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]

Opens with three tracks that feature his street set-up and have the sparse rawness of Lomax’s 1930s Mississippi Delta recordings. The other eight tracks were recorded in a studio with a full band and bounce and ricochet with the joyous energy of the Bhundu Boys at their most exuberant. [Mar 2022, p.29]

It’s her voice, always expressive and active, that anchors even the wildest experiments, whether it’s the children’s choir at the end of the title track or the ratatat rhythms of “Obligation”. [Apr 202, p.32]

This might have worked better as a single LP, but to ensure the collection doesn’t run out of steam, there are two new tracks: the bouncy “Curious” and retro rocker “Billy Goodbye”. [Apr 2022, p.44]

Island Family examines themes of identity, isolation and belonging against an endlessly inventive backdrop of sweeping electronica, clever samples and weirdy folk, sometimes strangely blissful and at others beat-driven and wakeful. [Apr 2022, p.32]

Wonky charmer of a third album. [Apr 2022, p.31]

It's Cypress Hill's own B-Real who steals the show, though, his nasally raps still as distinctive as a whiff of the green stuff. [Apr 2022, p.26]

It secures Midlake's future with small yet significant shifts that haven't erased their identity. Not deeper waters, necessarily - but running clearer and on a newly energised course. [Apr 2022, p.22]

A better-than-respectable restatement of many of their original virtues, the primary being the flair for sunny, Hollies-like melodicism. [Apr 2022, p.25]

Instrumental understatement and forlorn romanticism define The Jacket. [Apr 2022, p.36]

This is Raum's greatest gift—it's not just a trip to the past but a truly worthy addition to one of the most important but overwhelming catalogues in electronic music. [Apr 2022, p.35]

It's entirely fantastical stuff. [Apr 2022, p.32]

It's a tart set but not a sour one - concerns are laid bare and life lessons shared, with whip-smart confidence. [Apr 2022, p.25]

In many ways, it’s everything you could want in a Spiritualized album. [Mar 2022, p.22]

Alex Cameron returns to the more overtly acerbic studies in modern male toxicity that established the Australian singer-songwriter as a suave provocateur. [Apr 2022, p.25]

Classic Objects is, on its face, Jenny Hval's most straightforward work: her songs flirt with conventional verse-chorus structure, her lyrics are clear nd direct, drawn from life. Closer listening, though, reveals Hval interrogating those experiences. [Apr 2022, p.29]

Old-school techno beats dominate as Flür cuts a dance-pop swathe through his own history and back. [Apr 2022, p.26]

There's no revolutionary do-over taking place here, just solid, reliable indie rock from a songwriter who knocks it out with what's bordering on flippant ease. [Apr 2022, p.28]

The whole work glides in one long, soft landing. [Apr 2022, p.35]

Her supple voice is a thing of understated beauty, bonded to tales of emotional attachment and release in a way that suggests full closure is still a little way off. [Apr 2022, p.28]

More inward-looking than her conceptual debut, its emotive lyrics lending themselves to a more tightly focused musical palette. [Apr 2022, p.36]

A lively, impassioned record that proudly eschews convention and celebrates its outsider roots. [Apr 2022, p.31]

It is quite simply stunning. [Apr 2022, p.30]

He roams a palette of solo guitar modes, from Sonic Youth-y harmonics, through melodic lines, all slight but identifiable his own. [Mar 2022, p.32]

The arrangements - as ever - are more Les Misérables than Les Cousins, but her voice and her writing have lost non e of their chandelier sparkle. [Apr 2022, p.26]

Another stunning album. [Mar 2022, p.29]

Here, informed by the BLM movement, the lyrics on his third Black Radio LP are often mournful. ... Sometimes the mournfulness is sublime. [Apr 2022, p.32]

As stylishly coherent as it is surprising. [Mar 2022, p.26]