Mostly, though, youthful folk-rock tendencies are sacrificed for Wilco's mature Americana, as on "Only Dream Would Breathe," while additional late-Beatles flavours enhance "Barely Living Room," and "The Bottom Of It" adds hints of Jeff Lynne. [Jul 2019, p.27]

Brodsky shows himself to be a sensitive oil, shadowing Nadler's mournful keening with desolate country licks on "Dead West," or wreathing a straight-faced cover of Guns N Roses' "Estranged" in banks of dreamy fuzz. [Jun 2019, p.32]

Snaxx is more informal collection of sample-based miniatures that sound like the architectural blueprints for larger hip-hop epics. [Aug 2019, p.32]

While Pilbeam's gorgeous, dreamy melodies remain her main strength, a longer running time give her space to play with different ideas. [Jul 2019, p.29]

The best of Ride Me Back Home feels as much a companion to [2018 My Way] as to its predecessors in Nelson's trilogy of reckoning--there's a certain Sinatra-esque conspiratorial intimacy. [Aug 2019, p.37]

A rousing debut that constantly eschews genre conventions. As a result, the record manages the impressive juxtaposition of perpetual unfurling in unpredictable ways yet remaining tonally coherent. [Aug 2019, p.26]

Previous weighty concepts have been scrapped in favour of intense focus. [Jul 2019, p.37]

There's an effortlessly freewheeling quality to the 10 songs. [Jul 2019, p.34]

A slight problem is that the London quintet are third-generation mimics: "You Are Not An Island" could be Broadcast, and "Magician's Success," complete with cartoon effects, occupies Stereolab's former territory. [Jul 2019, p.36]

11 bewitching songs that evoke late-aughts hypnagogic pop, Mac DeMarco's dreamiest ballads, and a badly warped cassette of '80s-vintage dinner jazz. [Jul 2019, p.26]

Though they're all pushing 40, Hot Chip have seldom sounded as youthful and carefree as they do on seventh studio album A Bath Full Of Ecstasy. [Jul 2019, p.29]

Contributions from Angel Olsen and newcomer YEBBA may be more subtle, but reveal themselves to be the real hidden diamonds. [Aug 2019, p.36]

"Tired" and "A Couple Highs" rather drag their feet, but the freewheeling "Lies" and terrific title track easily compensate. [Jul 2019, p.34]

POTR are up to the challenge, delivering concise, dynamic performances a la Petty's Heartbreakers. [Aug 2019, p.35]

At its best it feels emblematic of California: merging a sunny disposition with the hard, ragged terrain of the desert. [Aug 2019, p.29]

His return is an oddly subdued affair. [Aug 2019, p.35]

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

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]

For all its excursions into dancehall and fado, it's no advance on 2014's Rebel Heart: there's a sense of chasing trends. [Aug 2019, p.32]

There's no shortage of invention and genre mashes to prick up the ears here. [Aug 2019, p.34]

While the change in the band's output is not revolutionary, its subtle shift proves fruitful. [Jul 2019, p.37]

These are quietly quixotic pieces, rich and poignant, possessing a stilled, slowly unfolding melancholia. [Jul 2019, p.27]

Sirens may be the most acutely personal and deeply unnerving music Kevin Martin has ever made. [Jul 2019, p.30]

It's all deftly constructed and beautifully realised. ... Some songs tend to play it safer, lessening their impact in the process. [Jul 2019, p.26]

This sprawling, beguiling collection strives to reveal all, but every answer brings more questions. [Jul 2019, p.18]

A lusty, witty, charismatic racket. [Jul 2019, p.30]

Well-annotated five-disc boxset. ... The collection does include a fair bit of drearily competent pub blues, but even here there are some glorious moments. [Jul 2019, p.48]

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]

An album of wistful majesty. [Jul 2019, p.30]

Tuscaloosa is an incredibly valuable document of Neil Young in 1973, battling his demons in front of thousands and delivering some of his most deeply felt music. [Jul 2019, p.42]

Humanworld is every bit as good as, and at points even better than, its predecessor, as though Parrett's finally, almost five decades in, found his true metier. [Jul 2019, p.32]

Age Hasn't Spoiled You sees them easing off the sonic throttle as they explore other sounds, while maintaining a similar level of emotional fervour. [Jun 2019, p.29]

The extent of [Caleb Scofield's] bandmates' shock and grief is palpable throughout the eight songs they built up from the demos recorded with Scofield. All that sadness and fury adds further turbulence both to the more melodic likes of "Winter Window" as well as "Led To The Wolves." [Jul 2019, p.26]

