She writes about toxic masculinity and abusive relationships with racing candour, and she sings with a fresh, unnerving snarl that weaponises her signature twang. [May 2020, p.35]

Ultimately, what CMAT has done with CrazyMad, For Me is create a new pop music, centered around melody, heartache, and resolve, and filled with more than a dash of gallows humor to boot.

Emma Jean is mellower, mournful and unimpeachably authentic.... A magnificent piece of work. [Jun 2014, p.76]

De Souza's ability to balance the brute force of "Real Pain" and "Bad Dream" with something as sunny as "Hold U" is another reason to look forward to more of her shapeshifting. [Sep 2021, p.27]

It's a fairly smooth and coherent affair. [Feb 2023, p.28]

Like Blue Velvet, Forget is a lurid fever dream--and a magnificent hymn to suburban teenage romance. [Jan 2011, p.98]

Across 14 varied tracks, Avery's compositions become engulfing, such is the pull of his palpable textures, dense soundscapes and tantalising beats. [May 2018, p.24]

There's little identifiable guitar until track five, by which time anxiety and menace have taken hold thanks to the lumbering mien of "Bye Bye" and "I'm A Man"'s monstrous grind. "Shelf Warmer" lets in some air but it too is fabulously foul. [Mar 2024, p.26]

Wake Up The Nation, an album that goes a long way to differentiate itself from its predecessor in sound, texture and atmosphere.

Ty's most unrestrained albums stands among his best. ... Like sitting by a loaded jukebox that turns out gems all night. [Mar 2018, p.16]

His melancholic optimism is uplifting and his melodies surprisingly plush. [Dec 2002, p.140]

Channels a palpable love of early Fall... and Daydream Nation-period Sonic Youth... into a convincing half-hour that teeters, teasingly, on the brink of collapse. [Jul 2004, p.102]

The Fine Art of Self Destruction is one of those amazing records that appear seemingly out of nowhere... that within a couple of plays sound already like something you've been listening to for years. [Album of the Month, Dec 2002, p.128]

It is really his unsurpassed ability to access tracks that time forgot that makes this album so great. [May 2002, p.96]

This is surely one of the most magical pop albums of 2003. [Sep 2003, p.112]

Explores themes of mental derailment and the black arts against a backdrop of the heaviest psychobilly, grunge-metal and stoner rock. [Nov 2004, p.106]

The most immediately striking thing is the effect of the string arrangements, which add an extra layer of haunting mystery. [Oct 2006, p.102]

This is where the kid really comes into his own.

Altogether, a fascinating portrait of a man making sense of both himself and his times. [Dec 2011, p.94]

This is music that continually slips away from you even as you chase down its essence. [Jan 2013, p.80]

A magnificent comeback. [Oct 2013, p.57]

As a whole, it's brilliant. [Dec 2013, p.68]

It can be hard to spot any difference, so instead bathe om the spare beauty of "Ode To The Morning Sky," the scrumptious "Womb Of Time" or the wise, glowering "Weird Woman." [Nov 2014, p.83]

An out-of-time treat. [Feb 2015, p.73]

His debut album reworks traditional material, much of it obscure, yet sounding familiar thanks to the vibrancy of playing, notably from William Tyler on guitar. [Feb 2015, p.78]

Presley has a wry, modern take on country music. [Mar 2015, p.81]

Boz and co get under the skin of consistently evocative songs from the likes of Curtis Mayfield, Bobby Charles, Al Green and Bobby Charles. [May 2015, p.80]

Smart, sexy stuff. [Jun 2015, p.84]

Their fondness for 17-minute improvisations demand a certain stamina, but there's a strung-out beauty to Infinity Machines that eases you in gently. [May 2015, p.73]

A sort of desolate twang predominates. [May 2015, p.76]

Perhaps inevitably, it's female voices that fare best. [Aug 2015, p.81]

Brave and different. [Sep 2015, p.80]

His first solo album is more entrancing than anything he's recorded to date. [Aug 2015, p.78]

Lead guitarist Sean Thompson displays precocious virtuosity through For Use And Delight, spinning out bent-note filigrees that recall the work of his legendary namesake. [Nov 2015, p.81]

On I Abused Animals, Leigh works with stretched song forms--the result is remarkable. [Jan 2016, p.77]

He's been in this territory before, covering the Bunnyman's Crocodiles (2001), but never with such verve. [Dec 2015, p.79]

