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]

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]

From the hypnotic opener “Kasai Munene” to the upbeat closer “Allstars All Around” with its spiralling soukous guitars, this is celebratory music-making at its most joyously instinctual. [Jul 2021, p.27]

The people in these songs are losing their listeners, memory or love, suffering partial erasures. And yet this melodic music holds them close with familial warmth. [Jul 2021, p.27]

Fellow Pretender James Walbourne provides deft guitar and keyboard accompaniment, but it’s the personality and allure of a distinctive voice that keeps you in the parlour. [Jul 2021, p.27]

“The Shame Of Love”, “Splinter” and “Mouthful Of Blood” successfully concealing Black Flag-worthy spleen behind a comforting veneer of distorted guitars, sunny Mellotron and Carpenters-compatible melodies. [Jul 2021, p.27]

It's a warm and slightly rickety set, with folk-ish elements and faint echoes of Sentridoh. [Jul 2021, p.23]

Here she uses soft synths to emulate an organ, lute and pipes, which combine on the likes of “Vanity” and “Qasmuna (Dreaming)” to cast an alluring spell, evoking the likes of vintage Boards Of Canada and Catarina Barbieri’s superb Ecstatic Computation. [Jul 2021, p.21]

At 68, Hiatt is producing some of the best work of his career, mapping his inner life with an eloquence that most can only aspire to. [Jun 2021, p.24]

When it’s good, she nails squiggly G-funk (“Boom Bap Is My Homegirl”, “Action Groove”) and late-night power-cruising (“Ghostride 21716”). But with no real focus, the whole thing tends to drag. [Jul 2021,p.31]

72 minutes of creeping contemplation and subdued drama. [Jul 2021, p.31]

Not all essential but a generally rich and respectable package. [Jul 2021, p.43]

The new takes largely work well, underscoring the compositional strength of the original songs. [Jul 2021, p.31]

What soon unfolds proves to be a profound evolution via the almost operatic crescendo that follows. Over the remaining five tracks, improvisational noise-rock gives way to more considered and structured songwriting, lush melodies and singer Geordie Greep’s new vocal style – which he croons with stirring tenderness. ... There’s not a single predictable second to be found on Cavalcade. [Jun 2021, p.23]

The band hits an altogether richer seam on the Fleet Foxes-like “Mine Forever” and the vast sweep of the string-laden title track, rooted in the lost highway myth but sounding more akin to classic Walker Brothers. [Jul 2021, p.30]

Composed for the 10-strong Montreal modern dance troupe Animals Of Distinction, in ways it conforms to the template of Canadian post-rock – extended instrumentals characterised by gradual builds and ecstatic climaxes. But “Scanner” and “Grid-Wall” explore a sleek, synthetic sound palette, all glitching electronics and halogen synths. [Jun 2021, p.25]

They immediately settle back into a familiar dynamic on the aptly titled opener “Let’s Do It Again”, with the band providing a lively and sympathetic soundtrack to Cartwright’s tale of loneliness and longing. They’ve learned more than a few new tricks over the years, as evidenced on the lovely psychedelic chamber-pop saga “Just Say When”, a duet with Coco Hames. [Jun 2021, p.31]

Here are nine songs that confidently mix Station To Station piano, Beach Boys harmonies, Kosmische guitar and even free jazz. [Jun 2021, p.31]

You could say this kind of record - produced by Dan Auerbach, who's also on guitar duty, for his own label - that plays to a revered, even fetishised aesthetic. ... With a band of experienced session hands. ... [Finley's] mastery is proven. [Jun 2021, p.25]

This is a rich listen, strengthened by Galanin's burning focus on critical issues. [Jun 2021, p.33]

A 75-minute intuitively guided rhythmic meditation, all five musicians playing from deep inside the music. [May 2021, p.30]

An exhilarating band set that mixes electric and acoustic instrumentation, it’s at once fiercely modern and as ancient as the Niger river. [Jun 2021, p.22]

A worthy addition to a glorious canon. [Jun 2021, p.24]

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]

A remarkable act of spiritual resilience. [Jun 2021, p.23]

The Blue Elephant is a sonic odyssey. [Jun 2021, p.23]

In a still-uncertain climate, its emotional honesty and crystalline truths are a gift.[Jun 2021, p.32]

Some of the guest vocalists on this LP approach this level of militancy but, in places Black To The future is also poppier and dancefloor friendly than anything Hutchinson has ever released. [Jun 2021, p.30]

You can't turn the clock back, of course, but in "Sad Days And Lonely Nights" you completely understand how the simple groove and ringing of the strings might act as a revivifying tonic. [Jun 2021, p.23]

A glistening second album that lands somewhere between the empyrean vision of Broadcast and the starry-eyed pulsating of Tame Impala. [Jun 2021, p.25]

