Only on "Hooting And Howling" and "All The Kings' Men" do you catch the sharp, hot stink of their once feral presence. [Mar 2018, p.35]

Twin Fantasy marks another leap in ambition. [Mar 2018, p.22]

A career highlight in low times. [Mar 2018, p.31]

It maintains throughout that signatures guileless fealty to soulful rock'n'roll, laced as usual with the wry melancholy that distinguishes Fallon's lyrics. [Mar 2018, p.

The result is quiet success. [Mar 2018, p.25]

Both their most straightforward album and their most elusive. [Mar 2018, p.34]

Newfound sobriety has sharpened Lilly's focus since her previous release, as does the backing of dad's touring band and the unfussy production by Shovels & Rope's Michael Trent. [Mar 2018, p.26]

On Room Inside The World, we hear them filling out their sound with synths, vibraphone and--on "Desire"--a 70-piece choir, an the songs are growing too, laced with emotional nuance. [Mar 2018, p.31]

Damned Devotion is her fifth album, and feels like a kind of reckoning, a taking stock, and a work of renewed focus. If 2014's The Classic was a high-concept exercise in soul pastiche, here she returns to her core territory, forensically charting the human heart, tracking the course of midlife love, lust and loss. [Mar 2018, p.20]

Both sonically and lyrically, it's an album that is explicitly, thrillingly transgressive and is already an early contender for one of the albums of the year. [Mar 2018, p.33]

It's often breathtaking. [Mar 2018, p.22]

Enriched instrumentation and subtle electronic flourishes make this Ackroyd's most rewarding collection. [Mar 2018, p.21]

An expansive, atmospheric reboot of the muscular melancholy of 1985's Once Upon A Time. [Mar 2018, p.32]

Robbed of Godspeeds's crescendos, a melancholy gloom dominates. [Mar 2018, p.28]

There's a country edge to songs like "Slick Delta Queen," "Exile Rag" and the surprisingly sweet "Bridge City Rose," the latter making a nice break from the self-centred tone of "Fake Magic Angel" and the Lou Reed-bitterness of "Gold Calf Moan." [Mar 2018, p.24]

A wonderful record. [Mar 2018, p.30]

A set of instant, insistent--occasionally irritating--tunes. [Mar 2018, p.35]

Consistently stirring and heartbreakingly lovely. [Feb 2018, p.18]

Enchanting debut Oh My reveals itself slowly with each listen. [Feb 2018, p.30]

It all sounds fabulous. [Feb 2018, p.29]

Open Here is another prog-pop masterclass from a band reflecting our times while remaining stubbornly out of step with them. [Feb 2018, p.23]

An album that appears to be all about mood and texture transforms over time into a fully realised collection of beautiful songs from an artist determined to keep moving forward, however stealthily. [Jan 2018, p.19]

His second Daptone album swings like Sam Cooke, sways with rocksteady cool, and is as stylishly '60s as a pair of fur-lined Chelsea boots. [Mar 2018, p.27]

A set of limber, largely instrumental funk shot through with Asian, African and Middle Eastern melodies, each track sounds like it could have come off as jukebox single purchased from some dusty overseas record kiosk. [Feb 2018, p.29]

Ty's most unrestrained albums stands among his best. ... Like sitting by a loaded jukebox that turns out gems all night. [Mar 2018, p.16]

Though slight in parts, and hardly groundbreaking, for those craving a little sunshine in these dark days, Vessel Of Love brings the rays. [Feb 2018, p.25]

Richard Koch's trumpet and Shards' choral vocals on the spooky "Human Range" confirm his quiet urge to defy expectations. [Feb 2018, p.27]

For much of the record the Djangos are the same sweet-toothed bunch. [Feb 2018, p.24]

The way they smudge together sounds can feel more untidy than enjoyable, but when they get it right, as on the riff-heavy "taste" and "Spend The Night," it's exhilarating stuff. [Feb 2018, p.24]

Could It Be Different? is a cathartic celebration of newfound self-assurance. [Feb 2018, p.32]

Rest assured it all goes down as easy as a tequila sunrise, though Earthtones could've used more of the adventurous spirit of "So Free," a gorgeously supple eight-minute vamp. [Feb 2018, p.23]

It shows the band at their most proggy. [Mar 2018, p.26]

[She] breathes new life into past glories. [Mar 2018, p.32]

The lyrics seem to be obsessed with mortality and the effect it has on families. [Feb 2018, p.23]

The band's self-titled debut may inevitably lack the electricity of the live shows, but with the abundance of trashy thrills, "I Love LA" and "Let Her Be" still demonstrate the potency of Sytarcrawler's au courant mash-up of Raw Power-era stooges, Sunset Strip glam-metal and Nirvana at their hookiest. [Feb 2018, p.35]

Between Two Shores might be his most compelling and imaginative amalgam of Big Pink folk-rock and Muscle Shoals R&B. [Feb 2018, p.28]

