It's a record that finds The Jayhawks in pristine fettle, it's country-rock stylings evoking the blithe warmth of 1995's Tomorrow The Green Grass while punching a little harder with age. [May 2016, p.70]

A fuzz-tinted spaghetti-western vibe holds it all together. [May 2016, p.75]

It's an agreeably raw listen. [Mar 2016, p.80]

[Bardi Jóhannsson's] presence is overshadowed by that of Jean-Benoît Dunckel. [May 2016, p.79]

A series of typically charming, if not overly adventurous, indie-pop songs. [May 2016, p.78]

Two fetching female voices bring a soft-focus glow to the linchpin songs on this incandescent album. [Apr 2016, p.79]

Superb third album. ... The album is beautifully structured like this, with narrative threads and recurring thoughts picked up and passed from song to song. It's also self-referential but, crucially, never arch. [May 2016, p.68]

The fruits of his change of mind are bittersweet and eloquent alt.pop songs that recall Bon Iver. [May 2016, p.82]

Hookworms twist "The Sky Of all Places" into a Mary Chain approximation of Metal Machine Music and Factory Floor make desiccated disco mincemeat of "sink," while Loop guru Robert Hampson, Death In Vegas's Richard Fearless, Ride's Andy Bell and Mogwai's Stuart Braithwaite demonstrate the oldies' appetite for deconstruction.[Apr 2016, p.79]

Sherwood's two live mixes almost capture the intensity of their stage show. [May 2016, p.78]

Suffused in both the dread mortality inspires and the peace that comes with accepting its inevitability, it simultaneously addresses the effects that the passing of years has on one's relationships and the compromises these demand. [May 2016, p.66]

A deceptive simple, calm record, Love Letter... sounds both intuitive and direct, and any wrangling along the collaborative way is undetectable. [May 2016, p.80]

The lyrics cover some heavy subjects--feminism, Catholicism, corrupt Irish institutions-- so it's a pity that the hopelessly muddy production means that they might as well be singing in Icelandic. [May 2016, p.79]

A modern new-age gem. [May 2016, p.79]

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]

A certain crispness is now prevalent, along with expanded horizons. [May 2016, p.82]

It's a structurally savvy set stuffed with impeccably wrought pop hooks. [May 2016, p.81]

There aren't too many surprises here, just a well-honed primer in what Harper does best, fusing blues, rock, folk, country, R'n'B, gospel and reggae with politically conscious lyrics into a dynamic stew. [May 2016, p.74]

Their profoundly boring ninth album resembles sketches toward another unnecessary Stone Roses comeback. [May 2016, p.71]

The likes of the title track and "Sleep On The Floor" are pleasingly Ryan Adams/Gaslight Anthem-ish; elsewhere, as on "Gun Song" and "Angela" it all gets a bit Mumford & Sons. [May 2016, p.76]

Even by Deftones standards, their eighth album is hardly immediate. [May 2016, p.71]

Some of the music here illustrates the limitations of the formula, sometimes lapsing into lumpy blues-rock or new-age noodling. [May 2016, p.70]

He's an engaging singer-songwriter whose instinctive, winning wryness takes the edge off some occasionally ruggedly confessional material. [Apr 2016, p.69]

They could do with adding a bit of mystery to their armoury--there's a clarity and earnestness to some of Wolves Of Want that can underwhelm--but the group come with a clutch of great songs that would sit nicely on a long-awaited third volume of Modern Method's compilation series A Wicked Good Time! [Apr 2016, p.69]

There are clearly mad skills at work, but silent Earthling is rarely anything other than a simple pleasure. [May 2016, p.81]

Despite the odd dreamy detour into girl-group psych-pop, this slender 10-tracker is bulked out with a little too much autopilot retro-kitsch filler. [May 2016, p.79]

Despite its many-handedness, Rainbow Ends is an intensely personal vision. Indeed, it feels more like a companion piece to his great ’70s work than it does a postscript.