The spirit of the band's old leader Ronnie Lane comes shining through. [Feb 2016, p.80]

The sisterly joie de vivre marks out Songs Of Separation as a very special record indeed. [Mar 2016, p.82]

This double album is both poignant and richly inventive. [May 2016, p.69]

The tunes, by now, are richly coloured--there are tasteful flurries of cello, violin and brass--but the centrepiece remains Michaelson's lazy baritone, which makes up in emotional richness what it lacks in energy. Happily, Dan hasn't cheered up. [Jun 2016, p.76]

Day To Day's fusions feel accomplished and natural. [Aug 2016, p.77]

This unheard set, captured at Athens venue The Mad Hatter in 1983, shortly before the band's dissolution, confirms their two fine studio albums were no fluke. [Sep 2016, p.93]

For all of their doom-mongering--this record feeds on notions of dereliction and abandonment--Marconi Union always finds beauty in the bleakest places. [Sep 2016, p.76]

Sadness is necessarily these songs' anchor, but there's hope and resolve, too. [Oct 2016, p.35]

The result is a work that blends crackling blues, jaunty country and mesmerising folk balladry that sends shards through the heart. [Jan 2017, p.22]

Ibibio Sound Machine barely need drums to weave their polyrhythmic magic. [Apr 2017, p.32]

The morning moods are more immediately engaging, with Eno-ish rhyme schemes and country stylings. [Jun 2017, p.23]

Every song on Big Bad Luv seems to stem from emotional trauma, but he's pragmatic enough to get something good out of each one. [Jun 2017, p.36]

Weaver grounds all this analogue fizz and crackle in strong songwriting, erecting a razzle-dazzle wall of sonic scaffolding around richly referential lyrics and lysergic pastoral harmonies. Her best yet. [Jun 2017, p.38]

Fistfuls of dirty riff'n'rolll with a side order of voodoo and psych. [Jun 2017, p.30]

Throughout, tracks like "Love Matters" and "Salt Cleans" keep the oddness in check with some irritatingly catchy pop hooks. [Jul 2017, p.30]

This follow-up is even better [than 2015's Music In Exile], their skittery rhythms making fuller use of R&B grooves, brass and funky licks. [Jul 2017, p.39]

Kin Sonic is a far more expansively international affair. [Aug 2017, p.32]

Beautifully moving. [Aug 2017, p.32]

Though jangly sounds abound on the 71 songs collected here (so much so that there's an inevitable degree of twee fatigue), the contents demonstrate a shift away from the original shambling scenesters' distaste for displays of ambition, and a new eagerness to grab hold of the brass ring that The Smiths had surrendered to other contenders. [Aug 2017, p.50]

Transform a set of ancient griot tunes into something dramatically new. The Kronos crew seem to calibrate each piece exactly right. [Nov 2017, p.36]

That voice [of Marry Waterson]--sometimes sharp and slightly acrid, often warm and consoling, even when passing a dispassionate eye over the tales it tells--is the real magic here. [Nov 2017, p.39]

The universal motifs of loss, redemption and freedom from bondage are brought home in moving, understated style. [Oct 2017, p.28]

Discovering all this mellow gold now is akin to discovering Laurel Canyon was actually on the other side of the Pacific. [Dec 2017, p.47]

A finely crafted mood piece rewarding deep immersion. [Dec 2017,p.25]

Its 10 tracks show that age still hasn't tamed Hammill's mighty, stentorian voice or the existential rage still burning at the centre of his songs. [Dec 2017, p.27]

The set is essential for three glorious and long-unavailable performances of classic Guthrie compositions by Dylan & The Band recorded at Carnegie Hall in January 1968. [Oct 2017, p.53] [Album: 9/10 Extras: 7/10]

[The] bucolic narratives on the sextet's fourth album are imbued with plainspoken authenticity. [Jan 2018, p.26]

With members of Master Musicians Of Bukkake and Invisible Hands joining in, it's no surprise everything gets wilder as it goes along. [Jan 2018, p.17]

Pristine miniatures dominate, but the title track allows a more searching exploration of more ambiguous ambiences. [Feb 2018, p.29]

His second Daptone album swings like Sam Cooke, sways with rocksteady cool, and is as stylishly '60s as a pair of fur-lined Chelsea boots. [Mar 2018, p.27]

Newfound sobriety has sharpened Lilly's focus since her previous release, as does the backing of dad's touring band and the unfussy production by Shovels & Rope's Michael Trent. [Mar 2018, p.26]