A song cycle that straddles inescapable anxiety and persistent optimism. [Feb 2018, p.24]

This is noticeably a slightly older, wiser o Age, one aware that the rigours of the age demand a little more than good-times positivity. Certainly, they've seldom sounded better. [Feb 2018, p.22]

Lively but also introspective, The House ultimately explores growth through personal reflection, while nestled in a cocoon of immersive electronics. [Feb 2018, p.30]

It's ultimately a record that struggles to step outside the shadows of its influences. [Feb 2018, p.27]

A cappella shanty "Poor Old Horse" is a working class hymn with real bite, while muted electronica gives "As I Roved Out" a thoroughly modern sheen. [Feb 2018, p.35]

Three of the 10 R&B covers he's recorded before, while the five original compositions faithfully plough his familiar tropes. [Oct 2017, p.35]

Simultaneously rooted and rootless, we might call the results Otherworld Music. [Feb 2018, p.35]

[His] voice bulldozes everything in its path, flattening melody and obliterating nearly every sentiment on this overzealous album. [Feb 2018, p.24]

It's the dumb, heads-down rockers that show BRMC at their best. [Feb 2018, p.24]

The Surfing Magazines offer a cinematic surf-themed perspective that adds an interesting layer to a skeleton of spindly indie-pop. [Oct 2017, p.40]

For now Ruins keeps First Aid Kit moving forward, empowered rather than overcome by the wrath of love. [Feb 2018, p.25]

As is the case with his band's startling fusions of space rock, doomy metal and motorik grooves on its four albums, there are many surprising developments here too. [Jan 2018, p.23]

Cumulatively, the brassy blare and breakbeats are like Dayglo plasticine, now merging into an paterfamilias brown ball. [Feb 2018, p.27]

It's an entertainingly disruptive blast of a record with a mirrorball lure, refracting everything from Motown to early-'80s disco and funk, boom bap, '90s piano house and contemporary R&B Yet nothing is stripped of its oddness or playfulness. [Feb 2018, p.33]

Noisy but thoughtful, and frenzied but melodic. [Feb 2018, p.32]

Pristine miniatures dominate, but the title track allows a more searching exploration of more ambiguous ambiences. [Feb 2018, p.29]

Her striking debut--recorded in 10 days and originally self-released on her own label--brims with as much honest emotion as it does uncalculated cool. [Jan 2017, p.23]

Dean Rudland and Tony Harlow’s selections here mix up the canonical (Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” and “Red Hot Mama”, The Undisputed Truth’s “Like A Rolling Stone”, Sly & The Family Stone’s “Thank You For Talkin’ To Me, Africa”), with a good few cratedigging rarities. If anything, in their enthusiasm they may have set themselves a little too wide a brief. [May 2017, p.46]

Simpson and Ferguson keep the country stylings fresh, and Childers delivers the songs with the melodic urgent of early Steve Earle. [Feb 2018, p.34]

It's a heavyweight set. ... In this music Badu sees a path to self-betterment, a chance to grow. [Feb 2018, p.48]

It's gorgeous, and though its 27 minutes may seem slight at first, that's somehow perfect for the songs' capture of moments in the life, singing melancholy and joy in equal measure. [Jan 2018, p.21]

With members of Master Musicians Of Bukkake and Invisible Hands joining in, it's no surprise everything gets wilder as it goes along. [Jan 2018, p.17]

Initially it's hard to detect much disruption to his usual winning formula of squelchy keyboards, pulsing rhythms and glassy guitar noodles, but the dank electro of "AE" and the hot-stepping snares of "O" introduce a note of disquiet that only pulls you further into his exquisitely crafted universe. [Feb 2018, p.30]

Chief songwriter Craig Johnson is canny enough to avoid being backed into a corner, and adds additional colour such as electro-punk "Execution-Rise" and the intriguing "Torrment." [Jan 2018, p.18]

Things become more perverse with the corroded exotica of "Deer Ron" and "Leyline Ogres," though her weirdness is most becoming. [Jan 2018, p.29]

[The] bucolic narratives on the sextet's fourth album are imbued with plainspoken authenticity. [Jan 2018, p.26]

There are Goat-like moments, but "Serenity" and "Meditasjonen" interrupt the party to introduce a more studied and austere note to proceedings. [Jan 2018, p.21]

The songs themselves are fascinating in their breadth, and if nothing else, The Visitor feels like Young's broadest album in some time. [Feb 2018, p.26]

At its blissed-out best, as on "Saw You Twice" and "Feel So Right," her new direction conjures the kind of streetwise reverie rarely heard since the days of AR Kane and One Dove. [Feb 2018, p.28]

The gorgeous psychedelic soul of "Pineapple Skies," the Prince-like strut of "Told You" and the rubbery Latin funk of "Caramelo Duro" all reaffirm Miguel's status as the most versatile talent in R&B's avant-garde. [Feb 2018, p.30]

