Ultimately hit and miss, Justice's gift for arena-friendly hooks remains undimmed. [May 2024, p.86]

A certain rock'n'roll energy is lacking. .... Think: transitional. [Jun 2024, p.86]

Octopoidal, Milford Graves-style fee jazz, miraculously achieving a sort of zen clarity. [Jun 2024, p.92]

Never overwrought, A La Sala is a cool exercise in the beauty of restraint and understated groove mastery, exploring new vistas without subverting Khruangbin's blueprint. [Jun 2024, p.88]

Ramona has a very on-Broadway energy. There are occasional Blue Hotel lapses, but I'm Getting Married To The War or A Precious Thing come across like a rock opera Aldous Harding, while title track - inspired by Bob Dylan's 1964 song To Ramona - is the third curtain-call Patti Smith. The force of her voice alone earths these songs. [May 2024, p.86]

The group takes aim at the deadening effect of copywriting, the need for bands to "have so many things to sell you" and the conspicuous tastefulness of some online music fans. Unsubtle but often archly funny, this commentary goes down easier thanks to a melodically complex tunefulness that consistently serve up gems. [May 2024, p.82]

It's the LP's sparer, outward-looking, more spontaneous-sounding songs which house the best melodies. [May 2024, p.85]

It's the tracks that mix it up a bit that appeal most. [Apr 2024, p.90]

Despite one-time Rudimental leader Amir Amor's rather flat production and the dearth of all-out tub-thumpers beyond the wry The Lads, they've transformed themselves inti a differently beguiling proposition. [Mar 2024, p.88]

It really shouldn't work, but like much of It Leads To This, it does. [Mar 2024, p.91]

The melancholy feels more goth than hippy and, ultimately, both the sounds and lyrics feel unresolved. [Apr 2024, p.90]

She's still drawn to the edges like a death's-head moth to an inferno, but once you are in Wolfe's distinctive headspace, it's easy to believe they are her comfort zone, and maybe even yours. [Mar 2025, p.85]

But, for all the technical proficiency, there's a sense of nobody ushing themselves too hard. [Mar 2024, p.91]

Tapir!'s considerable world-building skills impress, even if seven-minute closer Mountain Song seems a little directionless. [Feb 2024, p.88]

After the initial shock, the pair's songwriting smarts cuts through persuasively, alongside strong messaging about acknowledging your needs and vulnerabilities. [Feb 2024, p.88]

There's no doubt Mackenzie Scott never stops moving here, switching between gothic sway, grungy stomp and electro-pop gyration, but it can make it hard to catch her eye in a meaningful way. [Mar 2024, p.86]

New ground is not broken, but happily, neither are they. [Jan 2024, p.86]

Zietsch's music upholds the sparse, haunted tone set by Lana Del Ray, the minimalism so acute that each chord change often lasts for just one stroke of the strings or ivories. [Jan 2024, p.88]

Grace For Saints And Ramblers, from 2013's Ghost On host, is delivered with nonchalant Lou Reed rhythm; 2017's About A Bruise displays a freewheeling agility, while The Trapeze Swingers plus right into Beam's storytelling mode. [Jan 2024, p.91]

Pro-synth voluntaries like Znaniya (Falkor) can jar, but the highlights foreground Atwood-Ferguson as a widescreen visionary in the David Axelrod and Charles Stepney tradition, with a Rolodex of jazz hitters to call on. [Dec 2023, p.89]

Hatfield eschews radical reinventions, but her peeling away of the more finessed layers surrounding Lynne's indestructible melodies/chord sequences works a treat on Can't Get It out Of My head, Strange Magic and Telephone Line. [Nov 2023, p.92]

Even if there are moments when Rockstar seems under-amped, you have to admire her chutzpah. [Jan 2024, p.89]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

Occasionally they get lost in their own jams - the meandering Tripping In The Graveyard definitely overstays its welcome. By contrast, Impermanence And Death captures the at their best. [Nov 2023, p.90]

Traces lines to both Bill Callahan's downbeat philosophising and Jonathan Richman's crafted wit and primal rock'n'roll chug. [Nov 2023, p.94]

They're all done pretty straight, but then of course eh throws in his trademark "more is More" soloing, all Bluesbreakers-to-Cream-era Eric Clapton-style muscle and intensity. [Nov 2023, p.93]

Smith often finds herself stuck in a musical straitjacket of tired R&B tropes, rarely able to break out of a narrow comfort zone. [Nov 2023, p.88]

To Bolero-riffed beat-pop, Soul Capturer beautifully exorcises today's digi-overload, while 22-minute Defeat finds hope in an entrancing oceanic ebb-and-flow, with all the child-like discovery of late'90s Mercury Rev. [Nov 2023, p.86]

Intimate, ambitious and just occasionally misfiring. [Oct 2023, p.82]

A "rumination on life and death," which suitably chimed with earth's current 'end times' vibe, from sorrow to rage, elevated by post-rock's most luminescent guitars. [Oct 2023, p.88]

