The addition of EDM and hip-hop elements to the arsenal have a reinvigorating effect. [Dec 2016, p.37]

The arrangements are light and percussive, and Polwart's singing is bell-like. [Jan 2018, p.24]

On “Tangerine” and “Fuzz Jam”, The Lazy Eyes strike an appealing balance between Beachwood Sparks-calibre prettiness and their gnarlier, squigglier impulses. [Apr 2022, p.31]

Mostly it's ambient background music in search of a movie, but standout moments include the sinister Marricone guitars on "The Prairie" and the distorted tablas and minimalistic vibraphones on "Damascene Slap." [Mar 2020, p.33]

This fifth studio release is no less diverse, hitting hardest with the Woody Guthrie-alluding title track, a raging blast of rap-hop that addresses prejudice and intolerance in the Trump era. More frequently, though, Clark immerses himself in funk and soul. [Mar 2019, p.26]

These songs insinuate via a vaguely vintage sound that recall both Jonathan Donahue's spangled dreaminess and the (s)weary brio of Father John Misty. [Apr 2025, p.29]

Often as challenging as Justin Vernon's recent work. [Sep 2020, p.31]

When she's raised the stakes so high, anything less than the reinvention of music comes as a disappointment. [Jan 2003, p.122]

There's nothing here that is likely to offend or amaze but it's a classy affair from start to finish. [Jun 2014, p.79]

As enchanting as it is, Moon Saloon can inevitably feel overstuffed, such that Adams may best succeed in the album's least ornate moments. [Sep 2016, p.69]

Though the more sweeping likes of “Black Heart” evoke the menace and grandeur of Angelo Badalamenti’s scores for David Lynch, there’s an appealing degree of rattle, clatter and noodling elsewhere as Wallumrød and Silvola commune with the spirits of Harry Partch and Charles Mingus. [Oct 2024, p.41]

The pair's voices twin eerily and sound effortlessly young and restless on a stream of adorable alt.pop melodies. [Dec 2013, p.70]

Behind their heavily stylised surface, these are fairly standard heartbreak ballads, but Li's voluptuous gothic gloom is still intoxicating. [Aug 2022, p.29]

Timelessly scented, you can almost smell the joss sticks. [Mar 2015, p.76]

Laessig and Wolfe show their range on the soaring country soul of "Orange Blossoms" and demonstrate the difference between overwrought emoting and dynamic melodrama on "Final Days". [May 2025, p.33]

Their take on good old-fashioned rock'n'roll can be a bit shaggy, but it's surprisingly arty. [Jun 2016, p.74]

I Am The Last has a wind in its sails, though, thanks to Tibet's preacher vigour, and an extraordinary guestlist. [May 2014, p.71]

For better or worse, this is love songs for grown-ups. [Aug 2004, p.94]

The Acorn remain elusive. [Jul 2015, p.69]

It's a fine effort in a heavily populated field. [Jul 2013, p.76]

The result is an assured, mostly instrumental album with freeform jazz as its guiding imperative. [Oct 2016, p.40]

Her own material is far less raucous [than The Pogues], but the introspection is laced with dark humour and spurred on by her storytelling instincts. [Jan 2026, p.36]

A set full of dynamic nuance with a filmic scope. [Mar 2023, p.23]

Akin to labelmate Brian Eno's early ambient work, its nine, often lengthy tracks of ghostly yet graceful desolation are intended to evoke the forgotten histories of enduring locations. [Jan 2018, p.18]

His latest is less complex and makes a strong move to the dancefloor, without ditching the intrigue. [Apr 2022, p.26]

As reassuringly familiar as it all sounds, the high point comes courtesy of an interloper, John Cooper Clarke shoehorning suitably rant-like poetry into the six-minute garage groove of "Let You Down." [Oct 2014, p.73]

[Kids] sees her punching through with aplomb, via 13 lean, attitudinal songs with a bass music and hip-hop/trap chassis, fitted out with pop hooks and featuring her fine, versatile voice. [May 2021, p.25]

On Room Inside The World, we hear them filling out their sound with synths, vibraphone and--on "Desire"--a 70-piece choir, an the songs are growing too, laced with emotional nuance. [Mar 2018, p.31]

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]

The conventional sound palette leads to a number of fragrant compositions, which will do Actress' cold, hard image no good at all. [Jul 2018, p.23]

Bandleader/pianist Bill Payne opted for an album of blues covers, making the jobs of replacement guitarist/ singer Scott Sharrard (who played a similar role with Gregg Allman) and drummer Tony Leone less daunting. The rejigged Feats perform their modest mission masterfully. [Jun 2024, p.36]

Beneath the cheery chug and carnival-like fizz beats a sombre heart. [Oct 2006, p.117]

It's more fully formed than his solo work but gathers the same sense of melody and arhythmic quirk on a series of Zappa-esque jazz-infused avant-pop songs, interspersed by the sunshine burst of lo-fi boppers. [Aug 2023, p.29]