Something that scratches the same itch that first propelled him and his audience into a record shop. ... To keep that hunger alive, you need to feed it with new inspiration. What you hear on Fat Pop is the reciprocation of that care. [Jun 2021, p.16]

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]

His most visceral album in years. [Jun 2021, p.28]

At times it bewilders. ... But Pulse Of Defiance has a lushness of texture that makes the compositional knottiness slide down easier. [Apr 2021, p.29]

The big swings taken here serve them just as well as the coiled intensity of their first releases. [Jun 2021, p.27]

It's the sonic equivalent of a Douglas Gordon video installation. [Jun 2021, p.27]

It's unsurprisingly a multicultural, extravagantly arranged collection. [May 2021, p.32]

A bold debut that continues their frenetic explorations of post-punk kraut-jazz but also moves into more electronic and soundscape-like worlds. [Jun 2021, p.33]

The mood here is uplifting and thankful – for family, friends, opportunity – as she mostly forgoes her usual country-folk stylings for something closer to R&B and impressionistic pop. [Jun 2021, p.28]

The DNA strands tying bop, Afrobeat, jungle and funk mean Allen’s steady, minimal jitter philosophically and rhythmically fi ts with a dozen resistant voices, 40 years asfter Fela, flickering beneath Sampa The Great’s taunting slur and, on rubbery highlight “Cosmosis”, Ben Okri, Damon Albarn and Skepta, Allen engaged and inherent in the present ’til the last beat. [Jun 2021, p.21]

Sixty Summers sees the kitten-voiced Julia take even bolder steps into uncharted territory. [Mar 2021, p.37]

Eventually, the unrelenting aggressiveness of Typhoons becomes exhausting; better to ignite a playlist by tossing in one of these potent cherry bombs. [Jun 2021, p.31]

The deliciously tense opener, “Make Worry For Me”, proves their close chemistry persists, but it’s the quieter, more solemn back half of this long album – in particular the delicate “You Can Regret What You Have Done” – that fi nds them leaning on each other like best unbeaten brothers. [May 2021, p.32]

Layered with cryptic clues, poetic quotes and fragmentary vocal loops, this lush electronic jazz odyssey is an unorthodox curio but consistently rewarding. [May 2021, p.33]

The Breeders are a popular choice, covered by Bradford Cox, Big Thief and Tune-Yards (whose "Cannonball" is almost as fun as the original. [Jun 2021, p.33]

Bold, sunless and fabulously unsettling. [Jun 2021, p.47]

d'Ecco has become marvellously proficient at channelling the spirits of Bowie, Bolan and Jobriath into riff-forward dance-rock numbers, and In Standard Definition is irresistible trash for anyone so inclined. [May 2021, p.23]

What lingers is that vivid voice. [Jun 2021, p.25]

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

An occasional change of pace might be welcome, but the craftsmanship is beyond reproach; swings, yes, but those roundabouts. [May 2021, p.24]

Too often, however, he's overshadowed by the phlegmatic vocals of pub rocker Roger C Reale, which means the most revelatory tracks here are the instrumentals. [May 2021, p.24]

Pete Townshend’s songwriting reaches deeper and wider with the unveiling of left field gem “Sunrise”, celebrated pocket opera “Rael” and the mighty “I Can See For Miles”. The band’s playful spirit also means it carries its conceptual weight lightly. [May 2021, p.46]

Oddly calming, even if it chills. [May 2021, p.24]

Great stuff. More please. [May 2021, p.27]

They’ve smuggled in sobering thoughts of isolation, loneliness and optimism’s perpetual challenge. But hope wins through with the sprightly funk and handclaps of closer “You Get Better”. [May 2021, p.25]

Highlights include Idles’ explosive “Peace Signs”; St Panther unlocking the irresistible pop heart of “One Day”; and “Love More” given a rhythmic, world-weary makeover by Fiona Apple. [Jun 2021, p.46]

Shake The Foundations is an accurate representation of its field, taking in both its achievements and its many foibles – a smart but patchy collection. [Jun 2021, p.47]

The likes of Khruangbin, St Vincent, fhoebe Bridgers and Josh Homme spice up Macca’s songs in their idiosyncratic fashion, while a few improve the originals. [Jun 2021, p.28]

It finds its sound in glowing electric waltzes, piled high with massed guitars and sawing fiddles, that take up a riff and grind it into extinction. Not to be missed, though, is their skill for softer atmospheres. [Jun 2021, p.27]

It’s hard to resist the sensory impact of these songs. Chemtrails picks up the nostalgic thread of 2019’s Norman Fucking Rockwell!, though here she’s mostly Midwest and more melodic. [Jun 2021, p.25]

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

It's excellent, with enchanting melodies, emotional depth and a few unexpected evolutions. [May 2021, p.26]