He's added half a dozen of his own compositions in a similar style to this generous 16-track selection, which pays tribute to his jazz roots rather more successfully than his uneven homage to his R&B origins in September's Roll With The Punches. [Feb 2018, p.30]

There was much more to Stapleton than the Music Row standards he'd been cranking out for others, and Vol. 2 further confirms this suspicion. Under his own name, and own steam, Stapleton cleaves closer to the outlaw ethos of Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr and Johnny Paycheck. [Feb 2018, p.32]

Watford's Stavely-Taylor sisters and New York's chamber music sextet effortlessly bridge the divide between their chosen genres. [Feb 2018, p.35]

The selections on this earworm-packed compilation prove that the limitations of 8-and 16-bit technology and the era's primitive sound chips were no obstacle to the most determined composers. [Jan 2018, p.43]

Thanks For Listening has the same gentle humour and musical imagination he brings to the airwaves [as host of Prairie Home Companion], although "I Made This For You" and the title track are a bit precious in their meta trappings. [Jan 2018, p.26]

The set is essential for three glorious and long-unavailable performances of classic Guthrie compositions by Dylan & The Band recorded at Carnegie Hall in January 1968. [Oct 2017, p.53] [Album: 9/10 Extras: 7/10]

Despite a few notable omissions--no "Big New Prinz"?--it feels like the most coherent overview of the band's 40-odd years to date. [Jan 2018, p.38] [Album: 9/10 Extras: 6/10]

A friskier beast than usual. [Jan 2018, p.29]

Fans get their money's worth with this particular Broderick. [Jan 2018, p.35]

An unctuous solo album mixing flaccid new songs with slick retreads of classics. [Jan 2018, p.24]

It fizzes with pent-up power and singalong choruses. [Jan 2018, p.18]

They're feeling the chill of middle age, when a night on the sofa with an M&S ready-meal holds more appeal than feeling like an auntie at the church-hall disco ("I Only Smoke When I Drink," "No Longer Young Enough"), and the wisecracks are harder to pull off. [Jan 2018, p.23]

No two tracks are stylistically the same--and yet there is a clear sense of cohesion. [Jan 2018, p.28]

Something gets lost in translation in these inter-cultural patchworks, sure, but more often than not something weird and wonderful is born. [Jan 2018, p.38]

Thirty years later, the heaviness of these songs has intensified rather than abated. [Dec 2017, p.40][Album: 9/10, Extras: 7/10]

The result is an impressionistic and intriguing set of instrumentals that draw on an eclectic set of influences from the obvious (Satie and Glass) to the surprising (gamelan and Robert Miles). [Jan 2018, p.24]

Tribute To 2 is a richer and more complex collection [than his previous cover releases]. [Jan 2018, p.20]

Its 10 tracks show that age still hasn't tamed Hammill's mighty, stentorian voice or the existential rage still burning at the centre of his songs. [Dec 2017, p.27]

It comprise four lengthy tracks, from the wood-wind-assisted Led Zep-sized rocker "This One's For The Human" to the one chord motorik Krautrock of "The Visitations." Best of all is "The Moon IS Not Your Friend," in which a McCartney-styled guilty pleasure is bookended by terrifying space-age FX. [Jan 2018, p.17]

Krgovich reflects wryly on his own situation, the perennial underdog whose day might be just around the corner. [Jan 2018, p.23]

The seven unnamed tracks here are often surprisingly straightforward in form given the two musicians' penchant for demolishing conventions. [Jan 2018, p.22]

It moves like a Best Of, stacking the hits up top. [Jan 2018, p.40]

A finely crafted mood piece rewarding deep immersion. [Dec 2017,p.25]

There are plenty of albums by singer-songwriters documenting damaged relationships, but few have mapped out the emotional catography with such candour and insight as Van Etten. ... The ethereal "You Didn't Really Do That" floats on layers of seductive harmony, while church-like organ lends the bittersweet "I'm Giving Up On You" a sepulchral feel. [Jan 2018, p.43 - Album score: 8/Extras score: 6]

Wilson, now 60, reveals a flair for conjuring up moods on songs that suggest the languorous drift from winding down to sleeping in. [Jan 2018, p.29]

Wildly ambitious debut. [Jan 2018, p.26]

Five years in the making seems like a long time for an hour's worth of music, but Jonti clearly had plenty of fun along the way. [Jan 2018, p.22]

There are hints of Cocteau Twins and Joanna Newsom, but the air of doomed beauty is Bruland's own. [Dec 2017, p.26]

It contains fleeting proof of a band still capable of making sparks fly. [Jan 2018, p.29]

The arrangements are light and percussive, and Polwart's singing is bell-like. [Jan 2018, p.24]

Skittishly improvisational without undermining the overall serenity. A good time for your chakras guaranteed. [Dec 2018, p.18]

Utopia really delivers on the transcendent promise of its title with the closing "Future Forever." [Jan 2018, p.12]