He's wisely opted to sound as different from his father as he possibly can, swathing his alt.rock songs in haunting layers of deep electronica, although there are giveaway traces of the family DNA in the voice and in the swirling Indian motifs. [Nov 2017, p.28]

Bell's music is refreshingly uncomplicated. [Dec 2016, p.28]

It doesn't always comes off, but there are plenty of inspiring moments. [Dec 2014, p.81]

Lower fused dream-pop, experimental hip-hop, indie sludge and illbient, with texture and production effects crucial. ... Best are the wonky blues-hop of "Pompeii Statues" and "Hope For The Night Time", which suggests the raspy-voiced Booker joining a lo-fi Mercury Rev on Spacebomb. [Feb 2025, p.33]

Mayall proves that playing the blues is seemingly impervious to age. [Apr 2017, p.35]

It's very generously produced, with effects bursting from every crevice, but the melodies are (just) strong enough to weather it all. [May 2013, p.73]

Here are 10, funkily inventive delights that fuse the driving, percussive-heavy folk tradition with his own "jibber jabber," using guitar, drum machine and electronics. [Sep 2020, p.32]

Glasper steps into the spotlight, less ostentatiously [than Kamasi Washington's The Epic], with a live trio album. [Aug 2015, p.75]

The album unfolds like a fever dream, the instruments bleeding into each other, awash in echo, as Arthur layers metaphors much as he layers the parts of the self-performed album. [Aug 2016, p.71]

It sometimes feels here like Perry's slight contributions are being stretched a little thinly. [Dec 2021, p.31]

Demonstrates... pastoral grace, sweetness and warmth. [Aug 2005, p.106]

Lahey excels at crafting chewy pieces of bubblegum-punk whose exuberance and smarts are often matched by their emotional potency. [Jun 2023, p.32]

The likes of John Lee Hooker's "Dimples" and Sam Cooke's "Laughin' and Clownin'" are intimate, effortless-sounding exercises in sublime jazz phrasing, his voice at 73 as supple as ever. [Jan 2019, p.22]

When your attention drifts you barely notice it's there. But when you do, it evokes a warm and evocative pleasure. [Dec 2012, p.72]

Playful homages to country at its most synthetic and dancefloor-friendly, “Better Than Any Drug” and “Fall In Love Again” bridge the gap that once existed between Madonna and the Mandrell Sisters. [May 2022, p.29]

It ends up being a more nuanced guide to the Thompsons' flawed but just-about functioning dynamic, divorces, remarriages and all. [Dec 2014, p.82]

Though some tracks really need the context of performance or visuals, on the astral fourth-world funk of “Eye In The Wall”, Hadreas sets sail on his own Arthur Russell-style “African Night Flight”. [Jul 2022, p.31]

They've developed a needling, post-punk style that nods to Joy Division, Gang Of Four and Shellac. [Feb 2015, p.84]

Hardly radical, then, but the familiarity breeds contentment. [Mar 2015, p.72]

Stratton's accessible but deep-rooted approach embraces a barbed undertow in opener "Light Blue," while dashing arrangements--slivers of stringed wonder deployed to resonate effect on "Vanishing Class"--illuminates his songwriting craft. [Jun 2017, p.37]

A muted affair whose punctiliousness is sweetly offset by its warm heart. [Jun 2019, p.26]

Pure pleasure for lovers of deep soul music? Absolutely. [May 2013, p.73]

Goes back to basics with a blinding mix of anthemic post-punk rockers and pretty mid-tempo ballads. [Jul 2002, p.107]

The tracks play to the strengths of Dion's guests. [Mar 2024, p.25]

There's little on the pair's ninth album that will surprise longtime admirers; rather, Plaid play to their strengths. [Aug 2016, p.80]

Rachel grimes continues to make challenging, tense music. [Aug 2015, p.75]

“Poppies” is an aching, Beatle-esque waking dream, half-heard car radio for company, prime Aimee Mann a comparison. Cleveland’s distorted electric guitar, cool, Stereolab-like synth glides and dub Ethio-jazz further colour the scene. [Jul 2024, p.35]

This south London trio are fine-tuning their battling-for-attention combination of three voices and elegantly scruffy indie-rock. [Dec 2025, p.29]