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

There is a knowingness to Burning Daylight that sometimes verges on Pastiche, but Cowgill's Mordant deadpan means the mask never slips. [Nov 2012, p.77]

Dramatic and ravishing, 100 Acres of Sycamore is some achievement.

If Grant’s recent output veered toward the unnecessarily quirky, this new record restores focus. It’s as unsettling as 2013’s Pale Green Ghosts and – in its own way – as alert to the shoddy stitching in the stars and stripes as Randy Newman’s Good Old Boys, Phil Ochs’ Rehearsals For Retirement or the queercore of Dicks and MDC. [Jul 2021, p.20]

Over a barrage of different beats, Hutching creates abstract-expressionist drip paintings using a single colour, or striking day-glo illustrations using broad brush-strokes, or pointillistic portraits using hundreds of identical dots. [Nov 2022, p.24]

Offering a combination of improv and discipline supplemented by anxious guitars and a vocal that often sounded like the recitation of a manifesto. [Jun 2019, p.27]

Though occasionally wearying in its frenzy, this is the best kind of world music, loud, liberating and explosively experimental. [Jun 2016, p.76]

While Teardo's shines, balancing a tendency toward simple melodic cells with sweeping trawls of tonality, Bargeld's dry humour still comes through. [Jun 2016, p.81]

Horse Feathers have found their way to a much richer, more confident sound, marrying Southern soul grooves and rough-hewn Americana to Paul Simon eloquence. [Jul 2018, p.28]

If you're a Prince bootleg freak you'll know most of it already, but if not it's a great introduction to his writing for outside productions. Often, the real revelation is how closely performers hew to his demos. [Jul 2019, p.48]

The Flaming Lips remain masters at creating an irresistible sense of sheer awestruck wonder that demands its own emotional reaction from the listener. [Aug 2019, p.24]

Natalie Merchant has made an album of elemental beauty... she's never sounded better. [Jan 2002, p.140]

The four-and-a-half minutes of tuning that takes up the first track of this six-disc boxset signals that Live In New York a scrupulously compiled audio verite document - and there's plenty more tuning to come. [Dec 2009, p. 88]

You'd struggle to find a more affecting ode to the selfishness of love than this. [Jun 2014, p.80]

Singer-guitarist Ian Felice brings real pathos to lucid tales of characters in various states of dissolution. [Jul 2016, p.74]

Fans of Ariel Pink, Sinkane and mild hallucinogens would do well to seek out this eye-opening, vibes-heavy debut by shamanic newcomer Feynman. [Sep 2017, p.26]

This fine collection is actually more enjoyable than the Shjips' second album proper. [Apr 2010, p.109]

No Scare careens between sunbaked Americana, dreamy melodicism and more aggressive moves that are less reminiscent of Walker's exploratory folk-rock than the full throttle pummelling of Rosaly's sides with jazz titan Peter Brotzmann. [Sep 2016, p.75]

Gamel is an ecstatic return. [Aug 2014, p.76]

His first solo album is more entrancing than anything he's recorded to date. [Aug 2015, p.78]

Textured and complex. [Oct 2002, p.108]

Milk For Flowers is intimate, introspective and melancholic, yet peppered with moments of joy, elation and hope. His best album so far. [Apr 2023, p.29]

The Love Below... comprises the most sublime pop music heard on record this year. [Dec 2003, p.118]

Lamentations furthers Basinski's reputation as an empathetic conduit of tragedy, mirroring societal tribulation as a necessary act of communal release. [Dec 2020, p.27]

For such a relaxing piece, though, there's also a melancholy tot he minor keys and descending harmony lines, which elevates this epic above bland mood music. Still, listening in one sitting is a feat. [Oct 2015, p.81]

The result is both an ambitious concept album and a glorious booty-shaker. [Oct 2013, p.68]

This double-CD set offers clues as to how Welch and Rawlings got there [on Revival], and glimpses down roads not taken. [Jan 2017, p.49]

It's a beautiful collection of genre-hopping songs. [Apr 2026, p.37]

Dripping with raw emotion, Tim Wheeler's solo debut is a moving memorial to his father George. [Jan 2015, p.79]

The set follows the progression of Mersey music from Yachts and Big In Japan through to The La's, who re-engaged with the Cavern sound and signalled where Britpop would soon be heading. [Mar 2018, p.47]

