What unifies these wildly disparate modes [political satirist. self-loathing lothario, celebrity stalker, Cali yacht-rocker, and Nilsson-like romantic crooner] is Baxter's musical sophistication, which puts him closer to the witty elegance of 10cc than the alt.country label he's been slapped with. [Sep 2018, p.26]

Epic debut, an emotionally rich and stylistically broad mediation on homeland, exile and identity. ... A lavish feast of an album. [Nov 2019, p.30]

This anniversary reissue is less concerned about the album as it is and more curious about how it might have sounded. ... Arguably the most revealing aspect of this reissue is Scott Litt's bold remix of Monster. [Dec 2019, p.40]

Out Of My Province retains the earthen quality of her previous works, but with an added confidence, her words enunciated with a newfound assurance. [Apr 2020, p.22]

There's a gorgeously somnambulant yet softly romantic feel to these 10 songs. ... And it benefits from masterfully subtle arrangement touches. [Dec 2021, p.27]

There’s certainly an abundance of good ideas – often several within the course of one song, with hooks emerging from the fog before dissolving as quickly as they came – but the band seem to work through them in perfect harmony, on the way to even greater things. ... Their best album.

Richard Koch's trumpet and Shards' choral vocals on the spooky "Human Range" confirm his quiet urge to defy expectations. [Feb 2018, p.27]

More inward-looking than her conceptual debut, its emotive lyrics lending themselves to a more tightly focused musical palette. [Apr 2022, p.36]

Her quirky homespun arrangements have been toughened and broadened, adding a knowingly retro girl-group stomp and echo-drenched Spector-ish grandeur to windswept heartbreak anthems. [Apr 2011, p.85]

It's a heavy trip, with the exotic/erotic minimal techno of Ricardo Villalobos overlaid to intoxicating effect with the eerie hauntological manoeuvers of The Focus group. [Feb 2011, p.82]

The No. 1 slot will continue to elude him, but a strange, dank pop corner remains his and his alone. [Mar 2018, p.26]

[Fear Fun is] packed with sardonic, self-effacing songs that recall the finest traditions of harmony-soaked West Coast folk-and-country influenced rock'n'roll. [Jun 2012, p. 68]

A cappella shanty "Poor Old Horse" is a working class hymn with real bite, while muted electronica gives "As I Roved Out" a thoroughly modern sheen. [Feb 2018, p.35]

Past Life Regression is a perfect distillation of Quever’s aesthetic – 10 hook-filled tracks that bring to mind vintage Paisley Underground excursions, Barrett-era Floyd and jangly C86 moods. [Jul 2022, p.31]

Listening to the ramalama of "Slow Drip" and "Hot Tubes" you can't help but cheer them on. [Nov 2010, p.102]

These 12 songs have a resonance that's deep and wide, examining intimate/romantic connections and their power to wound and confuse, as well as relationships in the broader contexts of existential identity and being fused to a genealogical history. [Apr 2019, p.38]

Their angsty post-rock elements have been largely superseded by quivering/rousing chamber pop reminiscent of early Arcade fire and Florence + The Machine, yet a weird emotional intensity remains - along with a talent for self-mythology that inspires audible devotion in an excitable crowd. [Jul 2023, p.23]

This sequel similarly mixes hard country and mountain music, memorably on Harlan Howard's "Busted" and a plaintive "Half Over You." [Feb 2010, p.93]

A surreal sense of the macabre in everyday life remains their MO, from "Skunks"' shuffling crawl space inhabitants to the winged appetites of the softly intoned "Mothballs". [Oct 2023, p.29]

The record's feel, like West's College Dropout, offers a rich jukebox of gospel-tinged R&B flavours over which Common scatters his gems. [Aug 2005, p.97]

While there is some noodling with electronica, it's the understated melodies that linger. [Oct 2011, p.93]

Soul Time! is another thrilling homage to the glory days of Motown and Stax. [Dec 2011, p.87]

Producer Ross Orton helps sharpen their attack, and the quartet are at their very best on "White Rooms And People's" fierce synth-funk, the Suicide-like "Tomorrow" and the thudding grooves of Valleys." [Nov 2020, p.37]

It's the smoother, almost surfy, tones of tracks like "Deep Infatuation" and "Earl & Duke" that offer a pleasing change of tone from the familiar indie racket. [Dec 2020, p.29]

It's a nuanced handling of some of her recent song obsessions. [Jan 2021, p.27]

More pastoralism wouldn't go astray, but Centralia is very charming. [Feb 2013, p.77]

The songs, reworked with producer Patrick Hyland over a three-year period, shapeshift in time to the lyrics. [Mar 2022, p.32]

This is a stunning album, bristling with astute and funny words, glorious tunes and delivered in performances all the more impressive for sounding so utterly effortless. [Mar 2008, p.80]

