It's a sumptuous set-piece, nine tracks of oceanic expansiveness that shift in dynamics and mood. [Sep 2016, p.69]

For the most part [Blossoms] Don't disappoint. [Sep 2016, p.69]

Fairly conventional, but done with plenty of panache and alluring bad-girl swagger. [Sep 2016, p.69]

There's plenty of uncommon beauty in these four hours of stalagmite electronica. [Sep 2016, p.69]

By using layers of shoegazey guitars and powerfully mic'd-up drums, they create soundscapes that combine Americana with English pastoralism. [Sep 2016, p.67]

Wildflower does a robust job of reiterating core skills rather than offering radical reinvention. [Sep 2016, p.66]

Despite his recent move to a major label, these songs do retain the malicious edge that made its predecessor so enjoyable. [Sep 2016, p.75]

The resultant tracks are dominated by Allen's fidgety, polyrhythmic Afrobeat rhythms, particularly the Fela Kuti-ish "Bade Zile." But the Haitian singers and FX-laden soundscapes of Glasgow guitarist Marc Mulholland take things into other dimensions. [Aug 2017, p.69]

65daysofstatic's soundtrack to the highly anticipated No Man's Sky Game loads up on pile-driving guitar sequences reminiscent of Mogwai, but it's industrial-sized programming, moments of tranquility and chilling electronica confirm the Sheffield quartet's visionary ambitions. [Jul 2016, p.67]

Challenging, but deeply satisfying. [Aug 2016, p.83]

These songs achieve something like topicality, sounding all the more invigorated and just plain fun for having one foot in the past and the other in an uncertain present. [Aug 2016, p.68]

Warm Leatherette is often considered a rehearsal for Nightclubbing but in some ways it’s the most radical of the pair, because it unveiled to a shocked audience the new-look Jones, presented on the sleeve in stark black and white as a kind of sinister Pierrot by her partner Jean-Paul Goude.

Evolving from fairly skronky beginnings, and passing through a great set of ostensibly Greek folk-psych, Redshift at once honours and transcends those influences, chucking in some Dead-style ambulation. [Aug 2016, p.81]

It's a dense, courageous storm of an album, revved-up and snarling. [Jul 2016, p.73]

The blitzkrieg is offset by a vein of black humour, epitomised by Ian Svenonius' hilariously pitiless guest vocal on "Party Line." But as with any military campaign, fatigue eventually sets in. [Aug 2016, p.80]

Day To Day's fusions feel accomplished and natural. [Aug 2016, p.77]

A quietly eloquent, simply persuasive record that chimes well with the current taste for bucolic abstraction, and moves Rhodes forward. [Aug 2016, p.79]

He still writes lovely, dreamy psych-pop songs that position Luxury Alone as a strange, introverted companion to Tame Impala's Currents. [Jul 2016, p.82]

The synthetic drama of Maps' "The Other Side" retains the tension of Apollo 8's inaugural moon mission; Vessels anchor "EVA" with a tidy bassline; Field Music remodel "Korolev" into a taut, angular beauty. [Aug 2016, p.80]

The lyrics can be trite, but the guitar is accomplished, and the title fits. [Aug 2016, p.71]

The trio play straighter than fellow pre-Revolver fetishist Ezra Furman, but have the tunes to finesse it. [Aug 2016, p.75]

The prolific producer is releasing what could be his most accessible body of work. [Aug 2016, p.73]

Young In All The Wrong Ways may be Watkins' third solo album, but it feels and sounds like her first, reintroducing her as a writer/artist of uncommon eloquence and consequence. [Aug 2016, p.70]

A rewarding evolution by a band that could easily coast on their rugged laurels. [Aug 2016, p.72]

There's an addictive, hypnagogic quality to this ghostly combination of ambient noise, treated vocals and bursts if static. [Aug 2016, p.73]

On the whole it struggles to strike a light, far less catch fire. [Aug 2016, p.78]

Her voice is every bit as great as her songs. [Aug 2016, p.76]

"Time Moves Slow" is gorgeous Muscle Shoals soul with a killer turn from Future Islands' Samuel T Herring, while "In Your Eyes" with Charlotte Day Wilson is lush orch jazz with shades of David Axelrod. [Aug 2016, p.71]

As with its predecessor, the album cherry-picks from the past, but comes with a contemporary sheen. It's hard to imagine her bettering this. [Aug 2016, p.80]

The Liquid "I'm Turning Inside Out" and lyrically unsettling, Bon Iver-ish "Shine A Light On Him" are standouts in a quietly haunting set. [Aug 2016, p.83]

