A refinement of the country/folk/reggae/rock amalgam The Mekons have pursued for years. [Oct 2002, p.108]

A modern new-age gem. [May 2016, p.79]

Authoritatively cements the status of Granduciel's Philadelphia-based sextet as the best American rock band to emerge in the 2010s. [Jan 2021, p.33]

Steve Shelley and Lee Ranaldo were impressed enough to pitch in, helping form a warmly familiar yet still sometimes thrilling debut album. [Sep 2022, p.24]

A tantalising exploration of modern-day kosmische. Seemingly liberated by technology, these two fiftysomething blokes conjure the kind of utopian panoplies dreamt up by Harald Grosskopf and Neu! on the 24-minute “A Yellow Robe”, a swirling, burbling journey that also nods to recent experiments by Roman Flügel and Peder Mannerfelt. [Sep 2022, p.27]

Even if restless shape-shifting sometimes blunts strong melodic ideas, standout tracks like the epic freakout "Cosmo" and the goth-dub inner-space odyssey "Whammy" showcase a small band with big ambitions. [Aug 2024, p.39]

Both share an inclination towards the transcendent, and Totality offers further proof they're operating on much the same wavelength. [Jun 2025, p.35]

This is the Slowdive you've been waiting for. [Oct 2023, p18]

A joy to listen to. [Nov 2013, p.69]

Jazz remains the root of his sound, with Washington’s saxophone as bold and vibrant as ever. But the grand orchestral sweep of albums past is pared back, replaced by adeeper engagement with hip-hop, funk and soul. [May 2024, p.41]

It's a work of elegant simplicity--a suite of wistful and slightly breathless songs set to dreamy tropical guitar and muted lo-fi beats. [May 2019, p.23]

Under Tweedy's almost imperceptible guidance, Shelley has learned to trust her contradictory impulses. Her shyness is amplified, the words more direct.[Jun 2017, p.32]

The Nashville Sound sees Isbell swaggering confidently along the rockier edge of his range--as usual--he's at his best on the reflective ballads. [Jul 2017, p.32]

Dawson's most direct album to date. ... It's hard not to conclude that 2020 is the record we need now: a state-of-the-nation address for a nation in a bit of a state. [Nov 2019, p.20]

Thom Yorke's Suspiria might not be to everyone's taste--but it feel enough, for now. [Dec 2018, p.20]

Cosmopolitan, anglophile, afrobeat--Vampire Weekend are in an Ivy League of their own.

It feels in some ways much more of a post-Lambchop album than FLOTUS. [Apr 2019, p.24]

Space and darkness area constant among these eight tight songs, but there’s also plenty of punch. [Oct 2022, p.36]

The album works as whole--beginning with an eruptive blast of noise and ending with the gentle farewell that is 'Friend Of Ours.'

A facinating treatment, and really rather groovy. [Sep 2008, p.89]

As a collection of friendly collisions, an impulsive document of how music can bring people together over musical and cultural boundaries, it's well worth the visit. [Feb 2014, p.79]

The rough-and-ready songwriting is all part of the conceptual high-jinks. [Jul 2015, p.81]

A moving tribute to an unsung talent. [Jan 2016, p.75]

[Xenia Rubinos] often extract the maximum impact from a startlingly nimble rhythm section that disregards any boundaries between soul, rock, jazz and salsa, plus a voice that evokes Sarah Vaughan, Joyce Moreno and--on the brilliantly squelchy R&B of "Black Stars" and "right?"--Erykah Badu at her wildest. [Aug 2016, p.81]

This is Cretan folk music played with a rock'n'roll intensity that is truly immersive. [Nov 2016, p.36]

It's a punishing and rewarding experience. [Nov 2016, p.28]

Sprawled across 40 years of high and lows, A Very British Synthesizer Group is inevitably bumpy in quality, but still rich in pleasant surprises, and shot through with the bloody-minded punk genius that defines so much music from the People's Republic Of South Yorkshire. [Jan 2017, p.38]

If its pace is funeral, though, its mood is elevating. [Jan 2020, p.31]