El Magnifico finds him much the same bruised piano troubadour, surveying red-blooded romantic scars. [March 2024, p.28]

It broadly succeeds because her songs - worked on with R&B guv'nor Jai Paul and her father Pino, a seasoned session player, and siblings Rocco and Giancarla - are elegantly poised. [Apr 2024, p.38]

Beck appears on half the tracks –his deadpan gospel is especially discernible on “Beautiful People (Stay High)” – Noel Gallagher on three songs, and an invigorating hip-hop influence is contributed by Juicy J, Lil Noid and Dan The Automator. The sum of these disparate parts is an album with that infectious quality of sounding like it was a total blast to make. [Apr 2024, p.29]

Love In Constant Spectacle, is by some distance her most satisfying album. Full of surprises and tantalisingly familiar, it’s the sound of Weaver stretching out and drawing from her wealth of experience to fashion a heartfelt, head-spinning account of grief and solace. [Apr 2024, p.28]

The charisma, charm, galvanising dynamism and radical positivity of frontman Bobbie, aka Pascal Robinson-Foster, works better on stage than in the studio; even so, his hilarious takedowns of Marx-quoting armchair revolutionaries and Brexitvoting Top Gear fans reveal a sharp, self-aware wit behind the headbanging polemic. [Apr 2024, p.31]

By comparison [to 2019's Father Of The Bride], Only God Was Above Us is off its meds - grimier, sonically and spiritually; more compressed, more stressed. Lyrically, conflict is everywhere and nothing is stable. .... It would all be so much showing-off if the narrative ache Koenig displays wasn't so palpable, and the craft wasn't so meticulous. These guys listen hard, sometimes applying different processing effects on each word, even syllable. [May 2024, p.33]

For all of the album's lushness, Grip may be most defined by its unabashed lustfulness. [May 2024, p.39]

While Live Laugh Love could benefit from more of the tension that builds in "Tethered" lest it all start seem too comfortably slack, Chastity Belt's blend of blissed-out effervescence and sly wit remains very appealing. [May 2024, p.32]

Their fourth album sees them on more soulful, though no less seductive ground, having worked up old song ideas into 12 new, mid-tempo tracks which are compositionally and emotionally diverse. [May 2024, p.35]

This set is a confirmation and welcome addition to the catalogue of recorded Alice Coltrane music and spiritual jazz. [May 2024, p.48]

Bold, brilliant and experimental. [Apr 2024, p.34]

Shook unpicks destructive relationships, self-determinism, mental health struggles and romantic yearning over backings that switch between rockabilly, mid-tempo ballads and ringing outlaw country. [Apr 2024, p.41]

Here [on "Yesterday Is Only A Song"] and on the best tunes of Interplay, Ride feel wonderfully, unexpectedly, younger than yesterday. [Apr 2024, p.36]

A loose, luscious listen, with a timeless sound. [Apr 2024, p.32]

An impassioned and resolute statement imbued with clarity of vision, emotional depth and the hum of boundless creativity. [Apr 2024, p.33]

Beautifully now. [Mar 2024, p.29]

Organic set of gorgeously gilded songs which English folk sensibility mixes with the freewheeling spirit of Californian Canyon rock. [Mar 2024, p.35]

Every song contains a clever new idea. [Mar 2024, p.35]

His most expansive statement to date, a swaggering collage of blues, boogie, hip-hop and fuzzy rock riffs on which - unlike with, say, Joe Bonamassa - the songs are never subjugated to grandstanding guitar pyrotechinics. [Apr 2024, p.31]

Top stuff. [Mar 2024, p.25]

There is something about this music that is warming, aqueous, immersive and endlessly engaging. [Mar 2024, p.18]

Gossip have been a force of nature - in no small part down to charismatic vocalist Beth Ditto and her dancefloor-quaking voice. Real Power, the Portland trio's first album in 11 years, plays on that reputation, but tenderly. [Mar 2024, p.26]

