Reviews

Opinionated and informative criticism of all the music that counts

Ben LaMar Gay
Yowzers

The Chicago cornet player and composer smashes open contemporary jazz, pouring in a host of different styles, from samba to the blues

Reviews

Monasunne
Fields Become Sky

The past erupts into the present as composers Lara Agar and Louis d’Heudières go truffling through the teeming undergrowth of East Anglia

Reviews

Matthew Young
Undercurrents

Following re-issues of his 1980s album Recurring Dreams and Traveler's Advisory, Drag City release new material by the New Jersey dulcimer player and electroacoustic composer

Reviews

Emptyset
Dissever

Commissioned for Tate Modern's Electric Dreams exhibition, Paul Purgas and James Ginzburg turn the building's giant Turbine Hall into a buzzing, pulsating, resonant instrument

Reviews

Death in Vegas
Death Mask

1990s indie-dance survivor Richard Fearless returns with a record that offers a glimpse of something more personal beneath the clattering drum machines and psychedelic organ sounds

Reviews

Abul Mogard
Quiet Pieces

The latest from Guido Zen's ambient alterego evokes the colourfields of abstract art, finds Aydin Khalili

Reviews

Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko
Гільдеґарда (Hildergard)

Recorded in a Cistercian abbey, electronic producer Oleh Shkudeiko joins forces with Ukrainian vocalist Andriana-yaroslava Saienko to pay tribute to the 12th-century German mystic

Reviews

Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)

On its tenth anniversary, the Midwestern singer-songwriter returns to his classic autobiographical album with a new release featuring previously unreleased demos and outtakes. Listening to now double-disced record anew, Kat Lister finds a profound meditation on the nature of grief

Reviews

Smerz
Big City Life

Norwegian anti-pop duo send voice notes from the abyss of the contemporary mediascape

Reviews

Ammar 808
Club Tounsi

From Tunisia via Denmark, Sofyann Ben Youssef matches Arabic scales and Sufi hymns to vintage drum machines and club-ready production styles

Reviews

Daniel O’Sullivan
Eros

Backed by a 14-piece classical ensemble, the Grumbling Fur member's latest is both rather whimsical and rather beautiful, finds Ed Power

Reviews

These New Puritans
Crooked Wing

On their fifth album, the brothers Barnett tap into a peculiarly English unusual, channeling their unique romanticism towards new forms of intensity

Reviews

Water Damage
Instruments

Austin-based motorik supergroup (feat. David Grubbs, Patrick Shiroishi and Thor Harris) ascend to the astral plane

Reviews

Karman Line Collective
To Be

Wolfgang Buttress and friends follow the bees’ lead on an album full of apian tooting, quacking and purring

Reviews

The Fall
Singles Live Vol.1: 1978–81

The smell of Benson & Hedges ashtrays pervades these early concert recordings, personally selected by the dream team of Paul Hanley, Steve Hanley, Marc Riley and Craig Scanlon

Reviews

Goddess
Goddess

Savages' Fay Milton delivers a hymn to 'feminine energy', with guest spots from Salvia, Isabel Muñoz-Newsome, Delilah Holliday and others

Reviews

I’m Being Good
Shapeshitter

Nine albums and the best part of four decades in, the Brighton noiseniks continue to confound and appal in equal measure with a record of brutish riffs and sudden explosions

Reviews

Ash Fure
Animal

Award-winning composer strikes at the palpable physical presence of sound

Reviews

Cole Pulice
Land’s End Eternal

Bon Iver's sax player goes it alone with an album of fluttering ambience and uncanny cyborg systems

Reviews

Billy Woods
Golliwog

The New York rapper’s latest is a return home, but the house is haunted, finds Francis Buseko

Reviews

Quinquis
eor

Sung in Breton and quivering with modular synth sounds, the Ushant-based producer conjures the rippling of water

Reviews

Moin
Belly Up

Smaller in scale than its predecessor, the new release from Moin is stil a wild and blissful trip, with additional contributions from Ben Vince and Sophia Al-Maria

Reviews

Red Mar
Our Low Cell

Impressive debut from UK post-rock quintet throws everything at the wall, then smashes the wall into little bits and throws that, too

Reviews

Andy Bell
Ten Crowns

Erasure singer heads to Nashville, belts out a suite of ten big pop anthems seasoned with a healthy dash of club music, gospel and Debbie Harry

