With the entire 10-track affair compressed into just 25 minutes of vaguely expressed melancholia, this flimsy career coda is not the grandly melodramatic Lynchian finale that Li's doom-diva shtick deserves. [Jun 2026, p.32]

There's nevertheless an easygoing air to the duo's otherwise experimental-minded pieces, which began as spare guitar instrumentals by Portner that were then warped, distorted and reshaped into beguiling psych-folk forms. [Jun 2026, p.29]

"My Heart Is In Your Hands Tonight", a fusion of "Needles And Pins", "September Gurls" and "Go All The Way", boasts the signature flair of a Michelin chef. Brian, meanwhile, breaks new ground with the harmonically adventurous closing set piece "Your True Enemy". These "spot the reference" whizz-kids have grown into formalist savants. [Jun 2026, p.32]

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]

Remember The Humans makes sumptuous use of its star talents Feist and Hannah Georgas. .... But a handful of hazier, more ruminative mantras are harder to grab hold of. [Jun 2026, p.36]

Sol. Hz feels skeltal, with saffron threads of treated guitar slicing through piston-pulse rhythms and reverberant bass. [Jun 2026, p.34]

Long Wave Home is full of innovative arrangements and quirky vocals, but it's equally stuffed with great songs. [May 2026, p.30]

Choruses are big, lyrics purposes stripped, side and Hammond summoning rock's halcyon days. [Jun 2026, p.30]

Line for line it's her best and funniest album in a decade. [Jun 2026, p.33]

There is a gentle healing touch to Angel In Plainclothes. [May 2026, p.29]

The live-off-the-floor Peaches! is the antithesis of 2024's overcooked Ohio Players, the duo's nadir, and a delectably scuzzy sequel to Delta Kream, complete with another seductively squalid William Eggleston cover photo. [May 2026, p.26]

Live Forever crackles with outrage and compassion. [Jun 2026, p.32]

It's U2 reconnecting with first principles, all big choruses and defiant optimism, and is confidently glorious. [Jun 2026, p.35]

Whether you choose to hold the eco themes in mind or simply revel in its textures, Requiem is a gripping listen, a powerful late work from a veteran who has weathered more storms than most. [May 2026, p.24]

With Orange his style cuts loose and shifts around, relaxing into large, at time echoey spaces while recalling '70s Bowie and Lenon and The Verlaines, though not entirely forsaking jangle. [May 2026, p.37]

While all this makes for a rich, dense and sometimes overwhelming offering, Amos still ensures there's some light amid all this darkness. [May 2026, p.25]

The songs are largely Solomon accompanied only by a primitively strummed acoustic guitar, a sparse but effective backdrop to confessional odes about facing fears. [Jun 2026, p.34]

As much as Volumes: One demonstrates the power of the collective, Vernon's own extraordinary voice remains the star of the show, whether delivered straight or stunningly refracted through his custom Messina effects unit. [Jun 2026, p.42]

Bid's songs are as dapper as ever, their concatenation of light-footed pop, bossa and la variete winsome and delightful. [Jun 2026, p.33]

They're every bit as gleeful as they are virtuosic. [Jun 2026, p.26]

The thoughtful intimacies of Wendy Eisenberg make for some of their potent artistic statements yet. [Jun 2026, p.29]

For all the overwrought sentiment, A Wave... is strangely compelling. [Jun 2026, p.35]

She is in her Hot Gossip element on the camp, gasping electro of "Sauna", while the Morricone-referencing "Ride" channels Sheila B Devotion by way of early-'90s Madonna and the title track is sheer seduction in silk pyjamas. [Jun 2026, p.35]

Grohl claims the title track set the tone for this self-produced set, which squares with its adrenalised, garage-rock push, though not its cheeky nods to Quo and ZZ Top. Variety is the byword. [Jun 2026, p.29]

Here they come dressed in post-punk garb. The arena singalong "Wild Rut" mutates into a piece of motorik new wave; the toytown confections of "Leave You On A High" and "Loyal" both come wreathed in ice gothic synths and Peter Hook-style bass plunking. [Jun 2026, p.33]

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

Selections from wake Up The nation and Sonic Kick stand out, especially the former's "No Tears To Cry" and the latter's "That Dangerous Age", but it's the times when he turns back the clock or nods to his influences that make the deepest impression. [May 2026, p.51]

The title track ends proceedings on a high, with Sheryl Crow on backing vocals, a smattering of mandolin and a semi-surreal spoken interlude in which Starr sounds ever so zen. It ends, as it surely should, with a single snare shot, delivered like the most emphatic of full stops. [May 2026, p.30]

They're still loud and angry - exploring themes around national identity, solidarity and challenging political establishments - but there is greater musical depth and breadth. [May 2025, p.32]

An album that is clearly having a blast while showing blatant disregard for genre convention. [May 2026, p.37]

