The Blue Elephant is a sonic odyssey. [Jun 2021, p.23]

Kurt Wagner’s appetite for change hasn’t dwindled, and Lambchop’s succinct 16th is, thanks to his MIDI piano experiments, particularly tempting. [Jul 2021, p.30]

Atmospheric soundscapes. ... Awash with an adventurousness some might find surprising in a 71-year-old. [Oct 2021, p.25]

If a few concessions are made to mainstream mores here, it still works on its own idiosyncratic terms. [Mar 2022, p.25]

Heaton and Abbott's fifth breaks taboos about infant deaths on the quietly moving “Still” and nobly restores self-belief on the uplifting “When The World Would Actually Listen”. They remain impervious to musical snobbery, too. [Oct 2022, p.31]

Doyle has made a record that is as intricate as it is infectious, creating a deft yet complex pop collage that turns a troubled and chaotic world into a beautiful spectacle. [Feb 2024, p.28]

Only an underpowered "Nightclubbing", slathered in hair-metal guitar-rock slammers dilute an otherwise exhilarating night of impressively gutsy jazz-metal bruisers. [Feb 2025, p.39]

A little like The Strokes of Is This It trying their hand at metronomic Can jams or mesmeric slowcore. And yet melody is key throughout. [Sep 2025, p.33]

Big Thief are at their best when the instruments step back and create a mellower platform from which Lenker can dominate. [Jul 2016, p.69]

It's spellbinding, shiver-down-the-spine stuff, and enough to have any self-respecting Quadropheniac dusting down their scooter for one last run down to Brighton. ... Their best since Quadrophenia, then. [Dec 2019, p.22]

The further Merritt strays from her default setting, the more affecting she is. [Nov 2012, p.79]

This is a satisfying mix of revised and completed '60s recordings by original Monkees songsmiths like Boyce & Hart and Neil Diamond, with new songs by the likes of Andy Partridge, Rivers Cuomo and Adam Schlesinger. [Jul 2016, p.78]

Sade Adu and co return with more snoozy, expensively produced, quiet-storm soul. [Mar 2010, p.95]

These slight but beautiful tracks have gossamer-thin melodies and are held together by repetition, willpower, a creaky Steinway piano and some stunning vocals. [Review of the Year 2023, p.23]

John Darnielle shares Haines' nostalgic affection for the stars of Martial pantomime, and deploys his deadpan indie rock and trademark wordiness to fine effect. [May 2015, p.78]

It's far more restrained, foreboding and ultimately effective. [Jun 2018, p.27]

Jeffreys' serves up a vibrant stew of musical styles while taking the pulse of his beloved New York. [Jun 2012, p.74]

It's confident work, with faith in the power of a few elements. [Oct 2012, p.79]

A certain wistfulness pervades this record, as frontman David Best comes to terms with middle age, yet musically they're as sprightly as ever, having minted a shimmering take on krautrock that allows them to explore numerous directions. [Jan 2023, p.18]

It's fair to say that Mitchell rarely does the heavy lifting here. Her role onstage is a fluid one: muse-goddess, North Star, shredder, comic foil and sometimes singer. The playing by her fellow artists is stellar and the backing vocals, in particular, ooze class. [Aug 2023, p.22]

For shredheads, there's urgent opener "The Static God," while the superb "Animated Violence" alternates between the album's twin moods of sustained guitar menace and reflective percussive ambience. [Sep 2017, p.35]

Some fans just seemed to hate it [1979's At Budokan] very, very much. .... But listening to this expanded edition - featuring the two full concerts from which the original was compiled - the reaction is, "What's the problem?" Dylan sings his heart out. [Review of the Year 2023, p.40]

Even at their most glibly bombastic, there's a melancholy undertow that they can't shake. [Album of the Month, Dec 2004, p.136]

Hubble bubble! From weird sources and high ideals comes a spooky, sensual piece of pop sorcery. And it's bewitching. [Dec 2009, p. 91]

Elegant backgound music, better live, you suspect. [Dec 2007, p.98]

The album's meandering latter stages drag a little, but overall Cinder provides a grand musical landscape. [Nov 2005, p.114]

Their hedonistic sex-dance anthems go down a treat. [Apr 2003, p.103]

Think Randy Newman crooned in a voice like Peggy Lee and delivered with the panache of Rufus Wainwright. [Sep 2004, p.96]

It's lyrically potent stuff. [Feb 2003, p.76]

It's hard to deny the emotional weight and beauty of Polly's personal, if comparatively uncommercial, sixth album. [Jul 2004, p.108]

