If life's what you make it, here Anderson makes it sound very beautiful indeed. [Dec 2023, p.92]

The quieter moments work best, like the moody, organ-led reworking of Shakin' All Over, which lesser bands have thrashed into the ground over the years but really shines here. [Dec 2023, p.86]

Though Anderson buries his voice and words in the maelstrom, his declared (if not immediately) apparent) theme of a constantly thwarted search for "true love" seems right at home in shoegazing's characteristic marriage of bliss and anxiety. [Dec 2023, p.93]

Los Angeles already feels like a destination record, Lee, Tolhurst and Budgie putting their decades of world-building expertise to excellent use. If the world they have built is on the brink of collapse, it only adds to the thrill. [Dec 2023, p.85]

A queasy heat seeps into the Sonic Youth hiss and clang of My Little Tony, Jelsy's Bad Seeds metallic thrum and Shoo's slow, high plains drift. [Dec 2023, p.94]

They are spare but complete, as rich as old letters or photographs. [Dec 2023, p.86]

This new box set offers a ton of unreleased tracks (47 in total). Ranging from the ropey – Schoolyard sees him at the age of 32 singing about losing his virginity at 16 to, erk, a 14-year-old girl; Horny Pony features a toe-curling rap – to the bafflingly binned, they nonetheless provide real insight into Prince’s creative mind. Highlights include ghetto chronicle The Voice, jazz instrumental tribute Letter 4 Miles (recorded two days after his friend Davis’s death) and, best of all, the gently trippy Alice Through The Looking Glass. [Dec 2023, p.105]

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

Bauhaus Staircase shows OMD thriving as much as surviving. [Dec 2023, p.91]

The production ideas and songs, however smart, won't change the world; they will, however, prompt large swathes to sing along. [Dec 2024, p.84]

Even when further adrift from the lost funk sampledelia that made his name, Shadow's production brilliance shines through. [Dec 2023, p.90]

No new ground is broken, but everyone emerges unscathed. [Dec 2023, p.86]

The emphasis on experiment and process means there are fewer newly-excavated compositions - Like Veils Said Lorraine, a For The Roses orphan; the modal guitar reveries Sunshine Raga and Bonderia, the former with tabla and free-form trilling - but no less in the way of surprises. [Dec 2023, p.96]

The story arc LeBlanc has stitched into the songs never get in the way of sheer enjoyment of the tunes he's created. Grand concepts are a tricky move for any artist, but LaBlanc pulls it off with plomb. [Dec 2023, p.91]

Ultimately, the thrills on The Silver Cord are intermittent, but you have to admire Gizzard's relentless pursuit of the next high. [Dec 2023, p.87]

Black Bayou is surely the album Finley was put on Earth to create, filled with stories only he could tell. [Dec 2023, p.82]

Sun-scorched Californian jams. [Dec 2023, p.87]

Variously evoking a gnarlier early R.E.M., The Hold Steady, and, yes, Springsteen, other songs here occasionally suffer from over-telegraphed choruses, but Fallon's fervour and gift for an apposite metaphor - "I'm a weatherman watching the skies, trying to read you" - are evident. [Nov 2023, p.86]

A masterclass in sound design, Bolted creeps up slowly then engulfs you. [Dec 2023, p.91]

Ozarker is both sentimental and hard-nosed, nostalgic about a past without ignoring the modern world's gritty reality. [Dec 2023, p.93]

Although only nine tracks, it's a sprawling affair revisiting just about every road he's previously travelled, but somehow tying them all together for the first time. [Dec 2023, p.92]

Lahai is less introspective and far from lonely, its persuasive positivity carried by a contained riot of euphoric synths, swelling violins, Chic guitars and skittering percussion. [Dec 2023, p.90]

Pearlies has more the feel of a wistful autumnal folk record than any kind of'90s throwback. [Dec 2023, p.92]

Although partially undone by some same filler, Crosses' opaque longing peaks on Girls Float + Boys Cry. [Dec 2023, p.88]

Skinner's grown-up musings are more twisty and cryptic than his rascally early work, but no less incisive or well-wrought. Inimitable, humane, flawed, it's good to have him back. [Dec 2023, p.86]

Hackney Diamonds feels like a self-aware, historically mindful party, Jagger’s remarkable vocal thrust utterly unimpaired.

There's almost too much to bask in. [Nov 2023, p.91]

Wood's most accessible set to date is also her most ambitious, for its Byzantine approach to its concept, but also for her honesty and openness. [Nov 2023, p.88]