A facinating treatment, and really rather groovy. [Sep 2008, p.89]

Deez's second album ups the wonky'n'witty ante with out sacrificing heart or tunes. [Mar 2013, p.70]

Burn Your Fire for No Witness feels like a big step forward from its predecessor, Half Way Home. [Mar 2014, p.81]

The complete recording reveals many (until-now) hidden delights that we can enjoy in full. [Nov 2008, p.89]

Mike Mattison's gritty lead vocals are fully functional, but it's Trucks' consistently mesmerising guitar and dobro that draw the ear. [Feb 2009, p.99]

Yes, Paper Airplanes is mindful of the past. But it's never held back by it. [May 2011, p.92]

Claustrophobic, gripping, uncomfortably frank suite. [Aug 2019, p.39]

The music is so lovely, and the lyrics so smart, you're reassured that all hope is not lost. [Sep 2025, p.38]

It also might be the best album this consistently weird and interesting bunch have made. [Oct 2021, p.27]

The fizzy psych-funk of "A Good Luck" and "Sing Along" ramp up the atmosphere in grand style, matched by Simpson's fabulous baritone, through best of all is the monstrous "Fastest Horse In Town." [Nov 2019, p.30]

This is Clark, now in his 72nd year, as the rumpled poet of American folk-blues, imparting these semi-brisk, string-driven tales with his own unique brand of sad, funny, dry wisdom.

[A] wonderous first solo offering outside of Air. [Oct 2015, p.76]

An album of tremendous humour and empathy, less a comeback than a considered continuation of an unprecedented career. [Nov 2018, p.22]

Beguiling mix of gothic Southern soul and outlaw country. [Dec 2018, p.27]

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]

His debut album reworks traditional material, much of it obscure, yet sounding familiar thanks to the vibrancy of playing, notably from William Tyler on guitar. [Feb 2015, p.78]

Jenkins conveys his obsession with sound beautifully. [Apr 2016, p.71]

On first listen, this follow-up is less impressive, but subtle melodies soon sugar the melancholy of 'Glory to the Owlrd' and 'Happiness Won Me over.' [June 2008, p.100]

As on debut Eighteen Hours Of Static, there's a sinister feel, as if you are being sometimes stalked an sometimes assaulted, often, as in the case of "So Much You," in the same song. [Apr 2016, p.69]

The material forms a coherent, hard-hitting song cycle about blue-collar hard times. [Feb 2014, p.76]

It feels like an extended hymn to his home state. [May 2011, p.92]

Though motorik beats carry much of the set and there are prog and sci-fi-metal elements, Changes throws back to tracks like "Ambergris" and "Kepler-22b" in its tapping of soul, disco amd R&B, styled along both classic and modern lines. [Dec 2022, p.18]

Back To Yasgur’s Farm has a documentary feel that’s one of its most successful aspects.

There's real poeticised emoting here. [May 2003, p.108]

Skewed hip hop soundscapes with hints of slinky R&B that could even be described as DJ-friendly. [Jul 2003, p.124]

Unexpectedly exhilarating. [Jun 2014, p.79]

The music glistens and gleams. ... An intoxicating ride. [Sep 2017, p.34]

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

This is a holiday fling of a record. Chilled and tempting as a beachside mojito--and just as potent. [Sep 2017, p.30]

The shape and personality of a song are everything, and Elkington's arrangements serve these tracks superbly. [Dec 2025, p.26]

The trio [is] on reassuringly unpredictable form. [Oct 2016, p.40]

Doesn't reveal itself in haste but rather unfolds over time and through multitudinous layers. [Nov 2019, p.23]

Fohr's extraordinarily expressive baritone--echoing Nina Simone, Nico and Scot Walker--is the centre of her songs which range far and wide compositionally. [Nov 2017, p.24]

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

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

The qualities that once made The Verve the nation's top anthemists are recognisably intact on this new effort, from its stately pace to its burnished sense of grandeur. [Feb 2006, p.70]

Her third album finds her developing her instrumental palette, often allowing moody strings rather than piano to dominate arrangements. [Jan 2017, p.28]

Utterly addictive and reality-shifting. [Jan 2017, p.21]

