It's all very wry, but rather endearingly so. [Dec 2019, p.30]

Each mode works in service of the vibe Cohen intends, but Spring's organic easiness belies the evident care in its creation. [Dec 2019, p.24]

Some good songs emerge--"Ego Central High" is a glammy gem that makes its repetitiveness a virtue--but otherwise this is heavy listening that too often edges towards stodge. [Dec 2019, p.29]

There's a defiance in each painful note. In tasting despair, Tahliah Barnett has returned 10 times stronger--in spirit and voice. [Dec 2019, p.27]

Surprises may be fewer this time around but, with their warmth and grace, "Wanted Never Asked" and "Filigree" are two of several songs here that rank with Cabic's finest. [Dec 2019, p.35]

The template remains intact, with monotony fundamental: The Necks lend the title track's repetitions a shimmering, slowly evolving transcendence, Anna Von Hauswolff and sister maria provide bloodcurdling shrieks on the devastating, pummelling "Sunfucker," and Baby Dee adds voodoo magic to "The Nub." [Dec 2019, p.32]

Played and sun with unassuming grace, it's an album of rare generosity. [Nov 2019, p.30]

Very much a Van Morrison album, and a pretty decent Van Morrison album at that, tapping into that apparently inextinguishable reservoir of muscular yet crotchety blues. [Dec 2019, p.30]

As is the case with most of his releases the past decade or so, Ringo addresses his own career with a heavy dose of nostalgia. [Dec 2019, p.32]

It's a strong, seductive set, with the soul-blues burn of "Prophet" and tender "If You Think It's Love" standouts. [Dec 2019, p.29]

Dave Brock's outfit are still hot-wiring the same motorik grooves and primitive electronics that helped jump-start the counterculture in the first place. [Nov 2019, p.27]

The Livelong Day is dark, powerful and disquieting stuff that resonates long after its final note has subsided. [Nov 2019, p.31]

The results may comprise the most finely distilled example of Stephen O'Malley and Greg Anderson's deconstruction of heavy riffage, with each of these tracks demonstrating the infinite varieties of fuzz and rumble that exist within a single mighty note. [Nov 2019, p.33]

Laid-back and loose maybe, but neither lazy nor lacklustre. [Dec 2019, p.33]

Like its predecessor, FIBS is a stubbornly uncategorisable hybrid of styles, tempos and angles on the traditional "song." [Dec 2019, p.30]

The resultant raggedy, in-the-moment feel suits the Neil Young-ish "Show Me" and harmonica-hinged "Guardian Well," as well as "I've Got Reason," less so "Feel It All," which drags its feet over five minutes. "Lost A year" is a sax-assisted winner, though. [Nov 2019, p.24]

If the tunes don't all stun as surely this time around, lyrically they're bolder. [Dec 2019, p.25]

Kiwanuka is loaded with memorable songs, but the best way to experience them is by listening to the album from start to finish. [Nov 2019, p.26]

Wave finds beauty in the belief that all's not lost. [Dec 2019, p.35]

It's a polite, rather repressed formulation and the most appealing moments come when they go off-piste. [Dec 2019, p.32]

An unabashed old-school West Coast rock'n'roll record. [Dec 2019, p.29]

Timeless, tender and sparse. [Dec 2019, p.35]

Spending a little too long in the shallows of pastel-shaded easy-listening minimalism. That said, there are sublimely beautiful and lightly experimental touches here too. [Dec 2019, p.30]

Song structures are over-egged, resulting in blunted hooks and lost momentum. [Dec 2019, p.25]

It is raw, but also synthetic. There are a number of very long songs,m verbal rambles, but the music fills in, disturbing the melancholy of Cave's piano with static interruptions that owe as much to cave and Warren's film soundtracks as they do to the Bad Seeds' more conventional songcraft. [Dec 2019, p.18]

If Psychedelic Pill was among his longest, strangest trips, Colorado has more rustic charms--Harvest Moon or Prairie Wind, but hopped up on guitars. [Nov 2019, p.16]

Doesn't reveal itself in haste but rather unfolds over time and through multitudinous layers. [Nov 2019, p.23]

Another delightful exercise in musical brevity and lyrical snark. [Oct 2019, p.24]