Reviews

Mclusky
The world is still here and so are we

Two decades since their last album, the Welsh post-hardcore group return with jagged riffs and irreverent song titles still firmly in place, finds Oliver Cookson

Reviews

Das Kinn
Ruinenkampf

Frankfurt's former geriatric nurse imagines The Stranglers discovering EBM on experimental Hamburg label Bureau B

Reviews

Staraya Derevnya
Garden window escape

Psychedelic septet tread the line between motorik groove and full-blown freak-out, finds Rosie Solomon

Reviews

elijah jamal asani
,,, as long as i long to memorise your sky ,,,

Beautiful, sparse lowercase music recorded at the bottom of the Grand Canyon

Reviews

Deerhoof
Noble And Godlike In Ruin

On their nineteenth album, the San Francisco quartet show no signs of letting up their brutal assault on pop music conventions

Reviews

The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners
Plays music by Mariam Gviniashvili, Aleksandra Słyż, Gerard Lebik, Luigi Russolo, John Hegre

Recreating the bizarre instrumentarium of Futurist artist Luigi Russolo, Luciano Chessa and his orchestra play new music by Mariam Gviniashvili, Aleksandra Słyż, and others

Reviews

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Ben LaMar Gay Yowzers

Monasunne Fields Become Sky

Matthew Young Undercurrents

Emptyset Dissever

Death in Vegas Death Mask

Abul Mogard Quiet Pieces

Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko Гільдеґарда (Hildergard)

Sufjan Stevens Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)

Smerz Big City Life

Ammar 808 Club Tounsi

Daniel O’Sullivan Eros

These New Puritans Crooked Wing

Water Damage Instruments

Karman Line Collective To Be

The Fall Singles Live Vol.1: 1978–81

Goddess Goddess

I’m Being Good Shapeshitter

Ash Fure Animal

Cole Pulice Land’s End Eternal

Billy Woods Golliwog

Quinquis eor

Moin Belly Up

Red Mar Our Low Cell

Andy Bell Ten Crowns

Mclusky The world is still here and so are we

Das Kinn Ruinenkampf

Staraya Derevnya Garden window escape

elijah jamal asani ,,, as long as i long to memorise your sky ,,,

Deerhoof Noble And Godlike In Ruin

The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners Plays music by Mariam Gviniashvili, Aleksandra Słyż, Gerard Lebik, Luigi Russolo, John Hegre

Hieroglyphic Being Dance Music 4 Bad People

Lucy Railton Blue Veil

Gryphon Rue I Keep My Diamond Necklace In A Pond Of Sparkling Water

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The Quietus Digest

Ben LaMar Gay
Yowzers

Monasunne
Fields Become Sky

Matthew Young
Undercurrents

Emptyset
Dissever

Death in Vegas
Death Mask

Abul Mogard
Quiet Pieces

Heinali & Andriana-Yaroslava Saienko
Гільдеґарда (Hildergard)

Sufjan Stevens
Carrie & Lowell (10th Anniversary Edition)

Smerz
Big City Life

Ammar 808
Club Tounsi

Daniel O’Sullivan
Eros

These New Puritans
Crooked Wing

Water Damage
Instruments

Karman Line Collective
To Be

The Fall
Singles Live Vol.1: 1978–81

Goddess
Goddess

I’m Being Good
Shapeshitter

Ash Fure
Animal

Cole Pulice
Land’s End Eternal

Billy Woods
Golliwog

Quinquis
eor

Moin
Belly Up

Red Mar
Our Low Cell

Andy Bell
Ten Crowns

Mclusky
The world is still here and so are we

Das Kinn
Ruinenkampf

Staraya Derevnya
Garden window escape

elijah jamal asani
,,, as long as i long to memorise your sky ,,,

Deerhoof
Noble And Godlike In Ruin

The Orchestra of Futurist Noise Intoners
Plays music by Mariam Gviniashvili, Aleksandra Słyż, Gerard Lebik, Luigi Russolo, John Hegre

Hieroglyphic Being
Dance Music 4 Bad People

Lucy Railton
Blue Veil

Gryphon Rue
I Keep My Diamond Necklace In A Pond Of Sparkling Water

Death in Vegas
Death Mask