Slowly, these immensely crafted songs bed in, emerging as some of the best and most accessible that Oldham has ever written. [May 2010, p.84]

The portraits of Hey Mr Ferryman, shaped into gorgeous studies of sympathy by Bernard Butler's production, are compelling in their starkness, their raw, unchecked humour, and their kindness toward people who, as Eitzel says, are looking for "something that will lead them to light and safety." [Feb 2017, p.20]

One Breath is a boldly cinematic work that is filled with passion and drama. [Nov 2013, p.67]

Depending on your mood or generosity, these are either indulgently doleful or movingly ascetic in their dutiful repetitions--worth investigating either way. [Jan 2015, p.71]

For those willing to take a chance, it's an impeccably realised, verbose treat. [Apr 2007, p.99]

Her strident approach to country means she excels at rockabilly-flavoured tunes. [Dec 2013, p.71]

Tonight's Music finds Davies returning to The Moles' first principals of beguiling deadpan psychedelia, as if Syd Barrett had lit out to New Zealand in the 1980s and joined The Chills. [Sep 2016, p.76]

No major revelations, but plenty of pleasant surprises. [Jan 2021, p.47]

Diaz deftly carries the torch, fusing stripped-down, bleeding-heart acoustic meditations with bursts of fiery instrumentation, her glossy voice at once tender and insistent, rhythmically narrating her loveworn journey with precise, clever turns of phrase. [Sep 2021, p.27]

His second album is a rich, meaty fusion of jazz, grime, hip-hop, dancehall and reggae. [Dec 2021, p.26]

Hitchcock sounds more energised and vibrant than he has in decades. [May 2017, p.31]

There's a clutch of self-penned gems, "In The Middle Of It All's" momentous heartache, and some superlative country-soul interpretations, the pinnacle being Dan Penn and Donnie Fritts' "Rainbow Road." [Sep 2017, p.45]

It's a modern masterclass in psych pop. [Feb 2024, p.31]

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]

A Ways Away is a beautifully low-key set that frames her mellifluous voice and folky asongs with guitar drones and a slow-motion, dream-like feel. [Aug 2009, p.98]

One-paced but classy. [Jul 2014, p.74]

So while Lazaretto may sometimes appear to be a more nakedly emotional collection of songs than we've come to expect from its creator, the contents also rate among his wittiest and his wildest efforts to date. [Jul 2014, p.63]

Over the course of an album even dogs will find the whistle register wearing, but taken individually these are sublime cocktails of post-geographical orientalism. [Apr 2012, p.79]

Thunderbitch does a far better job of capturing Howard as a performer than either of the Alabama Shakes albums have; here, her inimitable, flamboyant voice is given free rein, ably supported by her fellow Thunderbitches. [Dec 2015, p.68]

There's a pleasing lyrical grit to At Swim. [Sep 2016, p.74]

Sundfor's first for Bella Union suffers from an occasional excess of affectations, her melismatic vocal style an acquired taste. Fortunately, she's best at her most intimate, this sixth collection's dominate quality. [Sep 2017, p.38]

This wired counterpart [to 2016's lush Singing Saw]pays tribute to a New York tat now exists only in the songwriter's head, or his record collection. [Jul 2017, p.35]

The Trio's third album is similarly, unconventionally earnest, often doing for the New Romantics when Gayngs did for 10cc. [Nov 2011, p.84]

Ascent sounds like Chasny channeling a great band's alchemical powers to his own ends, in the process making what may turn out to be a highpoint in his already rich and complex career. [Sep 2012, p.78]

It ain't always pretty. [Oct 2009, p.104]

For the first time, Longstreth's words offer real value rather than verbose decoration. [Aug 2012, p.81]

He straddles the line between known and unknowable, and that's a mighty fine place to reside. [Feb 2019, p.28]

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

Plenty of liturgic rumbling, but it really works when she aims for something greater. [Dec 2020, p.39]

Packing 14 tracks into 38 minutes, it's very much a sprint, the breathlessness part of its impact, despite this intensity, mainman Jack McEwan steers SHYGA!... clear of excess and keeps his ear on melody throughout. [Apr 2021, p.34]

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]

A familiarity with the back-story is not necessary to enjoy this potted indie-rock opera: as always with Darnielle's work, an appreciation of droll storytelling and deadpan melodies will do. [Dec 2023, p.34]

