These are anguished addresses of the world's current turbulence, U2 needing to scrabble unusually and interestingly hard in the cinders to disinter sparks of their trademark redemptive optimism. [May 2026, p.37]

His fourth album features no immediate bangers in the vein of "As It Was" or "Watermelon Sugar", but Styles does take some interesting risks. [May 2026, p.37]

The naked, more soul-leaning titke track works nicely, as do the almost cosmic jazz explorations of "Didn't Come To argue" featuring Monica Martin), but for all the heavy sentiment and weight here, the results sometimes feel hollow. [May 2026, p.26]

It would make a perfect soundtrack to traversing chilly landscapes, but an emotional current runs through Fables that elevates it beyond mere background music. [Mar 2026, p.36]

Songs start as brooding slices of minimalism and slowly mutate into Morricone-esque ballads ("Teeth"), motorik synthpop ("Propeller") or chugging waltzes (a version of Neil Young's "Red Sun"). [Apr 2025, p.36]

Monster Magnet and Mudhoney's sludgy heaviness and Hawkwind and Stooges prototypes form the mulch for this unexpected double. [Mar 2026, p.33]

This follow-up sees their experimental instincts tempered rather than tamed, with more focus on song structure and melody, and Susman's expressive vocals softened. [Apr 2026, p.34]

Any sense of musical nostalgia is banished by the quality and restraint of the performances and the album's majestic, half-asleep flow. [Apr 2026, p.28]

Like Faye Webster or Wednesday's Karly Hartzman, Cornfield makes every line count. [Apr 2026, p.28]

Righteous and blissful. [Apr 2026, p.33]

The surrounding circumstances inevitably bring an additional layer of darkness to allusively eloquent, quietly agitated songs. [Apr 2026, p.36]

An instantly engaging album. [Apr 2026, p.24]

It's a record that walks a fine line between joy and sorrow. [Apr 2026, p.36]

Adapting the lushest textures from'90s alt.rock, grunge and shoegaze, most strikingly on "tractor Beam" and "Dead End", Jordan is ready to take the next step. [Apr 2026, p.36]

Maybe this could have been two different records: the big-name covers album and the back-room jam session. But in terms of conveying the passions, frustrations and intriguing contractions of its restless instigator, Honora is perfect. [Apr 2026, p.27]

Fussy productions mires some of these songs, but there are a few that rank among her best. [Apr 2026, p.36]

No single track grandstands, but the Black Midi-ish epic roll of "Senegal" is a laser-tooled highlight. [Mar 2026, p.36]

There's much to like, though the groovy, Frank Ocean-adjacent "Cherry" stands out. [Apr 2026, p.34]

Momentum sags somewhat over its lengthy duration - but it also unquestionably features some of their finest, and funkiest, work to date. [Apr 2026, p.34]

Is what might be expected of a song entitled "My Kinda Saturday Night", all growling guitars, pounding pianos and soaring choruses extolling the merits of beer, pickup trucks and jukeboxes. But it is no less irresistibly rousing for that, and the same can be said of the broadly similar "Back In The Saddle" nd "Alcohol Of Fame". [Apr 2026, p.29]

On Transmitter, Cut Worms' fourth album, Max Clarke reaches a rarefied level of expressiveness and self-assurance alongside Jeff Tweedy. [Apr 2026, p.29]

The songs themselves range from ringing country-rockers to soulful ballads and vary shades between, thematically weighted between reflection and renewal. [Apr 2026, p.31]

This is Tinariwen as deep and darkly compelling as we've ever heard them. [Apr 2026, p.32]

There are few traces of the more liminal varieties of beauty that distinguish recent Halo efforts like 2023's Atlas, though a sense of eerie gracefulness often imbues the music here as various sonic elements cut through the inky drones like shards of light. [Apr 2026, p.33]

It's a beautiful collection of genre-hopping songs. [Apr 2026, p.37]

Subtle it is not, but it's thrilling, adrenaline-pumping stiff that's fun as it is angry. [Apr 2026, p.29]

She alternates between fighting the current and giving in. That approach, coupled with vocals balancing despair and determination, lends "The Smoke", with its cathedral synths, and especially "Division", with its narcotised krautrock drumbeat, an unsettling energy that's both treacherous and cathartic. [Mar 2026, p.29]

On this outing it sounds more like step-by-step calculation than natural evolution. [Apr 2026, p.36]