Friko's second is sonically ambitious but just as immediate. [May 2026, p.29]

With her voice repaired to the mesmersing breaking point of There's Always Glimmer, the closeness of her almost-whisper is startling on "Everybody Around Me Dancing" and "Moon Not Mine", although it's her light-touch production - vaguely New Age and recalling Cassandra Jenkins - that truly elevates this intimate folk record. [May 2026, p.33]

Their sound is accordingly pared down, the overall tone downbeat and perhaps appropriately rueful. [May 2026, p.34]

Cast in pale sunlight with a touch of frost and Darby's fragile, close-mic'ed voice their focus, these 13 unflinching songs call to mind "Some Velvet Morning" and "fade Into You". [May 2026, p.29]

It's a partial return to the jazzy pop sophistication of early-'80s sets Night And Day and Body And Soul, but with more aggressive percussion. His trademark wit is especially evident. [May 2026, p.32]

This is more of the same bucolic electronica and smudgy rave that Fake does so well. [Mar 2026, p.32]

This incarnation features plenty of impressive fusion pyrotechnics from guitarist John Etheridge and saxophonist Theo Travis, but the highlights dig deep into Soft Machine's legacy. [Mar 2026, p.36]

These esoteric pieces sometimes splash around in puddles of flimsy whimsy, but with enough moments of luminous beauty to reward an immersive dip. [May 2026, p.26]

Total Dive is once again remarkably cohesive. .... There’s a dramatic urgency to a lot of this music that’s sometimes distantly reminiscent of the REM of, say, “Begin The Begin”, or the wild upheavals of “Just A Touch” from Life’s Rich Pageant, perhaps the dark churn of Document’s “Oddfellows 501”. [May 2026, p.20]

The shape, tone and settings of songs from "Gitarhum" onward shift their author's stance and point her somewhere else, perhaps yet to be determined. That they do so without throwing her off balance is another mark of Evergreen In Your Mind's achievement. [May 2026, p.28]

Life Slime is anything but maudlin, though, as Lynch ad producer Mike Lindsay fashion spry, agreeably wonky electropop from an arsenal of synths, samplers and other instruments. [May 2026, p.34]

The results are as striking and challenging as you'd expect. [May 2026, p.35]

"Greetings From Mars" touches on Lana Del Rey's desolately pretty Americana, with Nagler's voice reserved yet reaching ecstatically high. [Apr 2026, p.36]

Bright Spirit is a wide-ranging set flooded with singer-guitarist Kavus Torabi's metaphysical imagery. [Apr 2026, p.33]

An album of incredible acoustic maximalism and conspiratorially whispered melodrama - enjoys the theatrics of its acidity. [May 2026, p.33]

Julie takes lead on a few numbers, but otherwise this is raw, classic Childish. [May 2026, p.29]

Gentler hues are to the fore on the soft strum and harmonies of Teenage Fanclub's "Lonely Night", coming as near as dammit to an indie Crosby, Stills & Nash. They veer from the template just once, on the slow country rock of "Me And Magdalena". [Apr 2026, p.26]

Idiosyncratic to the last. [May 2026, p.29]

A stepping stone to more original work to come? Could well be. [Apr 2026, p.29]

Pernice's stately tastefulness, acoustic guitar studded with slide and steel, offers honed adult reflection, not excess. [Apr 2026, p.36]

Phased guitars recall that past's sweetest '60s spot as lyrics touch on wider, cosmic delay. The epic "Might As Well Ne Me, Florinda" is the best of two Robert Hunter co-writes. [Apr 2026, p.33]

These songs, still beautifully disruptive decades later show why the music outlasted the club itself. [Feb 2026, p.50]

Distracted may be his most coherent album to date. Less prone to abrupt zigzags than its predecessors, it's his smoothest, too. [May 2026, p.35]

There's an urgency to The Leaf Library's latest that's unlike anything we've heard from them before. [May 2026, p.33]

Too often the slick production feels overwrought like a bad Cure facsimile and the songs struggle to breathe, though the murkiness at least conveys the sense of doomed romance. [Apr 2026, p.26]

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]

The album is a magnificently heavy double of downtuned, epic riffing. [Apr 2026, p.36]

"Turn Your Heart Back On" shows the pair can still cut it when the moment is right. [May 2026, p.33]

It's all over the shop, but worth a rummage. [May 2026, p.33]

Confirms Lewis's now crucial role in their pummelling yet emotional propulsion. [May 2026, p.33]

These are anguished addresses of the world's current turbulence, U2 needing to scrabble unusually and interestingly hard in the cinders to disinter sparks of their trademark redemptive optimism. [May 2026, p.37]

His fourth album features no immediate bangers in the vein of "As It Was" or "Watermelon Sugar", but Styles does take some interesting risks. [May 2026, p.37]