Hit Reset is a deliciously rowdy work in which Hanna flames negligent friends, cyber-bullies and idiotic lovers. [Aug 2016, p.77]

[A] hugely satisfying album. [Jul 2016, p.66]

It's all executed with efficient power, yet the sum is somehow less than its parts. [Jul 2016, p.74]

The guitar-loving chums churn out suitably entertaining, sludgy fare, a bit like a Neanderthal, fuzzier Fuzz with occasional electronics. [Aug 2016, p.76]

While they lack a reedy falsetto, guest vocalists such as Blaine Harrison, Euros Child and Holly Miranda bring discrete personalities to bear on songs which trippily track the lightly fantastic. [Aug 2016, p.72]

The best moments are often the most self-excoriating. [Aug 2016, p.75]

The septuagenarian may not possess the range he once had, but Bell's voice wears the years gracefully. [Aug 2016, p.71]

[Xenia Rubinos] often extract the maximum impact from a startlingly nimble rhythm section that disregards any boundaries between soul, rock, jazz and salsa, plus a voice that evokes Sarah Vaughan, Joyce Moreno and--on the brilliantly squelchy R&B of "Black Stars" and "right?"--Erykah Badu at her wildest. [Aug 2016, p.81]

Although a few tracks lack bite, Mount keeps the senses stimulated with diversity and detail. [Aug 2016, p.78]

If it's a little too impressionistic to last the 17-track distance, then Freetown Sound still seduces. [Aug 2016, p.73]

It's addictive, delirious and madcap, Martha turning anxiety into exuberance. [Aug 2016, p.78]

The Bride is her most accomplished realisation of her wandering mind yet. [Aug 2016, p.65]

Harvey's intimate understanding of Serge's rich catalogue allows him to smother markedly different compositions such as "Ce Mortel Enniu" (1958) and perverted mid-70s gear "SS Si Bon" and "L'Homme a Tete De Chou" with a menacing Bad Seeds swagger that unifies Delirium Tremens. [Aug 2016, p.76]

Ibifornia features slightly too many faceless party-friendly dance-pop bangers. [Aug 2016, p.73]

Singer-guitarist Ian Felice brings real pathos to lucid tales of characters in various states of dissolution. [Jul 2016, p.74]

It's steeped in the snotty multi-coloured psych of the Elevators, the Seeds, Os Mutantes and, via the parping Farfusa of "Follow Me Home," early Doors. [Aug 2016, p.80]

Although Kramer sometimes lacks the craft and discipline to make his purposely flimsy sonic treatments stand up as full-blooded songs. [Aug 2016, p.83]

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

Postcards From... represents a diary of five years of travel, though these 10 instrumentals are less reflective of the locations where they were conceived than the moods they inspired. [Jul 2016, p.70]

The Last Days Of Oakland is a polished--but not too polished--set of soulful blues. [Aug 2016, p.75]

Wonderful stuff. [Aug 2016, p.76]

This careful layering of old and new, east and west, has something of the forensic deliberation of post-rock experimentation about it, but songs like "For Everything That You Lost" and "They Keep Silence," which evokes Killing Joke, are thrilling in their intensity. [Aug 2016, p.77]

A heroic mutual soppiness is the key tot his dreamy two-tracker. [Jul 2016, p.74]

Fortunately, they haven't forsaken their natural songwriting strengths. [Aug 2016, p.70]

He's hit the sweet spot between fresh and the familiar. [Aug 2016, p.83]

Much more than just a hobbyist fancy, 2 is, in fact, far better than it has any right to be. [Aug 2016, p.82]

The melancholy underscoring even the android-sex jam feels both personal and more than a little musty. [Aug 2016, p.80]

There's a lighter, more hopeful bent to the musical settings, which perfectly balance the more dissonant leanings of The King Of Limbs with a sumptuousness and gentleness they've rarely sought since OK Computer. [Aug 2016, p.81]

There's little on the pair's ninth album that will surprise longtime admirers; rather, Plaid play to their strengths. [Aug 2016, p.80]

This third album sees her come into her own as a songwriter with a seductive collection of slow-burning synth-funk. [Aug 2016, p.80]

There are too many blandly chipper moments that feel better suited to mobile phone ads than an album. [Aug 2016, p.77]

Glasper's keen-eared stewardship throws up some astonishing alchemy. [Aug 2016, p.75]

More than once, it is difficult not to drift into wistful contemplation of the splendid, unreconstructed rock'n'roll racket of which they might be capable if they tried underthinking things for a change. [Aug 2016, p.74]

The Colour In Anything is Blake's fullest and boldest work yet. [Aug 2016, p.72]

