He makes exultant use of his fellow musicians' capabilities to go out on a demented cultish high. [Jul 2025, p.36]

Their songs are a cola rush of pop harmony, like the Fizzbombs with added Mentos. [Oct 2025, p.24]

Sometimes ethereal and meditative, and at others blowing his sax and flute with an intensity that belies his seniority. [Nov 2025, p.33]

Co-produced again with Jonathan Wilson, the album bristles with richness and bespoke detail. [Mar 2015, p.70]

While "Incense At Abu Ghraib" has a horror auteur's knack for intimidation, a shrill whistle barely masking the sound of feet on metal stairs. It's masterful, though it'll leave you feeling like a speck of gravel in self-destructing world. [Nov 2013, p.72]

[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]

The finished result occupies land between Young Marble Giants' "Colossal Youth" and Tricky's "Maxinquaye": not the equal of either of those landmark albums, maybe, but certainly cut from the same cloth. [Sep 2009, p.89]

A Place Called Bad augments such high-water marks as 1983's Blood red River with rarities and live tracks like a 1983 demolition job on Captain Beefheart's "Clear Spot." All of it whets the appetite for explorations of Salmon's sprawling post-Scientists oeuvre. [Sep 2016, p.88]

It's at times crushingly heavy, but there's a cerebral knottiness to the arrangements, and Chino Moreno's vocal boasts a windswept melancholy harking back to the new romantics. [Dec 2020, p.29]

Williams' charismatic performance, switching between English and Ibibio, keeps the songs grounded in the "rage, hope, soul" she sings about on "Freedom"; the synth, brass and rhythm make them dancefloor bangers regardless. [May 2021, p.29]

Snipe Hunter is Childers' familiar reconciliation of the raucous and thoughtful, and possible his most accomplished to date. [Oct 2025, p.24]

Brisk and adrenalised, Wet Leg leaves little room to get bored, and is impressively low on filler for a debut. Even the sketchy minor tracks earn their place here. [May 2022, p.33]

Silly and overblown, but wittily, brilliantly so. [Jul 2013, p.73]

While there is much here to admire, at its overblown worst Neon Bible is one of those records that takes itself too seriously to be taken seriously. [Apr 2007, p.90]

The most common description of this much-discussed album over the past few months is that YHF is Americana's Kid A. In truth, it's more successful than that. [May 2002, p.112]

A thematically rich record, heavy on mood and elegantly written in a way that positions Del Rey between Eve Babitz and Carole King. There are beguiling and evolving melodies underneath the spare piano and acoustic arrangements. [Nov 2019, p.24]

With This Is A Photograph, he offers the wisest and most assured rendering of the Middle American vision he’s been honing of late, one where Dylan-esque anti-singing narrates impassioned, earnest and earthen tales of family, place, love and heroes, and a crack band shakes the rafters. [Jun 2022, p.32]

Demos - impressive for Elton's ability to nail a song on first take, amusing for his repertoire of Goons voices - and songs from the Feb 1972 Royal Festival Hall concert which amounted to his showbiz coronation. [May 2023, p.46]

You won't hear a more humane, moving or mysterious record all year. [Album of the Month, Oct 2003, p.110]

Thankfully, Phrenology is more therapy than quack science. [Feb 2003, p.86]

Theirs remains a stubbornly extreme sound, although Celestial Lineage finds new ways to combine heaviness with solemn beauty. [Oct 2011, p.86]

It's his best yet. [Jun 2020, p.38]

A fairly ravishing listen that brings to life to Remy's Cindy Sherman-style identity politics. [Mar 2018, p.35]

Nile's river of song runs as deep as it's wide. [Jul 2013, p.80]

Roberts continues to mine the traditional songbook, the sound is dominated by McGuinness' keyboards. Composer Amble Skuse adds squirts of electronica, bringing understated ambience to these brutal old songs. [Apr 2018, p.32]

Nile's title track offers up celebration and togetherness, with disease and idiocracy pushed into the back mirror, and guitars and organs to the fore.[Sep 2021, p.31]

Johnny Marr, straps in for the mellow acoustic “Solitary Confinement”, a standout amid many high-calibre moments. [Dec 2024, p.37]

They demonstrate a unique approach, building unsteady sonic sculptures from bizarre beatboxing and sped-up samples and bringing them to life with rapturous soul testifying. [Apr 2018, p.37]

If Funeral was organic, and Neon Bible was force-fed, The Suburbs makes do with being merely delicious. (And a little wistful, wounded, and wise.) [Sep 2010, p.80]

Bob Ludwig's remaster job adds fine detail, and a second CD collects 18 tracks, mostly diverting. [Jan 2012, p.97]

