Arguably Pond's slickest effort so far--a gorgeously nuanced set of damaged synth-funk and curdled power ballads that should finally see off any Grateful Dead comparisons. [Apr 2019, p.20]

It lacks a distinctive identity. [Apr 2019, p.31]

They've expanded on their debut's Goat/Can homage, opting for a rawer sound that leans on funk-charged bass throbs and wildly oscillating synths. [Apr 2019, p.36]

Many of the covers are of recent blues songs, such as Joe Bonamassa's "Distant Lonesome Train," Gary Moore's "The Hurt Inside" or "Evil And Here To Stay" by John Headley, but Mayall is able to locate them firmly within an older blues tradition without ever making them sound like hollow tributes. [Mar 2019, p.30]

Any sense they're simply re-creating the sounds of the past is dispelled from the first notes of opener "Morning in America." ... The band set every song in the present, drawing as much from sampling and turntablism as from old-school soul. [Apr 2019, p.31]

These 12 songs have a resonance that's deep and wide, examining intimate/romantic connections and their power to wound and confuse, as well as relationships in the broader contexts of existential identity and being fused to a genealogical history. [Apr 2019, p.38]

In Keeping it simple, Frawley speaks volumes to the gloriously messy stew of the human psyche. [Mar 2019, p.27]

A power-pop potpourri that falls between the Beatlesque formalism of Cotton Mather and the eruptive emotionality of Car Seat Headrest. [Mar 2019, p.34]

An inspired makeover. [Mar 2019, p.30]

Attempts to blend leftfield electronica, Broadway balladeering and voguish trap beats are technically impressive but stretch his minimal melodies to [the] breaking point. [Apr 2019, p.26]

An unexpectedly impressive comeback. [Apr 2019, p.32]

A meaty, confident comeback. [Apr 2019, p.34]

If Better Oblivion Community Center has a recurring flaw, it's a reluctance to hit these higher gears more often, the best of BOCC, however, both earns its place in Oberst's already formidable canon, and further confirms Bridgers as an artist likely to assemble one. [Apr 2019, p.37]

The second [disc], using poems and letters from World War I, is almost unbearably poignant at times. [Apr 2019, p.39]

[Susan] Tedeschi breaks free from those Bonnie Raitt comparisons that have long dogged her. [Apr 2019, p.39]

Songs packed with macabre humour, melodic contortion and gruesome discord. [Mar 2019, p.27]

Royal Trux remain unique, one of a kind: still going wrong like a hydrogen bomb.[Mar 2019, p.36]

Wildly ambitious in its melding of industrial bombast, free-jazz skronk, horror-film atmospherics and psych freakouts. [Mar 2019, p.34]

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]

A set of one-take, fragile musings, predominantly for acoustic guitar and voice. [Mar 2019, p.23]

Bingham embellishes the arrangements with Exile-style female backing vocals and country-skronk raucousness. ... The reflective moments pack a wallop as well. [Mar 2019, p.24]

Her second LP as Du Blonde plays it two ways: first with unremarkable, lunging dynamics and fuzz-caked riffs, then in a leaner and more soulful style, wit nods to prog and '70s folk-pop songcraft. Tha latter is more convincing and a better fit for her great voice and brutally honest lyrics. [Mar 2019, p.27]

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

Cathartic in its honesty but no less depressing for that. [Mar 2019, p.33]

A family of songs that are strikingly evocative, but never overwrought. [Mar 2019, p.25]

A meaty maximalist feast, richer and riper than its predecessor. [Mar 2019, p.27]

In his own quiet way, Texas Piano Man finds Ellis maintaining a degree of reckless abandon in his creative life. [Mar 2019, p.26]

A collection of unabashedly hooky '80s-informed rock songs. [Mar 2019, p.30]