It's a record that manages to sound deeply affectionate without being sentimental. [Jun 2013, p.70]

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 band's first full-length project with prolific writer-producer dan Carey mostly stays within familiar punk-funk parameters, but is generally an infectiously kinetic, richly detailed, timeless affair. [May 2024, p.29]

His third album showcases Californian singer Marsa Pullman, setting her bell-clear voice against elegant country-soul settings that conceal lyrical darkness. [Sep 2015, p.76]

Like its predecessor, FIBS is a stubbornly uncategorisable hybrid of styles, tempos and angles on the traditional "song." [Dec 2019, p.30]

The DNA strands tying bop, Afrobeat, jungle and funk mean Allen’s steady, minimal jitter philosophically and rhythmically fi ts with a dozen resistant voices, 40 years asfter Fela, flickering beneath Sampa The Great’s taunting slur and, on rubbery highlight “Cosmosis”, Ben Okri, Damon Albarn and Skepta, Allen engaged and inherent in the present ’til the last beat. [Jun 2021, p.21]

It's a bit Lenny Kravitz at times, but the excellence and ear-popping sound see Coffee through. [Jan 2014, p.72]

The whole thing whispers and swirls with ease, cradling the ears before and after the title track shocks the listener with a pulsating instrumental transmission seemingly beamed from the depths of outer space. [Aug 2021, p.27]

Illum Sphere has been well-placed to see how dubstep fragmented into house, garage, minimalism and avant-garde gestures, and he reflects all of these in his debut LP. [Mar 2014, p.78]

They have finally assembled a terrific debut full of scuzzed up guitars, dirty synths, nihilistic lyrics and wood's magnificently bored--though never boring--vocals.[Apr 2014, p.71]

Sleeper Agent rise to the occasion on their major-label debut. [May 2014, p.80]

Colours Of The Night is mostly served well by the extra hands, the songs breathing with quietly assured movements. [May 2015, p.71]

The definitive post-millennium Fall album remains 2008's Imperial Wax Solvent, but this is a credibly bitter pill to swallow. [Jul 2015, p.75]

There's a lot going on here. [Jul 2015, p.69]

For all of the album's lushness, Grip may be most defined by its unabashed lustfulness. [May 2024, p.39]

The pair specialise in primitive house tracks drizzled with acid, which work best when one of their male vocalists drawls sweet nothings deep in the mix. [Sep 2019, p.33]

Throughout All tense Now Lax the trio engage in a deep sensory confusion, with pieces appearing and then disappearing as though you're fleetingly tuning in on their wavelength, divining a moment from endless, shrouded recording sessions. [Sep 2015, p.76]

The good news is Young has found himself a different kind of voice and some fresh inspiration. [Sep 2003, p.116]

He sings the gospel with everything pared back to its essence: a flinty guitar tone, that surprisingly recalls the chipped, clanking tones of Pip Proud or Mayo Thompson; a throaty, gorgeous voice; beautiful, soul-informed backing, only when it’s needed. [May 2022, p.24]

Happily, their third set rejects the sterility of 2004's When It Falls in favour of the kind of nuance-rich arrangements that give contemporary jazz-funk a good name. [Jun 2006, p.126]

At its most interesting when their minimal electronica is almost unplugged and drumless. [Jun 2019, p.30]

With Gotan Project's Philippe Cohen producing, the sixty-something plunges into assorted weirdness here. [May 2013, p.73]

Bob Dylan brings a smoothly elegant croon to Ray Noble's 1930s standard "The Very Thought Of You" one of his strongest ever vocal performances. Paul McCartney, meanwhile, largely plays second fiddle on the self-penned "My Valentine". [Aug 2025, p.37]

Erasure has yet to really match the duo's early imperial phase, but here Andy Bell and Vince Clarke dish out the cosmic showstoppers with all the elan of their 30-year-old selves. [Oct 2020, p.31]

Their tendency to overthink and squeeze every drop of pleasure from their work does them few favors, particularly when they showcase such innovative songcraft on a record like Get To Heaven. [Aug 2015, p.73]

He's wisely opted to sound as different from his father as he possibly can, swathing his alt.rock songs in haunting layers of deep electronica, although there are giveaway traces of the family DNA in the voice and in the swirling Indian motifs. [Nov 2017, p.28]

Bell's music is refreshingly uncomplicated. [Dec 2016, p.28]

It doesn't always comes off, but there are plenty of inspiring moments. [Dec 2014, p.81]

Lower fused dream-pop, experimental hip-hop, indie sludge and illbient, with texture and production effects crucial. ... Best are the wonky blues-hop of "Pompeii Statues" and "Hope For The Night Time", which suggests the raspy-voiced Booker joining a lo-fi Mercury Rev on Spacebomb. [Feb 2025, p.33]

Mayall proves that playing the blues is seemingly impervious to age. [Apr 2017, p.35]