The results are sometimes almost listenable, which is why the most compelling songs on her third LP allay these avant-garde instincts to a belting tune. [Jul 2016, p.69]

Patterns Of Light grasps the surreal potential of the situation and responds with an OTT concept album. [Feb 2017, p.28]

It's closest to the similarly spare Peace Queer and Agnostic Hymns & Stoner fables, and smider's writing assumes spectacular meta-dimensions. [May 2019, p.34]

With his band's thrilling fourth album, Baldi successfully develops his own take on the merger of powerpop and hardcore brawn. [Feb 2017, p.24]

Leschper meditates on creativity, identity and self-doubt in a voice that's equal parts Angel Olsen and Waxahatchee, while the music--played by a full band--runs the expressive gamut. [Apr 2016, p.76]

Good, but the exciting notion of a genuine career left turn feels increasingly unlikely.

His debut for Thurston Moore's label is another walk in the forest of heavy psych rock and avant folk, that blurs the boundaries between the timeless and traditional and the tres moderne. [Nov 2008, p.100]

This is a delightful and charming addition to the original body of George's work, which highlights the quality of his songwriting and presents the material in a fresh light.

Yak's galloping songs are slathered with thick, fuzzed-out guitar and occasional squealing sax, pushing every available needle into the red. [Jun 2016, p.82]

A great album but, compared to their live shows, this is like listening to a circus. [Aug 2006, p.100]

This doesn't disappoint. [Jun 2006, p.114]

Sparer yet wholly captivating displays of psych-pop iridescence. [Oct 2017, p.37]

She reinvents the standards songbook in her image, using her deep, husky, Malboro-burnished voice to breathe life intro hackneyed old showtunes. [July 2008, p.115]

Another mature masterpiece from America's finest. [Album Of The Month, March 2002, p.94]

Even if this [air of refined sophistication] can occasionally make Women feel a little bloodless, you have to marvel at the exquisite execution. [May 2013, p.76]

If they're sometimes guilty of overdoing the chirpiness, their songwriting crafty is best served on the more subdued "Dearly Departed Friend" and "Sweet Amarillo." [Sep 2014, p.75]

It's strong but uneven. [Apr 2015, p.71]

The airy, uncomplicated sound recalls a rural expanse, with St Louis’s hushed confidence guiding the listener through fields and along banks. [Nov 2018, p.33]

Trupa Trupa's sixth album favours often lovely, mysterious ritualistic sounds. [Mar 2022, p.36]

Hook-heavy hummability abounds, but most interesting are the newer "My Song" and "Let Me Go"--darkly atmospheric chunks of contemporary R&B/Hip-pop. [Oct 2013, p.68]

One of his better efforts. [Nov 2013, p.75]

On Paradise, cleaner recording--proudly made with Pro Tools--largely sharpens instead of defangs, while bringing out guitarist Kenneth Williams' surprisingly deep cabinet of textures. [Jun 2016, p.82]

If Sigur Ros shared a cottage in Dovedale, they might just sound as magical as this. [May 2013, p.71]

Sermon On The Rocks is a wild ride, with producer Trina Shoemaker adding vivid colours to the singer's rolling rock gospel. [Dec 2015, p.78]

The pair navigate a procession of deep, massaging drones, crashing waves of pink noise and shimmering tone clusters that shift between tranquil calm and coruscating melody. [Sep 2016, p.79]

The songs themselves trip by with a deceptively casual air. [Jan 2017, p.27]

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

It's excellent, with enchanting melodies, emotional depth and a few unexpected evolutions. [May 2021, p.26]

Leaning lightly into their love of R&B on the likes of “Proof” and “Stevie”, and relaxing into expansive, stoned-in-the-sunshine grooves on pulsing lead single “Champion” and “Like Sweetness”, it’s a perfect goth summer record. [Jun 2022, p.34]

The songwriter’s takes on treacherous relationships come with a Vampire Weekend-ish talent for a multi-part melody and Phoebe Bridgers’ ear for pertinent one-liners, the stately “Underwater”, “Move Me”, the title track and bedsit-ABBA kiss-off “Cold” all deep, powerful, overwhelming. [Sep 2022, p.23]

A few tracks fell like sketchy fragments, but the best have real grandeur and ambition. [Feb 2023, p.28]

Throughout, his mellowness of tone is the album's defining feature. Miraculously, thanks to the minutiae of the arrangements, it's a sound that never becomes one dimensional. [Oct 2009, p.96]

Highlights include the distinctly Davis-ish "Apples And Oranges", the spectral soul of "Giddy Up", and the country trundle of "A Puppy & A truck". [Jul 2023, p.30]

Tindersticks have returned refreshed, but some of the old dissolute glamour is gone.

