This is a nourishing and deeply meditative record. [Oct 2021, p.27]

She tears into bilious rockers "Big Baby" and "Two Shots" like the wildcat of yesteryear. ... But Jackson really comes into her own on a heart-rendering cover of Johnny Tillotson's "It Keeps Right On A Hurtin'" and co-written country ballad "That's What Love Is." [Oct 2021, p.28]

De Souza's ability to balance the brute force of "Real Pain" and "Bad Dream" with something as sunny as "Hold U" is another reason to look forward to more of her shapeshifting. [Sep 2021, p.27]

BRM's second is a dazzling stylistic display. [Oct 2021, p.25]

Screen Violence is a punchy and determined effort, full of big hooks ands awash with glittering synth textures. [Sep 2021, p.27]

The "before" is fractious, two-chord Velvet Underground cool - the sultry "August," the minute-and-a-half burst of "Time Walk" - the "after" like eavesdropping on something private. [Sep 2021, p.25]

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

Taken together, the music of Year Of The Spider is anything but stuck in the past. Its novel sonic alloys, and punk rock spirit, very much ring of right now. [Sep 2021, p.20]

McMurtry's latest lifts storytelling-in-song to meticulous new levels. [Sep 2021, p.29]

At its best here, this produces minor masterpieces like the shimmering romance of "The First Day" or "Circles In The Firing Line," a lithe and bristling combination of John Grant and John Misty. [Sep 2021, p.35]

The chiming and charming likes of "Scratching At The Lid" and "Wanderlust" are typical of the second effort. [Sep 2021, p.31]

A spare and seductively lonesome pooling of bluesy folk and electronics that eschews "folktronica" and nods to Martyn, Hollis, Crosby and Jason Molina. [Sep 2021, p.25]

Nile's title track offers up celebration and togetherness, with disease and idiocracy pushed into the back mirror, and guitars and organs to the fore.[Sep 2021, p.31]

While tunes like "Honeymoon" and "Trick Mirror" have a graceful Fleetwood Mac-style charm, they lack the lyrical bite that was one of her early USPs, and the vocal rasp heard on live performances seems smoothed off. [Sep 2021, p.25]

Jungle's well trusted blend of neo-R&B, French Touch and retro-disco gains new zest on the duo's third album thanks to stylistic detours into acid-jazz classiness and David Axelrod-style psych splendour. elsewhere the formula wears a little thinner . [Sep 2021, p.28]

He finds a Teenage Fanclub-style melancholic charm on songs like "America," "How Can I Love You" and the excellent "Palindromes," while "All The Same" and "Twenty-Two" head into heavier territory. [Sep 2021, p.25]

The result is an exquisitely polished music that sometimes strays a little into fromage. [Sep 2021, p.24]

Shows off a rare side to Blunt: a soul-baring sincerity. [Sep 2021, p.25]

He's clearly referring to something much broader and deeper than artistic definition but Andrew's mercurial mindset is again the key to Liars' singularity. If The Apple Drop is more, in light of their history, a considered experiential teaser than a synapse frazzler, it's his choice. Once more, expectation can go to hell. [Sep 2021, p.32]

Classy but underpowered. [Aug 2021, p.24]

Attains orchestral grandeur on intricate set pieces. [Sep 2021, p.28]

A rich, impassioned set of songs. [Sep 2021, p.24]

It's weird and enticing, hypnotic and jarring. In a word: it's Chasny. [Sep 2021, p.33]

There's no denying the smooth grooves of Willie Mitchel and Al Green is a template for several cute here. [Sep 2021, p.33]

The malevolent, Stooges-and-Suicide-styled noise of their definitive Blood Red River is less apparent, but attitudinal chops and unpredictability abound. [Sep 2021, p.33]

In the space of an economical 40 minutes, crystallise everything that makes Crosby such an alluring, vital and still relevant force. [Sep 2021, p.22]

The fuzz-heavy pop-punk he was making back then still echoes loudly here but by connecting with producer Dave Sitek, the material also sounds crisper. [Sep 2021, p.35]

His vocals--as exuberant in his seventies as half a century ago. [Sep 2021, p.35]

Nelson's paeans to familial bonds form a loose song cycle that frequently surprises and is capable of effortlessly lifting the listener's spirits. [Sep 2021, p.29]

Though not everything here works, Spiral remains consistently intriguing throughout. [Sep 2021, p.27]

There are barely any duff Sault tracks. [Sep 2021, p.26]

More style than substance at times, maybe, but invariably rich in promise. [Sep 2021, p.27]

They have not deviated from their core virtues: drolly mordant lyrics, instinctive tunefulness and the lo-fi new-wave sensibility that carries it all. [Sep 2021, p.27]

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]

Scott's ability to weave between monster guitar eruptions, refined pop and stripped-back moments that allow her voice to soar is a constant. [Sep 2021, p.35]

The band showcase their wide range on this imaginative and timely covers album. [Aug 2021, p.29]

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

A rather good LP of socially conscious R&B. [Sep 2021, p.46]