It's very generously produced, with effects bursting from every crevice, but the melodies are (just) strong enough to weather it all. [May 2013, p.73]

Here are 10, funkily inventive delights that fuse the driving, percussive-heavy folk tradition with his own "jibber jabber," using guitar, drum machine and electronics. [Sep 2020, p.32]

Glasper steps into the spotlight, less ostentatiously [than Kamasi Washington's The Epic], with a live trio album. [Aug 2015, p.75]

The album unfolds like a fever dream, the instruments bleeding into each other, awash in echo, as Arthur layers metaphors much as he layers the parts of the self-performed album. [Aug 2016, p.71]

It sometimes feels here like Perry's slight contributions are being stretched a little thinly. [Dec 2021, p.31]

Demonstrates... pastoral grace, sweetness and warmth. [Aug 2005, p.106]

Lahey excels at crafting chewy pieces of bubblegum-punk whose exuberance and smarts are often matched by their emotional potency. [Jun 2023, p.32]

The likes of John Lee Hooker's "Dimples" and Sam Cooke's "Laughin' and Clownin'" are intimate, effortless-sounding exercises in sublime jazz phrasing, his voice at 73 as supple as ever. [Jan 2019, p.22]

When your attention drifts you barely notice it's there. But when you do, it evokes a warm and evocative pleasure. [Dec 2012, p.72]

Playful homages to country at its most synthetic and dancefloor-friendly, “Better Than Any Drug” and “Fall In Love Again” bridge the gap that once existed between Madonna and the Mandrell Sisters. [May 2022, p.29]

It ends up being a more nuanced guide to the Thompsons' flawed but just-about functioning dynamic, divorces, remarriages and all. [Dec 2014, p.82]

Though some tracks really need the context of performance or visuals, on the astral fourth-world funk of “Eye In The Wall”, Hadreas sets sail on his own Arthur Russell-style “African Night Flight”. [Jul 2022, p.31]

They've developed a needling, post-punk style that nods to Joy Division, Gang Of Four and Shellac. [Feb 2015, p.84]

Hardly radical, then, but the familiarity breeds contentment. [Mar 2015, p.72]

Stratton's accessible but deep-rooted approach embraces a barbed undertow in opener "Light Blue," while dashing arrangements--slivers of stringed wonder deployed to resonate effect on "Vanishing Class"--illuminates his songwriting craft. [Jun 2017, p.37]

A muted affair whose punctiliousness is sweetly offset by its warm heart. [Jun 2019, p.26]

Pure pleasure for lovers of deep soul music? Absolutely. [May 2013, p.73]

Goes back to basics with a blinding mix of anthemic post-punk rockers and pretty mid-tempo ballads. [Jul 2002, p.107]

The tracks play to the strengths of Dion's guests. [Mar 2024, p.25]

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

Rachel grimes continues to make challenging, tense music. [Aug 2015, p.75]

“Poppies” is an aching, Beatle-esque waking dream, half-heard car radio for company, prime Aimee Mann a comparison. Cleveland’s distorted electric guitar, cool, Stereolab-like synth glides and dub Ethio-jazz further colour the scene. [Jul 2024, p.35]

This south London trio are fine-tuning their battling-for-attention combination of three voices and elegantly scruffy indie-rock. [Dec 2025, p.29]

Most of the radical reinterpretations land wide of T-Rextasy. [Oct 2020, p.39]

Generally, the album has a frantic, acidic, raggedly glorious feel. [Feb 2005, p.85]

Yirga wears his influences too obviously on the introspective solo pieces, but these are early days. [Aug 2012, p.83]

A highly evolved exercise in absorption and restraint. [Dec 2018, p.28]

A vivid, shapeshifting debut album. [Nov 2013, p.74]

The results are weirdly and pleasingly dislocated. [Aug 2021, p.29]

Cheatahs brings to mind the era's second-tier acts, such as Swervedriver and Drop Nineteens--faint praise, but praise all the same. [Mar 2014, p.73]

At its best it feels emblematic of California: merging a sunny disposition with the hard, ragged terrain of the desert. [Aug 2019, p.29]

The cartoonish skank of "Too Original" is business as usual, but Peace Is The Mission is often reflective. [Aug 2015, p.76]

If that means she sometimes leans into apparently clichéd sentiments on “Keep Calm Carry On”, “Do Or Die”, the Buddhism-evoking “Om Shanti Om” or even her gossamer-soft cover of Dire Straits’ “Why Worry”, her whispery vocal style, often accompanied by plucked acoustic guitar and understated strings, still captivates. [Jun 2024, p.30]

There’s no brave new frontier here – and perhaps in these strange times many of us don’t really want to be challenged. Rather, these simple pleasures, full of reassurance and a satisfying indulgence, will keep us warm while we adjust to the ‘new normal’ – whatever that may eventually turn out to be.