The writing, revealing literary influences and the deep, weird old America depicted by, say, Merle Kilgore, is astute, while stripped-down, archaic Appalachian arrangements play tricks with time. [May 2016, p.73]

She addresses transformation, loss, connection and apartness in literate, finely turned pop songs centred on her sweet, pellucid voice and filled out with dreamy loops and strings. [May 2016, p.73]

Their benefactor this time is Brian Burton, aka Danger Mouse, who evidently hears something in their moody atmosphere-building. By and large, Pussy's Dead reveals them as a muso sort of band. [May 2016, p.69]

The Follower delicately shifts the emphasis from trance to techno, continuing the slow descent into darkness begun with 2013's Cupid's Head. [May 2016, p.73]

A set that feels avant and outre and yet deliriously danceable at the same time. [May 2016, p.75]

For all its diverting technical backstory, for all our attempts to manoeuvre Tim Hecker into various neat genre boxes, ancient and modern, his music is ultimately ravishing in a way that transcends method and contest, [May 2016, p.83]

They're still a little too in thrall to the obvious precursors to take flight, but there are some great, clanging pop songs here, too. [May 2016, p.78]

Produced by The National's Aaron Dessner, their fifth album inflates Selkirk's hand-knitted Coldplay to vast proportions. [May 2016, p.73]

III's weaker tracks are more diffuse, lacking the verve that Underworld once brought to this kind of porg-influenced, epic-scaled electronica. [May 2016, p.76]

Since rising to attention with 2009's Me Oh My, Cate Le Bon has turned out four albums of arch, otherworldly guitar pop, of which Crab Day is surely the best yet. [May 2016, p.75]

L'Aurore finds Cedric Benyoucef and Charlie Boyer pursuing a rawer, more improvisatory approach than on albums prior. ... Actual songcraft can take a back seat, though. [Apr 2016, p.82]

All up, a convincing shift. [May 2016, p.73]

All 10 tracks on his solo debut album are effectively reiterations of the same song, but it's a terrific one. [May 2016, p.79]

There's something bleak about this music, but it is spacious, often epic, too. [May 2016, p.73]

It's the raw-cut trinity of JB, Otis and Solomon Burke that informs this album. ... Expect delights throughout. [May 2016, p.69]

As ever, he showcases a poetic turn of phrase and hopscotches across a dizzying array of styles. [May 2016, p.69]

Even when the mood turns slow and swampy on "Chain Of Keys" and "River Anacostia," the intensity never wavers. [May 2016, p.74]

The droll self-awareness and blunt strum of their songs may have you thinking of The Go-Betweens, but it's more a general stylistic flourish that has The Goon Sax coming across as classic Brisbane pop. [May 2016, p.74]

The disparate elements feel abstract and abrasive in places, yet the whole is sumptuously melodic and sonically rich. [May 2016, p.75]

It's undeniably awe-inspiring and effective stuff, nut for fans, there's a sense of well-worn tropes entering half-life. [May 2016, p.76]

Bang Zoom Crazy... Hello could very well be the band's most consistently thrilling long-player since the Carter administration. [May 2016, p.70]

Even when the prevailing mood of introspective understatement threatens to sink into the maudlin or overwrought, there's an urgency about This Path Tonight that keeps things buoyant. [May 2016, p.77]

these are largely piano-centric tunes, tastefully embellished with pedal steel, guitar and subtle gospel harmonies, armed with a baroque-pop sensibility that claims the middle ground between Harry Nilsson and The National. [May 2016, p.69]

This second album by Minneapolis trio Night Moves was worth the wait. [May 2016, p.78]

A typically excellent set of unusual songs. [May 2016, p.82]

Throughout Azel, the mix of the two genres allows for an even greater sense of uplift and collectivism in a music that always carried the communal at its core. [May 2016, p.72]

Stephen McBean's merry bunch have toned down the heavier impulses of 2010's Wilderness Heart on this fourth album, plumping instead for a collision of gruff psychedelia, trippy space-folk and pulsing electronica. [May 2016, p.69]

[Super] has some darkly twinkling moments.... The rest is at the very least a reminder that PSBs remain a lively genre of their own creation. [May 2016, p.78]

This follow-up feels almost like business as usual. Luckily, there are a clutch of standout songs. [May 2016, p.75]

Price's excellent debut wastes absolutely no energy trying to address her place in the country-music ecosystem, and gets right to telling us who she is, rather than who she ain't.... Her voice is the record's real star: controlled, infectious, and rich with enviable natural twang. [Apr 2016, p.63]

This is a focused record by Weezer standards, one that play to their strengths (sun-kissed tunefulness, nerdy introspection, loud guitars). [May 2016, p.82]

The album, recorded live in a village hall on the shores of Loch Ness, is tremendous fun. [May 2016, p.76]

For better or worse, no-one else is making records quite like this. [May 2016, p.82]

Plucking samples from wannabe grime MCs and unknown divas and weaving these into his uplifting electronica proves surprisingly moving. [May 2016, p.79]

Kempner's raw honesty encompasses the droll as well as the despairing. [May 2016, p.78]

Largely instrumental, but with some strong vocal hooks, this is music of ascension. [May 2016, p.76]

The lovely songs have such a languid unity of purpose. [May 2016, p.75]

