Ronson fatigue will probably prove his undoing, but this is a very good album. [May 2009, p.87]

It's a cathartic and necessary release in these dark days of America, a riot reverberating through political resistance, social inclusion and sheer cathartic gyration. [Sep 2019, p.27]

The warm interaction between Brian and his bandmates on these recordings really does cast a much misunderstood period of The Beach Boys' career in a new light. [Sep 2017, p.44]

At times ethereal and romantic, at others eerie and queasy, it's completely different, but equally worthy, addition to this autheur's overlooked and original canon. [Nov 2018, p.18]

Despite these potentially dour themes, Running Out Of Love is far from a gloom-fest, couched as it is in disco and '80s-influenced electronica. [Nov 2016, p.35]

It makes for a rambunctious rock'n'roll record. [Nov 2011, p.94]

It's a deeply fun record that radiates vivacity and, most endearingly, sounds like a band who still truly love what they do. [Jan 2025, p.35]

These 13 richly expansive, tender-hearted songs also map the in-between places, questioning what living means now, in the face of an apparent apocalypse, [Jun 2026, p.27]

The stripped-down, Muscle Shoals-style arrangements give Mavis space to do her thing, and the song choices are spot-on. [Oct 2010, p.106]

She's full of ideas on this sonically, adventurous effort. [Oct 2010, p.108]

Everything feels remarkably fresh and unforced. [Apr 2016, p.68]

It’s a rare pleasure to hear a band so at ease with themselves, playing with no obvious aim or agenda beyond having a good time and hoping you do, too. The best thing about Fits is imagining how incredible these songs will be when played live.

Fusing dub, psychedelic funk, prog, art rock and roots reggae with their native mbaqanga and township blues, they've fashioned a fresh (Afro) funky debut, politicized not sollely by colour, but also by their genre-bending vision. [Dec 2009, p. 87]

Brian Gibson and Brian Chippendale somehow manage to make a bass guitar and half a drum kit sound like a particularly loud avalanche, and then sneak in some tunes along the way. [Dec 2009, p. 103]

Fashions change, but Baird's music remains gorgeous, harbouring a kind of still magic without resorting to self-consciously wyrd affectations. [Jul 2015, p.71]

There are nine other unreleased tracks, of which “Why D’Ya Go To Cleveland” is the only entirely unheard thing. ... Not everything is unsalted. The B-sides and rarities – many from film soundtracks – allow Harvey to stretch herself into Brechtian oompah, Beefheartian discord, neo-folk. Some of these waifs and strays are excellent. [Dec 2022, p.42]

While some moments feel more familiar - the sneering delivery of "Leisure Activities" borders on John Lydon mimicry - they embellish this punk undercoat with rich textural and atmospheric explorations, as well as tracks that glide between moments of industrial, goth and new wave. [Feb 2023, p.29]

Hayden's nagging melodies and deadpan delivery occupy their own peculiar kingdom. [Sep 2004, p.102]

She uses her voice as well as she ever has, giving the moods light and shade. [Sep 2001, p.104]

The tunes are getting stronger. [Oct 2019, p.24]

It is really his unsurpassed ability to access tracks that time forgot that makes this album so great. [May 2002, p.96]

Cry Cry Cry is 21st-century rock at its most delectably omnivorous. [Nov 2017, p.39]

Even with Rubin dialling things back, the material grabs the listener by the collar and holds on tight. [Album of the Month, Feb 2006, p.66]

They situate their voices on a pillowy bed of experimental pop, freak folk and, best of all, the sax-enhanced exotica of the title track. [Jan 2017, p.31]

Post-Bush, post-9/11, post-financial crisis, they sound more like [a] documentary. [Jan 2013, p.77]

With Drew at the helm, however, it becomes a messier, less wholesome affair, seductively so on 'Lucky Ones' and 'Frightening Lives,' which scamper toward some grubby euphoria like a hal-cut Arcade Fire. [Oct 2007, p.87]

The biggest spiritual influence is The Kinks, another band adept at exploring London’s darker undercurrents. On Theatre Of The Absurd…, Madness gleefully peer through the net curtains of life, revealing the moth-eaten carpets and peeling wallpaper obscured by the elaborate facades we all hide behind. [Dec 2023, p.24]

The kids know where it's at, and so, in this career-high purple patch, does Paul Weller. [Apr 2012, p.69]

Seething electronic undercurrents dredge depths of barely concealed rage. .... And amid the storm, moments of tenderness. [Jun 2025, p.33]