Lee's overarching theme is loss and despair at the damage done to the natural world, but with an approach that is emphatic rather than abrasive, the anger palpable but not overbearing. [Mar 2024, p.29]

The tracks play to the strengths of Dion's guests. [Mar 2024, p.25]

While Waxahatchee has never sounded more suited for mass approval, Crutchfield has never seemed truer to herself. [Apr 2024, p.30]

Lenker collects vivid details and lets them amplify each other, until the deeply personal becomes somehow universal. [Mar 2024, p.29]

Rockmaker's rude vigour and bounty of hooks will reassure the faithful, as should the ample supply of snark from Courtney Taylor-Taylor. [Apr 2024, p.31]

A sparkling set recalling the mid-century tipping point of folk revivalism into rock. [Apr 2024, p.38]

Its themes are plainly evident in the earworm metal stomp of "Many Doors To Hell" and gothic menace of "Fingers In The Wounds", although more subdued (but equally sombre) hues inform the portentous, piano-led power ballad "Shadow Of The Gods". [Mar 2024, p.25]

This is a marvellous collection of hooky acid rock that nods to UK '80s indie as well as '70s classic rock. [Mar 2024, p.32]

A surprisingly lively and assured comeback. [Apr 2024, p.29]

He also plays an agreeably skronky, Jeff-Beck-style electric on several tracks, but it's when unplugged that Lage is at his most extraordinary. [Apr 2024, p.38]

Her piano work enviably deft, she still opts for just guitar and brass on the title track, but "paradise" offers the easy-going charms of early Diana Ross, while producer Leon Michels helps lighten the mood further on "Running", adding sax and drums. [Apr 2024, p.35]

Moody shades of The National and Tunnel Of Love-era Springsteen abound, though the whole thing never quite manages to fully convince. [Mar 2024, p.25]

Moments feel somewhat bombastic, but where Scope Neglect hits, it certainly hits. [Mar 2024, p.26]

He's one of the few guitarists around who can make a guitar solo an article of faith. [Mar 2024, p.25]

While the latter's [drummer Gavin Harrison's] rhythms can overcomplicate at times, more often they add to the edgy atmospherics and heighten the contrasting rush when broader rock strokes are applied. [Feb 2024, p.34]

Weird details stud essentially conventional songs by a band who sound energised, and in many ways The Coral's true kin. [Apr 2024, p.31]

A voyage in time and space - exploring the Amazon rainforest and transversing the African Diaspora. [Apr 2024, p.32]

William and Jim Reid remain as defiantly out of time as ever. [Mar 2024, p.29]

There's little identifiable guitar until track five, by which time anxiety and menace have taken hold thanks to the lumbering mien of "Bye Bye" and "I'm A Man"'s monstrous grind. "Shelf Warmer" lets in some air but it too is fabulously foul. [Mar 2024, p.26]

As bleakly dystopian as that sounds, the music is colourful and bursting with joyous melodies. [Mar 2024, p.26]

The mess is the whole point. It's a fascinating place to be, largely because she finds so much meaning in everyday observations and mundane ironies, in the small moments many other songwriters might overlook. [Mar 2024, p.30]

Matt Korvette is a misanthropic force of nature whether ticking off the negatives of cities from Boston to Rome ("Everywhere IS Bad") or addressing adult responsibility ("Helicopter Parent"). [Mar 2024, p.33]

It may not be fuelled by as many immediate hooks and gnarly grooves as The Overload, but it's a bold progression both musically and lyrically. [Mar 2024, p.24]

If the tunes and attitude don't grip as strongly as they did in either man's era-bending pomp, both parties still sound better for getting together. [Mar 2024, p.27]

At times Sheer Mag are miraculous pop hustlers, still pulling off the most absurd trick shots on the scuffed three yards of stained green baize. Which isn't to say that they're not above a little experiment. [Mar 2024, p.22]

The quick-take, live-in-the-room approach serves these songs well. [Feb 2024, p.30]