It's an austere, difficult listen, but it's frequently thrilling. [Dec 2018, p.33]

Melancholy, noir-ish electro textures dominate on the deceptively lovely "Imi" and the deliciously mangled techno-tribal ballad "Black Boots", but Tagaq's punk-metal side is never far away. [Apr 2026, p.37]

The mood here is uplifting and thankful – for family, friends, opportunity – as she mostly forgoes her usual country-folk stylings for something closer to R&B and impressionistic pop. [Jun 2021, p.28]

Los Lobos play their myriad (and rather dazzlingly) legacies straight, swerving masterfully from irrepressible dance-floor faves to Spanish styles to tearjerker folk-rock ballads. [Nov 2013, p.74]

A complex, powerful crossover record that still manages to feel awesomely authentic. ... The English-and French-lanugae cuts are less successful. [Apr 2017, p.25]

Convenanza is only Weatherall's second album, but it feels as if he's been making this fantastic, moody music all his life. [Apr 2016, p.82]

It's surprisingly polite, at times. [Jun 2019, p.34]

The best music here is more evocative of their own past triumphs like 2014's "Do It Again" EP with Robyn. [Jan 2023, p.25]

A beautifully structured 11-song suite of jazz-inflected folk, check-shirted country-pop, confessional indie and more; the sound of a slight hangover clearing on a sunny morning. [Sep 2025, p.37]

Each [track] is assembled like an audio drama, starting with static noises and amusing spoken-word fragments before frequent musical plot changes. [Aug 2015, p.77]

This is perhaps her most conventional release. [Jul 2024, p.39]

The schizophrenic tone changes recall the experimentation of Deerhoof, yet the overall sound is as natural as The Flaming Lips. [Jan 2005, p.132]

A startling album of high-spirited pick'n'mix pop. [Nov 2004, p.122]

An eccentric collection that only adds to his mystique. [Dec 2017, p.26]

These are quite logical, tuneful explorations. [Dec 2019, p.32]

For the most part [it] is worth the wait. [Feb 2007, p.74]

A different, more elegant affair. [than 2014's Mosaic]. [Feb 2017, p.38]

He's at his best on the more downbeat moments. [Apr 2017, p.35]

Unsurprisingly, after nearly 30 years their hang-loose attitude is now tempered with a little socio-political reflection, although "Black Eyes"--a stomping, sown-dirty homage to hedonism--is a standout. [May 2017, p.25]

Having helped define '90s alt.rock with Pavement, Kannberg here turns felicitous rock classicist. [May 2019, p.34]

Jess Hickie-Kallenbach’s woozy, bluesy, melismatic moans, Finlay Clark’s detuned guitar crackles and David Kennedy’s scrambled action-painting drums can become a little unrelenting over the long haul. But standout tracks like the combustible, centrifugal “Silver Grit Passes Thru My Teeth” and the brooding, tempo-twisting “M M M” reward patient listeners with hypnotic intensity and off-kilter beauty. [Jul 2024, p.39]

If it lacks the politicised urgency of previous 21st-century Hunter albums, or much surprise, his faith in a rock'n'roll cause first signed up to in the '50s has its own majesty. [Jun 2023, p.31]

It's the more emotional moments which prove The Damned's undimmed commitment. [May 2023, p.28]

The four collaborations her with Brit-soul Omar are rather dated pieces of junglist-tinted acid jazz, but elsewhere Pine's orthodox, instrumental ballads are exquisite and well-written. [Dec 2017, p.30]

There's a lot to like, and though "Pilot Was A Dancer" runs close to standard, indie folk-pop fare, the title track, with its Fairport-ish twangling and braided harmonies, and the wintery, Croz-styed "Give" compensate. [Jul 2023, p.36]

One of those albums that evokes a tangible mood; in this case, somewhere adjacent to the sun coming up after a rollercoaster of a night out. As such, it's frequently wonderful. [Apr 2026, p.34]

Multidimensional. ... This rotating playlist of styles and sincerity will rankle with some--it's very earnest about addiction, love and our internet selves--but rather that than banal conformity. [Feb 2019, p.23]

The album's refracted harmonies, fluttering synths and off-klter beats are sometimes unsettling, sometimes in deceptive, sensual communion. [May 2020, p.27]

Pearl Necklace seem to be honing their edge, not losing it. [May 2013, p.75]

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

He is a talent with real musical depth. [Jul 2013, p.78]

Lott croons plaintive lyrics over weaponised sci-fi soundscapes fizzing with post-dubstep beats, bleeps and electro-classical string flourishes. [Aug 2015, p.80]

The lullaby-like psych of “Side By Side” and the more insistent rhythms of Amama’s title track are both enriched by the avidly experimental bent. Even better are the summery “(Alone In) Brussels” and “Dust Bunny”, which sound like they could be long-forgotten yé-yé hits gone warped and frayed after too long in the sun. [Jul 2024, p.32]

The harmonies are undeniably pretty. [Nov 2006, p.120]