It broadly succeeds because her songs - worked on with R&B guv'nor Jai Paul and her father Pino, a seasoned session player, and siblings Rocco and Giancarla - are elegantly poised. [Apr 2024, p.38]

It's the record fans of her explosive live shows always hoped she would make and a career highlight. [May 2013, p.79]

What In Colour reveals is the sheer scope of Smith's skills as a songwriter and producer. [Jul 2015, p.68]

Hones the Southern harmonies and guitar-pickin' crosstalk of the brothers Good. [Nov 2004, p.116]

It's all subtly regal, abetted by banjo, fiddle and mandolin textures. [Nov 2013, p.71]

Taken From Life offer[s] a fascinating new perspective on the collaboration. ... But the real find on this new disc, almost justifying the box on its own, is "Look Up Again." ... It's further testament to the strength of this collaboration, amply bolstered by live performances of Bacharach and Costello songs old and new on disc three and four. [Apr 2023, p.44]

With echoes of Rickie Lee Jones and Gram Parsons at times, it all feels deceptively effortless. [Aug 2025, p.39]

Her songwriting here... demonstrates a depth and majesty previously absent in her work. [Mar 2007, p.82]

All in all, it’s a beautiful record – and one that bears repeated plays. I’ve been playing it for around 10 days now, mostly on headphones, and it’s still revealing new details with each listen.

Stevens' strumming often has an unworldly quality that transcends folk archetypes. [Apr 2004, p.92]

She twangs the boundaries of taste both lyrically ("Take me on a genocide tour/Take me on a trip to Darfur") and musically. But a knockout's a knockout, however messy the bout.

The expanded set illustrates the inventiveness of their playing and the original template of their sound was a strong one--these were louder protest songs for a louder time. [Feb 2013, p.94]

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

Bursting with warmth and character even when nearly tweaked beyond the point of recognition, Murphy's voice has rarely had a more satisfying showcase. [Oct 2023, p.31]

She's radio-ready with the first cut from Train On The Island. Taster single "One Stop" is the earworm of the album. [Jun 2026, p.24]

Emotions played out against a backdrop of upbeat, urbanised alt. folk and groovy pastoral soul. [Apr 2018, p.23]

A lovingly rendered family portrait. [Jul 2018, p.37]

Amid the superior pieces like "No Expectations" and more minor moments of parody and innuendo, jammed endings on songs like "Salt Of The Earth" embrace a real joy in improvisational ensemble playing. ... "Sympathy" also sits apart from the rest of the songs as a separate 12in, much as it towers above the rest of the songs on the album. [Jan 2019, p.40]

Every song here has its merits; there isn't a dud among them. [Oct 2019, p.40]

Listeners seeking more of those exquisite harmonies are well served by glorious opening track "Silver," among others. [Apr 2020, p.35]

If there are occasions when the rugged soloing gets a little bogged down in detail, there are many others where the trio achieve moments of adrenalising magic.

There's a purity to them that's as much a product of her spirit and artistic choices as a demo's function. ... The Demos in particular still overwhelms with its conviction and visceral wallop, almost 30 years on. [Sep 2020, p.47]

Either of Dwyer's bands would be a fine fit for Yonkers' primitive but inventive garage rock - best examples are the pummelling "sold America" and "The Thunder Speaks," both hyped-up takes on Yonkers' originals - but Damaged Bug are better equipped to tackle his more tender moments. [May 2020, p.26]

It may have been assembled as a lockdown stopgap, but Songs From An Old Guitar is overall glorious, a career highlight in a career full of them. [Feb 2021, p.47]

It’s her voice, always expressive and active, that anchors even the wildest experiments, whether it’s the children’s choir at the end of the title track or the ratatat rhythms of “Obligation”. [Apr 202, p.32]

An album that uses traditional African instrumentation and state-of-the-art electronica with a boldness that is extraordinary. [May 2023, p.31]

Supremely inviting, warm and ruefully radiant. .... A crown on a career still going strong. [May 2024, p.31]

A sublime composition. [Feb 2024, p.37]

An audacious vault into Depeche Mode and U2 territory. [Oct 2017, p.30]

Without sacrificing urgency, outrage or compassion, Alynda Lee Segarra gives these story-songs a light touch musically, favouring airy, even breezy arrangements driven by insistent drumbeats. [Mar 2022, p.31]

An album of hope and humour and beauty, Phantom Power is frequently as deep and mysterious as the title intimates. [Aug 2003, p.100]

These 10 songs feel bold, nourishing and emotionally resonant. [Nov 2016, p.34]

Musically, this is probably the richest collection of songs Vlautin has written.