The Hunter feels purposely immediate. [Nov 2011, p.93]

Another triumph for the post-classical scene. [Oct 2011, p.81]

Songhoy Blues take the fusion of West African desert rhythms and rock'n'roll a further step down the road trodden so thrillingly by Tinariwen. [Mar 2015, p.81]

It's a bittersweet study of fate and circumstance that resonates long after it's over. [Apr 2016, p.70]

A set which is at times whimsical, and frequently dark--sometimes managing to combine these sensations. [Apr 2017, p.39]

Great stuff. More please. [May 2021, p.27]

The music is tight and telepathic. [Nov 2011, p.90]

It is his most beguiling release yet. [May 2010, p.85]

This is the album Lynne should've made after I Am.... [Nov 2003, p.120]

In just over 35 minutes, the Bonnie Prince's mastery of form, blend of gentle awe and trembling sweetness are distilled to their essence. [Album of the Month, Feb 2003, p.74]

A sinewy mix of punk, dub, soul, good tunes and classic guy-rock. [Mar 2004, p.87]

The sharpest, most imaginative and downright listenable album of Blur's career to date.... A grown-up alt.rock album of breathtaking potency and invention. [Album of the Month, June 2003, p.90]

This third album is even better, his voice smoother, more assured, and the tunes equally as confident. [Nov 2010, p.92]

Adopting Franz Ferdinand's arty edginess and the raw energy of the Pistols, Art Brut tilt at everything from the ephemeral nature of popular culture to erectile dysfunction. [Jun 2005, p.100]

The Grinderman hat seems to have tilted the basic Bad Seeds stance brilliantly on its side, bringing out a new humour and a grumpy-old-rocker gravitas. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Mountains' skillful manipulation of texture and space creates a sound that stealthily envelopes you like an Appalachian fog. [mar 2009, p.92]

Generous of spirit and cutting-edge sound, Hopelessness is a statement for our times, and one that will not be easy to dismiss. [Jun 2016, p.63]

It's a record that begs for repeat listens. [Oct 2020, p.36]

The overall mixture of anger and longing, fierceness and calm, is breathtaking. [Nov 2014, p.68]

A mini-masterpiece. [Jun 2012, p.82]

It's a typical cyclical riff and chant but, unlike other Tuareg bands, driven by full drums. Elsewhere, the quieter "Achaka Achail Aynaian Daghchilan" comes complete with subtle blues flourishes. [Nov 2013, p.79]

This is a melancholic album, but a determined, thoughtful one. [Mar 2015, p.80]

Sounding emphatically Icelandic on every note, sister act Ásthildur and Jófrídur Ákadöttir coo gorgeously flinty, frosty, intertwined harmonies over stark, piano-led chamber-folk arrangements. [Sep 2016, p.78]

Wasteland retains a wilful catchiness. [Dec 2018, p.33]

Poet Joshua Idehen adds desperate, apocalyptic testimony to the opening of "All That Matters Is The Moments," while "The Lifeforce Part I" and "II" gradually dial up the intensity, Hutchings blowing with dervish energy as drums and synth lock into a spiraling groove. [Jan 2020, p.25]

Richly textured music. [Apr 2020, p.35]

The mood of Expert In A Dying Field is yearning and reflective, as Stokes picks over the bones of relationships on mournful janglers like “Your Side”, punky rocker “Silence Is Golden”, the shimmering “Best Left” and terrific closer “2am”. [Oct 2022, p.25]

Singing exclusively in Turkish, it's hard to judge her message, but her voice is a gloriously expressive instrument full of mystery. [Nov 2018, p.23]

Ayewa always makes ambitious albums, but Jazz Codes feels like her richest yet, her Lemonade, her To Pimp A Butterfly. [Sep 2022, p.28]

The use of reverberant instruments such as marima, bells and steel drums--as well as, on "Stick To My Side," the ethreal vocals of Noah 'Panda Beear" Lennox--give a real depth to his ambitious productions, and yet despite the elemental yearning, they retain a clubby toughness. Breth-taking stuff. [Mar 2010, p.90]

As strong as this record is, there's a way to go to make good on the promise of its title. [Nov 2005, p.92]

A compelling new chapter in their long history. [Jun 2020, p.39]

It's a record of passion and richness, with a hoard of memorable songs, that demands to be treated the equal of its inspirations. [Sep 2003, p.102]

The result is typically elegant and--perhaps surprisingly, given the circumstances--uplifting work about the affairs of the heart. [Mar 2016, p.80]

Visiter suggesting both a rhythm-centric Shins and a more hard-bitten Feelies. [Aug 2008, p.90]

The production is beautifully OTT, with everything stretched and digital, zeroes and ones working binary overtime to warp some of Herrema and Hagerty's greatest anthems into robotic rock mantras. [Feb 2013, p.94]