The south of France motorik and funk bass of "Protéïformunité" similarly reassure, before "Don't Forget You're Mine" charts choppier waters and communication breakdowns. "The Inner Smile" returns to Sadier's central quest, propelling her mantras of sexual and global reg=integration with eruptive, flute-heavy prog grooves. [Feb 2024, p.35]

Elemental and menacing. [Feb 2024, p.35]

It's notable for uncensored emotional gloom and an evergreen college sound. [Feb 2024, p.37]

As always, you know what you're getting -- and you get that they're knowing. [Feb 2024, p.27]

An album that is leaps and bounds above anything else Shah has done before – a record that’s layered and detailed, coated with beautifully rich production, yet also spacious and considered. [Feb 2024, p.23]

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]

They make a welcome return to the looser, roots sound of earlier albums. [Feb 2024, p.28]

It's a modern masterclass in psych pop. [Feb 2024, p.31]

Doyle has made a record that is as intricate as it is infectious, creating a deft yet complex pop collage that turns a troubled and chaotic world into a beautiful spectacle. [Feb 2024, p.28]

Switching guitars opens her songs up considerably, but Cohen maintains the intimacy and intelligence that have always been her signature. [Mar 2024, p.28]

When approached on its own merits, the Dave Cobb-produced Be Right Here is a minor classic of the genre. [Feb 2024, p.27]

It's the first time Grandaddy have in any way rooted themselves in a specific genre, and it proves strikingly successful; Lytle's more experimental electronica pushing against any notion of nostalgia or country pastiche. [Feb 2024, p.24]

The songs are rich in both melody and syncopation. [Feb 2024, p.25]

An instantly engaging, 11-track set with zip, heart, sly humour and real staying power, which shucks off the often dry terseness of the genre without trashing its template. [Feb 2024, p.34]

Tangk is more about diverse, swooning sonic details that support troubled singer Joe Talbot's redemption. [Feb 2024, p.28]

In this sparer setting, the extra space plays to the benefit of McCartney’s loyal co-travellers: “No Words”, which serves reminder just how vital the harmonies of Linda and the song’s co-writer Denny Laine were when it came to defining the Wings sound; Linda’s purring ARP Odyssey and MiniMoog contributions are what suddenly take centrestage on “Jet” and a rollicking vocal-free canter through “Nineteen Hundred And Eighty Five”. Yet, none of that detracts from the primary energy source of Band On The Run. [Feb 2024, p.42]

The likes of "No Sun To Burn" (for brass) or the nine0minute title track, will pull on the listener's heartstrings at least as much as it endorses the composer's process. [Feb 2024, p.31]

Mixes have the tracks - stacked guitars and vocals, bustling basslines, played and programmed drums - hurtling along as if crammed into a tunnel. [Mar 2024, p.25]

While opener "Whispers In The Echo Chamber" tries too hard to startle with blasts of screaming horrorcore, her talent for a melodramatic melodic hook wins through on "Tunnel Lights"'s yearning torch-song noir and the heartbroken small-hours lament of "Everything Turns Blue". [Feb 2024, p.37]

While Phasor standouts such as "Flores" evoke Os Mutantes in a narcoleptic fugue. .... On "Colores Del Mar" and "Out There", he strikes an equally deft balance between aqueous abstraction and buoyant, big-hearted avant-pop. [Mar 2024, p.34]

A Jaime 2.0 likely to secure her status as an auteur in terms of both conception and execution. It's bigger, freer-thinking and more dynamically audacious record. [Feb 2024, p.20]

It's all very tasteful and refined, but ultimately feels a little bloodless. [Feb 2024, p.30]

The music is largely uninteresting, a bland hotchpotch of dub-flavoured electronic styles. [Feb 2024, p.34]

Sola can be detached but is at her best when she leans into the songs. [Feb 2024, p.35]

A rich saturnine, baroque-pop set full of romantic drama. Strings, piano and keyboard combine with muti-textured guitar in songs that, though engaging, tend toward the florid. [Feb 2024, p.30]