Clever and thrilling in equal measure. [Jul 2019, p.30]

With North African and Latin American angles also explored, this is a throbbing, ominous, rigorous homage to garage basics. [Jun 2019, p.29]

It's rhythmic patterns and twisting beats are surprising throughout, making the record as unpredictable a voyage as the times we live in. [Jul 2019, p.33]

The unquestionable highlight is the seven-minute version of "The Rainbow Willow," but there's so much to admire throughout. [Jul 2019, p.27]

Overall there's little evolution from previous albums here. [Jul 2019, p.30]

Sadly, he doesn't have the material to match his delivery. [Jul 2019, p.27]

A funny, peculiar, epic piece of pop minimalism that could be no-one else but Hannon. [Jul 2019, p.27]

In melding ethereal production with clarion narratives, Korkejian has created a beautifully dynamic work. [Jun 2019, p.24]

The two CDs from SIR Rehearsals in New York find Dylan in what might be described as his element. Which is to say, at the centre of a certain amount of chaos. His Approach to rehearsal is at best relaxed, if not entirely whimsical. [Jul 2019, p.44]

Lyrically, Rodgers can be stilted and adolescent at times, but she hits the sweet-spot on the compellingly stern electro-goth chant "Disgrace" and the terrific title track. [Jul 2019, p.33]

Robust, sparkly. [Jul 2019, p.24]

It's surprisingly polite, at times. [Jun 2019, p.34]

Richard Hawley hasn't strayed too far from a successful formula. What he does introduce is a deliberate sens e of brevity, keeping songs tight and focused. [Jul 2019, p.29]

Though Depayse's lyrics are often weighty, the music is energetic and raw, a contrast that speaks to the immigrant experience writ large. [Jul 2019, p.34]

Transience might just be his late-career peak--a deliciously sour, sarky and occasionally moving study of modern life and his place in it. [Jun 2019, p.37]

Perry's cartoonish persona can grate, so it's refreshing to hear him speak from the heart on Rainford. [Jun 2019, p.32]

Hushed and humble, it's dominated by her Stina Nordenstam vocal style. [Jul 2019, p.30]

The title track's mod R&B struts with the confidence of a band whose last album hit the Top 10. [Jun 2019, p.37]

It's the change of pace and mood on the reflective "How Far" that marks Run Around The Sun as a real advance. [Jul 2019, p.34]

Opening cut "I Got You" promises faith and solidarity "even if they start to build that wall," and both the strident funk of "Above The Law" and the testifying "Pressure" lament the rise of inner-city crime. [May 2019, p.30]

Placid moments abound. ... But "Spoot Ebb's" syncopated, Penguin Cafe rhythms indicate choppier waters, and "Flattie," introduce by poet Will Burns, hints at dark, incoming clouds. [Jun 2019, p.27]

Barlow's spiky, spindly diary entries remain an abject lesson for indie losers everywhere. [Jun 2019, p.34]

He dips toes in the blues, country, R&B and rockabilly without ever really grabbing your attention. [Jun 2019, p.27]

Diviner retains much of what Wild Beasts did best. [Jul 2019, p.37]

Stina Tweeddale is very good at this punky Caledonian take on US bubblegum pop. [Jul 2019, p.29]

Drummer and percussionist Adrienne Davies again lays down a solid foundation for Carlson's slow motion riffage on instrumentals that eschew the more ornate sensibility of recent efforts in favour of a leaner, meaner kind of swagger. [Jun 2019, p.27]

Their debut burns through 11 tracks in 27 minutes like acetylene torch burns through butter, as spin-on-a-dime tight as it is exhilaration unsubtle. But there's more to Amyl than visceral wallop--namely Amy Taylor. [Jun 2019, p.23]

The journey takes a variety of fascinating detours along the way, not least the digressive folk-prog of "Pretty Little Lazies" and "Boogie Lover's" spacey approximation of classic Hawkwind. [Jun 2019, p.24]

A flawed masterpiece that infuriates as often as it dazzles. [Jul 2019, p.28]

Problems are timelessly ordinary, loneliness lightly worn, and Webster's music is enriched by her unique cultural blend. [Jun 2019, p.37]

Cate Le bon's terrific run of form continues with what must be her best album. ... She enchants at every turn. [Jun 2019, p.30]

California Son may not entirely succeed in repositioning Morrissey as a righteous protest singer, boldly crooning truth to power, but in fleeting moments like this [like on "Some Say I Got Devil"], it confirms him as a peerless modern practitioner of deep song, the pop artist who can divine, even in the work of the singer of "Brand New Key," lorca's dark, abysmal spirit of duende. [Jun 2019, p.28]