This neo-disco banger ["Emotion"] overshadows the rest of the record, leaving the listener longing fir those same types of compact, entirely snackable treats. [Sep 2021, p.25]

A most welcome return. [Aug 2021, p.23]

There is less than usual here of the breezy country usually associated with his name. More characteristic of Triage are “Something Has To Change” and “Transient Global Amnesia Blues” – fretful, semi-spoken jeremiads set to brooding backdrops. Crowell has the wit and the gravitas to land these, however. [Sep 2021, p.27]

Wonderfully eclectic and strangely uplifting. [Aug 2021, p.31]

Any spiritual ecstasy on offer here appears to be of a more private kind, although no doubt offering a glimpse of the divine to believers. On other listeners, particularly those unfamiliar with Sanskrit and either ignorant or dismissive of the belief system of which these songs are an expression, its effects will be less certain. But the longer you listen, the more you’re drawn in and the less aesthetically confining the music’s self-imposed restraints seem. [Aug 2021, p.36]

Some of the best moments here are twitchy funk miniatures, driven by tuba basslines, distorted Fender Rhodes riffs and chant-based vocals, which leave you wanting more. [Aug 2021, p.35]

While Downhill From Everywhere climaxes with the ham-fisted “Until Justice Is Real”, the 72-year-old singer-songwriter has otherwise managed to thread the needle by embedding his compassion in consummate craftsmanship. [Aug 2021, p.24]

Aambles beyond his band’s already wide palette to embrace ’70s rock and pop flourishes. Squelchy sequencers and double racked guitars add drama to “One-Way Conversation”, while handclaps and a fuzzy synth bolster the details in the verses of “Almost Home.” [Jul 2021, p.31]

The LP's muscular hooks and unpretentious formalism provide Dylan with the ideal setting for his assured wordplay and signature stoicism. [Aug 2021, p.35]

The Flatlanders exude joy here. [Aug 2021, p.23]

Massed cymbals’ shivering traceries and guitar glints adorn the drones, as sonic quantity bolsters quality, the ritualistic glide of Indian and kosmische influences roiling with stray, fuzzed-up incident, in an inspired meeting. [Apr 2021, p.37]

This is raucous, relentless fun; in Parton’s own words, a musical “life raft” for shitty times. [Aug 2021, p.28]

Flitting between Black Sab homages such as “Busted Room” and the Zep-esque quasi-Middle Eastern “Recessinater”, and shorter rockers such as the Stooges-like “Front Street” and “BFIOU”, which opens with the riff from the Beasties’ “Sabotage” before exploring even scuzzier directions. [Jul 2021, p.24]

“Concrete Tunnels” and “Hari” communicate the cold isolationism of deep space. But deeper in, the album deftly channels the film’s themes of memory and consciousness, with “In Love With A Ghost” achieving a kind of terrible beauty. [Aug 2021, p.29]

The most emotionally mature and fully realised work Gillespie has delivered in years, laying grainy, soulful, impassioned vocals over sumptuously old-school chansons clothed in vintage orchestral country-rock arrangements. [Aug 2021, p.27]

An album heavy on immersive ambience. However, as the title suggests, there’s plenty of static to be found too – along with touches of deconstructed techno. [Aug 2021, p.24]

The results are spectacular ... Its thematic concerns – memory, transformation and lost innocence – prove a perfect complement too. [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 Turning Wheel has the feel of a big reveal. Her voice, as dramatic and flamboyant as a young Kate Bush, now pirouettes amid a backdrop of warm brass and orchestral funk supplied by an extended cast of players. [Jul 2021, p.34]

I Know I’m Funny Haha is her most seamless melding of urban country, warm ’70s soul, gutsy classic rock and introspective indie-pop, as she settles easily into the cracks between categories. ... I Know I'm Funny Haha could only been made by no-one else but Faye Webster. [Jul 2021, p.16]

It’s an album packed with leftfield ideas and off-kilter lyrical narratives seemingly fashioned in fever dreams. [Aug 2021, p.24]

Although the album was written and recorded at a time of severe international strife, Taylor maintains an aura of studied and reassuring calm on “It Will If We Let It”, “Glory Strums” and outstanding closer “Sanctuary”. [Jul 2021, p.27]

I Be Trying sounds as stark and untamed as a field recording, belying the perfectionism with which it was made. [Aug 2021, p.24]

The title is Williams’ name for the world in which her music is set and it’s one where disaster looms large – dark, evocative and minor-key rich; menacing live drums and corkscrew bass hanging heavy in the atmosphere. [Aug 2021, p.33]

Rose City Band’s third album maintains those impeccable vibes of lush country charm, with Earth Trip offering a series of beautiful moments. [Jul 2021, p.33]

Those in thrall to Modest Mouse’s well-honed blend of ramshackle punk-folk and predilection for dispensing off-grid wisdom will find much favour with the latest addition to their canon. [Aug 2021, p.31]

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]

Home Video is Dacus at her most autobiographical and lyrically direct. [Jul 2021, p.28]

Prove as unflinchingly human as Hammill's own work.[May 2021, p.27]