The result is Mascis's most fully formed and direct solo set to date. [Feb 2024, p.31]

The band's sophomore effort feels like more than a photocopy of past indie-pop glories thanks to the surprisingly punchy contributions by bassist Nick Oka and drummer Keith Frerichs and the degree of craft and care evident even in songs as breezy as "When You Find Out". [Jan 2024, p.36]

The threesome manage to toe the very fine line between control and chaos, suppression and release. [Jan 2024, p.34]

This is an album that sounds like it’s had time spent on it. It’s brilliantly recorded, pristine and perfectly imperfect. [Jan 2024, p.20]

It’s hard to recall a set of songs on which Rhys’s low-key radicalism and unquenchable sense of wonder have coexisted with such ease. [Jan 2024, p.24]

Kirby's second is more cosmopolitan than 2021 Cool Dry Place, with bandmates Alberto Sewald's and Logan Chung's muted soft rock production shifting her halfway toward Weyes Blood's polished indie folk. [Jan 2024, p.31]

Newdad's first full-length shows them expanding on their indie-pop roots, adding extra gnarly, post-punk bite and more sophisticated textures to their updated mix of The Cure, Slowdive and Curve. [Jan 2024, p.34]

What An Enormous Room takes her eclecticism to fresh heights, each of these songs exploring different emotional moods while influences range from The Breeders to Goldfrapp. [Jan 2024, p.36]

Though the band's affection for Blonie, Pixies and Osees is plain, it's not intrusive and music's x-factor is an ominous undertow, notably provided by the keyboard on breakneck instrumental "(Post Apocalypstick)". [Jan 2024, p.28]

On People Who Aren't There Anymore, then, no curveballs are thrown. However, the band's debt to OMD and New order is increasingly less obvious, while the earlier bombastic synths are being edged out by a more spacious, less forceful style of electronic poo that recalls fellow Baltimorean Dan Deacon, with echoes of Peter Gabriel. [Jan 2024, p.26]

The Smile take Radiohead’s privileges seriously, rewarding our attention with music that demands and – crucially – holds it. No frills, no distractions. A little like Radiohead, then; but there’s nothing wrong with that. [Feb 2024, p.29]

A knottily intricate yet oddly inviting album. [Jan 2024, p.30]

Sleater-Kinney strike a finer balance between their established punk sound and the New Wave references that gummed up recent records. [Jan 2024, p.36]

They unleash 15 compact, primarily pro forma bangers. [Feb 2024, p.28]

Finds The Vaccines at their terse, nervy best. [Jan 2024, p.38]

Whether deployed as a meditation aid or an object for more focused listening, Lovegaze succeeds handily. [Jan 2024, p.31]

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

Large, slow-drifting and majestic masses splinter into smaller sonic units, analogous to the glacial movements that signify environmental change. [Review Of The Year 2023, p.24]

Iechyd Da feels a culmination of all he set out to do. It’s a record that beckons you over and invites you in, that rewards your faith and careful listening with moments of extraordinary beauty, unflinching honesty, a sonic exchange of love. [Review Of The Year 2023, p.16]

Sprints' debut delivers on thrilling live shows, with singer, guitarist and songwriter Karla Chubb providing a visceral fury, not least on the furious "Adore Adore Adore", unheard since their label released Hole's Pretty On The Inside. [Jan 2024, p.36]

There's justifiable anger, not least "History"'s confrontation with generational trauma, but her potent self-respect is an inspirational as Roots Manuva, to whom the eerie "Marginalized" nods. [Dec 2023, p.27]

A mighty musical exorcism. [Dec 2023, p.30]

It may be the most accurate representation of her vision yet, a singular blend of abrasively charming feel-bad noir rock. [Jan 2024, p.28]

Despite a few interesting textures, New Blue Sun never really takes flight. [Jan 2024, p.25]

It's clear that Brown is still capable of being sonically adventurous even while pausing to take stock. [Jan 2024, p.27]