"To Shave The Leaves. In Red. In Black" is a frankly terrifying piece of spartan, gothic metal, where Gustafsson sounds like he's mutilating a hymn on the tenor sax. Best of all is the fidgety, one-chord funk of "Washing Your Heart In Filth," where Andreas Werliin sounds like three drummers playing at once. [Mar 2018, p.25]

Things get chewier with "Tax To Your Head," as the trip gets a little heavier--musically as well as lyrically--eventually leading to gorgeous love song "Waitin'" and the pensive "Sitting On The First Rock From The Sun." [Aug 2018, p.24]

Lovely, languid melodies disguise bleak sentiments on Erin Rae's solo debut. [Jul 2018, p.34]

The five instrumental tracks are luminescent master classes in intuitive ensemble playing, too, Lloyd's sax as lyrical as Williams' poetry and matched by the inventiveness of the Marvels. [Aug 2018, p.30]

The spacious, Neil Young-ian rumbling of the title track and the bulked-up power-pop of "Spiked Flower" both see co-founders Adam Franklin and Jimmy Hartridge venture beyond the template of Raise and Mezcal Head without making the faithful worry they've ditched their distortion pedals. [Feb 2019, p.34]

There's an equally brutal, pulverising mix of guitars and electronics elsewhere, but they surprise more often than not. [Jun 2019, p.34]

White has found his sweet spot in the downhome elegance of Nashville's golden age, collaborating with venerable songwriters Whisperin' Bill Anderson and Booby Braddock, while Muscle Shoals bass legend David Hood anchors his studio band. [May 2019, p.37]

This is vintage Roberts, rich poetry couched in spare, beautiful, quietly adventurous arrangements. [Oct 2019, p.36]

It's his terrific wordplay--sharp, funny, poignant and much more--that really dazzles. [Dec 2019, p.29]

Mind Hive follows a more varied set of strategies that yield both the dreamy haze of "Unrepentant" and the punishing grind of the eight-minute "Hung." [Feb 2020, p.35]

Fu Chronicles is further proof that Antibalas is the best Afrobeat group in the West. [Mar 2020, p.23]

Though not as daring as the Pole's free-jazz output, this gilded modular synthesis is a safe and satisfying listen that pushes him into another realm. [Mar 2020, p.37]

It's romantic, it's exhilarating. [Jul 2020, p.26]

Delicately powerful stuff. [Aug 2020, p.27]

Hassell's immediately recognisable trumpet-playing--a tone that's feathery, flute-like, wheezing, weathered--binds everything together. [Sep 2020, p.31]

The likes of "Gadigal Land" and "First Nation" evoke an earlier Oils, circa the seething post-punk of "Head Injuries" - though the show is stolen by Alice Skye, who takes lead on the poised protest ballad "Terror Australia." [Jan 2021, p.28]

Picks up where 2015's Justin Vernon-helmed If I Was Left Off, as their three-part blood harmonies form the shimmering centre of an elaborate, album-long soundscape. [Mar 2021, p.37]

A welcome return. [Apr 2021, p.27]

Nearer The Fountain, More Pure The Stream Flows is soaked in a peculiar English melancholy. ... Best of all is the closer “Particles”, one of Albarn’s finest melodies, a woozy, drumless ballad based around a pretty Wurlitzer electric piano riff and a creepy electronic drone that gives the song a hymn-like quality. [Dec 2021, p.22]

So well-crafted is his music, so fleshed out are his concepts, that you can perhaps see why he’s chosen not to hitch his sounds to another’s vision. An album like Entangled Routes doesn’t need to be tied to moving images to reach its potential. Press play and it works its magic, imprinting its strange and fantastic visions direct onto your mind’s eye.

Good vibes are much in abundance. [Dec 2021, p.31]

The follow-up, recorded in isolation during lockdown, has a mellower, be-thankful-for-what-we've-got vibe. [Apr 2022, p.35]

Embellished with hints of country and Southern soul, it belongs to the same school of forlorn pop classicism favoured by Dennis Wilson or Emit Rhodes. [Apr 2022, p.29]

It’s an affirmation of their relationship and personal and creative identities in an(other) electronic-soul set with muted beats and a meditative, rather than impassioned bent, though no less righteous for that. [Jun 2022, p.29]

Mixing classic covers (Big Joe Williams’ “Crawling King Snake”, Charlie Patton’s “Pea Vine Blues”) with his ‘new’ compositions, lyrical advances into commonplace blues melodies like “When The Frisco Left the Shed”, there’s timelessness in every note here, every expression. [Jul 2022, p.29]

“De-Hibernate”’s depths are murky but its surfaces sparkle, “Does It Go Dark?”s sludgy drones answer in the affirmative (before changing their mind), and “Haze Loops” drifts past in a beautiful blur swaddled in echoing, blissed-out guitars. [Sep 2022, p.30]

The Arkestra's rich, gestalt thinking makes these pieces simmer and spark, building ritualistic power. [Nov 2022, p.36]

"Ready To RUn" and "Nobody Knows" are particular highlights, and "Wild Horses II" joins their own immortal "Emmylou" in the top tier of country songs about country music. [Dec 2022, p.26]