Vocalist Nicholas Wood's doomy proclamations are frequently buried amid murky guitar and electronic textures, which can obscure the songs somewhat. [May 2016, p.75]

Sentimental yet experimental, ii suggests Liima could be the band Efterklang always wanted to be. [May 2016, p.75]

Essentially the second half of their epic third album, the trio are in blistering form on III's seven tracks. [May 2016, p.75]

Clark turns in one continuous lachrymose piece that ebbs and flows with sinuous grace and is edgy enough to intrigue Hollywood. [May 2016, p.71]

Oldham's rustic configurations have been replaced by the fine Chicago kosmische act Bitchin Bajas, who provide authentic relaxation tape vibes and stretch the parameters of Oldham's songcraft. [May 2016, p.69]

Blues reveals itself to be a barnstorming triumph that channels Led Zep, Free, early Fleetwood Mac, Jeff Beck and even Dire Straits into something fresh and invigorating. [Apr 2016, p.70]

No other pony does his one trick half as well. [Apr 2016, p.76]

Stiff flirts with mainstream etiquette--Ethan Johns produces--before resorting to the sort of hyperdriven, math-tinged choogles that have served the band so well over six albums. [Apr 2016, p.82]

Not a decline, but a deliberate descent. [Apr 2016, p.92]

It's a bittersweet study of fate and circumstance that resonates long after it's over. [Apr 2016, p.70]

Taking cues from Lord Byron and Rome, this solo album from the former Race Horses singer is a dramatic affair. [Apr 2016, p.75]

A delightful, horn-infused love letter to Morrissey's best solo work. [Apr 2016, p.76]

Grimly compelling. [Apr 2016, p.66]

Fleeting, once again, is a loving, diligent and honest attempt by Jones to pay fingerpicking homage to his hero. [Apr 2016, p.74]

This album pushes and pulls in so many directions, it should fall apart; remarkably, it doesn't. [Apr 2016, p.72]

While there's nothing here to equal his career-changing hit "P's And Q's," opener "Hail" comes close with its down-and-dirty signature riff. [Apr 2016, p.75]

Much to admire, even when the provenance is so blatant. [Mar 2016, p.81]

It's covers that make the bulk of the songs, and some are more successful than others. [Apr 2016, p.90]

As on debut Eighteen Hours Of Static, there's a sinister feel, as if you are being sometimes stalked an sometimes assaulted, often, as in the case of "So Much You," in the same song. [Apr 2016, p.69]

It's a typically sharp uppercut from the former lynchpin of The Broken Family Band and Singing Adams. [Apr 2016, p.67]

Though the sonic palette, beautiful and immersive, warm like a hot mug in the frost, the dubstep-derived hints of double-time, perpetually held in reserve, create the ominous feeling of an attack dog straining at the leash. [Apr 2016, p.69]

A lack-Qluster addition to the Roedelius catalogue, perhaps, but fascinating in its own way. [Apr 2016, p.79]

The varied works of this Portland-born bassist and singer have suggested a giant talent that spills out of jazz into Brazil, R&B, music theatre and even thrash metal. This semi-autobiographical concept album pushes her deep into art-rock territory. [Apr 2016, p.79]

With its wild swings between pummelling dirges and more symphonic exercises in doom-mongering, seventh album, The Gospel, evokes the more artistically ambitious but no less menacing likes of Killing Joke and Swans. [Apr 2016, p.69]

Rarely do you sense the real pain that underpins these limp ballads and her aggressively mannered delivery. [Apr 2016, p.75]

If anything, it can feel a little too smoothed out, and some more grit in the production wouldn't go astray. [Apr 2016, p.71]

Everything feels remarkably fresh and unforced. [Apr 2016, p.68]

Trees might be the best '70s antecedent; the Japanese Ghost a more modern analogue for these seething reveries, tantalisingly poised on the edge of freak-out. [Apr 2016, p.74]

A visceral, candid and thrillingly propulsive depiction of her efforts to work through her father's abandonment when she was a child. [Apr 2016, p.81]

This expertly wrought debut is an impressive platform for twentysomething polymath Heloise Letissier. [Apr 2016, p.71]

Pond Scum is an archive project, albeit one delivered with all the caginess we expect from this most capricious of singer-songwriters. [Apr 2016, p.90]

If their third album doesn't exactly do anything new in the field, it is undoubtedly well observed. [Apr 2016, p.82]

Life Of Pause demonstrates a more playful and propulsive approach. [Apr 2016, p.82]

One of his most engrossing albums yet, a gorgeously unsettling collection of itchy electronics. [Apr 2016, p.81]