Blue Weekend is a collection of songs that immediately dazzle, with a relentless array of strong hooks, nestled within a sea of diverse sonic colours. [Aug 2021, p.35]

If Shirushi’s relentless momentum can leave you breathless, it batters its way into real, mutant rock’n’roll thrills. [Aug 2021, p.35]

Path Of Wellness proves Corin Tucker and Carrie Brownstein haven’t forgotten the empowering, life-giving qualities of rock’n’roll fun. Sleater-Kinney are turning their reunion years into a reaffirmation of the importance of support and solidarity on a private, personal level. [Aug 2021, p.30]

The results are weirdly and pleasingly dislocated. [Aug 2021, p.29]

Purists who flinched when Tame Impala began to morph into a hairier Da¢ Punk may be similarly nonplussed by the sextet’s turn toward blissed-out dance-rock, but everyone else will have a lot of fun. [Aug 2021, p.28]

It’s a wonderfully tactile set, pared back to just fingerpicked guitar and voices, their verité approach welcoming informal chatter and ambient sounds of the surrounding high desert. [Aug 2021, p.28]

The whole thing whispers and swirls with ease, cradling the ears before and after the title track shocks the listener with a pulsating instrumental transmission seemingly beamed from the depths of outer space. [Aug 2021, p.27]

Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Ricky Medlocke co-writes one song, and most others sound like someone from Skynyrd did. But the best tracks, counterintuitively, are those furthest from Blackberry Smoke’s trademark boogie. [Aug 2021, p.24]

Nothing feels remotely ‘phoned-in’ here. [Aug 2021, p.28]

A notably confident-sounding record. [Aug 2021, p.23]

It’s a story as old as Pet Sounds, but one that bears repeated re-telling. [Jul 2021, p.31]

Peace Or Love is their most cohesive album yet. While it’s not a world away from their previous work, the mood is noticeably more stripped-down and melancholic. ... Kings Of Convenience seem to have discovered the purest essence of the music they create. [Aug 2021, p.26]

Ultimately it’s this balancing between considered atmospheres and rattling noise that gives Present Tense such a sharp bite. [Jun 2021, p.25]

These compact compositions inevitably risk straying into noodling self-indulgence at times. But in general, inspiration trumps masturbation. [Aug 2021, p.33]

Seven songs in 19 minutes feel like a tidy introduction to this contemplative Californian. [Aug 2021, p.21]

This is second-tier Sabbath, arriving at the waning of their imperial phase. But that’s still a formidable prospect. ... Also included is a mostly unheard North American show from 1975 that proves the band were still bringing the goods live, especially on a surging “Children Of The Grave”. [Jul 2021, p.41]

A collection of great intimacy and tenderness, inspired in part by the loss of her father. This is rich, melodic folk. [Jul 2021, p.27]

It's a long, convoluted, tiresome listen. [Jul 2021, p.25]

It’s a big, bolshy set, slightly dated by its industrial-rock dynamics, but there’s no denying the Depeche Mode-ish “Godhead” or (especially) the giallo-ish critique that is “A Woman Destroyed”. [Jul 2021, p.27]

The bulk of the material comes from Crosby, Nash and especially Stills. These include early versions of several tracks that would soon appear on the trio’s own solo albums. ... There are more Stills rarities – “Same Old Song”, “Right On Rock’N’Roll” – and the musician accounts for seven of the eleven songs on the outtakes CD, making this something of a Stills mother lode. Added to these are several completed CSN tracks, complete with the harmonies that brought them together in the first place.

Indispensable, but that’s no surprise.

Clearly, the source material is strong, but there’s also an emotional unity of purpose that works in the covers’ favour. [Jun 2021, p.33]

On Hardware and elsewhere in his solo career, there remains little doubt about what he does best. [Jul 2021, p.32]

Often feels more afterthought than addition. On form, however, few write or sing human frailty with Neil Finn’s poise. [Jul 2021, p.25]

Inventively produced by Jacknife Lee, All The Colours Of You is a winning synthesis of James’ anthemic tendencies and their more instinctive weirdness. [Jul 2021, p.27]

It’s an album that’s constantly shifting, almost restless at times, yet it also remains poised and coherent. [Jul 2021, p.27]

Songs like “Spanish Steps” and the title track recall the lo-fi sound of her critically lauded ’90s albums, while “Ba Ba Ba” and “Good Side” embrace the polish of her critically denounced 2000s albums. [Jul 2021, p.33]

More often wispy and whispery in her earlier work, her voice assumes new strength and vividness here as Trappes dives deep into torch-song mode for “Red Yellow” and multitracks herself into a celestial choir for “Blood Moon”. [Jul 2021, p.34]

These are smart, confident and mostly fine-boned songs, though epic closer “Posing For Cars” leans on a lachrymose, slow-mo, alt.rock guitar passage. [Jul 2021, p.27]

Against hard-edged rhythms – Danielle Haim’s clattering drumming enlivens “These Kids We Knew” – and Solomon’s wordless reveries, Rostam sings in a creamy tenor tailormade for sharing the intimate feelings of his lyrics. [Jul 2021, p.33]

Familiar, but still freaky. [Jul 2021, p.34]