Aching pop-soul bathed in nostalgic warmth of another era. ... Yet Atkins is also possessed of a singular, torchy voice that floods these songs with genuine fervour. [Aug 2017, p.25]

He's gone full pastoral, the birdsong and countryside imagery matching the dreamy, sunny major-sevenths. [Sep 2017, p.30]

A beautifully languid collaboration with three members of his Lighthouse band. [Dec 2018, p.23]

Like much of Kent's work, the mood is melancholy and the focus is on her intricate production. There's plenty to admire in Kent's elegant phrasing, her cello longing and mournful. [Feb 2019, p.27]

As a back-to-the-roots album which at the same time packs a vital contemporary relevance, Mira does everything you could ask and more. [Mar 2019, p.28]

Though they're all pushing 40, Hot Chip have seldom sounded as youthful and carefree as they do on seventh studio album A Bath Full Of Ecstasy. [Jul 2019, p.29]

Bryant spins vocal somersaults over a deliciously slow-burning, spartan accompaniment, while several Memphis veterans add some Allman-style rock wigouts. [Jun 2020, p.27]

There’s always a risk with these kinds of collaborations – too many cooks, watering down the essence – but that’s largely avoided on Where’s The One?, thanks to the openness and playful spirit of the music. [Jun 2022, p.25]

All necessarily mood but never morose. [May 2023, p.32]

When it's glorious, it really is glorious. [Jul 2018, p.18]

You'll be hard pushed to find a more adventurously self-assured debut this year. [Mar 2021, p.27]

If I'm New Here was a triumph for Russell and Scott-Heron, We're New Here reveals a maverick production talent in Jamie Smith that his band's records have only hinted at. [Mar 2011, p.95]

The Boy Named if is a thunderous, furious reconnection with the more splenetic chapters of his catalogue - though if there's a difference between this and Blood 7 chocolate or This Year's Model, it's that Costello here sounds like he's thoroughly enjoying himself. [Mar 2022, p.26]

The further [Darnielle] drifts from his lo-fi allegiances and into lush studio environments, the more autobiography intersects with the dramatic storytelling which has always been the Californian's forte. [Jun 2005, p.98]

Uber-angsty but hugely exciting. [Jun 2016, p.74]

An album bursting with adventure and originality. [Jul 2014, p.83]

Burke... intuitively transforms a bunch of country tunes into gospel rave-ups and secular hymns. [Nov 2006, p.101]

That Jarak Qaribak manages to combine that respect - for the songs, the singers and their various cultures - with a free-flowing, light sense of exploration that feels joyfully current, is its triumph. [Jul 2023, p.31]

Noisy but thoughtful, and frenzied but melodic. [Feb 2018, p.32]

The result is the most accessible Scott Walker album since Tilt, perhaps even longer. [Nov 2014, p.74]

Royal Headache's second album oscillates between slightly unconvincing punk throwback and much more effective complex numbers. [Oct 2015, p.81]

You can choose to interact with this theme [an alien visiting Earth] or let it drift to the background, instead sinking into ¡Ay!'s gently shifting moods of innocence, curiosity and delight. [Nov 2022, p.28]

There's an inherent creepiness in his frequently audacious work that makes it hard to connect with on an emotional level. [Jul 2018, p.33]

Multidimensional. ... This rotating playlist of styles and sincerity will rankle with some--it's very earnest about addiction, love and our internet selves--but rather that than banal conformity. [Feb 2019, p.23]

The Smile take Radiohead’s privileges seriously, rewarding our attention with music that demands and – crucially – holds it. No frills, no distractions. A little like Radiohead, then; but there’s nothing wrong with that. [Feb 2024, p.29]

It's an invitation to peer into the hidden spaces of an extraordinary modern songwriter, where calm and quiet moments prompt superlative work. [Nov 2018, p.32]

Appealing collection of African folk songs played on curiously tuned guitars and percussion fashioned from farm implements by a trio of survivors from Rwanda's ruinous genocide. [Dec 2019, p.27]

It's a deeply ambitious debut offering. Musically, it ducks and weaves like the shape-shifters that populate its world. [Feb 2021, p.30]

A sumptuous feast. [Sep 2023, p.24]

One of its overarching joys is its relative directness, very much a conscious deciaion on the group's part. This is Deerhoof we're talking about, though - they still play it like they're hurtling towards collapse at breakneck speed, before pulling everything together with a fantastic flourish. [May 2023, p.28]

The lovely songs have such a languid unity of purpose. [May 2016, p.75]

Another Szunny delight. [Oct 2018, p.34]

For the most part, though, this is the Manics as you'd want them to be--thrilling, bombastic and sometimes ridiculous, but still raging. [Aug 2014, p.75]

It's their angriest, jitteriest and most aggressive album since their early-90s heyday, and on "Reagan Youth" and "All For You" Superchunk sound like a hardcore band half their age. [Mar 2018, p.32]