The relative brevity of these four pieces permits an easier engagement with their approach, with the way these three remarkable musicians, while working at their own pace on every level, continue to explore a sound-world and a collective methodology entirely of their own conception. [Mar 2023, p.18]

May be Lucero's finest album yet. [Apr 2023, p.32]

13 toe-tapping and soul-stirring treatises against hate, inequality and violence. [Apr 2023, p.26]

An ample demonstration of their powers. [Apr 2023, p.25]

The songs about his children risk tipping over into twee, but it's hard to disparage such a warm, consoling record. [Mar 2023, p.25]

With the genre-hopping feel of a high-concept mixtape, Bless This Mess calls on a wide cast of collaborators. [Apr 2023, p.38]

A richer chamber-pop style which now reaches its zenith on Strange Dance. [Mar 2023, p.35]

How To Replace It doesn't quite scale those heights [Worst Case Scenario and The Ideal Crash], but it finds the returning to the fray with particularly eloquent poise. [Apr 2023, p.26]

The caustic wit of their first two albums is too often buried under shouty non-choruses and dirgey post-punk bluster, either side of a couple of more notable moments. [Mar 2023, p.35]

Some of these experimental mash-ups feel ungainly, but when their chemistry ignites, Algiers sound indestructible. [Apr 2023, p.23]

It's a fabulous collection. [Mar 2023, p.36]

Sexsmith's soulful voice, mixed with simple guitar strums and sweet harmonies, especially in the delicate yet incredibly intense closer, "Ever Wonder", pushes style, composition and existence into a timeless adventure. [Mar 2023, p.35]

The songs on Tare's fourth solo effort brims with joy, wonder and the sheer pleasure to be found in making sounds. [Mar 2023, p.25]

10 idiosyncratic pop songs marked by her cool, tremulous timbre, unusual cadence and almost bluntly conversational lyrics. [Mar 2023, p.35]

While Pigs x7 couldn't get much heavier, they sound noticeably angrier on this follow-up to 2020's Viscerals, adding lyrical themes of self-loathing and misanthropy into the mix. [Mar 2023, p.32]

His originals here include the rippling, Arabic-accented, Dizzy Gillespie-inspired" Caravanseral" and the tricksy waltz ballad "Ruth". [Apr 2023, p.25]

On "Operator Error" and "Less From You", the duo nimbly reintegrate the post-punk and power-pop elements of their mid-'00s selves with the more avidly dance-oriented direction of the band's last decade. [Apr 2023, p.38]

Songs like "Let's Make A Mistake Tonight" and the restless "Forbidden Doors" vividly capture intimate moments in a shared existence. [Apr 2023, p.36]

Despite the scattered and itinerant nature of the process, there's a pleasing coherence and warmth to the record. [Apr 2023, p.26]

Mostly Cracker Island maintains Gorillaz' 23-year-old comic-book conceit. The 2D band make ageless pop that shapeshifts to suit the era, be it the sunny reggaeton of "Tormenta" (featuring Puerto Rican rapper Bad Bunny) or the dreamy AOR of "Oil" (featuring Stevie Nicks). [Apr 2023, p.28]

There are moments where this French-Algerian collective truly get deep into "acid house". ... Elsewhere, three decades of Western club culture are put through the prism of North African music. ... Best of all is the galloping afro-house of "Habaytak", featuring the haunting voice of Ghizlane Melih. [Mar 2023, p.23]

They add multiple voices, such as Dina Ipavic and Penelope Isles. this can result in a slightly disjointed and incohesive listen, but sometimes, as with Anna B Savage on the pulsing "Home", they get the alchemy just right. [Mar 2023, p.32]

This record’s peers might be Astral Weeks, Starsailor, Music For A New Society, New Skin For The Old Ceremony and, in particular, Mary Margaret O’Hara’s Miss America. She’s not out of place among these ghosts either. If you’ve ever been spellbound by those songs of love, loss, wonder and despair, you need to listen to Lisa O’Neill. [Mar 2023, p.24]

The slow-burn of "Blue" is a soaring mid-set ballad with anthemic qualities showcasing a strong sense of dynamics. That captures the defiant mood, something best heard in opener "My Blood Runs Through This Land" and the churning rage of "understanding". [Mar 2023, p.25]

Raven is her triumphant move forward, 15 tracks of sensual R&B with a subtle strength at their core, wrapped in vaporous synths and variously edged with UK garage, '80s R&B and techno. [Mar 2023, p.29]

What could have been merely clever becomes soulful and poignant thanks to Shauf's understated vocals, his eye for mundane details and flourishes. [Mar 2023, p.35]

It's pure, distilled Quasi. ... Sam Coomes's songs are all killer. ... Janet Weiss, meanwhile, once again proves herself to be a fine vocal foil, and perhaps the greatest rock drummer alive. [Mar 2023, p.35]

His playing can be free and fiery but it's also deeply soulful and sometimes almost aggressively melodic. [Mar 2023, p.29]