The naked, more soul-leaning titke track works nicely, as do the almost cosmic jazz explorations of "Didn't Come To argue" featuring Monica Martin), but for all the heavy sentiment and weight here, the results sometimes feel hollow. [May 2026, p.26]

It would make a perfect soundtrack to traversing chilly landscapes, but an emotional current runs through Fables that elevates it beyond mere background music. [Mar 2026, p.36]

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]

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

This follow-up sees their experimental instincts tempered rather than tamed, with more focus on song structure and melody, and Susman's expressive vocals softened. [Apr 2026, p.34]

Any sense of musical nostalgia is banished by the quality and restraint of the performances and the album's majestic, half-asleep flow. [Apr 2026, p.28]

Like Faye Webster or Wednesday's Karly Hartzman, Cornfield makes every line count. [Apr 2026, p.28]

Righteous and blissful. [Apr 2026, p.33]

The surrounding circumstances inevitably bring an additional layer of darkness to allusively eloquent, quietly agitated songs. [Apr 2026, p.36]

An instantly engaging album. [Apr 2026, p.24]

It's a record that walks a fine line between joy and sorrow. [Apr 2026, p.36]

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]

Maybe this could have been two different records: the big-name covers album and the back-room jam session. But in terms of conveying the passions, frustrations and intriguing contractions of its restless instigator, Honora is perfect. [Apr 2026, p.27]

Fussy productions mires some of these songs, but there are a few that rank among her best. [Apr 2026, p.36]

No single track grandstands, but the Black Midi-ish epic roll of "Senegal" is a laser-tooled highlight. [Mar 2026, p.36]

There's much to like, though the groovy, Frank Ocean-adjacent "Cherry" stands out. [Apr 2026, p.34]

Momentum sags somewhat over its lengthy duration - but it also unquestionably features some of their finest, and funkiest, work to date. [Apr 2026, p.34]

Is what might be expected of a song entitled "My Kinda Saturday Night", all growling guitars, pounding pianos and soaring choruses extolling the merits of beer, pickup trucks and jukeboxes. But it is no less irresistibly rousing for that, and the same can be said of the broadly similar "Back In The Saddle" nd "Alcohol Of Fame". [Apr 2026, p.29]

On Transmitter, Cut Worms' fourth album, Max Clarke reaches a rarefied level of expressiveness and self-assurance alongside Jeff Tweedy. [Apr 2026, p.29]

The songs themselves range from ringing country-rockers to soulful ballads and vary shades between, thematically weighted between reflection and renewal. [Apr 2026, p.31]

This is Tinariwen as deep and darkly compelling as we've ever heard them. [Apr 2026, p.32]

There are few traces of the more liminal varieties of beauty that distinguish recent Halo efforts like 2023's Atlas, though a sense of eerie gracefulness often imbues the music here as various sonic elements cut through the inky drones like shards of light. [Apr 2026, p.33]

It's a beautiful collection of genre-hopping songs. [Apr 2026, p.37]

Subtle it is not, but it's thrilling, adrenaline-pumping stiff that's fun as it is angry. [Apr 2026, p.29]

She alternates between fighting the current and giving in. That approach, coupled with vocals balancing despair and determination, lends "The Smoke", with its cathedral synths, and especially "Division", with its narcotised krautrock drumbeat, an unsettling energy that's both treacherous and cathartic. [Mar 2026, p.29]

On this outing it sounds more like step-by-step calculation than natural evolution. [Apr 2026, p.36]

Studio 68! return with full-throated Devonian Dani Turner adding a soulful garage twist. [Mar 2026, p.37]

consider this the handiwork of a special group of musicians who know the value of what they've inherited, yet have made an album that feels avidly and thrillingly contemporary. [Jan 2026, p.28]

Quietly lovely, sporadically sublime solo debut. [Apr 2026, p.26]

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]

A mighty feat of reinvention. [Mar 2026, p.36]

Aided by sympathetic vocalists, Wasylyk consolidates a multi-instrumentalist's multiple interests - from New Classical to lounge jazz to lo-fi-pop - into a coherent style. [Apr 2026, p.37]

The most straightforward of Oldham's catalogue, and yet still rich with the oneiric and mysterious qualities that drew so many listeners to his art. [Apr 2026, p.20]

This 23-track release is even better than its Britpop-heavy 1995 predecessor. [Apr 2026, p.37]

Some tracks are more like art installation art. .... But the highlight might be closer "BY Absence", where a single-note drone is slowly orchestrated over the course of 20 minutes. [Mar 2026, p.34]

While the lyrics largely deal in anguish and dissolution, Bachmann's settings switch between exhilarating noise ("Cold Waves" featuring Superchunk's Mac McCaughan), grand synth-pop ("Hospital") and quasi-orchestral soul ballad (the sweeping "(I'm Your) Bodhisattva"). [Mar 2026, p.29]