There's a relentlessly macabre tension and ultimately savage catharsis to these six songs. [Mar 2022, p.36]

protector maintains its creator's woozy MO. ... Dream on. [Dec 2022, p.26]

The drama can recall Florence + The Machine more than their dream-pop origins, but the mood - lacerating self-doubt becoming decay-defying euphoria - is Lanterns On The Lake's own. [Aug 2023, p.33]

Luminously beautiful music. [Apr 2005, p.106]

Whatever its emotional well-spring, her expression is clear, purposeful and strong in its directness. [Sep 2018, p.38]

In short, it's a quietly beautiful record: anthemic but not bombastic, introspective yet universal, simply drawn but beautifully coloured in. [Apr 2011, p.82]

A set of songs that inscribe their intensities and their romantic visions directly on the listener's heart. [Feb 2016, p.76]

Throughout, her lyrics betray a convincing world-weariness. [Oct 2017, p.24]

Exquisitely crafted, lightly experimental chamber-folk album. [Jan 2022, p.21]

Lowering and exquisitely lucid opener "The Returning Angel" is worlds away from the subtle six-string abstraction and percussive pizzazz od "The Bag" - typical of the record's range. [May 2025, p.28]

Harding goes wherever her voice takes her, and like fellow apostate traditionalist Richard Dawson, she is comfortable picking for shiny scraps of melody on the hard shoulder. As a consequence, these songs command close attention but – like the messy universe around them – do not necessarily beg to be decoded. [Apr 2022, p.18]

A perfectly formed masterclass in early hours reflection. [Aug 2020, p.82]

In places it has a feel of soundtrack work, strangely restrained for such club fiends, but their grasp of pensive, unsettling dynamics is firm. [Jan 2013, p.80]

The set ranges ambitiously from hypnotic, twisted love songs such as "103" and the title track to the warped gospel undertones of "My Girls My Girls" and "LA Hex", courtesy of the Compton Kidz Club Choir. [Dec 2023, p.31]

It's a feast of contextual songwriting and sizzling guitar. [Apr 2012, p.83]

Stand For Myself is a headphones album, lovingly written, arranged and produced. [Aug 2021, p.32]

While all this makes for a rich, dense and sometimes overwhelming offering, Amos still ensures there's some light amid all this darkness. [May 2026, p.25]

An epic study of sand and celluloid. [Oct 2011, p.98]

This is a more low-key collection. [Feb 2012, p.94]

All American Made marks both a hardening and a deepening of Price's sound. [Nov 2017, p.25]

From dive-bar romps to plaintive reflection, this is his strongest collection for some time. [Nov 2018, p.30]

The Nashville-based songwriter's toughness and tenacity soars through her brand of showstopper 1970s country. [Jul 2020, p.39]

A rich, dense, cinematic journey into inner space. [Dec 2020, p.30]

Hanson has imbued this LP with a thematic and musical cohesiveness that makes it the finest record of his career to date.

They waltz from space-jazz ("In Cucina") to disco-dub ("Phase One Million") and library scat-funk ("Tub Erupt"), the whole thing tied together by Cathy Lucas's dusky delivery. [Dec 2021, p.35]

Angels is spacier than previous outings, nowhere more so than the semi-improvised 20-minute title track. [Mar 2011, p.88]

A dazzlingly clever record--great beats, brilliant production, top tunes and some of Albarn's best singing. [Jun 2005, p.106]

The selections on this earworm-packed compilation prove that the limitations of 8-and 16-bit technology and the era's primitive sound chips were no obstacle to the most determined composers. [Jan 2018, p.43]

Football Money packs a melodic punch. [Mar 2020, p.30]

While a little lacking in variation, it’s a most welcome return for a band who have come out of retirement but still know how to land a punch. [Sep 2024, p.36]

It's every bit as good as their debut. [Nov 2008, p.109]

Henriksen's flute-like playing has a uniquely spittled, raspy quality that lends it a rare vulnerability. [Jul 2017, p.30]

It's the band's ability to so gracefully coexist in these seemingly contradictory worlds that makes them such an inimitable outfit all these years on. [Oct 2020, p.39]