Hard-won optimism, as ever, from this troubled heroine. [Oct 2023, p.78]

In places it verges on doodling, as if Barnett is endlessly tuning her guitar, but tracks such as Intro or Tiver sound darkly majestic, like deep, drifting hollowed-out Americana. [Oct 2023, p.78]

Empire State Bastard make you feel like you've been in a cage fight with Mike Tyson. [Oct 2023, p.82]

Evocative rather than vivid in a way that evokes Faith-era Cure's greyscale atmospheres, Everything IS Alive is the sound of Slowdive still holding their impressive earthly form. [Oct 2023, p.85]

Inevitably flawed yet fascinating, it's respectful without being reverent, less myth-making tribute, more robust embrace. [Aug 2023, p.81]

Its dozen tunes about finding love, rejecting losers, and criticising corrupt systems are a patchwork of assorted American pops. [Sep 2023, p.83]

Over 12 mostly blueprint-hugging songs returns diminish, but scuzzy beat-box disco outrider What Did I Ever To You is great. [Sep 2023, p.86]

The revivified Bush Tetras prove No Wave's not dead. [Sep 2023, p.86]

Sure, the age is clear in the voices of Matt Piucci and Steven Roback, but so is the honesty inside songs that mine lost brothers, opportunities, and time. [Jul 2023, p.86]

If there isn't a great leap forward, there is progression on assorted fronts, so The Best Is Yet To Come embraces all-out rock, but Scared Of Love suggests acoustic ballads could be an alternative way ahead. [Sep 2023, p.88]

Aqueous groove Up tackles mid-romance feelings of inadequacy, while coldwave-y Begging You Now infers a darker supplication. Ever-infectious, however, and rarely short of good fun, this one should substantially further the threesome's upward trajectory. [Sep 2023, p.91]

The second half - "a saucy, synth-heavy cabaret" - will undoubtedly lose a few fans, yet Rowland still manages to pull a gem out of the fire with the touching My Submission. [Aug 2023, p.78]

Over time, however, it can feel like Clarke has excised the excitement along with the Extraneous matter, his balefully lovelorn tenor, now right out front without distracting clutter, often too reedy to carry the show. [Sep 2023, p.84]

Fate Of The faithful is ostensibly No Quarter, Meeting The Master is Thank You, and The Falling Sky cribs a Robert Plant-style harp solo so perfectly that GVF can likely taste his spit. Be in no doubt, however, that frontman Josh Kiszka's Olympian wail can part the waves of cynicism and make the scales fall from your eyes. [Sep 2023, p.88]

While Django Django's eclectic impulses roam wild - Krautrock, house, techno, acid rave and electronica - on this sprawling set, they're anchored by duets. [Sep 2023, p.92]

He and his guests have history, but the second half of Mountains might have benefited from fewer backing singers - however good, they over-egg the songs. [Sep 2023, p.86]

The spartan structure makes for an intimate if one-paced experience and Potter's singing us more spoken in Marianne Faithfull style, with a hint of Weimar, but she's a beguiling storyteller. [Sep 2023, p.83]

At times City Of Gold may sound a little hungover after the euphoric heights of 2022, but Tuttle shows every sign of pushing through. [Aug 2023, p.78]

Discs two and three mostly consist of unedited or alternate takes of material on the main disc. A full-length Transylvania Boogie, previously released in edited form, turns out to have been mostly a long, meandering shuffle with a drum solo. Hitherto undocumented titles Halos And Arrows and Moldred turn out to be, respectively, an exploratory guitar overdub piece (all that’s missing is Joni Mitchell at the mike) and a brief Tommy/Vincent composite with added bass. [Aug 2023, p.90]

While all but a handful of the songs from the 13 track Angels & Queens have already been drip-fed via a series of singles, EPs and last year's seven-track mini-album, Gabriels' desire to take their time with the making of their long-awaited debut album has certainly paid off. [Jun 2023, p.84]

Coming in at just 28 minutes. .... But the grand old man of Afrobeat is on fine form throughout, challenging the horns and bass to follow his lead. [Aug 2023, p.83]

Ayers is a lovely singer in both English and Spanish; he rather less so on the London homage It's Another Night or the gently barbed I've Never Had A Good Time.... In Paris. When they harmonise on Room At The Top, though, they're a joy. [Jun 2023, p.89]

His rueful lyrics are mostly about relationship woes, although Florida Man is more serious, dealing with racism. [Aug 2023, p.82]

Sure, these blues are familiar, but at least these friends make 'em fun. [Aug 2023, p.82]

A beguiling sigh in itself. [Aug 2023, p.81]

As it swivels between rock hymns like the Boss-backed New York comeback and country laments like Jukebox, it becomes a primer for newcomers, not a unified statement on a par with 2020's raw Good Souls Better Angels or the landmark Car Wheels On A Gravel Road. Still, it is a triumph that this exists at all. [Aug 2023, p.80]