A real beauty. [Nov 2022, p.38]

Anderson's voice keeps songs like "Smoulder" feeling raw and human. [May 2014, p.73]

Terrific stuff. [Aug 2002, p.122]

It's a surprisingly varied record, the mood darkening towards the close, the band ever occasionally busting their habitual one-minute barrier. [May 2014, p.78]

A definite return to form. [May 2012, p.77]

Joseph's craggy voice is perfect for such heavy-duty topics. [Sep 2020, p.28]

Although a few tracks lack bite, Mount keeps the senses stimulated with diversity and detail. [Aug 2016, p.78]

The results sound as if Corgan plundered a few moves from Dave Grohl, since the songs keep one boot in heavy metal but mostly get straight to the point while piling on the hooks and harmonies. [Mar 2003, p.95]

This is one glorious murk. [May 2003, p.91]

Even back-porch sketches like "Free" and plaintive instrumental "First Snowfall In Detroit" radiate a warm, freewheeling, unforced beauty. [Jun 2014, p.91]

Their sixth sees Mark Ronson step in as producer on all but two tracks, and although he;s resisted the temptation to slather on Stax horns and apply his slick finish, he's given this tough, roughly energetic band focus and finesse. [Aug 2011, p.79]

"Feedback Delicates" and "L'Quasar" shelter their hooks amid shimmery, heatstroke production; but there's an urgency here, too. [Nov 2016, p.40]

The territory--dark skies, open roads and femme fatales--gives a gothic edge to even the most tender sentiment. [Aug 2005, p.98]

This album proves that Collins – if she so wishes – still has more to give. [Jun 2023, p.18]

Seattle three-piece Night Beats swoop into Who Sold My Generation oozing confidence. [Mar 2016, p.77]

The lissom guitars of brothers Dallas and Travis Good still allow for thrilling detours. [Nov 2007, p.121]

Americanized rock'n'roll that sounds as modern as it does vintage 1970s and effortlessly blends AC/DC riffage, Fleetwood Mac AOR and White Stripes punk-blues pyrotechnics. [Mar 2012, p.79]

It's mostly beautiful, and very civilised. [Oct 2008, p.81]

Throughout the mammoth album, barely a minute is wasted as Endless Boogie superimpose wild guitars on even wilder ones. [Mar 2013, p.78]

Old friendships contribute to the good vibes, and an atmosphere that's at once rambunctious and exploratory. [Apr 2015, p.76]

His eighth solo album will no doubt satisfy dedicated fans, but for those lulled into inattentiveness somewhere along the way, Tracker also makes an excellent case for re-engagement. [Apr 2015, p.70]

Here, the presence of a harmonium updates some lava lamp pyschedelic freakouts, David Axelrod's jazzy grooves and the feathery female harmonies of The Free Design, whose Chris Dedrick provides sleevenotes for the vinyl. [Jun 2009, p.101]

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

The band's plush indietronica is still in place, but there's greater warmth and imagination, and real consistency. [Mar 2010, p.79]

Images abound of betrayal, compromise, opportunities selfishly squandered. But a kind of redemptive enlightenment emerges. [Aug 2017, p.34]

So well-crafted is his music, so fleshed out are his concepts, that you can perhaps see why he’s chosen not to hitch his sounds to another’s vision. An album like Entangled Routes doesn’t need to be tied to moving images to reach its potential. Press play and it works its magic, imprinting its strange and fantastic visions direct onto your mind’s eye.

Boland’s previous releases (stretching back over 20 years) have only hinted at such levels of ambition, but The Light Saw Me is expertly realised, as playful as it is metaphysical.

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

On older Bartx compositions "Uhuru Sasa" and "Dr Follows Dance" they sound like a Herbie Hancock-less Headhunters; while "The Stank" is a jaunty boogaloo. [Jul 2020, p.27]

Rammed with stinging hooks and ringing harmonies. [Oct 2005, p.112]

Beguiling. [Oct 2005, p.107]

She produces a cumulative effect that's both shattering and exhilarating. [Jan 2017, p.31]

What sometimes seems like attrition - "Paradise Is Mine's" relentless hammering, "Ebbing's" pounding 11 minutes - can, nevertheless, deliver ritualistic euphoria. [Jul 2023, p.34]

Earl has often been overshadowed by bands on the Woodsist label he runs, but here Woods are allowed to stand out from the trees. [Dec 2012, p.79]

