Krlic has created a world in which the music of ancient tradition works like a sonic virus that simultaneously soothes and eats away at your very soul. [Dec 2019, p.95]

Sampha's solo debut sits somewhere between the ghostly avant-soul if Frank Ocean and James Blake's emotionally wrought electronica. [Mar 2017, p.90]

The highest of hi-technicalia and lo-fi acoustic instruments alternately clash, embrace, or pull apart, but ultimately, like Siamese twins, can't be parted. [Jun 2003, p.110]

This is an album of stadium sized melodies and exquisite songwriting, allied with almost too many ideas. [Jun 2003, p.110]

SFA's first truly flawless album.... Sad, lush, romantic, beautiful, heartbroken, crazy, this is an album powerful enough to make you shout out loud in public or cry alone at night. [Aug 2001, p.96]

Baxter Dury blossomed on 2017's Prince Of Tears. ... This sixth solo outing explores further that album's blend of mechanical funk and luxuriant orchestration of female-sung choruses and character monologues. [Apr 2020, p.86]

This 5-CD sets lets us revel in his creative process. [Nov 2021, p.102]

Magnificent. [Jul 2005, p.100]

As well executed as the latter half is, it can feel a mite unsatisfying compared to the stripped-down stuff that sits at the top of the album. [Jun 2013, p.85]

Her voice and band discernibly crackle with confidence. [Aug 2020, p.86]

The most fun comes, unsurprisingly, on the funkier first side. [Jul 2018, p.93]

The result is the Foos' finest since There Is Nothing Left To Lose. [Aug 2023, p.82]

While Linkous’s tendencies to smudge and collapse his songs are apparent – not least the atmospheric disturbance of antique hymn O Child – so too is his generosity of songwriting spirit, positioning the bleakest sentiments in dynamic, questioning music.

Emotionally speaking, however, Merritt has recreated an inner life that sound agonisingly real. [Apr 2017, p.94]

It's a subtly sophisticated piece, but it also creates space for Sanders to showcase his tender, measured, lyrical phrasing, abstracted scatting and, 34 minutes into this 46-minute marvel a brief sputtering blast of free saxophone energy that proves, at 80, his fire remains potent. [May 2021, p.87]

A series of near-overwhelming musical epiphanies. [Jul 2018, p.94]

With Halycon Digest, Deerhunter are dealing in an altogether different kind of tension. [Oct. 2010, p. 90]

Witty, touching, adored by everyone from Bjork to to Jon Snow; the wait is over. [Oct 2011, p.100]

There are some beauties here. [Aug 2015, p.91]

Up close and uncompromising, Exodus Of Venus elevates Cook into the top echelon of Nashville's new breed, an all-too-rare female voice among a a largely make elite. [Oct 2016, p.95]

Laveaux may have set out to rediscover Caribbean roots, but she also underlines how much the islands influenced the early rock'n'roll and soul that emanated from New Orleans ... but with the modernist sheen of France's A.L.B.E.R.T production team. [Apr 2018, p.94]

The result is brooding, often humorous musing on life, joy, occasionally death. ... But it's tender love song Mary, with its meandering sax, that stops you. [Feb 2023, p.92]

Celebrates the little people with full powerpop majesty. [Jul 2003, p.108]

It's remarkable how organic and right (as opposed to gimmicky) the church voices sound on these 14 melodic folk, spare soul and various-tempo blues songs. [Apr 2006, p.98]

Only on the title track's cavernous '80s-era bass synths does Jaar come close to being conventional. [Apr 2011, p.105]

The inventiveness on display is undeniably impressive, but the process sometimes hides a little too much of the artist behind it. [Nov 2022, p.86]

It's all propelled by an energy exclusive to debut albums, the five-piece pulsing with post-punk fervour. [May 2019, p.89]

Inescapably, Losing My Edge is the best thing here, yet happily Murphy has more than one trick up his stylish sleeve. [Feb 2005, p.101]

An album that ranks among his finest work, not just for its strident messages of hope, but also for simply possessing such a high quotient of unimpeachable songs. [Jun 2017, p.84]

This is groundling rock at its finest. [Dec 2017, p.103]

If nothing else, this yearning, realpolitik-infused road movie of an album is one to point to the next time somebody pronounces there are no decent protest songs any more. [Mar 2017, p.92]