It's exquisitely crafted and the backing vocals on North Country Ride are beyond beautiful, but a little more colour in their palette wouldn't go amiss. [Aug 2023, p.78]

The tunes recall artworks born of constraint and a strictly limited palette, a very specific kind of less equalling more. [Aug 2023, p.80]

Based on what's here, it's impossible to guess which could follow next. [Jul 2023, p.84]

At times, her fluency leaves you wishing for a smudge or run that hasn't been place deliberately, but from the Tom Petty love-the-one-you're-with of Apples And Oranges to Cherry Baby's soft-focus disco, Lewis is a smart, fluent builder of her world. [Jul 2023, p.90]

Payseur's vocals might still sound diaphanous, his lyrics still concerned with small moments of sadness and pleasure, but there is now a structured professionalism here that will delight and confound others. [Jul 2023, p.82]

If it has little earth under its nails, with any background maid or shepherd perfectly cast and choreographed, there are still plenty of lovely, curious tableaux - among them David Byrne's dreamy appearance on Moondog's High On A Rocky Ledge, or Nina Simone-inspired Cotten Eyed Joe, featuring Chaka Khan. [Jul 2023, p.89]

Margo's deep, stentorian tones have remained almost unchanged since 1986's Whites Off Earth Now!! and Hell Is Real could have graced that LP. Even so, there's real evolution. [Jul 2023, p.84]

Too much of My Soft Machine is too smooth by half. [Jun 2023, p.95]

It's really hard not to feel the absence of David Crosby's harmonies. [Jun 2023, p.92]

The interplay between their vocals is tense and compelling, suggesting early Blonde Redhead. Their lyrics, meanwhile, are mysterious knots of angst. [Jul 2023, p.87]

The tension between philosophical lyrics and the invitingly cosmic fractals generated by the band can hit awkwardly, but this is a striking new shoot. [Jun 2023, p.95]

Lashes panoramic drum'n'bass rollers (Living In Recycled Times) to pulsing deep house (The Beginning Of The End) and amniotic ambient (Prism). [Jun 2023, p.95]

Spectral Lines tries to come at hurt, loss and destiny afresh, with Ritter's dexterity with universal themes often paying dividends. [Jun 2023, p.86]

A sometimes-striking record that suggests new ground without actually reaching it. [Jun 2023, p.84]

de Graaf is repositioning herself in a mightily crowded market, but the sometime human rights lawyer triumphs via intense lyrics about coming-of-age awareness, loneliness in the big city, life's unpredictability and, on Water Stains, the old chestnut of time's passing. [Mar 2023, p.87]

Most of its layered, ornate creations and moody conjurings emerge from a deep shoegaze rabbit hole redolent of Slowdive and Lush. [Jun 2023, p.90]

It's polished, professional, but one for the faithful. [May 2023, p.89]

Pedal steel still colours Safe To Run but so do fuzzier guitars; synthesizers are involved, and tributaries are equally pop, folk and rock. [Jun 2023, p.86]

The emphasis more on fractured, abstract improv rater than frenetic carousing. Interesting stuff, for sure. [May 2023, p.89]

Rainbow is bleak. [Jun 2023, p.105]

The album's second half-hour wilts, but the first is Temples Excelling as never before. [Jun 2023, p.92]

Stereo Mind Game certainly sustains an atmosphere, but it's a brooding and bleak one, and at times the darkness of Daughter's dream-pop can feel a bit suffocating. [Jun 2023, p.85]

All Roads Lead Home holds together surprisingly well. [May 2023, p.86]

Devoid of da funk it may be, but the scale and scope here are impressive. [May 2023, p.86]

Roberts' dying-Jacobite vocals remain thrillingly feeble, and Nic Jones-ly fingerpicking on Wonderful Grey Horse and Young Airly may draw in waverers. [May 2023, p.89]

Allowing Talk Talk, The Chameleons and David Sylvian to swell the ranks of recognisable names and the odd mystifying entry too - on what planet is The Wake's English rain ethereal, dream pop or showgaze? [May 2023, p.98]

This is a still-hungry group flexing their creative muscles. [May 2023, p.86]

An excursion into invention, forsaking preparation for nuggets of inspiration and a degree of rootless wander. [May 2023, p.89]

There are ravishing moments and startling lines, but these 10 tracks collectively plod, the band's early sugar-rush sophistication never returning to grace this deliberate growth. [May 2023, p.88]

A strangely bloodless album heavy on technical perfection rather than the visceral emotion at the core of the best roots music. [May 2023, p.91]

With many of Paisley's songs dealing with people struggling between places, timeframes or lovers, such unforced, reflective songwriting deftly grounds these unsteady experiences, an arrangement that simply works. [Apr 2023, p.85]

Predictable, perhaps, to mention Torrini's compatriot Bjork. ... Ultimately, though, RTS charts its own path. [Apr 2023, p.91]

There are featureless patches, bits of white-box real-estate that need a little more character, but there's always something intriguing around V's corners. [Apr 2023, p.89]