This LP could serve as a document of an improvising four-piece at its best. [Review of the Year 2024, p.32]

21 haunting, electronic vignettes. [May 2020, p.35]

A dynamically nuanced, nine-song set that conjures real-world wonders as convincingly as a doomed voyage to some imagined, far-flung galaxy. [Feb 2015, p.82]

Played loud, King Night is a widescreen hallucinogen. [Oct 2010, p.104]

A cover of 'Flower Sun Rain' by '70s Japanese supergroup Pyg sounds like the Super Furries, while a 16-mkinute doom jam with SunO)))'s Stephen O'Malley is as titanic as you'd hope. [May 2008, p.91]

A stunning journey through self-discovery and rebirth, which showcases lyrical storytelling that's vivid in its precision and touching in its emotional resonance. [Jun 2019, p.37]

A welcome development is Owens' voice: this time, when deployed, it's positioned centrally. [Sep 2020, p.35]

An inspired collection of sonically inventive, discreetly theatrical pop. [May 2017, p.30]

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]

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

Despite nods to jazzy glitch and ambient glide, most of these beautifully crafted tracks are united by supple but solid 4/4 rhythms. [Aug 2014, p.75]

The finished work is a smorgasbord of all of their best bits. [Jun 2024, p.34]

Few tracks aside, this Volume 2 contains very little trace of the jazz pivot her music would take later in the decade. The outtakes covering that period are going to make fascinating listening. Meanwhile, this feels like a completist’s dream –because even Joni Mitchell’s storeroom sweepings are spangled with diamond dust.

A flexible lineup enabling The Arcs to experiment seamlessly with melody and structure. [Oct 2015, p.71]

[They're] now on their eighth album and still finding something new under the pun. [Sep 2005, p.112]

Multiply marks the full flowering of a singular talent. [Jul 2005, p.99]

Their collaborative debut is inventively dippy. [Dec 2016, p.38]

An unexpectedly excellent set of sinuous and sensual techno. [Nov 2014, p.76]

Dissonance and propulsion remain watchwords. [Nov 2014, p.78]

The result is a work that blends crackling blues, jaunty country and mesmerising folk balladry that sends shards through the heart. [Jan 2017, p.22]

While not quite hitting the heights of the recent Donuts LP, it again proves his brilliant nose for hip hop's pleasure points. [Oct 2006, p.123]

Les Racines is ultimately a full and fierce showcase for Vieux’s own prowess, and his restatement of desert blues. [Jul 2022, p.27]

The results are by turns atmospheric, deeply odd, funky and wistful, but never less than superb. [Nov 2014, p.84]

[A] stunningly well-designed and authoritative record. [Jan 2013, p.77]

More intriguing are the songs that tap into Throwing Muses' vein of chiming offbeat indie-pop, familiar tales of teenage yearning elevated into something more glowing and magical. [Mar 2016, p.80]

Its cut-and-paste of totalitarian rhythms, shredded human voices and celestial melodies something like an Aphex Twin remix of Hieronymus Bosch. [Apr 2017, p.25]

With experiments in disco, dubstep and drum'n'bass all unmistakably Underworld, Barking is the sound of veterans re-energised. [Oct 2010, p.

All the elements of old are there--his voice, those lyrical hankerings to melt away from the limits of life. [Oct 2010, p.85]

Todd Terry and Masters At Work's percolating euphoria warms every groove on this intelligently realized debut. [Mar 2012, p.79]

Ther music is spacious yet intimate, drawing from the dramatic guitar textures of fellow Texans Explosions In The Sky, yet Sun June's hazy songs blur and shimmer at the edges, like a mirage on the horizon. [Review of the Year 2023, p.32]

Langford, as ever, masterfully mixes the personal, the political and the poetic. [Apr 2014, p.77]

All in all, it's a match made in heaven. [Jul 2015, p.75]

Accompanied by a swinging combo in which double bassist Ferg Ireland, pianist Joe Webb and Giacomo Smith on clarinet/sax are outstanding, she captures Vaughan’s depth of expression with perfect control, but proves she’s more than just a talented imitator by authoritatively stamping her own considerable personality on a stark, radical take on “Inner City Blues”, very different from Vaughan’s 1973 version. [Jul 2024, p.38]

Nathaniel Rateliff fully integrates his parallel identities as exuberant frontman, introspective folkie and perpetuator of rock's sacred texts on South Of Here. [Aug 2024, p.39]

This is seriously literate stuff, and all the better for it. [Nov 2004, p.120]