Sometimes a more shadowy affair, with McKiel’s voice on the title track reverberating in what sounds like a deep cave, its woodwind and wriggling bassline emerging from different chambers to establish a Beta Band shuffle. Elsewhere things are dusky rather than dark. [Jun 2024, p.37]

The Prodigy are an influence on tracks like “So What” but the sound of KLF and Underworld underpins “Sicko” and “I Can’t Lose You”, while Madonna’s ’90s collaborations with William Orbit are in the background of several tunes. [Dec 2024, p.33]

Weitz shreds and manipulates the instrument [hurdy gurdy] so it becomes the record's distinctive voice. the nine-minute dubs "Compact Mirror/Last Names" and "Sonora" are especially spellbinding. [Feb 2026, p.33]

The opportunity to behold such a comprehensive survey of Wilson’s artistry even in this compromised state can be both startling and staggering. That’s especially true of The Beach Boys Love You. .... The vocals-only versions of “The Night Was So Young” and “Let’s Put Our Hearts Together” and other demos emphasize the songs’ childlike spirit of joy and invention. [Mar 2026, p.42]

The album closes with a reprise of 'To Ohio'--possibly superfluous given the perfection of the earlier version, but the only marginal misjudgement on an otherwise largely faultless album.

A set of drifting piano ballads that allow her rich and profane lyrics to hit home. [Jan 2022, p.22]

Mov[es] through electronica, folk, folktronica, big beat, psychedelia and Krautrock, all guided by Kid Millions' astounding drumming. [Sep 2006, p.91]

An immersive and texturally rich listen. [Jun 2017, p.37]

[Greg Dulli has] pulled the Whigs back into (sharp) focus. ... Closer “In Flames” is a welcome reminder that few can match the Whigs in the slow-burn desperation stakes. [Oct 2022, p.23]

Their most collaborative but also most pointedly personal, reckoning with loss, queerness and self-actualisation through music that is as adventurous as it is immediate. [Dec 2021, p.27]

Bugg's references are strictly retro, but his debut boasts a pleasing absence of stodge. [Nov 2012, p.71]

Her sophisto-pop range expands with each album, although the winning warmth of her live performances is largely absent here. [Jul 2017, p.35]

Pigs x7 are a band that appreciate a bit of theatre. There is plenty of that going on in this second album, along with a whole bunch of heavenly riffs. [Nov 2018, p.34]

Holiday is resolutely sombre, but the arrangements make inviting drama out of Principe's impressionistic lyrical intimacies. [May 2013, p.75]

Somewhere, Hoagy Carmichael, Johnny Mercer and Mose Allison are tapping their feet and smiling. [Feb 2017, p.33]

Too engaging to be ambient, too amorphous to be melodious, Félicia Atkinson's latest continues her ASMR (autonomous sensory meridian response) experiments, her poetry whispered--often indistinctly--over strangely riveting electro-acoustic collages. [Aug 2019, p.26]

A squealing noise-rock juggernaut that balances gruff anthemicism with a certain improvisatory elan. [May 2024, p.38]

Supremely confident as it is poetically singular, it's evidence that BC's vision will see him through the long haul. [Nov 2017, p.24]

A bold, brisk, rather beautiful zip through multiple pop genres. [Jun 2018, p.26]

The fact that Parker sings five of eleven tracks is The Invisible Way's other obvious point of departure, and one of its great strengths. [Apr 2013, p.61]

Peyroux's enviable ability to sing just behind the beat conveys effortless sophistication. [Nov 2006, p.124]

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]

A revitalised rock’n’roll soundtrack for a push towards the brightening of the light. [Sep 2022, p.33]

Even when the sonic mood broods on "Radical", the optimistic sentiments (quoted in the album title) reflect a creative force in rude force. [Jul 2025, p.27]

Pearl Jam remain at their formidable best as a pure-hearted rock'n'roll band. [May 2020, p.32]

A visceral, candid and thrillingly propulsive depiction of her efforts to work through her father's abandonment when she was a child. [Apr 2016, p.81]

It’s just five tracks, barely half an hour of music, but worth the wait in gold. ... Particularly on the radiant “Make Lovely The Day”, where she’s accompanied simply by Steve Hackett’s fluttering acoustic guitar, it’s like hearing the greatest British singer of her generation for the very first time. [Jul 2022, p.33]

Savour all the strangeness, the power and the glory that fill the present. [Oct 2019, p.22]

It's compact, often menacing strangeness has its own beauty. [Aug 2013, p.71]

