is wonderful. [Jun 2021, p.20]

It's a remarkably immersive and generous album, emotionally as well as musically. [Apr 2018, p.18]