Plaintive harmonies pull on heartstrings, furthering the pair's reputation as modern Americana's Everly Brothers. [Jun 2026, p.33]

Their 10th album in 25 years underlines their skill at combining heavy guitar solos with gauzy pop melodies and blizzards of noise. [Apr 2017, p.25]

It feels more like a bedroom project than their recent full-band work, yet Toledo's knack for an irresistible choruses endures. [Jun 2020, p.28]

"Dirt" and gentle gut-wrencher "Showdown", on which Baker takes vocal lead, boast the same sparse, clear-eyed lyricism of her 2021 album Little Oblivions, while Scott's earthy alto is the perfect foil, whether campfire storyteller or wisecracking sidekick. [Apr 2025, p.27]

There's no denying the smooth grooves of Willie Mitchel and Al Green is a template for several cute here. [Sep 2021, p.33]

Ackamoor's vision of fusing free-jazz blowing, African tribal grooves and spiritual black-consciousness musings remains unwavering. [Jun 2018, p.23]

A curious hybrid. Side One is a series of haunting instrumentals. .... Side Two sees his chamber jazz outfit provide delicate accompaniment for assorted vocalists. [Nov 2025, p.36]

It packs plenty of the expected, full-throttle thrills, but there's more interesting, atypical action on winding, low-slung jam "The Sky Is A Neighborhood" and the six-minutes-plus of "Sunday Rain." [Nov 2017, p.26]

The sixth LP covers a familiar spectrum from table-thumping anthems to torrid speed-polkas and booze-punk shanties. But it also features agreeably surreal humour and occasional tender interludes. [Aug 2013, p.71]

Some of Bridges Not Walls shares a punkish musical sensibility with its ancestor, and while "The Sleep Of Reason" is an invigorating polemic, Bridges Not Walls is at its best dropping a gear for the country shuffle of "Saffiyah Smiles." [Jan 2018, p.18]

Best yet and then some from an artist whose vision continues to expand with every release. [Oct 2014, p.68]

Monster Magnet and Mudhoney's sludgy heaviness and Hawkwind and Stooges prototypes form the mulch for this unexpected double. [Mar 2026, p.33]

The retro musical mood on Happy Rabbit fits the lyrical tone. [Jan 2017, p.24]

It can be hard to spot any difference, so instead bathe om the spare beauty of "Ode To The Morning Sky," the scrumptious "Womb Of Time" or the wise, glowering "Weird Woman." [Nov 2014, p.83]

It's all insanely catchy. [Feb 2017, p.33]

The album isn't presented in chronological order, which makes it harder to discern changes in style and lineup, but does demonstrate the consistency of Wheeler's writing over a long period of time. [Mar 2020, p.43]

Crafting a sound that is brash in its bigness, massive in its attack. [Mar 2020, p.29]

Salvation lies in juxtaposing their dystopian vision against surging Beach Boys harmonies, gentle Simon & Garfunkel loveliness and the bucolic reverie of "Futures." [Mar 2018, p.25]

The results move their sound on significantly. The radical honesty of the lyrics is key. [Jun 2020, p.29]

There's little that veers from the template but it's largely done well. [Apr 2013, p.72]

What sets his debut apart from other similar singer-songwriters are the cinematic, electronic textures that he weaves around his work, but also the off-kilter material. [Aug 2017, p.32]

Driven by beats and rhythmic synth, the songs are meticulously constructed yet warm and intimate, if low on distinguishing characteristics. [Jan 2022, p.22]

Another delirious half-hour of, mainly, mannered asthmatic psychobilly. [Sep 2004, p.95]

A Hal Wilner-produced collection that is witty and engaging and confirms her as one of the most singular, if erratic, R&B divas of our time. [Aug 2012, p.71]

This is their best set of songs since the band’s sex-crazed 2004 debut, continuing some of the debt-to-the-’80s feel of 2014’s Get Back on homage-paying tracks like “Nikki Go Sudden” and “Swollen Maps”. [Jun 2022, p.31]

Somewhat erratic, yet frequently satisfying. [Dec 2013, p.65]

The powerful tunes make this an odd thing: a subtle album, fit for stadiums. [Mar 2007, p.83]

Wobble and Levene reunited for this brightly lit, muscly rock collaboration. [Dec 2012, p.79]

As ever with Reed, when it's good, it's blistering. [Apr 2004, p.104]

Straddling past and present, this is Red River Dialect's most sunny and easygoing record to date. [Nov 2019, p.30]

Tell The Devil is full of Biblical allusion and attendant questions of sin and atonement, the 70-year-old's conspiratorial drawl framed by low-down grooves and flinty slide-blues. [Nov 2017, p.30]

The smoky drawl and casual phrasing of her vocal often seems to channel Billie Holiday. [Jun 2023, p.31]

This handsome sequel stays mostly within their comfort zone of melodic, propulsive dance-pop tailored both to clubs and home listening, an impressive balancing act even if the formula sometimes feels over-polished. [Feb 2021, p.25]

