On >>>, you get carried along by BEAK>'s sheer enthusiasm--cut adrift from their past, sealed off from expectation, existing entirely in the moment. [Oct 2018, p.25]

These 10 songs are intimate, graceful and surprisingly hooky. [Oct 2018, p.24]

The austere brand of retro-rustic Americana sometimes sounds overly tasteful, but there are spine-tingling beauties here too. [Oct 2018, p.30]

A set of 12 original compositions steeped in his ongoing addiction to muscular '60s blues-rock. [Oct 2018, p.24]

It's a lean, thrillingly muscular set from a genuinely distinctive talent. [Oct 2018, p.26]

All up, it's a quiet knockout. [Oct 2018, p.37]

A series of disconnected ideas rather than one concentrated work. [Oct 2018, p.24]

Its expansive ambition abetted by fellow travellers including Wayne Kramer and Peter Perrett. [Oct 2018, p.27]

Their garage-rock stylings have flourished. [Oct 2018, p.29]

He has produced his most sonically consistent album in years. [Oct 2018, p.35]

An engaging exercise in psychedelic computer music that sees him exploring a more satisfying style of production after the itchiness of 2016's Unstepping. [Oct 2018, p.26]

That these 15 vignettes sound effortless does nothing to detract from their elegance. [Oct 2018, p.29]

Lyrically, he hasn't lost the Archer's edge--the sonic tenderness through which such sentiments are conveyed, however, is reflective of a wisdom that comes with hindsight and forgiveness. [Oct 2018, p.24]

In The Blue Light might thus be a rather tardy, and expensive, way of going with his initial instincts. [Oct 2018, p.22]

The textures are deliberately synthesised, but the songs themselves couldn't be realer. [Oct 2018, p.34]

Another Szunny delight. [Oct 2018, p.34]

It sounds both timeless and brand new. [Oct 2018, p.43]

13 Rivers is a sparse, raging and noisy record. [Oct 2018, p.37]

The cumulative effect is upbeat jubilation. [Oct 2018, p.30]

A communicable joy in weird noise. [Sep 2018, p.35]

The result is a record that's technically adept, but full of heart, too. [Oct 2018, p.29]

Outstanding. ... Aside from the supple elegance of Landes' warm voice, the most arresting element is her sharp songwriting, which succeeds on a number of levels. [Oct 2018, p.26]

It finds Suede wrapping up a triptych of records since their 2013 reunion and in doing so they feel positioned with one foot in the familiar camp of old while striding forward with the other into fresh, unknown territory. [Oct 2018, p.34]

Musically fascinating and hauntingly empathetic. [Oct 2018, p.29]

Tasjan has a pop at contemporary politics on the crooning "The Truth Is So Hard To Believe," but is stronger when he tackles domestic concerns. [Oct 2018, p.34]

If there are a few stylistic surprises, there's spirit to spare on the invigorating "Easy Street" and the lusty, bluesy "Fast Lane." [Oct 2018, p.34]

Songs Of Resistance throbs with urgency. [Oct 2018, p.32]

Double Negative is their biggest step forward to date, an album that scrambles their sound completely; it sounds nothing like Low and everything like Low. ... Low have made what might be their most relevant album, one that holds a mirror up tot he world. [Oct 2018, p.18]

Bursting with symphonic goodness, musical adventure and dizzying levels of intensity. [Oct 2018, p.32]

If Egypt Station is quite startling enough to shift preconceptions about the most famous musician on the planet, it's sufficiently vibrant to justify its existence, and strong enough to ensure that McCartney can sprinkle three or four tracks into the set on his upcoming world tour without setting off any alarms. [Oct 2018, p.28]

An inspired and fruitful fusion. [Sep 2018, p.35]

Glossy and glamorous, maybe, but it feels like a beautiful-designed dead end. [Oct 2018, p.37]

There's still a lingering sense of promise not quite fulfilled about Anna Clavi, such that Hunter feels like a make or break album. [Oct 2018, p.24]

They add to their ongoing commitment to openness here. [Oct 2018, p.29]

As a whole it feel overfamiliar, with little of the cohesiveness that made, say, Les Revenants so powerful. [Oct 2018, p.30]

For every blissful "Mannie's Smile" there's some Bontempi bossanova or a fretless bass ballad like "Breathing Easy" that swims in kitsch. [Sep 2018, p.30]

