It's knowingly daft in parts, and clearly the band are having a good time, but beyond the irony and sometimes silly lyrics lies a group with impressive chops who can pull off this jagged post-punk as seamlessly as sugary indie-pop. [Jun 2026, p.26]

Marc Byrd and Andrew Thompson aren't ploughing new ground, they've explored this patch for two decades. .... The Flaming Lips may add vocals and keyboards to the pillowy drift of "Chemicals Make You Small", but there's no escaping Slowdive's influence on "Deconstructing's" celestial haziness, [Jul 2026, p.31]

The agitated "How Heavenly A State", the world-weary "Riptides" and two renditions of the title song, the first wistful, the second brutally self-flagellating, enact the stages of a musical exorcism. [Jul 2026, p.29]

Abrams' extended composition drifts beautifully between ambient abstraction and glacial melody. [May 2026, p.25]

Featuring typically sharp guitar lines interspersed with thoughtful, almost jazzy interludes on songs like "SoHo" and "Ida Strong". [Feb 2026, p.35]

It might be Bishop's finest solo set yet. [Jul 2026, p.26]

There's no reinventing of the wheel here; it's business as usual, but there's plenty of forward momentum left in this outfit. [Jul 2026, p.31]

Economical as he is, Mendez suggests wider musical ambitions with the light lysergic choral coda of "Mary/Dreaming" and the budget baroque of "Frog". [Jun 2026, p.33]

This sixth album is played ragged and on the brink of collapse, as if Iceage were still teenagers, but with the added weapon of Elias Rønnenfelt's sharpened songwriting. [Jul 2025, p.31]

They've regrouped impressively here. [Jul 2026, p.26]

The knowing zaniness of "The Simplest Of Deeds" or "The Wake Up Call" don't amuse for long but the T. Rex-style boogie of "WAP" is more potent, as is the space-pop swirl of "Melody Of Entrophy". [Jun 2026, p.27]

Though "You Still Look Good To me" is a Diamond in classic, romantic philosopher mode, too much here is unflatteringly exposed. [Jun 2026, p.29]

Fiddle and banjo veer between gentle bucolic landscaping and clamorous cacophony, while occasional field recordings add further colour. [Jun 2026, p.33]

A brilliant album that doubles down on Boards of Canada's core strengths and finds room to move their music forward. [Jun 2026, p.20]

These 12 big-hearted, wayward country-soul songs deliver manifold charms, not least of all with "Chance To Bleed", a carousing, unabashed tilt at Sticky Fingers-era Stones. [Jun 2026, p.35]

Ritual invocations are summoned by suggestive titles as much as music, setting the improv in its moment. [Jul 2026, p.31]

Anderson is ever the compelling soft-voiced MC. [Jun 2026, p.25]

The result is invigorating: a passionate recommitment to the group's ethos of catharsis through rage. [Jul 2026, p.35]

Future Present Past captures them at their most tightly wound. [Jul 2026, p.31]

Suffused with the spirit of ska, soul and doo-wop. In keeping with those traditions, the vocals are particularly bewitching. [Jul 2026, p.29]

This is the band at their most hypnotically funky, all skeletal arrangements, whispered vocals and Jaki Liebezeit-style motorik drumming from new recruit Tony Coote. [Jun 2026, p.32]

A beautiful record that transcends the concept. [Jun 2026, p.26]

It's an auspicious pairing. [Jul 2026, p.36]

Some songs, like "Ripples In A Pond" (A pop song for his wife Nancy), hit with the contemporary Andrew Wyatt wallop, which is very much why musicians in their ninth decades so revere his production; but as ever, it's the bits where McCartnet lets appearances be damned that work out best. [Jul 2026, p.24]

It's undeniably lovely stuff, with just enough bite to keep you from napping. [Jun 2026, p.35]

A triumph, personally and creatively. [Jun 2026, p.33]

Fans of Jason Molina, Bill Callahan or Bonnie "Prince" Billy will find nourishment a plenty in Fenceline, which draws added colour and depth from four-way songwriting and shifting lead singers. [May 2026, p.33]

When bassist Anna Butterss breaks free for a lubricious solo around the 14-minute mark of "Life Swimwear", it's to usher in an exquisite passage of dubbed-out psychedelia threaded through with Josh Johnson's tender saxophone. [Jun 2026, p.34]