You may well own these already, but the value of this collection is as a portrait of the artist through time, and a compilation of the irresistible outpourings of a man who never really knew who he was. [Nov 2013, p.83]

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]

This four-CD box demonstrates Bedhead to be a band incapable of missteps. [Jan 2015, p.86]

Deer Creek Canyon is dappled with sad-slow shuffles and lovely ruminations on escape, the roll of the seasons and her roots in Colorado. [Jan 2013, p.73]

Parker Millsap's second album is possessed of classic troubadour restlessness, drenched in the Pentecost but headed onto country/folk/blues highways tramped down by everyone from Johnny Cash to John Fullbright. [Mar 2014, p.79]

The King of Limbs passes like a breeze, and has you skipping back to the start as soon as the final track fades out. [May 2011, p.90]

If El Camino was the Keys' catchiest album. Turn Blue turns out to be their sneakiest, subtlest and most seductive. [Jun 2014, p.65]

So Long... is deeply rooted in west Coast sunset pop, more Fleetwood Mac than Del McCoury, although her guitar picking is always precise, imaginative, and, on "The Highway Knows", utterly joyful. [Oct 2025, p.35]

Tightly wound--easygoing but uptight; the work of a man still striving for a modest kind of perfection. And--not for the first time--with Still he has almost achieved it. [Jul 2015, p.65]

Brothers shines brightest when Nelson spins out pithy philosophising, or hits a certain inimitable, rambling, jazzy sweet spot with his longtime band. [Aug 2014, p.70]

Brave and different. [Sep 2015, p.80]

Their garage-rock stylings have flourished. [Oct 2018, p.29]

Ascent sounds like Chasny channeling a great band's alchemical powers to his own ends, in the process making what may turn out to be a highpoint in his already rich and complex career. [Sep 2012, p.78]

[A] sonically rich, mostly great album. [Jan 2017, p.28]

By far their boldest statement yet. [Apr 2007, p.92]

Roots For Ruin burns with their reignited love of Fugazi, Pixies and Pavement. [Oct 2010, p.98]

The prevailing mood is one of stately elegance but there are flashes of wit, too. [Jun 2021, p.25]

Blistering opener "Straight To Hell" sets the carpe diem tone. [May 2020, p.32]

With Lanegan at his stentorian best and Dulli in full confessional mode, Saturnalia is a feast, certainly--but one where the dishes are served delightfully raw.

Commits to the craft, shooting through stadium-sized choruses with mischievous humour. [Mar 2025, p.37]

Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie play a whirlwind hits set complete with numerous diversions and wonderfully bathetic between-song anecdotes. [Apr 2019, p.29]

Tuba can feel somewhat unwieldy, but in Cross's hands it's anything but. his style a blend of New Orleans brass-band music and a grime and soundsystem culture that's somewhat closer to home. [Apr 2019, p.26]

These sketches give a sense of how Reed’s songs would be finessed. The less familiar tunes reverse the telescope, throwing the focus on the way Reed bullworked his writing muscles, toying with novelty and genre. ... What these early sketches show is that by combining novelty and song craft with the soul of a poet, Reed could reach higher. [Sep 2022, p.42]

The most initially striking thing about Gift Of Screws is that, despite its brevity, it’s actually quite varied.

Screws Get Loose is crammed with infectious pop and arch lyrics that recall The Runaways or Shampoo. [Mar 2012, p.101]

This new project--fronting a five-piece band made up of mystery members who apparently contacted him on spec--has reined in his more wayward tendencies with positive results. [Dec 2010, p.105]

This one is more bluesy and soulful, a kind of semi-protest record that takes stock of post-Bush USA. [Mar 2009, p.88]

Heaton and Abbott's fifth breaks taboos about infant deaths on the quietly moving “Still” and nobly restores self-belief on the uplifting “When The World Would Actually Listen”. They remain impervious to musical snobbery, too. [Oct 2022, p.31]

This set borrows from those same Nebraska recording sessions [of 2017's Tomorrow Forever] with nary a weakling to show. Pounding rock'n'roll colludes with lethal hooks, while jangly guitars and soulful harmonies mesh with ethereal melodies. [Jul 2018, p.34]

It helps that Wilkinson sings sweetly, too, distancing and layering his vocals for that dewy, lost-in-the-woods effect. [Aug 2009, p.87]