A joyful noise. [Sep 2018, p.39]

A lush song suite reflective of the grandeur of their native New Zealand's landscapes. [Sep 2018, p.29]

Negro Swan sees Hynes thoughtfully explore themes of racial and sexual identities and anxieties within songs that can be a s gorgeously vaporous as "Take Your Time," as ecstatically funky as "Charcoal Baby," or any state inbetween. [Oct 2018, p.24]

These warm engaging gnarly songs are vigorously banged out by a mix of the original and current lineups. [Sep 2018, p.30]

Performance is expertly weighted between great hooks and loose, Southern-styled jams that dare you to shake a leg. [Sep 2018, p.39]

It's characterised by a delicate, hypnotic power with subtle light/shadow shifts. [Oct 2018, p.37]

Pete Bernahrd's songs speak of humanity facing insanity in many forms. [Oct 2018, p.27]

This is the kind of roughed-up disco-not-disco that would have sold a ton when electroclash was all the rage. It might still. [Sep 2108, p.36]

Much darker successor to How To Die In The North. Utterly compelling it is too. [Sep 2018, p.26]

"Overrated" tosses in traces of Disintegration-era Cure, with Matilda Bogren's dreamy vocals buried deep in a richly murky, shoegaze-friendly mix, while "Apart" leans towards the gothic and "Hard Ending" adds a little New order. [Jul 2018, p.27]

Overall, Go To School is a blast, a joyous, ridiculous journey that treads a perfect line between silly, funny and heart-breaking. [Oct 2018, p.33]

Whatever its emotional well-spring, her expression is clear, purposeful and strong in its directness. [Sep 2018, p.38]

Deep-pocket blues covers alternate with scintillating originals. [Oct 2018, p.32]

There's a little bit of everything on this largely instrumental solo album by Wobble. [Oct 2018, p.37]

The best thing about Back Being Blue is that it sounds like Willis only stepped out for a few minutes. [Oct 2018, p.37]

Despite a newfound sound-design sophistication, they haven't lost their love of twisted, Stylophone-assisted pop or tape-recording collage methods, and their arthouse-cinema leaning is still evident. [Oct 2018, p.32]

This is snappy, high-energy stuff that might be more fun if the slick production didn't telegraph the fact that Kane wants it a bit too much. [Oct 2018, p.30]

The album keeps faith with The Jayhawks' trademark expansive Americana. [Oct 2018, p.29]

Exhausting but rewarding. [Oct 2018, p.26]

Thanks You For Today marks a further shift towards an ultra-plush, synth-laden soft-rock sound. [Oct 2018, p.27]

Whoever is singing, the beats are choppy and the mood intense. A revelation. [Oct 2018, p.24]

The result is substantially more upbeat and cohesive--a West Coast take on Britpop. [Sep 2018, p.36]

Few artists combine concepts of arcane and contemporary quite as atmospherically as New York's Odetta Hartman, who uses the banjo to provide melody and age but then embeds songs with dance beats and sound effects, before adding timeless jazz-folk vocals. [Sep 2018, p.30]

If there are few surprises, the tracks are charming, well crafted and kept to a fighting-trim 11. [Sep 2018, p.36]

The result is neither an especially loud or revelatory one. [Sep 2018, p.32]

It's uncomplicated but it achieves a lot, and that's With Animals in a nutshell. [Sep 2018, p.34]

[The songs] all feel very much of a piece thanks to the coherence fostered by Mitski's high but agile voice and wry, self-deprecating humour. [Sep 2018, p.35]

He writes about his rock'n'roll background, but embraces a more straightforward twang that's both poignant and boisterous. [Sep 2018, p.32]

The whole is a total joy, a triumphant demonstration if the virtues of the music celebrated in the rollicking "It Came From The South." [Sep 2018, p.29]

Showcase[s] his deep knowledge of American and British folk music and deft picking style that is sophisticated but never ostentatious. [Aug 2018, p.33]

It's sad to hear all their youthful fizz go flat so soon. [Sep 2018, p.28]

The follow-up comes from a more confident place musically. [Sep 2018, p.31]

This is mature work. It's confident in what it is--and as seems likely, what it will turn into next. [Sep 2018, p.27]

This official release has been ably remixed by Bob Pridden, a roadie at the Fillmore back in ’68. ... Everything is delivered with the muscular sincerity that made The Who such a compelling and memorable live act.

