John Dwyer returns to thrashing, galloping warped punk, albeit with a more pronounced funk feel. [Oct 2020, p.34]

Her latest is more remarkable for its beguiling softness as well as a sometimes woozy feel that befits the contents' absinthe-soaked origins. [Oct 2020, p.36]

Making avant-garde sound both formally inventive and somewhat otherworldly. [Oct 2020, p.29]

Another generous serving of sparklingly cinematic guitar rock, largely inspired by (and dedicated to) band confidant, producer and musician Richard Swift, who died in 2018. But this is no sombre remembrance, rather a full-throttle celebration of the unifying power of music. [Oct 2020, p.29]

Terrific follow-up. [Oct 2020, p.29]

Everything Everything continue on their quest to make intricate yet seamless electronic art pop. [Sep 2020, p.29]

Help is overloaded with tastefully spare sketches, but there are enough sublime soundscapes and rich ideas here. [Sep 2020, p.36]

Much like The Head And The Heart, it's all mid-paced, with subject matter also inevitably static. [Oct 2020, p.32]

Their fifth album comes with a cathartic feel. Densely layered - four of the 11 tracks are over five minutes - it's also as complex as a Rubik's cube, the elaborate arrangements owing more to progressive rock than contemporary pop. [Oct 2020, p.38]

The whole of American Head finds Wayne Coyne and Steven Drozd examining the nature of family, love, death and nostalgia with a sincerity and tenderness that's been missed. [Sep 2020, p.29]

Touched by sadness but tinged with hope, this is a masterful album on which the sound of tradition is rendered vital and visceral in a very present sense. [Oct 2020, p.33]

Fall To Pieces is too slight and elusive to move Adrian Thaws beyond his cult-level comfort zone, but there are appealing forays into flamenco guitar, light-headed Eurodisco and gleaming robo-funk here. [Oct 2020, p.39]

This is all about the warm, soft glow of his voice and band, mostly taped together on the studio floor. [Oct 2020, p.36]

There's a more pronounced sense of drive and velocity. [Aug 2020, p.36]

[Producer Dessner's] immersive production, including layered keyboards and twinkling harmonics, pairs perfectly with her elegant voice. [Sep 2020, p.29]

McKenna merges glam, pop, indie and a touch of electronica to make a contemporary sonic exploration of a tumultuous world. [Oct 2020, p.34]

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]

Krieger's fuzzy, sustain-heavy guitar solos drift along pleasantly. [May 2020, p.28]

"Blue Motel," with its drunk payday regulars, is a classic Penn narrative conceit, while "One Of These Days" nods to mortality at 78, but this craftsman keeps working. [Sep 2020, p.35]

Gold Record is very assured, marking a refinement of the Callahan sound. [Oct 2020, p.28]

Rarely bubbles over into the remarkable. [Sep 2020, p.25]

It's as stylistically free as any GAM record - and as exquisite. [Oct 2020, p.32]

Is often guilty of over-earnestness and sentimentality. [Oct 2020, p.27]

They've drawn their inspiration from a wider constituency. [Oct 2020, p.25]

She approaches the material with understated expressiveness. [Sep 2020, p.32]

The monotone vocal diatribes can be a little waffly, but the urgent, Bloc Party-esque thrust of "Dig In" and the addictive synthpop throb of "Prism" are incisive backdrops that keep you engaged, if not completely converted. [Oct 2020, p.32]

The once robust voice is thinner but still gruffly effective. [Oct 2020, p.39]

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

The songs boast a quality of spaciousness and delicacy that was rarer on 2018's otherwise very fine Lionheart. [Sep 2020, p.32]

Rancid's "Olympia, WA" sounds like an Americana roadtrip rebel anthem with Old Crow Medicine Show's Ketch Secor in the passenger seat; Harry Styles' "Sunflower, Vol. 6" gets redone as acoustic lovestruck magic. [Oct 2020, p.39]

A spellbinding listen. [Jul 2020, p.36]

They have the grit and immediacy of demos, but Whole New Mess sounds just as powerful and just as finished as its more polished predecessor, like we're hearing Olsen work through her ache and confusion in real time. [Oct 2020, p.34]

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

While these versions don't venture far from a cooing, lullabyish feel, it's a cosy, inviting one. [Sep 2020, p.28]