The title track veer uncomfortably close to cookie-cutter sloganeering, but there's more focused spikiness to the manic pop charge of "One last Chance," while "Up On the Moors" ticks all the pogo-anthems boxes of the band's glory days. [Feb 2018, p32]

While Downhill From Everywhere climaxes with the ham-fisted “Until Justice Is Real”, the 72-year-old singer-songwriter has otherwise managed to thread the needle by embedding his compassion in consummate craftsmanship. [Aug 2021, p.24]

A record that comes on like a loving homage to the venerable Seattle label's gnarly rock of yore. [Jun 2015, p.80]

Stripped back to voice and piano, it's difficult not to recall early Kate Bush, but Amos' lyrics maintain a multi-layered depth that is uniquely hers. [Jun 2014, p.71]

Their voices blend beautifully, especially on Dylan's title track and Jason Isbell's "The Color Of A Cloudy Day," but they caterwaul awkwardly on an unintentionally silly version of Nirvana's "Lithium." [Sep 2017, p.32]

These are songs ripe for revisiting. [Oct 2025, p.35]

With the genre-hopping feel of a high-concept mixtape, Bless This Mess calls on a wide cast of collaborators. [Apr 2023, p.38]

Marr has hit a rich vein of middle-age form. [Dec 2014, p.74]

Blended with earnest acoustic guitar picking and rattling electronic production, the young songwriter reveals a bright future at the end of personal agony. [Feb 2021, p.35]

Adapting the lushest textures from'90s alt.rock, grunge and shoegaze, most strikingly on "tractor Beam" and "Dead End", Jordan is ready to take the next step. [Apr 2026, p.36]

A giddy psychedelic opera performed with Wayne Coyne-levels of beaming optimism. [Mar 2020, p.27]

The performances are ahead of the songwriting at this early stage, but the loping "Trojans," the rip-roaring "Electric" and the Police-like "Centered On You" engagingly introduce Atlas Genius' genetically taut sound. [Mar 2013, p.67]

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

Lisa Jen's ethereal voice still swoops beguilingly over Martin Hoyland's expansive arrangements, fusing harps, dulcimers and guitars with dub beats, loops and pounding bass. [Jun 2016, p.67]

As always, you know what you're getting -- and you get that they're knowing. [Feb 2024, p.27]

Amplifying the convivial otherworldliness of his music by grabbing hold of mythic melodies like "Outer Spaceways Incorporated" and "We Travel The Spaceways" and filling them with their analogue fantasia, alien chants going intergalactic in gently fried circuit boards. [Dec 2021, p.25]

The first six tracks of pared-down techno loops give way to the ambient sound-and-speech collage of "InterZil" before the metallic funk jackhammers of frenzied current single "Krekc." [Jul 2002, p.106]

Acoustic Classics is a useful update on 1984's live Small Town Romance, with Thompson this time attacking his back catalogue in the studio. [Sep 2014, p.78]

Addictive pop kitsch. [Apr 2005, p.99]

If there's a faint veil of disappointment hanging over all this excellence, it's that Allah-Las haven't built m,ore adventurously on the foundations of their debut. [Oct 2014, p.66]

It's a warmly pristine, groovily poignant set, with vocals pitched for gender neutrality and an ear for a great hook. [Jan 2019, p.23]

Songs start as brooding slices of minimalism and slowly mutate into Morricone-esque ballads ("Teeth"), motorik synthpop ("Propeller") or chugging waltzes (a version of Neil Young's "Red Sun"). [Apr 2025, p.36]

Frankie Rose's 2012 tour de force Interstellar cuts the same fabric slightly more elegantly, maybe, but Blouse's frills are anything but cheap. [Dec 2013, p.65]

What the Jets might have lost in terms of their early quirkiness, they make up for in melody and emotional heft. [Feb 2016, p.78]

The spoken-word pieces court tweeness, but Yorkston's delivery keeps things the right side of mawkish. [Mar 2019, p.37]

The instrumental interludes full of hypnotic loops and Mellotrons are intriguing enough, but the meat lies in the lushly layered art-pop songs. [Jun 2020, p.30]

...Like Clockwork is the sound of the band, oddly, albeit entertainingly unsettled. [Jul 2013, p.79]

A valuable addition to his catalogue: the most consistent and sympathetically constructed solo album he's made. [Jul 2004, p.96]

Switchback rhythms and artfully tangled melodies make it hard to pin them down. [Nov 2017, p.35]

They're breaking no new personal ground, then but. ... Their enthusiasm and wayward energy carry them. [Jan 2021, p.27]

It's a tart set but not a sour one - concerns are laid bare and life lessons shared, with whip-smart confidence. [Apr 2022, p.25]

It gets a bit ploddy at times, but their knack for a good tune, a sweet harmony and the odd fiery guitar break keeps it all on the right side of mellow. [Oct 2013, p.75]