A set that ranges from funky to subdued. It's a sparser affair than the Tweedy-produced trio. adding only backing voices to a bass/drum/guitar lineup in which Harper's searching playing provides the principal, sometimes sole counterpoint to Mavis's earthy, heartfelt vocals, their power remarkably intact in her advancing years. [Jun 2019, p.22]

A surprisingly introspective album. [Jul 2019, p.37]

While some moments fee contrived to win headlines [...] it's the stories of grind under dour circumstance, such as "Grow Up" featuring Birmingham MC Jaykae, that shine the brightest. [Jul 2019, p.34]

"Fight The Good fight" and "A Humming Void An Emptied Place" feel like sorrowful hymns, Manuck's plaintive voice swaddled in electronics, but the album's highlight is "Do The Police Embrace?." poetic polemic that recalls Springsteen in its blend of melancholy and uplift. [Jul 2019, p.33]

It's a long and winding road that has brought him to the thrilling eclectic destination that is Absolute Zero. [Jul 2019, p.29]

As ever with Pollard, the energy, conviction and imagination are unnerving. [Jul 2019, p.29]

They are clearly enjoying the ride, and flexing their potential to be Brazil's most exciting musical export since Tropicalia. [Jun 2019, p.36]

His ability to combine ethereal tunes and immersive atmospherics with a hint of MBV remains strong on the likes of "Wildfire" and "howl Around"--but the emotional dynamic has been transformed by the added heft. [Jun 2019, p.30]

In less successful moments, the album idles in a mid-tempo gaze. [Jun 2019, p.30]

What's particularly impressive is the way their distinctive approaches combine. [Jul 2019, p.33]

On Holy Spring he expands the minimalist palette of his debut Distant Early Warning. [Jun 2019, p.34]

A muted affair whose punctiliousness is sweetly offset by its warm heart. [Jun 2019, p.26]

At its most interesting when their minimal electronica is almost unplugged and drumless. [Jun 2019, p.30]

Queasy nostalgia suits Clinic. ... Wheeltappers offers more of the same--but you knew that. [Jun 2019, p.26]

Serves as both a potent primer on the traumas and triumphs of life in a not-so-racial America and an enthralling demonstration of her playful musical sensibility. [Jun 2019, p.37]

Despite occasional hints of tastefully anodyne sonic wallpaper, most of these painstaking musical haikus have a quietly potent and gently mesmerising beauty. [Jun 2019, p.29]

The relentless mid-tempos at times make this epic 16-track album drag, but on the devastating "Not In Kansas" and the frantic "Where Is Her Head" Berninger once again proves himself rock's most astute and humane chronicler of everyday crises of faith. [Jun 2019, p.32]

Enderness is more of a brooding country-soul set, with the emphasis on soul. It's also more abstract. [Jun 2019, p.24]

While "Godmother" confounds with its sci-fi babble, the likes of "Alienation" and "External" suggest that a tune is a tune in any language. [Jun 2019, p.29]

The results is an album that's braver, weirder and richer than most of his more sensible and brand-conscious peers could ever manage. [Jun 2019, p.18]

She's at her most persuasive, however, on the delicate waltz of the piano-led "Too Much Of Not Enough," a shimmering showcase for one of the most alluring and arresting female voices at work today. [May 2019, p.27]

Williams, subtly shadowed by Anthony da Costa's harmonies, delivers elegantly inflective performances on these bittersweet. deeply affecting contemplations of love lost and regained. [Jun 2019, p.37]

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]

Nodding back to the Stones and The Band, these familiar sounds serve an open-souled gospel vision, rooted in upstate Nee York reality and dreams. [Jun 2019, p.27]

Lofgren's voice is crackly, but plays perfectly. [May 2019, p.30]

This is acoustic roots music at its most glorious, and Giddens is fast becoming the genre's brightest star in the firmament. [Jun 2019, p.33]

It's an upbeat trip down the boardwalk. [Jun 2019, p.30]

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]

There's a mystical bind to UFOF that grips the listener and never lets go. [Jun 2019, p.24]

The results are exemplary. [Jun 2019, p.26]

The sound here is plastic, pliant, gentle--tonal driftwood punctuated by sun-dappled synths and ruminative piano, like Eno's Music For Airports gone miniature. [May 2019, p.37]

Cold but somehow comforting. [Jun 2019, p.27]

Fishing For Fishies encapsulates many of their musical charms, foregrounds their deeper lyrical concerns and also shows they don't need to rely on gimmicks to get their point across. [Jun 2019, p.25]