While Long Live The Strange turns the outsiderism of Supergrass's Strange Ones into an anthem, with bonus chorale. The rest is more soul-searching, but with instrumental structuring and melodic grace of satisfying excellence. [Feb 2023, p.82]

The narrative lines are fractured, the satire removed; these songs play out like stress responses, fight-or-flight impulses, each one a little panic room. ... There’s not a lot of feeling OK on CACTI, but for once, it feels like exactly the right place for Billy Nomates. She’s brought herself, entirely. [Feb 2023, p.86]

The six lengthy meditations here refine the formula. [Jan 2023, p.84]

The finale to an exemplary act of curation. [Jan 2023, p.102]

It's Plain's elusive ruminations and off-balance poetics that resonate in ever more artful, affecting ways. [Feb 2023, p.88]

Muted, syncopated beats, ghostly pedal steel and icy Solina string machine conspire to create the effect of a slow-motion scene: unwanted debris blowing away in the wind, with our stronger and more resolved singer standing at the centre of the wreckage. Even amid the ashes of her past, it seems, Margo Price keeps burning ever more brightly. [Feb 2023, p.80]

Heaps more respect's due for the full-bloodedness of rippers like Frenzy, Modern Day Rip Iff and Neo Punk. ... Four-letter lyricism and dumb-ass riffing, however, leave you craving the substance of '16's Homme-guided Post Pop Depression. [Feb 2023, p.85]

The group demonstrate their vocal prowess on Hamba, a relentless dance groove featuring plaintive a cappella harmonies. [Dec 2022, p.89]

Songs decay, disappear, swell, mutate, Dalt's seductive, lonesome voice investing them with a sinuous, alien romanticism. [Feb 2023, p.87]

The sheer relentlessness dilutes that thrill factor, but there are shades, notably on the stately opener 2022 and the closing Sleep Cult. [Feb 2023, p.91]

She has found a new confidence in her sound. [Feb 2023, p.92]

Strings offers one of his most vulnerable vocal takes yet on John Deere Tractor, a tender note home to a country mom from a son stuck in and troubled by a city; it feels like a letter from the road, hungover and threadbare. And the playing is flawless and charged, from Cleveland’s steam-engine fiddle during Way Downtown to Rob McCoury’s edgy delicacy during Frosty Morn. [Jan 2023, p.85]

Her torch-song voice is often exposed by spare arrangements - a solemn piano or glowing embers of electric guitar - but songs also burst into euphoric life, like exorcisms. [Jan 2023, p.91]

Despite the band's commendably cyclonic hardcore punk energy, Premonition underscores the fact that White Lung are a vehicle with only one gear, and one that has now run out of road. [Jan 2023, p.88]

Barnes's first outing in seven years offers a timely blast of healing positivity, all but impossible to resist. [Jan 2023, p.84]

Stewart sets about pushing up the earth under these delicate folk orchestrations and prog madrigals with subversive skill. [Dec 2022, p.91]

Eight lengthy bouts of exquisite thrumming folk. [Jan 2023, p.86]

Effortlessly good fun. [Jan 2023, p.99]

Exhaustive box set. ... Very much like a portrait artist will make numerous sketches, so we see the evolution of these songs as Bowie rewrites lyrics, improves melodies, tweaks arrangements, each stage an improvement on the previous. [Jan 2023, p.94]

Warren's razor-sharp lyricism - and her ability to deliver hard truths and cold comforts s gracefully - ensure Lessons For Mutants is endlessly compelling. [Dec 2022, p.85]

Inessential recordings predating the Tuaregs' breakthrough by a decade. [Dec 2022, p.93]

This jazz grandee has nothing to prove, but his quest for a deeper understanding of the human spirit is encapsulated by Sacred Thread. [Dec 2022, p.87]

Tempus is overwhelming serene. [Dec 2022, p.89]

One of the most inventive, exploratory albums of the year. [Jan 2023, p.90]

[Jess Shoman's] roller-coaster voice, sometimes Kermit-like, sometimes as out there as Mary Margaret O'Hara, is an acquired taste. yet she's successfully sensual on Be. ... Everything comes together on Sharp Wheel. [Dec 2022, p.82]

The pop and alt-country arrangements shine throughout, with all concerned inspired and on point. [Dec 2022, p.85]

There's a first-take feel, which the Horse are known for, and a whole lot of background harmonies, which they're not. [Dec 2022, p.84]

Titles like Telekinetoscopes and After The Visions are as gripping as the levitating grooves and flickering pulses that accompany them. [Jan 2023, p.93]

Amid these epic soundtracks of rage and empathy, the legend of the Loaf lives again. [Jan 2023, p.86]

While the odd misstep lurks, longueurs are few and far between, the skippy guitar figure of Nightcrawler and creeping tension of Wide I's scaling harmonic heights against the odds, recalling early millennial triumphs Double Figure and Spokes. [Jan 2023, p.86]