Undercurrent is an enthralling journey from source to mouth. [Aug 2016, p.72]

A more refined classic techno sound, paying homage to his adopted hometown of Detroit. [Aug 2016, p.71]

It's the thickness of these synth textures and the intensity of the sounds that create a thoroughly immersive experience. [Jul 2016, p.78]

Everything flows and nothing jars, but Craft's soft voice and often orthodox songcraft makes Blood Moon merely pretty rather than stunning. [Jul 2016, p.73]

It all hangs together, propelled by a sense of fun that, 22 years on, still pervades every note. Trot on. [Jul 2016, p.73]

There are overdubs, Auto-Tune and, most conspicuously of all, songs have been overlaid with Animal sounds. [Jul 2016, p.68]

This is a satisfying strange listen. [Jul 2016, p.75]

On the cautionary rockabilly of "Put Out The Fire" and low-slung raunch rap of "Ain't No Rhyme," he demonstrates a firm grasp of his essential strengths. [Jul 2016, p.70]

It has a transitory feel; a half-step back from those monolithic builds and whiplash grooves, gesturing towards something more contemplative and ... well, "softer" feels the wrong word, but weathered by the journey. [Jul 2016, p.80]

The very wonderful Eyeland finds them poised between the familiar and the less so. [Jul 2016, p.75]

There are reminders of St. Vincent on "Happy" and "Thursday Girl," while "A Loving Feeling" boasts The Breeders' punkish brevity. [Jul 2016, p.78]

As they've refined their technique, they've almost erased the need for lyrics, while their twin obsessions--romance and the celestial--remain constants. [Jul 2016, p.89]

Fohr's voice is the constant, but here's it's denuded, its strangely hollowed-out tone perfect for Jackie Lynn's dizzying theatrics. [Jul 2016, p.76]

At its heart, though, this is essentially a great pop album. [Jul 2016, p.83]

On his third solo album, he's found a niche that suits him. [Jul 2016, p.81]

Quibbles aside, though, this appears to be a partnership with plenty of mileage left. [Jul 2016, p.70]

These diorama-songs of a Mayberry gone to seed don't sound to different from what you might hear on mainstream US radio--only much more lovingly observed and finely crafted. [Jul 2016, p.71]

There are moments, such as in "Crazy Love" and "Monster Again," where the vibe is less open-hearted confessional than "Futurehead Does Andrew Lloyd Webber." Even so, this is a brave and extremely poignant piece of work. [Jul 2016, p.74]

Like coiled springs, this Manchester four-piece fire out jabs of tight pop-punk energy that seem created with the intention of filling an indie dancefloor. [Jul 2016, p.79]

Patience is still a warm and uplifting record befitting this modest, meticulous band. [Jul 2016, p.74]

Polished but pedestrian. [Jul 2016, p.78]

A moving collision of past and present. [Jun 2016, p.78]

The sound of two talented men messing around and letting off steam in a studio. Much livelier than Tunng. [Jul 2016, p.81]

This is old-time spiritual soul shot through with urgent, electric energy. [Jul 2016, p.79]

Initially foreboding, its laminar abstractions give way to the stealthy textural seductions of centrepiece "Line Angel," where shards of electronic glass penetrate a wavering organ drift, and the choral minimalism of closer, "MFBK." [Jun 2016, p.78]

Toussaint masterfully irons oout the kinks and the dissonances from the city's music. [Jul 2016, p.77]

An unqualified triumph. [Jul 2016, p.73]

This fruitful collaboration between k.d. Lang, Neko Case and Laura Veirs succeeds largely because it makes room for all three distinctive voices and songwriting styles, alongside sublimely blended three-way harmonies. [Jul 2016, p.71]

Not quite the rebirth it might have been, but a welcome retread. [Jun 2016, p.73]

A terrific, laidback, sleep-headed dose of minor key psychedelia, which has something of the flavour of Spiritualized at their finest. [Jul 2016, p.79]

There are delicate nylon-strung acoustic guitar solos, punky and ecstatic Ornette Coleman covers, thrash metal improvisations for just guitar and drum, and intriguing battles with saxophonist Chris Potter. [Jul 2016, p.88]

It's much less obstreperous than most of their earlier works. [Jul 2016, p.76]

Songs such as "Golden Days" and "No Woman" combine the fragile longing of indie-pop with the superior songwriting smarts of classic early-70s rock, in a way that should reel in fans of Josh Rouse and Liam Hayes. [Jul 2016, p.82]

Their second is a complex, pile-driving delight. [Jul 2016, p.78]