That the album never loses it s way is testament to Deacons' fearless approach, his mastery of different genres and from the thrilling sense of urgency that propels it all forward. [Oct 2012, p.75]

The gentlest Six Organ's outing since 2005's School of The Flower, if not for the menacing rumblings in "Taken By Ascent." Even so, it's more vivid proof of Chasny's ability to create transcendental music free of psych cliches. [Mar 2017, p.39]

Companion Rises is unmistakably Chasney's journey, and it's wonderful to come along for the ride. [Mar 2020, p.34]

Blackshaw creates multiple orchestral effects with his instrument alone, each strum resounding like multiple windchimes. [Aug 2009, p.87]

It's relentlessly repetitive in style and mood, but Lindsey's howling hormonal rage still feels exhilarating. [Aug 2011, p.97]

The country double Ghost to a Ghost/Gutter Town, is the best and it's not un-experimental. [Nov 2011, p.84]

Wonderful stuff. [Aug 2016, p.76]

The delicate touches and melodic strengths shine. [Jan 2017, p.23]

Fans get their money's worth with this particular Broderick. [Jan 2018, p.35]

Not a while world away from the primitive throb of his Stiff pomp. [May 2018, p.37]

Craven Faults transcend obvious reference points. There is real craft here. [Jan 2020, p.30]

Overall, this is a lavish, well-produced affair that still finds room for the kinks and chaos of the Arkestra. [Nov 2020, p.34]

Wherever you care to drop the needle or let the shuffle button take you, the essence of this collaboration and the velocity of its execution somehow hoovers you up and brings you along. [Aug 2021, p.20]

As the music spreads, and the sound engrosses and uplifts you, the tacit message feels humble and lightly worn: one of consideration, empathy and collective strength. [Feb 2023, p.30]

Joan Of All rarely feels ordinary. ... As a whole, this is a work of strength and variety. [Jun 2023, p.24]

bdrmm have expanded their sound, retaining that youthful energy and combining it with ambition and impressive marshalling of dynamics that creates a strangely serene album. [Aug 2023, p.25]

It's a calming, beatific experience. [Aug 2023, p.34]

Throughout, Rademaker's tremulous vocals and endearing slacker persona imbue his songs with a heart-tugging humanity. [May 2024, p.34]

Although it's an album that demands immersion, Butler does allow himself to - musically - cut loose, wielding his guitar with trademark flair on "Pretty D" and "Living The Dream". [Jun 2024, p.30]

Long respected for looking beyond the 12-bar rut that blights much of the genre, Bibb has rarely sounded so articulate and inspired. [Review of the Year 2024, p.27]

Though former folk musician Jiha employs electronic means to embellish her pieces, its' her yanggeum, a hammered dulcimer, teasing out "Grounding"'s gentle melodies and hypnotising ius with a metallic tapping throughout "Breathe Again"'s gentle breeze. [Mar 2025, p.37]

An album of songs encompassing beguiling naivety, terse wisdom and twinkling regret. [May 2025, p.30]

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

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]

[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]

Studio 68! return with full-throated Devonian Dani Turner adding a soulful garage twist. [Mar 2026, p.37]

Favourite Worst Nightmare is a near-triumph, a far superior Album #2 than Meat Is Murder, The Libertines, or Second Coming. Yet some doubts nag, partly because of the subject matter. [May 2007, p.84]

It's the quintet's talent for sneaking in moments of surprising prettiness that makes their seventh record such a charmer. [Jul 2013, p.81]

A more exuberant sophomore effort that synthesises the techno-pop of Yellow Magic Orchestra and the electro-R&B of '80s hitmakers like Midnight Star. [Jul 2016, p.75]

The results are almost too intimate to bear. [Jun 2018, p.33]

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

It's when Leithauser plays on his home ground of rueful romantic desperation (as he does on the title track), though, that he really hits his stride. [Oct 2016, p.31]

Immunity's greatest rapture, however, lies in Hopkin's welcome reunion with King Creosote for the title track's glistening melancholy. [Jul 2013, p.76]