Springsteen's choice of songs, especially in the deep tracks and left turns, also i=underscores a deeper retrospect and aspiration. [Jan 2023, p.82]

And In The Darkness, Hearts Aglow again shows Mering's most extraordinary craft. [Dec 2022, p.82]

Abetted by producer Photay's sharp editing skills and tactile sound design, KALAK's wildly careening spirituals up the ante with missionary glee and emotional intelligence, Korwar tapping into the diversity of the Indian diaspora via some of his most captivating, immediate and inventive compositions to date. Not for the first time, he's raised the bar. [Dec 2022, p.88]

Even with the bright flickers of Kate Bush-like experimentation and excellent Depeche Mode disco, though, these songs tend to lack the high-definition of 2018's Chris, their earnestly fixed intensity never quite catching from pop smoulder to earth-scorching flame. [Dec 2022, p.84]

The Space Between is a delicate, dignified joy. [Nov 2022, p.86]

It's utterly convincing and frequently ace. [Nov 2022, p.87]

Protector feels rooted in the psychedelic quicksand that surrounded 2020 debut, and Of No Junction. It's no less enchanting though. [Dec 2022, p.92]

Ezra Collective's confidence hits a fizzing high on this freewheeling 14-track double. [Dec 2022, p.87]

Palomino is a wholly convincing bid for wider recognition. [Dec 2022, p.84]

This second is more sophisticated [than 2018 debut Sistahs]; distorted guitars still feedback and synths jar, but there is also mellotron, violin and Omnichord bringing subtlety and depth. [Dec 2022, p.91]

Thrilling collective racket. [Dec 2022, p.90]

[Luke Haines] has never been backed like this before. ... It's as if The WreckingCrew wound up on a Skip Spence album. [Nov 2022, p.91]

F&M hit peak funkiness on this fat-free blend of Krautrock pulses and pop melodies. [Nov 2022, p.94]

It retains the singer's inherent quirks while offering a more accessible sound. [Dec 2022, p.87]

Revolver presents an accomplished, almost impenetrable sheen - which makes the archaeology provided by the outtakes and different mixes all the more involving. ... You can hear the pace of their lives and their ideas in this perfect encapsulation of The Beatles at their peak. [Dec 2022, p.96]

Their third LP is mostly comprised of ground-quaking punk-dance anthems, they're also politically charged, shot through with ribald wit, simmering anger and references to philosopher Frantz Fanon. [Dec 2022, p.93]

Its peaks evoke Jack White's maximalist blues fusion. [Nov 2022, p.94]

A sonic adventure best enjoyed with very good headphones. [Dec 2022, p.85]

Up-tempo and poppy, Simple Minds' energy remains undiminished on Direction Of The Heart. [Nov 2022, p.90]

A potpourri of country, rock, bluegrass and folk, the constant being top-shelf picking and soaring harmonies. [Nov 2022, p.93]

Isn't shy about where it's coming from, and it is assured. But ... It lacks their previous warmth. [Nov 2022, p.93]

Their albums from this period were a little low on magic, but this is the real deal, an organic sound full of strange, shadowy moods and adventurous and melodic playing. [Nov 2022, p.104]

Full of perfect pop, its 10 songs are giddy bursts of optimism and wonderment. [Nov 2022, p.86]

It's bracing, intense stuff, though the bleak wit that runs through Morris's proclamations and Dimitri Coats' brawny riffage ensures the earache is addictive. [Dec 2022, p.90]

Delirious, danceable songs with emotional heft. [Dec 2022, p.89]

This is a more soulful, less arch record than Tranquility Base. Not quite as detached from Monkeys past as it first appears, either. [Dec 2022, p.84]

All told, an uproarious upgrade on the garage bashfest. [Dec 2022, p.86]

With its major keys, funky breakbeats, scorching guitar solos and soothing flutes, here's one Gizzard Magnum opus not to miss in the deluge. [Dec 2022, p.92]

Any sense that the listener is being short-changed is blown away by the sheer quality of the writing and production on offer. [Dec 2022, p.84]

At first spiky and combative, gradually (and ultimately) it is hypnotic and calmative. [Dec 2022, p.89]

James's reputation as one of electronic music's most daring, inquisitive artists grows record by record. [Dec 2022, p.91]

Experimental, but far from intimidating. [Dec 2022, p.94]

Eclectic and even occasionally upbeat. ... His croon remains dizzyingly swoonsome. [Dec 2022, p.94]

There's often an old-world gravitas and a contemporary lightness of touch at play simultaneously, the tangible lineage of these story-rich, often long-form songs reaching deep within you. [Nov 2022, p.89]