We can enjoy Foxing's prophecies of impending doom, particularly when they're clothed in Animal Collective harmonies, U2 bombast and even avant-garde R&B. [Sep 2018, p.29]

More fully realised than 2014's Season Sun, this second album adheres its predecessor's summery disposition while adding new elements. [Sep 2018, p.30]

It's a joyous set. [Sep 2018, p.35]

A lack of polish--notably on the title track, which features Curl collective member Coby Sey--is part of the appeal, and if "Gladly" plays it very straight, then it's hard to carp at its loved-up optimism. [Sep 2018, p.39]

What unifies these wildly disparate modes [political satirist. self-loathing lothario, celebrity stalker, Cali yacht-rocker, and Nilsson-like romantic crooner] is Baxter's musical sophistication, which puts him closer to the witty elegance of 10cc than the alt.country label he's been slapped with. [Sep 2018, p.26]

Despite the presence of Josh Hager and Jeff Friedl--of Devo's current lineup--ShadowParty never quite eclipse the shadow cast by the band's other two members, Tom Chapman and Phil Cunningham, who bring with them baggage from their New order day jobs. [Sep 2018, p.36]

He's touted as a songwriter's songwriter in Music City, of all places, and the twangy highlights of this album ring true to that accolade. [Sep 2018, p.32]

It's breadth is pleasing, aiming for something more hooky than Factory Floor's typical brief. [Sep 2018, p.30]

To The Sunset suggests that she's not growing ay more inclined to sit still, and is her best yet. [Sep 2018, p.28]

A record varied in tone and rhythm, capturing a band over 35 years in who are experimenting and sounding rejuvenated. [Sep 2018, p.32]

Among The Ghosts is Lucero's most cinematic album. [Sep 2018, p.37]

Nau's real forte flies in gentle melodies that meander beguilingly, sung in a rich and warm baritone that is more Kurt Wagner than Springsteen. [Sep 2018, p.35]

Drum machines clank and scrape, evoking not just early acid house but industrial post-punk and '80s sci-fi soundtracks. ... Yet these potentially abrasive, alien sounds are marshalled into fresh, inviting shapes. [Sep 2018, p.30]

The result is a bold but difficult record, dogged but a little hard to love. [Sep 2018, p.25]

Gate Of Grief is admirably cliche-free and mostly excellent. [Sep 2018, p.39]

The third Cd features interesting but inessential 12in mixes. ... There are diamonds throughout the sprawling set, which also manages to sound cohesive thanks to Lydon's binding, blaring vocals and the atmosphere of managed, jagged chaos. [Sep 2018, p.48]

Nash, his many voices and every credited musician on the album combine in a joyous noise you want to go on as long as one of those versions of "Caravan" Van used to do with The Caledonia Soul Orchestra. [Aug 2018, p.25]

It blasts a path for an album of gentler (but nevertheless raucous) Americana-rock evocation of the likes of Lucero or The Damnwells. [Aug 2018, p.35]

The result is a hushed, spectral delight. [Jul 2018, p.37]

They do it so well. Particularly impressive are the two lengthiest pieces. [Sep 2018, p.29]

Addressing subjects from addiction and gun crime to censorship and obscene over-consumption, the anger is righteous but leavened with the hope of change. [Sep 2018, p.29]

Thirty years later, these songs have lost neither their grandeur nor their menace. A wealth of live tracks, rarities and covers. [Sep 2018, p.47]

The best-kept secret in the Coltrane archive seems to leap between every stage of his career, like a greatest-hits sampler being improvised in real time. [Sep 2018, p.45]

SOPHIE effortlessly crosses detailed, quartz-like avant-garde production with pop's unapologetic, dizzying sugar rush. [Sep 2018, p.39]

"Shock Out" and "Money Machine" are straightforward exercises in the sort of hellfire dancehall The Bug does so well, but there's a restraint here too, best seen in the haunted heartbroken "War." [Sep 2018, p.35]

Included here are three variants on tracks Lynch used in Twin Peaks Series 3, plus another 18 instrumentals whose translucent synths and pent-up melodrama slot very much into the show's aesthetic. [Sep 2018, p.29]

Sober and joyful. [Sep 2018, p.29]

Too often the crossover strategy mires these songs in the most banal cliches of dream pop and arena grunge. [Sep 2018, p.29]