The songs' operatic grandeur evokes the music of Dead Can Dance and Diamanda Galas at its most epic-scaled. [Oct 2017, p.40]

Living With Yourself showcases McGuire's playing with minimal adornment. [Nov 2010, p.94]

Too much of it is lost in homogeneous country balladry more often associated with Trish Yearwood and all the other Nashville guff. A pity, because Moorer's voice is an expressive thing. [Mar 2010, p.94]

"Normal" offers the most accessible punk foot-tapper that races past but leaves you wanting more. [Nov 2010, p.97]

It's stuffed with Staxy beats, clicking bass and Hi-Life bounce. [Jun 2015, p.81]

It's a stunning showcase of his emotional, slippery, psychologically fraught production style. [Dec 2014, p.71]

It's a neat homage to '60s girl groups and C86 bands they inspired, spooked-out bubblegum delivered in singer Dee Dee's naive but infectious sing-song. [Jun 2010, p.98]

This is space-age folk music from an elaborate sound sculptor. [Jul 2013, p.75]

The music does not so much take off as forever taxi toward the boundary fence. [Dec 2013, p.70]

This is as good as the "soundtrack for an imaginary movie" gets. [Aug 2014, p.78]

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]

It's all done with a wry, matter-of-fact wit rather than self-pitying sadness, and the spirit and sound of Pulp hang over much of the album. [Nov 2018, p.37]

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]

The swooping strings and Escher-like melodic structures of "Camion" and "Yard Bull" are reassuringly familiar to Vannier enthusiasts. ... Patton rises to the occasion throughout. [Oct 2019, p.33]

There is a dreamy, unconscious quality to the way Marshall inhabits a song. The covers sessions were big on spontaneity. [Feb 2022, p.22]

While songs like “Nashville Mess Around” heighten the good-time vibes, Crooked Tree’s often playful manner is balanced by deeper considerations.

The psychedelic delirium of the music is all we really need to know. [Nov 2022, p.29]

[Clemintine] has a rich, resonant baritone which adds gravitas to every note. It is also, perhaps, a trick to his songwriting: there are big truths about love, self, family and identity buried in this collection, but Clemintine is careful to keep the details to himself. [Jan 2023, p.17]

Although the record is unlikely to convert any sceptics, the presence of wide-eyed improviser Alex Ward gives Thomas the perfect foil. [Jul 2023, p.33]

All expertly tied together by Tuttle's rare gift for nuance and colour. [Aug 2023, p.28]

Sola can be detached but is at her best when she leans into the songs. [Feb 2024, p.35]

Throughout his three-decade career, E has brought a hushed beauty to the act of staring into the abyss, and his use of space on EELS TIME! (all caps for added irony) makes this lonely guy seem that much more lost in space. [Jul 2024, p.32]

The overall sense here is of old friends reunited, not taking themselves too seriously, still making a thrillingly ramshackle racket. [Sep 2025, p.37]

Tim Wheeler's flair for crashing power-chord melodies and happy-sad lyrics remain undimmed. .... Graham Coxon makes two slight but likable cameo appearances. [Nov 2025, p.28]

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

It isn't a coincidence that this, Hot Chip's most focused album, is also their finest--more ruthless editing in future will doubtless yield even more spectacular results.

A sun-dappled, idiosyncratic delight, flooded with warmth and vitality, yet weighted by an undefinable sadness. [Aug 2003, p.108]

An acquired taste. [Jan 2005, p.124]

The Josh Ritter who appears here is primarily a writer of quality pop songs.

Proceeds with the unhurried observational vividness of extended takes in a Richard Linklater film. [Dec 2019, p.35]

Largely recorded over six fays in Paris, it adds test-card breeziness to the bleakness of "The Amputees," and delivers a gorgeous rumination on shattered love in "Carousel." [Dec 2019, p.32]

At its best, like the gorgeous, nine-minute “Round The World”, his bittersweet sound feels like the work of an art-music auteur. [May 2024, p.30]

Wincing isn't so much a departure as it is an all-out augmentation, taking the best things about The Shins and amplifying them. [Feb 2007, p.72]

While the unrelenting energy can be somewhat exhausting, it's hard not to get swept up. [Jul 2014, p.73]