None [of the guest artists] crowd out Hitchcock's distinctive songwriting, though, nor his undimmed ability to reach through the existential murk and grasp a revelation or two. [Nov 2022, p.90]

Vivid, touch-sensitive responses to a world unravelling. [Nov 2022, p.90]

With Callahan's romantic certainty comes rare writerly confidence: several tunes bask in this miraculous feeling. ... Outright classic. [Nov 2022, p.86]

Frank and redemptive, it's a journey of small Texas towns and wide open spaces. [Nov 2022, p.89]

It is as timely as it is sobering and, in places, austerely, compellingly beautiful. [Nov 2022, p.90]

Nothing Special sometimes swims so far out of focus that it's difficult to share Sheff's vision, while at other times it surges and soars towards everything that was fascinating about Okkervil River. [Nov 2022, p.84]

An intriguing, stylistic volte-face. [Nov 2022, p.94]

Under The Midnight Sun invests those primal energies with the wisdom of age, creating something fresh and powerful. [Nov 2022, p.85]

As The Moon Rests is thrillingly bleak, but not so bleak there isn't a crack of light visible at all times. [Nov 2022, p.93]

A mind-blowing creation merging the high period Dungen of Ta Det Lugnt with its more straightforward predecessor, 2002's Stadsvandringar. [Nov 2022, p.91]

Lovely vocals from both Mitchell and Johnson and a mellow, timeless mood. [Nov 2022, p.87]

Their first album in eight years finds their bond as strong as ever, Burton scoring Mercer's pocket heartaches for widescreen. [Nov 2022, p.90]

If April's slick Midnight Rockers album was a post Studio One career highlight for reggae legend Horace Andy, then this dubbed-up companion LP even takes it up a notch. [Oct 2022, p.82]

Allen turned 98 this year, yet the fire still burns brightly - his otherworldly creations keeping faith with his Afrofuturist mentor's grand design. [Nov 2022, p.91]

He's not strayed too far from his usual template: beautifully crafted yet unashamedly earthly songs which soar and contemplate at just the right moment. [Nov 2022, p.89]

Loose Future positions Andrews between Waxahatchee and Angel Olsen, a triumvirate of singer-songwriters finding new alleyways in and out of familiar territory. These 10 absorbing songs, likewise, are testaments to remaining in motion. [Nov 2022, p.88]

Deceptively light on first hearing, Anywhere But Here possesses a vulnerability and depth its predecessor lacked. [Nov 2022, p.93]

Budget-price corporations such as Lidl and Ryanair take a mauling, amid a sonic barrage which occasionally coalesces into pleasing punk-funk but mostly glories in making lap-steel sound like a cement mixer. [Nov 2022, p.92]

Another self-titled album is a risky statement of intent. The Bad Plus pull it off with pith and swank. [Nov 2022, p.91]

Their penchant for bold riffs and big climaxes comes with little individual grandstanding. [Nov 2022, p.91]

It's heavy stuff, but reliably gorgeous musically. [Nov 2022, p.82]

[Cryptic, allusive, impressionistic, The Bible needs its own concordance at times. Yet, after three decades on a quest to close in on the mysteries of being human, Wagner's perceptive edge hasn't blunted. [Oct 2022, p.83]

There is piquancy in Mogwai's elegiac mix of Super, and the programmed beats heresy of Stephen Morris and Gabe Gurnsey's re-rub of Hallogallo, but the real miracles begin with the LPs proper. [Oct 2022, p.102]

The sound of an artist surfacing from his dank hypogean world and embracing a new warmth. [Aug 2022, p.89]

The lack of drums adds extra intimacy to four gently rising and falling Lloyd originals. ... Understatement is Ocean's greatest strength. [Nov 2022, p.84]

Its 13 songs are mostly slow but diverse. ... Sometimes sentimental, sung in a dusty voice that still sounds strong. [Oct 2022, p.90]

Even though it's only eight tracks long - a rare example of the band having some chill - their fifth album feel like it's operating on a cosmic scale. [Nov 2022, p.92]

Editors have hatched a perturbed and maximalist affair whose thundering algorithms target the darkest, least inhibited corners of the dancefloor. [Oct 2022, p.90]

A pleasant way to pass time in transit, but not a destination itself. [Oct 2022, p.82]

Burgess's bushy-tailed optimism and quality control never dips. [Nov 2022, p.94]

This is as moving and real as Orton has ever been. [Oct 2022, p.86]

For all the ways these songs frenetically pinball into different corners, the nervous scratch and scrap of guitars tightening up and unspooling around obtuse angles and machine-gun rhythms, there's a deceptively complex musicality pinning everything together. [Nov 2022, p.89]

These former young lions are well on their way to becoming venerated old masters. [Nov 2022, p.91]

Vieux is on fine form, but it's yet more evidence that the Texans are one of the sharpest groups around. [Oct 2022, p.84]