Some of the vocal processing, though pushed to the extreme, will be a little familiar to Bon Iver fans/sceptics. Persevere, though, and yet more classic Low songs emerge from the post-apocalyptic murk. [Oct 2018, p.87]

Diverse yet cohesive. [Jan 2016, p.96]

William Bell has forgotten nothing, it seems, least of all how to make wonderful, eternal soul music. [Aug 2016, p.88]

This is affectingly intimate. [May 2021, p.83]

Without making concessions, she's delivered her most accessible album yet, perhaps even her best. [Jun 2022, p.84]

Far from being a doomfest, the music is quite beautiful. [Oct 2005, p.114]

A free-floating space jazz run at Joni & Mingus's Goodbye Pork Pie Hat is typical of his approachable fusion. [May 2020, p.96]

There's no arguing with craftsmanship like this. [Jul 2017, p.88]

Alternative views of some other well-known songs affirm Petty's fundamental strengths as a composer and the Heartbreakers' interpretive flexibility. [Oct 2018, p.98]

This brilliant, complex and surprising piece proves to be no exercise in getting to know them better. [Oct 2012, p.82]

Today it sounds quintessentially McCartney. [Jun 2012, p.100]

An attractive ad hoc vibe pervades these seven longish songs, partially recorded live: a DIY futurism, all tinfoil and stick-backed plastic, that harks back to Pulp's early '90s. [Jun 2020, p.92]

Old and new, sweet and sharp, Welcome strangers holds you in an ambiguous, but utterly enchanting, embrace. [Jun 2018, p.90]

Ford still has a country rasp to her voice, but doesn't over-sing, and her method of expressing emotion is deft rather than melodramatic. she can build up power, too. [Mar 2020, p.87]

The overall message is of gentle positivity. [Nov 2020, p.80]

LP1 is a hugely self-possessed debut, the work of an artist whose vision--not only her visual sense--is strong. [Sep 2014, p.89]

Nourishing batch of beat collages. [May 2021, p.88]

Seductive, stirring songs about crushed hope and the corruption of beauty and some of their most ambitious arrangements make this their most fully-realised and accomplished album yet. [Mar 2003, p.98]

Good album, clever guy. [Jun 2011, p.100]

Matt Maltese's second album persists with velveteen schmaltzy AOR; like yacht rock on a budget. His graceful croon, though, is more jaded this time, combining with the hollowed-out production for a deluxe dose of remorse. [Jan 2020, p.84]

Occasionally, they favour the billowy and formless- Waving A Whit Flag goes nowhere, albeit moodily - but their best tracks showcase Yorke's song most transparently; Panavision and Free In the Knowledge are two of his loveliest in years. [Jul 2022, p.90]

The Shaggs couldn't play, they could barely sing and their songs are rudimentary, but you won't hear many records with such heartfelt authenticity of feeling. [Oct 2016, p.107]

We should've seen this one coming. And still it's a gut punch. [Sep 2018, p.89]

10 of the funkiest tracks Dr. John's been involved in since the '70s. [May 2012, p.93]

The ballads confirm that she was singing better than ever. [Dec 2017, p.88]

Earle has let the spook out of the closet, so he can bare his spiritual chest (as it were) with a Lennonesque honesty and a vocal delivery that increasingly resembles Tom Petty's sub-Dylan sneer.

Conjunto, corrido and jazz emerge from and mingle with R&B and pop as the band follow the story from innocent beginnings to the tragic, bitter end. [Jul 2005, p.98]

His delievry now possesses a wry, self-deprecating warmth which, along with Mitchell Froom and Lenny Waronker's unobtrusive production, suggests a man coming to terms with it all and who realises he's as much a part of this mess as anyone. [Sep 2008, p.110]

A relentless, unstoppable beast of screeching, pounding ascendancy. [Mar 2012, p.97]

The Beta Band made some dazzling music throughout their seven-year lifespan. [Nov 2013, p.101]

This intimate, intelligent album boasts that rarest quality in 21st century rock music: inimitability. [Mar 2014, p.89]

#7885 is an ideal primer for the curious previously cowed by their considerable legacy. [Aug 2014, p.102]

With these selections long-time Arkestra saxophonist Marshall Allen proves himself an excellent guide. [Oct 2014, p.105]

Completists will enjoy having the single edits of many tracks and the sound is sparklingly good. [Jan 2015, p.112]

Moran builds on the foundation of the stride of king's eclectic, joint-jumping oeuvre. [Jan 2015, p.94]

