And though his long-running solo project has hitherto been a private sketchbook of laptop doodles, for this latest release Atlas Sound engages with the widerworld to great effect: the best two tracks are collaborations: the ambient bubblegum of "Walkabout" with Animal Collective's Panda Bear and the ectoplasmic Krautrock of "Quick Canal" with Laetitia from Stereolab. [Nov 2009, p. 81]

If is deeply lovely music, born of a tenderly weighted sensibility. [Dec 2011, p.88]

It's an accomplished, evilly wrought set piece, but the acid-etched disco blues of "Poison Apple" is a standout. [May 2013, p.79]

Deceiver sees them return in a better mental state but with much the same spirit as when they left, delivering wafting waves of shimmering guitar over lyrics that hint at drama and turmoil. [Nov 2019, p.24]

This is a broad, swaggering definition of jazz that touches on Nigerian afrobeat, Ghanaian high-life, grungy post-rock and vocal-led astral soul. Non-jazz fans might be drawn to Nerija's astonishing guitarist Shirley Tetteh. [Sep 2019, p.30]

Finely honed reflections that add a new perspective to the conversation of politics. ... The songs here are simple, but they contain multitudes. [Oct 2019, p.25]

She's angry, but she's trying to offer some answers too: more power to her for such positivity. [Feb 2023, p.32]

At a time when a generation of US roots guitarists are reaching creative maturity, Modern Country reasserts Tyler's place at their forefront. [Jul 2016, p.81]

By turns poppy, cerebral and conceptually cute. [Jun 2006, p.106]

The Animal spirits is earthy and tactile. [Dec 2017, p.23]

It may surprise some, and disappoint others, but this is a record that ultimately finds Sparhawk turning pain into a kind of spiritual beauty. In that, it continues his work of over three decades, from the spectral I Could Live In Hope right up to the imploded noise of Hey What. [Sep 2024, p.22]

It's familiar territory but there's plenty to enjoy being pummelled by here. [Mar 2022, p.23]

Kirby's second is more cosmopolitan than 2021 Cool Dry Place, with bandmates Alberto Sewald's and Logan Chung's muted soft rock production shifting her halfway toward Weyes Blood's polished indie folk. [Jan 2024, p.31]

Bleed is more about wayward drift than some of The Necks’s most-loved albums, like 1999’s Hanging Gardens, but there’s tenderness in its seeming austerity, and beauty in its chill. [Nov 2024, p.40]

Dan Wriggins brings some of Lambchop's pained soul-baring to his vocals, and the band give him plenty of space while keeping songs interesting and dynamic. [Aug 2025, p.31]

Barbara Barbara... makes explicit the band's influence, as well as their core strengths. [Apr 2016, p.81]

These songs are full and rich, with longtime foil The Strangers creating honky-tonk, country shuffles and even Tin Pan Alley backdrops that often explode with life. [May 2010, p.98]

This collection does him justice by featuring cuts from all seven albums in the Smith catalogue. [Dec 2010, p.105]

Even with Rubin dialling things back, the material grabs the listener by the collar and holds on tight. [Album of the Month, Feb 2006, p.66]

Glimmers of Blonde Redhead's future can be divined throughout Masculin Feminin, whether in Kazu Makin's girlish vocals, or Simone Pace's snaking, restrained drum parts; even in their juvenilia, Blonde Redhead were looking through their own sophisticated, idiosyncratic filter. [Oct 2016, p.49]

"Relay Runner" and "Jornada" boast more muscular sensibilities, with pulsing rhythms that bust through the layers of eerie drones and noises that make Loma as unsettling as it is compelling. [Mar 2018, p.28]

As with Singing Saw and City Music, a lot of time an thought has gone into ensuring Oh My God holds together. Lyrical themes are repeated, explored and teased out. [May 2019, p.22]

A Distant Call is full of songs that are pretty good, but it rarely stops you in your tracks. [Oct 2019, p.36]

Like a rolling stone made of avant-garde music and sadness. [Sep 2020, p.27]

Carvings is a more considered affair [than 2020's All Ears], stepping back from first-person confessional into a wider canvas of community, place and time. [Mar 2023, p.26]

The London trio chart out some fresh trajectories for the mesmeric brand of avant-pop they established with 2019's eerily prophetic The Age Of Immunology and 2021's superb Ookii Gekkou. [Nov 2023, p.33]

It’s an incredible, accomplished confection, kept on track by Greep’s way with a tune and the grotesquery of his ear-catching lyrics. [Nov 2024, p.36]

A stunningly audacious second album, inspired equally by prime Prince and film soundtracks, and reminiscent of Jane Siberry's prog-pop ambition circa "The Walking." [Jun 2009, p.103]