Tempers the sounds of traditional mountain music with a heady sense of experimentalism. [May 2021, p.28]

As familiar as a hug from an old friend. Yet the band's knack for colliding pop melodies with thrashing drums, pummelling bass and screeching guitars is as effective as ever. [May 2021, p.25]

It's a extended mediation on the expat experience, with yearningly hymnal renditions. [May 2021, p.27]

Off-kilter chamber pop telling ear-pricking tales: worth staying in for. [May 2021, p.31]

On "The Thing Itself" the pair are at their most graceful, rising airborne and serene above the disorder. [Apr 2021, p.27]

GVF strut and swagger through a sweeping hard-rock extravaganza that propels them from emulators to inheritors of a rich legacy. [May 2021, p.27]

First Farewell is wistful as well as smart and engaged. [May 2021, p.32]

White's material feels freer than usual, full of spirals of organ and keys, collapsing new rhythms and delirious jazz-funk riffs; Holley's one-take improvisation edge towards visionary incantations. [May 2021, p.35]

On This Is Really Going To Hurt, singer Will Taylor's characteristic black humour still cloaks the West Coast harmonies of "Everyone's A Winner," but the emotions cuts deep. [May 2021, p.27]

Once again transforms himself from a nerdy Clark Kent to a kickass retro-soul man, shapeshifting through Promenade Blue's 11 period-piece originals. [May 2021, p.35]

The result is an album of glorious hybridity, rooted in ancient griot tradition but serendipitously transformed into an audaciously cosmopolitan melting pot. [Apr 2021, p.28]

Offers the kind of transcendental electronics that burrow into your brain. [Mar 2021, p.37]

This ingenious successor to Computer World is enough to almost make one look forward to the coming robot wars. [Mar 2021, p.35]

The music is similarly diverse [as his guests], combining orchestral strings and beats, flamenco guitars and rap, and an array of other global styles. [May 2021, p.32]

As usual where Cheap Trick are concerned, the fast ones are much better than the slow ones. [May 2021, p.24]

A slice of life in all its messy, complicated and ultimately doomed glory. [May 2021, p.25]

It's a short, ineluctably lovely set, light, bright and often dizzyingly joyful, but also thrillingly unpredictable, with complex, jazzy arrangements against which Walker's phasing gently pushes and pulls. [May 2021, p.16]

The spine is provided by Smith's gentle, unforced voice and virtuosic fingerpicking but piano, subtle splashes of percussion and guest appearances recorded remotely by the milk Carton Kids, Bill Frisell and Lisa Hannigan add extra texture. [May 2021, p.32]

Strummer sounds mostly like he's having a blast. [May 2021, p.44]

Pleasingly grubby debut LP. [May 2021, p.25]

This multilayered and multigenre approach results in an album that is as deeply introspective as it is creatively bold and ambitious. [May 2021, p.25]

A potent techno-pagan tapestry of intertwined voices, church bells, liturgical chants and occult spells. [May 2021, p.27]

Menneskekollektivet's foibles – and the sense that it’s incomplete – are what make it so compelling. [May 2021, p.34]

Rose channels longing and romantic despair via expansive songs that owe much to the feel of classic country from the '60s and '70s. [Apr 2021, p.26]

A welcome return. [Apr 2021, p.27]

A more stripped=down approach. [May 2021, p.28]

Most impressive is Peel's ability to take the source material and make it her own. [May 2021, p.31]

Watkins' judicious arrangements and less-is-more approach throw different shades onto these songs she fell in love with a child. [May 2021, p.35]

One for Cornell completists only. [Apr 2021, p.27]

Clarke may not have the tools to open you up emotionally to quite the same degree [as Nick Cave And The Bad Seeds' Ghosteen], but he's found an elegant and absorbing mood of despair like few have managed so far. [Apr 2021, p.24]

More often than not, it seems like the Technicolor electronic sheen is masking tepid songwriting. [Apr 2021, p.30]

It feels deft and thoughtfully constructed. A deeply warm record. [May 2021, p.23]

Grief, memory and friendship billow up throughout the nine tracks. [Mar 2021, p.31]

[Kids] sees her punching through with aplomb, via 13 lean, attitudinal songs with a bass music and hip-hop/trap chassis, fitted out with pop hooks and featuring her fine, versatile voice. [May 2021, p.25]

The record itself isn’t angry, fizzing instead with a creative fire. There’s a looseness and joy to songs like “Make It Right” and “Homewrecker”, rooted in the extended jam sessions in which Garbus and bassist Nate Brenner birthed the record, the bold lyrics an extension of that passion. [May 2021, p.32]

Promises is an impressive collision of talents, and sublimely lovely in places, but also frustratingly slight. A minor addition to the canon of its two main authors, it earns the double-edged compliment of all half-great albums: it leaves you craving more. [May 2021, p.30]