The chronological sequencing, kicking off with the delightfully sloppy "Gardening At night" from the "Chronic Town" EP, charts a course from indie college jangle to pensive AOR, and tracks fro their latter days on the IRS label sparkle with eloquence and grandeur. [Jan 2012, p.96]

This four-CD box demonstrates Bedhead to be a band incapable of missteps. [Jan 2015, p.86]

There is so much on Nashville Obsolete that impresses, but what lingers longest is rare and persuasive ability to tap into the ageless mythos of true American folk. [Oct 2015, p.85]

The album works in isolation but maybe watch the film on Netflix first. ... Tonally, we're in the territory of Nebraska, Tom Joad and Devils & Dust, but there's also the deep romantic melancholic tones of Darkness and The Rising. [Feb 2018, p.18]

This is rebel music as passive resistance, blissfully embodying change. [Dec 2022, p.29]

Her most gently ambitious and dazzlingly diverse album to date. [Apr 2025, p.32]

Let England Shake is the sound of someone as maddened as they are enthralled, aglow with anger and passion.

Rarely has anyone making such exciting and fashionable music been so unapologetic about being mature, too. [Apr 2007, p.97]

Mostly they don't sound like anyone except themselves, multiplied by a thousand. [Mar 2023, p.36]

Thompson’s writing gives this stellar cast plenty to work with, her wit rising to such meta conceits as “John Grant”, on which John Grant sings of Thompson’s fondness for him, and “Those Damn Roches”, on which Teddy Thompson conveys the tempestuousness of musical dynasties – including his (and his mum’s) own. [Jul 2024, p.39]

The overall mood is slinkily, scuzzily surreal. ... It's a deep trip into Murphy's past and future. [Nov 2020, p.33]

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

Little Simz' identity shines through on this bold, vibrant and genre-busting record. [Jun 2025, p.35]

An entirely ravishing aesthetic experience. [Jun 2014, p.76]

An endlessly fascinating maze of sound.... This decade's Endtroducing..., possibly. [Jun 2003, p.98]

She has fashioned a still eccentric but bracingly focused collection of songs that blend her acrobatic and soulful Afro-jazz vocals with a collage music that defies any attempts at categorization. [May 2011, p.96]

Each song works brilliantly in isolation, making this a treasure trove of Wyatt’s finest work ever.

His songwriting's as powerful and moving as ever, with all the darkly comic touches he excels at. [Feb 2025, p.33]

Raggedly glorious covers of Muddy Waters’ “Mannish Boy” and Bo Diddley’s “Crackin’ Up” rate as major highlights along with the live debut of Tattoo You’s “Worried About You” and a blistering take on “Hot Stuff” that amply demonstrates the liberating effects of the band’s temporary escape from baseball stadiums and hippodromes. [Jul 2022, p.44]

If the music at times fails to convey the particularities of her lyrics on the trip-hoppy "Memorial Day," Van Etten remains an insightful chronicler of small moments that produce overwhelming emotions. [Feb 2019, p.37]

This is hypnotic stuff. ... A record that feels genuinely transportive. [May 2023, p.30]

Top stuff. [Mar 2024, p.25]

Substantial tranches of the Matrix Tapes have already appeared elsewhere. [Jan 2016, p.89]

Where Manu Chao might have smoothed off some of the rough edges during his spell as co-producer, this album positively celebrates those grungier moments.

It is ambitious music, even compared with Big Inner and it also sounds rich with potential. [Feb 2015, p.67]

It's a telling indication of the degree of daring and sophistication at hand that artistic gestures which might have seemed contrived or ill-conceived in other contexts--like say, transforming Nirvana's "In Bloom" into a majestic country-souul ballad worthy of Charley Pride-yield some of the most startling results. [May 2016, p.63]

Worth catching. [Jun 2007, p.87]

In 2017 it sounds like a revelation, not just a reminder of their glorious volatility, but also a raggedly beautiful effort that stands alongside The Replacements' best records. [Nov 2017, p.46]

Are We There's subtler songs point to a painfully well-honed understanding of what drives and degrades long-term love. [Jun 2014, p.70]

Fully realised in its ambition, Bon Iver possesses all the austere beauty and understated emotiveness of its predecessor. [Jul 2011, p.81]

It may not be fuelled by as many immediate hooks and gnarly grooves as The Overload, but it's a bold progression both musically and lyrically. [Mar 2024, p.24]

An exhilarating band set that mixes electric and acoustic instrumentation, it’s at once fiercely modern and as ancient as the Niger river. [Jun 2021, p.22]

[A] darkly beautiful tour de force. [Jun 2016, p.75]

A gorgeous neo-Krautrock thump of a record. [Oct 2016, p.31]