It's a familiar mode - "instant vaguely leftfield record collection"- but it's beautifully played, and a reminder that Dwyer can occasionally do restraint. [Sep 2020, p.25]

Here are 10, funkily inventive delights that fuse the driving, percussive-heavy folk tradition with his own "jibber jabber," using guitar, drum machine and electronics. [Sep 2020, p.32]

An album of passion, wit and spirituality that, like its title, invites us not only to evolve, but to revel in our evolution. [Sep 2020, p.30]

None of the best tracks here would have sounded out of place on Old 97s' mid-'90s classics "wreck Your Life" and "Too Far To Care." This consistency feels, by now, like confirmation of the purity of Old 97s' original vision. [Oct 2020, p.34]

Erasure has yet to really match the duo's early imperial phase, but here Andy Bell and Vince Clarke dish out the cosmic showstoppers with all the elan of their 30-year-old selves. [Oct 2020, p.31]

The 11 original compositions here are full of warm compassion and ripe wisdom. [Sep 2020, p.27]

Deeply melodic, brilliantly played, and blessed with a spirit that feels generous and boundless. [Oct 2020, p.26]

Utterly thrilling. [Sep 2020, p.32]

Unironically majestic set pieces that offer a ray of hope as this wild ride ends. [Oct 2020, p.28]

The tight knit trio waste nothing creating their dream dancefloor from sultry rhythms, mischievous drum beats and a glorious disco sheen. [Oct 2020, p.25]

Often as challenging as Justin Vernon's recent work. [Sep 2020, p.31]

Swift navigates Sansone's majestic folk-rock arrangements like the able captain of a frigate sailing over shimmering seas. [Sep 2020, p.36]

It's a sharp turn to the left for Swift and a fine reminder that she is more than just a gleaming pop phenomenon, but a remarkable songwriter too. [Oct 2020, p.36]

It's by some ways the finest of the three iterations. [Oct 2020, p.36]

Sometimes diaristic, sometimes philosophical, it's a long litany of past memories and formative moments that, while demanding patience, gradually inches its way to somewhere profound. [Oct 2020, p.34]

The result is a deeply eclectic yet remarkably cohesive record that unfurls in pleasingly unpredictable ways. [Oct 2020, p.32]

They could afford to take more liberties with the musical cliches thereof: listening to Gaslighter is a bit like eating 12 courses of dessert. [Oct 2020, p.29]

Though Caravan Chateau may match the tone of society's mourning, it does so through a navel-gazing lens. [Oct 2020, p.32]

This Chicago quartet have refined the psychedelic, gothic post-punk racket of their 2018 debut into punchier, more memorable songs. [Oct 2020, p.31]

Jara's story gives a dramatic, yearning quality to the libretto that suits Bradfield's epic style, and allows a sense of unity to emerge through individual songs. [Sep 2020, p.27]

Lucifer Is A Flower contains something of the narcotic mischief that made his 1978 debut such a delight. [Sep 2020, p.27]

Raw, wild, beautiful and sometimes painfully human, the results are enough to make the world a little easier to beat. [Sep 2020, p.29]

Its 10 songs sing with warmth, love, gratitude and lessons learned. [Sep 2020, p.37]

Live At Goose Lake is messy, thrilling and utterly unhinged. In other words, it's The Stooges at their best. [Sep 2020, p.44]

Hassell's immediately recognisable trumpet-playing--a tone that's feathery, flute-like, wheezing, weathered--binds everything together. [Sep 2020, p.31]

Eight Gates presents him as a living being, troubled and troublesome, which might seem like a minor accomplishment but is actually closer to profound given what we know of his life after these sessions. Most of all, it reinforces Molina as an artist rather than as someone overtaken by demons, as a flawed man rather than the myth he often made himself out to be. [Sep 2020, p.38]

The best bits of Whoosh! blend lofty sentiments with earthier delights. ... The album would benefit from the 13 tracks being trimmed to single figures. [Sep 2020, p.28]

The late '60s and early '70s serve as the band's natural milieu. [Aug 2020, p.39]

Divorced from the visuals, Music From First Cow is just as mesmerising, its 26 minutes of repeated themes, mostly on acoustic guitar and banjo, mixed with muttered dialogue and sound design from the film. [Jun 2020, p.38]