Fish is Chapman still pushing out the boat and long may he sail. [Nov 2015, p.86]

The result is an album that goes far beyond emulation or pastiche to capture the emotional heart of a strange and elusive film, soaring from rapturous highs to quiet, introspective lows, vital romantic life undercut by a melancholy twilight sadness. [Apr 2018, p.89]

Daytona stands loud and proud among Pusha T's best work. [Aug 2018, p.91]

This lavish 36-track celebration doesn't settle for just reheating the best bits, cheerily omitting anything from Kamasi Washington's jazz clarion call The Epic, while proffering 22 new tracks that flaunt its roster's strength in depth. [Jan 2019, p.105]

His most complete artistic statement to date. [Dec 2019, p.93]

Profligate, self-indulgent and, against all oddly, hugely satisfying. ... [The single-disc] Sampler Edition is a handy 58-minute entry point to the mad endeavour. [Dec 2019, p.90]

Shah's voice throughout is fantastic, carrying and castigating her listeners along with her, while her brilliant band nails radio-friendly rock, swirling 4AD-style gothic atmospheres, and perfect post-punk attack. [Jul 2020, p.82]

Richly textured, panoramic celebration of the natural world. [Oct 2020, p.87]

This is an inspired set that reveals new ways of hearing pop classics. [Mar 2023, p.84]

It's the small, tragic details you notice on TLROE. [Jun 2023, p.84]

After a few spins its beautifully arranged songs get scratched into your soul. [Jun 2007, p.100]

By combining the searing intimacy of a boombox-constructed mixtape with progressive and delirious bars, Earl's third album offers a rare kind of insight, sagacious from a 24-year-old. [Mar 2019, p.80]

It cannot have been a paucity of good songs, strong playing or contemporary production values that was the problem, the 13 hitherto unheard tracks on Wings of Love stunningly illustrate. [May 2013, p.102]

From experimental to twisted pop, drill to R&B, techno to Ambient, James draws a precise and brilliant musical Venn diagram. [Jul 2021, p.87]

The past might be intoxicating, but The Candle And The Flame - lucid, conversational, immediate - is beautifully present in its moment. [Mar 2023, p.84]

The tunes are still naggingly memorable, but often less convivial, more melancholy. [Feb 2022, p.86]

The Detroit duo spin sordid tales and lovelorn drama with just the right amount of restrained percussion, blooze picking and screaming confessionals. [Sep 2001, p.93]

Leonard's half-spoken, slow, dark blues growl is powerful. [Nov 2014, p.86]

Very sad and very beautiful. [Apr 2011, p.100]

American Dream feels like a strong re-statement of what they do, and what they can mean, a record that, despite its fear of death, feels very much alive. [Oct 2017, p.86]

The quality of both performances and recordings is exceptional for the time, with elegant versions of Starman and Oh! You Pretty Things affirming the confident new direction of Bowie's pop sensibility, and muscular renditions of Suffragette City, Queen Bitch and Changes.

With simple surf beats and a lyrical bent that takes in everything from ladymen to male models, All Hands... is mostly playful (You're No Rock & Roll Fun) with a touch of pathos (Was It A Lie), but not a bad one in sight.

There's a real sense of party-beneath-the-scaffold much of the time--a looseness you don't often get on these star-studded affairs. [Nov 2003, p.122]

A masterpiece. [May 2004, p.103]

Further expands ambient pedal steel's possibilities, adding strings and piano. [Mar 2021, p.91]

This never feels thrown-together, which is some achievement. Instead, the album feels like one to spend ample amounts of time with as you travel its far-flung corners as it reaches for the stars. [Feb 2021, p.84]

A sensual, hallucinatory delight. [Jan 2022, p.86]

Imarhan's 11 songs come wrapped in a soundscape; a surround-sound version would have the guitars and vocal central, but dust devils and translucent scorpions in the corners of your room, a sweet tea bubbling away and, after dark, the shuffling of a hyena behind the settee. the music expands to fill the space. [Mar 2022, p.82]

Might be one of the very best, and a neat entry point for new explorers. [Apr 2021, p.85]

Her jazziest yet, expressive alto-sax and hypnotic spoken words ladle emotional gravitas onto its fevered meditations and splintered storytelling. [Nov 2023, p.94]

This is an intimate portrait painted in bold strokes. [Dec 2023, p.90]

Toronto punk sextet's third LP is an epic soundtrack. [July 2011, p. 104]