The harmonies are exquisite, lending a sense of timelessness to gently understated melodies. Listen harder, and the subtleties of Howe Gelb's production blow in. [Feb 2018, p.29]

Depth Of Field, Blasko's sixth studio album, substantially persists with the gloomy synthesiser motif of its superb predecessor, 2015's Eternal Return, but locates an even more poised balance between the chilly melancholy of glam-electronica backdrops and the capacious warmth of Blasko's vocals. [Apr 2018, p.24]

Although the Poseidon, Lizard and Islands discs all contain bonus tracks and outtakes, the boxset’s primary focus is on live material. Over a dozen concerts from 1971–2 are included, four of which are previously unreleased. ... The sound of the ’71 gigs is gritty and realistic, and often mixed in stereo. But there’s a noticeable drop in quality when the ’72 gigs start (on disc 10) in Wilmington, Delaware. These are cassette recordings, very rough and bootleggy.

Youngs' take on British folk and art traditions remains rich and enthralling. [Apr 2018, p.37]

Throughout, the virtuosic performances and subtly evocative lyrics sustain intensity through understatement. [Apr 2018, p.37]

Like The Siren’s Song itself, it feels both ageless and beguiling, a classic record for this or any other time.

This official release has been ably remixed by Bob Pridden, a roadie at the Fillmore back in ’68. ... Everything is delivered with the muscular sincerity that made The Who such a compelling and memorable live act.

It's characterised by a delicate, hypnotic power with subtle light/shadow shifts. [Oct 2018, p.37]

The result is a record that's technically adept, but full of heart, too. [Oct 2018, p.29]

Considered, compassionate and intricate, conceived of equal parts magic and dread, Laws Of Motion works a slow but deep enchantment. [Dec 2018, p.30]

The snarky will hear a reheated Mike Flowers Pops; the wise, a labour of genuine love. Turn on, tune in. [Nov 2018, p.24]

On this sixth album, there's a deft combination of denseness and groove that is never easy to master, but also a freestyle improvisational quality. [Feb 2019, p.29]

With North African and Latin American angles also explored, this is a throbbing, ominous, rigorous homage to garage basics. [Jun 2019, p.29]

Humanworld is every bit as good as, and at points even better than, its predecessor, as though Parrett's finally, almost five decades in, found his true metier. [Jul 2019, p.32]

A 4LP limited box adds a typically transcendent live set from Ann Arbor, mixing new tracks with retooled classics: a 19-minute take on "Tutankhamun" still feels far out. [Aug 2019, p.26]

A fascinating and deeply rewarding journey through the ages. [Aug 2019, p.38]

A passionate and muscular record that oozes cool in every note. [Nov 2019, p.30]

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]

Bold. ... But Ism is finest when at its funkiest. [Jan 2020, p.28]

Some of his most seductive melodies to date. [Jan 2020, p.28]

Savior is a commanding narrator of heartache and revenge, singing of blood and tears over piano and reverb-drenched guitar, demonstrating a star quality that belies her 24 years. [Feb 2020, p.33]

It's an album that delights, challenges and provokes, while reimagining old folk traditions. [Feb 2020, p.35]

This is not pastiche or revival - this is jazz created in a distinctly London accent; the sounds you hear in cars and minicabs, the fractured beats you hear pouring out of teenagers' phones - refracted through the prism of jazz. [Mar 2020, p.28]

A set of 12 colour-saturated, avant electronic-soul tracks, where Sumney's extraordinary voice is strong, clear and central to the mix rather than one element of it. [Apr 2020, p.37]

While Hutchings' trademark, frantically circling sax figures are prominent, it's the album's sombre moments that prove the most powerful. [Apr 2020, p.35]

Hearing these instantaneous, improvised rituals makes the world feel a little less huge. [Jun 2020, p.29]

If Deleted Scenes feels somewhat anachronistic, it doesn't blunt the quality of the songs within. [Jun 2020, p.37]

Crockett's warm, buttery vocals melt through his latest collection, which delves into mid-century cowboy soundtracks for its cinematic plushness and moody grace. [Sep 2020, p.28]

Terrific follow-up. [Oct 2020, p.29]

The new album is singular in its conception and an impressive leap forward in terms of execution. [Nov 2020, p.20]

This is the sound of celebration of life, and of music escaping confinement and coming to be freed. [Dec 2020, p.20]