It's a testament to Gonzalez that after a dozen numbers we know far too much about him but still crave more. [Aug 2020, p.29]

It's glorious, elevating and energising stuff. [Sep 2020, p.27]

If its redemptive poignancy often recalls Richter's masterful Sleep, Voices is more dynamic, instead provoking--not subduing-thought. [Sep 2020, p.35]

Like a rolling stone made of avant-garde music and sadness. [Sep 2020, p.27]

Opener "diaphanous" appropriately shimmers, its murmured refrain like a private pep talk as the song builds around it. [Sep 2020, p.31]

Think Screaming Trees' Dust, or Chris Cornell's Euphoria Morning, steeped in folk and psychedelia, the teenage angst of old weathered if not quite mellowed. [Aug 2020, p.30]

Crockett's warm, buttery vocals melt through his latest collection, which delves into mid-century cowboy soundtracks for its cinematic plushness and moody grace. [Sep 2020, p.28]

There's a purity to them that's as much a product of her spirit and artistic choices as a demo's function. ... The Demos in particular still overwhelms with its conviction and visceral wallop, almost 30 years on. [Sep 2020, p.47]

The whole thing underlines how productive McCartney was during this period. [Sep 2020, p.48]

It's beautifully recorded, carefully multi-tracked, but with the freshness and integrity of the live performances feeling intact. Most crucially, it never sounds overcooked. [Sep 2020, p.20]

The album is rarely as memorable musically as it is lyrically. [Sep 2020, p.31]

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

Nicolas Bougaïeff departs from this template [repetitive 4/4 pulse, set to an unchanging rhythmic grid], using disconcerting shifts in tempo, odd time signatures and Aphex Twin-like experimentation. [Sep 2020, p.27]

There's no contrivance or compromise to be found here. [Sep 2020, p.36]

Among his best. [Aug 2020, p.29]

These are impenetrable walls of off-kilter guitars, skronking saxophones and icy synths, topped off with Richard Butler's mournful rasp. ... For the most part, Made Of Rain cleaves closest to the sense thrum of Talk Talk Talk. [Jun 2020, p.37]

Introspective and tightly wound. [Sep 2020, p.26]

It's as touching, beautiful and dark as any of Collins' records, and even pushes her sound into new territories. 65 years into her recording career, that modern approach to folk music is still yielding treasures. [Sep 2020, p.24]

It's fastidiously realised, taking in gorgeously orchestrated jazz, hi-octane funk and a pristine slow jam featuring Lauren Faith. [Aug 2020, p.39]

Andrews' deft touch with an insidious melody and candid phrase extends whatever solace she finds to her audience as well. [Jul 2020, p.27]

McFarlane paints elegant, jazz-literate shapes over digital beats, syncopated hand drums and glitchy systems noise.[Sep 2020, p.32]

The four-piece deliver their familiar brand of Cali power-pop, at once glossy and heart-on-sleeve. [Jun 2020, p.37]

A Small Death charts her return to functionality with eloquence and real panache. [Aug 2020, p.28]

An intoxicating, instrumental tribute to the wheezing Farfisa organ; propped up only by the clarinet and double bass. [Aug 2020, p.27]

There's plenty here for fans of both gutbucket blues and the rampaging over genres and moods that long characterised The Residents. [Sep 2020, p.35]

Round-up of 10 cinematic tracks underlining his prowess. [Sep 2020, p.46]

Beginners is sweet and sorrowful with a writerly eye. [Sep 2020, p.31]

Lovett has gone (partly) socio-political with his third. [Sep 2020, p.35]

The best tracks retain a vestige of Spank Rock's energy. [Sep 2020, p.35]

This is an all-American band, but there are nods to the rhythmic sophistication coming out of London's jazz scene. [Sep 2020, p.34]

A sweetly sprawling album. [Sep 2020, p.32]

The bristling performances more closely resemble the solo piano excursions of such post-bop masters as Chick Corea and Keith Jarrett, which s no bad thing at all. [Aug 2020, p.33]

This record - Cocker's finest work since This Is Hardcore, maybe - marks the arrival of an adventurous collective who might just be getting warmed up. [Aug 2020, p.26]

An involving double album. [Aug 2020, p.28]