It can take its place alongside Live At Leeds, Rock Of Ages and Wilco's more recent Kicking Television as a live classic. [Nov 2006, p.104]

It's a stunning performance, drawing fire from Smith's stentorian performance, providing the ballast for the voyage of her Rimbaudian drunken boat. [Aug 2008, p.104]

Keene's career-best album. [Dec 2011, p.89]

A confident take on sleek, horn-powered Philly soul with a hunt of garage muscle. [Feb 2015, p.78]

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

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]

Attempts several tasks at once - and pretty much delivers on all of them. [Jan 2021, p.47]

This is pulverising cacophonic stuff but it's also considered and atmospheric. [Feb 2021, p.25]

An all-instrumental set of improvised studio performances as lyrical and soulful as they are virtuosic and energised. [Nov 2021, p.25]

Dorothy Chandler is the one to get; the 8+-minute “Sugar Mountain”, with numerous spoken-word digressions, is Neil at his most hilariously droll. [Jun 2022, p.43]

A bold endeavour with some genuine thrills. [Nov 2022, p.35]

An album that has bite and snarl but also a wonderfully woozy and unfurling sense of groove. [Jun 2024, p.36]

Gently irresistible throughout. [Aug 2024, p.31]

Stung! is a detail-rich trip as warm as it is wiggy. [Aug 2024, p.39]

From the stripped-back acoustic touches on “This Will Go On” to the distorted vocals and gritty overdrive guitars of “Leaving Umbrella”, it’s a pleasing yet ever-shifting journey to be taken on. [Jul 2024, p.35]

A potent, heavy distillation of everything the group have done. [Aug 2023, p.30]

Such a heady, high-octane swirl that, perversely enough, you often forget you're listening to a Madonna record. [Dec 2005, p.102]

An enduring tenacity runs through Works For Tomorrow, one of the best and feistiest entries in their catalogue. [Sep 2015, p.73]

[A] profound, funny, intricate album. [Sep 2016, p.63]

On 'The Colour Of Three' and 'Glide,' Fennesz once again proves himself a match for the Kevin Shields of 'To Here Knows When' or "The Coral Sea." [Feb 2009, p.80]

Suffused in both the dread mortality inspires and the peace that comes with accepting its inevitability, it simultaneously addresses the effects that the passing of years has on one's relationships and the compromises these demand. [May 2016, p.66]

Daniel takes care to keep things minimal. [Jan 2017, p.23]

They still sound epic and unusually angry. [Oct 2025, p.31]

There's a tendency to drift rather than fully engage, but... "Wolves" and... "Thin Blue Line"... dazzle with poetic imagery and invention. [Apr 2006, p.102]

In ditching the band ethic, they've tapped into the finest folk gothic traditions of death, suffering, misery and hardship and fashioned a paradoxically uplifting, transformative record of extraordinary power. [Album of the Month, Jul 2003, p.110]

This is sombre and beautiful music.... A Lifetime is satisfying as an encyclopaedia of Low, to be dipped into now and again. [Aug 2004, p.118]

Wolf's twofold skillfulness and stirring guest performances compensate for the sometimes overcooked arrangements. [Apr 2010, p.109]

Frog Eyes' fifth album has been three years in the making and is every bit as much of an epic as its acclaimed predecessor "Tears Of The Valedictorian." [May 2010, p.90]

A satisfying, if not earth-shattering, experiment. [Jan 2016, p.73]

The overall mood is bright, hovering somewhere between the lyrical directness of Jonathan Richman and the West Coast energy of Tom Petty. [Mar 2017, p.37]

Though sometimes still prone to cliche, in his finest work--such as the salient balladry of "Bad Dreams" and "Silent Movie"--LaFarge confronts roiling uncertainty and chaos, to great effect. [Jun 2017, p.33]

I'm Not Your Man is a much rowdier navigation of female relationships and sexuality that moves between dark dreampop and post-Belly/Breeders rock, armed with flashing hooks. [Aug 2017, p.30]

The album's finest moments come on "Crazy In Blood," when Pigs... manage simultaneously to crunch and swing with rousing effect. [May 2020, p.32]

A delight. [Mar 2021, p.25]

Surging volume is still far outweighed by wispy melancholy, but the contrast is rewarding. [Mar 2005, p.104]

There is nevertheless a supreme revitalisation of her deep-seated powers evident here. [Oct 2007, p.96]

First Demo captures the band's first flush of creativity. [Dec 2014, p.91]