Noisy but thoughtful, and frenzied but melodic. [Feb 2018, p.32]

Pristine miniatures dominate, but the title track allows a more searching exploration of more ambiguous ambiences. [Feb 2018, p.29]

Her striking debut--recorded in 10 days and originally self-released on her own label--brims with as much honest emotion as it does uncalculated cool. [Jan 2017, p.23]

Dean Rudland and Tony Harlow’s selections here mix up the canonical (Funkadelic’s “Maggot Brain” and “Red Hot Mama”, The Undisputed Truth’s “Like A Rolling Stone”, Sly & The Family Stone’s “Thank You For Talkin’ To Me, Africa”), with a good few cratedigging rarities. If anything, in their enthusiasm they may have set themselves a little too wide a brief. [May 2017, p.46]

Simpson and Ferguson keep the country stylings fresh, and Childers delivers the songs with the melodic urgent of early Steve Earle. [Feb 2018, p.34]

It's a heavyweight set. ... In this music Badu sees a path to self-betterment, a chance to grow. [Feb 2018, p.48]

It's gorgeous, and though its 27 minutes may seem slight at first, that's somehow perfect for the songs' capture of moments in the life, singing melancholy and joy in equal measure. [Jan 2018, p.21]

With members of Master Musicians Of Bukkake and Invisible Hands joining in, it's no surprise everything gets wilder as it goes along. [Jan 2018, p.17]

Initially it's hard to detect much disruption to his usual winning formula of squelchy keyboards, pulsing rhythms and glassy guitar noodles, but the dank electro of "AE" and the hot-stepping snares of "O" introduce a note of disquiet that only pulls you further into his exquisitely crafted universe. [Feb 2018, p.30]

Chief songwriter Craig Johnson is canny enough to avoid being backed into a corner, and adds additional colour such as electro-punk "Execution-Rise" and the intriguing "Torrment." [Jan 2018, p.18]

Things become more perverse with the corroded exotica of "Deer Ron" and "Leyline Ogres," though her weirdness is most becoming. [Jan 2018, p.29]

[The] bucolic narratives on the sextet's fourth album are imbued with plainspoken authenticity. [Jan 2018, p.26]

There are Goat-like moments, but "Serenity" and "Meditasjonen" interrupt the party to introduce a more studied and austere note to proceedings. [Jan 2018, p.21]

The songs themselves are fascinating in their breadth, and if nothing else, The Visitor feels like Young's broadest album in some time. [Feb 2018, p.26]

At its blissed-out best, as on "Saw You Twice" and "Feel So Right," her new direction conjures the kind of streetwise reverie rarely heard since the days of AR Kane and One Dove. [Feb 2018, p.28]

The gorgeous psychedelic soul of "Pineapple Skies," the Prince-like strut of "Told You" and the rubbery Latin funk of "Caramelo Duro" all reaffirm Miguel's status as the most versatile talent in R&B's avant-garde. [Feb 2018, p.30]

He's added half a dozen of his own compositions in a similar style to this generous 16-track selection, which pays tribute to his jazz roots rather more successfully than his uneven homage to his R&B origins in September's Roll With The Punches. [Feb 2018, p.30]

There was much more to Stapleton than the Music Row standards he'd been cranking out for others, and Vol. 2 further confirms this suspicion. Under his own name, and own steam, Stapleton cleaves closer to the outlaw ethos of Waylon Jennings, Hank Williams Jr and Johnny Paycheck. [Feb 2018, p.32]

Watford's Stavely-Taylor sisters and New York's chamber music sextet effortlessly bridge the divide between their chosen genres. [Feb 2018, p.35]

The selections on this earworm-packed compilation prove that the limitations of 8-and 16-bit technology and the era's primitive sound chips were no obstacle to the most determined composers. [Jan 2018, p.43]

Thanks For Listening has the same gentle humour and musical imagination he brings to the airwaves [as host of Prairie Home Companion], although "I Made This For You" and the title track are a bit precious in their meta trappings. [Jan 2018, p.26]

The set is essential for three glorious and long-unavailable performances of classic Guthrie compositions by Dylan & The Band recorded at Carnegie Hall in January 1968. [Oct 2017, p.53] [Album: 9/10 Extras: 7/10]

Despite a few notable omissions--no "Big New Prinz"?--it feels like the most coherent overview of the band's 40-odd years to date. [Jan 2018, p.38] [Album: 9/10 Extras: 6/10]

A friskier beast than usual. [Jan 2018, p.29]

Fans get their money's worth with this particular Broderick. [Jan 2018, p.35]

An unctuous solo album mixing flaccid new songs with slick retreads of classics. [Jan 2018, p.24]

It fizzes with pent-up power and singalong choruses. [Jan 2018, p.18]

They're feeling the chill of middle age, when a night on the sofa with an M&S ready-meal holds more appeal than feeling like an auntie at the church-hall disco ("I Only Smoke When I Drink," "No Longer Young Enough"), and the wisecracks are harder to pull off. [Jan 2018, p.23]