Salad days is goofy but sweet guitar pop in the vein of Jonathan Richman, occasionally somewhat lightweight but delivered with a crooked smile that's quite endearing. [May 2014, p.73]

Fever Ray's records may be less boldly subversive than The Knife's, but there are plenty of artful thrills and pleasures here. [Apr 2023, p.26]

Scattershot, but so frighteningly intense and packed with ideas that you can't help but be impressed. [Apr 2010, p.100]

The extrovert quintet hold their nerve and deliver another wild pop ride. [Dec 2025, p.31]

The songs here are lean, supple, confident. [May 2018, p.18]

Transfigures smoothly from one hallucinatory half-style to another. ... The playing is both adventurous and textural, and the surprising, soothing result would have made a fine release on Eno's '70s Obscure label. [May 2021, p.31]

What really distinguishes LXXXVIII is its sense of soul. [Review of the Year 2023, p.21]

Here they sound truly alive, impassioned and buoyant on their finest LP to date. [Jun 2018, p.33]

Band Leader David Moore's piano lines are more definable, tinkling through the serene textures in a way that recalls Hans-Joachim Roedelius. [Nov 2014, p.71]

Frozen Niagara Falls is still a rocky ride in places. [Jul 2015, p.81]

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]

Fizzing creativity is audible across the whole record. [Aug 2021, p.35]

This 23-track release is even better than its Britpop-heavy 1995 predecessor. [Apr 2026, p.37]

A set that ranges from funky to subdued. It's a sparser affair than the Tweedy-produced trio. adding only backing voices to a bass/drum/guitar lineup in which Harper's searching playing provides the principal, sometimes sole counterpoint to Mavis's earthy, heartfelt vocals, their power remarkably intact in her advancing years. [Jun 2019, p.22]

These Varsailles dwellers make records that initially seem like delicately generic powerpop, but gradually emerge as vivid, bittersweet epiphanies. [Jun 2009, p.99]

Sparse yet graceful, these 14 songs of love and loss interpret wispy folk and slow-burning country via brittle, lo-fi angularity. [Mar 2003, p.100]

A brave and beautiful album of humanity, hurt and hope from the songwriter best qualified to speak to and for his country.... A towering achievement. [Album of the Month, Sep 2002, p.102]

Her full-length debut confidently and even defiantly collides raw garage rockabilly with distorted blues and ornery old-time folk. [Jul 2016, p.81]

Coltrane, Eno and Metheny are touchstones, but Shabason's abstraction is sensual, his language emotional. [Sep 2017, p.37]

The unlikely collision between Jimmy Webb and Talk Talk that is "Hell" repping particularly strongly for his new sound. [Aug 2020, p.36]

Whether in the propulsive “The Fall” or the more delicate “Desire”, she’s rarely sounded so commanding. [Jun 2022, p.34]

It moves like a Best Of, stacking the hits up top. [Jan 2018, p.40]

The Renaissance offers a compromise between the rootsy East Coast rap he helped to define and the LP you imagine the label wanted. [Jan 2008, p.111]

A tough one to make but astonishingly realised, Fields of Reeds is further evidence that they're out there, on their own. [Jul 2013, p.65]

Eagle is as good as anything he's ever done.

She immerses listeners in the remarkably wide range of textures and timbres she explores on chamber organ, Mellotron, oboe and other instruments rarely combined in such fashion since prog's golden era. [Oct 2021, p.27]

If Heartleap does indeed prove to be the final destination of Bunyan's old horse and cart, it's entirely worthy one. [Nov 2014, p.79]

As a celebration of classic songcraft, it is as sincere as any of Dylan's many forays into traditional American roots idioms. [Mar 2015, p.65]

Steingarten combines clipped, Kompakt-style 4/4 funk with a massy dub sensibility reminiscent of Adrian Sherwood's Tackhead productions. [Apr 2007, p.114]

Like all the best goodbyes, Saint Etienne bow out on top form and affectionate terms. [Sep 2025, p.26]

The sense is of a band confirming their place as among the most enterprising in the genre. [Jan 2022, p.27]

Happily, the overarching bleakness is sugared by Wells' brisk, sometimes cinematic instrumentation. [Jun 2015, p.84]