Billy Strings: Renewal review – bold and beautifully written bluegrass
Me Rex: Megabear review – a choose-your-own-adventure trip for the streaming age
Baby Keem: The Melodic Blue review – arguably the best rap album of 2021
Jerusalem in My Heart: Qalaq review – bearing witness to a manufactured apocalypse
Willow: Lately I Feel Everything review – a talent that eclipses the showbiz backstory
Ichiko Aoba: Windswept Adan review – hypnotic, ghostly psych-folk
Alicia Keys: Keys review – double album shows two faces
Jeff Parker: Forfolks review – a meditative gem
Kansas Smitty’s Plunderphonia review – eclectic jazz updates
Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Barn review – raucous, tuneful bonhomie
Various Artists: Tokyo Glow review – radiant homage to Japanese city pop
Neil Young and Crazy Horse: Barn review – reliably ragged and still sounding great
An Elizabethan Christmas review – a feeling of consolation you can hunker down with
Alicia Keys: Keys review | Alexis Petridis’s album of the week
No Rome: It’s All Smiles review – a hyperpop headache
Arca: KicK iii review – a joyous sonic headrush
Bill Callahan & Bonnie Prince Billy: Blind Date Party review – revelatory fun with old favourites
Spell Songs II: Let the Light In review – a magical return to nature
Classical home listening: Philippe Jaroussky and Thibaut Garcia, Attacca Quartet and more
Houston Person: Live in Paris review – easy brilliance from a classic lineup
by Dave Gelly on 13th November 2021 at 4:00 pm (High Note)The saxophonist and band play with an all-round lightness of touch in this live set from 2019 Continue reading…
Juçara Marçal: Delta Estácio Blues review | Ammar Kalia’s global album of the month
by Ammar Kalia on 12th November 2021 at 9:00 am (QTV Selo/Mais Um)Melding industrial 808s with melodic softness, Marçal weaves disparate strands into a playful and powerful whole Continue reading…
Taylor Swift: Red (Taylor’s Version) review – getting back together with a classic
by Laura Snapes on 12th November 2021 at 5:00 am (Republic)Swift re-records the 2012 album on which she first embraced synth-pop, tweaking songs and adding others: a mix of saccharine fluff and superb keepers Continue reading…
Alexandre Kantorow: Brahms review | Erica Jeal’s classical album of the week
by Erica Jeal on 11th November 2021 at 3:00 pm (BIS)Kantorow’s affinity with the German Romantic sparks mercurially expressive and resonant playing in this follow-up to his 2020 Brahms disc Continue reading…
Damon Albarn: The Nearer the Fountain, More Pure the Stream Flows review – beautifully haunting
by Alexis Petridis on 11th November 2021 at 12:00 pm (Transgressive)One of the most driven artists of the Britpop era, now unbothered by commercial success, is back with a second solo album that drifts along in a melancholy, stoned mist Continue reading…
Radiohead: Kid A Mnesia review – two classic albums, plus surprises
by Phil Mongredien on 7th November 2021 at 3:00 pm (XL)The band’s 20th-anniversary reissue of Kid A and Amnesiac along with unreleased material makes for fascinating listening Continue reading…
Snail Mail: Valentine review – engaging indie folk
by Damien Morris on 7th November 2021 at 1:00 pm (Matador) Lindsey Jordan’s second Snail Mail album is carefully measured but lacks the painful intimacy of her debut LP Continue reading…
Joan As Police Woman, Tony Allen, Dave Okumu: The Solution Is Restless review – subtle and slinky
by Kitty Empire on 7th November 2021 at 9:00 am (PIAS)This classy collaboration sounds familiar but unique at the same time, a jazzy musing on what it takes to live Continue reading…
Justin Adams and Mauro Durante: Still Moving review – a bravura performance
by Neil Spencer on 6th November 2021 at 4:00 pm (Ponderosa)From blazing rock-outs to aching love songs, this inspired duo deliver a thrilling and spontaneous set Continue reading…
Abba: Voyage review – full-on and frothy
by Kitty Empire on 6th November 2021 at 2:00 pm (Polydor)The return of the Swedish super troupers has plenty of bittersweet erudition, plus a good dollop of mass-market cheese Continue reading…
Classical home listening: Lea Desandre’s Amazone; Rossini’s Petite messe solennelle
by Fiona Maddocks on 6th November 2021 at 12:00 pm Desandre flies in a vivacious baroque programme, while a new edition of Rossini’s late work is small but perfectly formed Continue reading…
Johnathan Blake: Homeward Bound review – virtuosi jazz unit scorch and shimmer
by John Fordham on 5th November 2021 at 9:00 am (Blue Note)Drummer Blake joins with Dezon Douglas, Immanuel Wilkins, Joel Ross and David Virelles to create enthralling post-bop, soul jazz and Coltraneian pop Continue reading…
Abba: Voyage review – no thank you for the music
by Jude Rogers on 5th November 2021 at 12:01 am After 40 years, the makers of once-sparkling pop are back – but the glamour promised by this album’s two terrific singles goes horribly unfulfilled Continue reading…
Aldo Clementi: Canoni Circolari review – joyous polyphonies and tubular bells
by Andrew Clements on 4th November 2021 at 4:00 pm Kathryn Williams/Joe Richards/Mira Benjamin/Mark Knoop (All That Dust, binaural download only)Imitation and canon are at the heart of Clementi’s sonically gorgeous pieces featuring flute, violin, piano and percussion Continue reading…
Diana Ross: Thank You review – an anaemic comeback that should have been great
by Alexis Petridis on 4th November 2021 at 1:00 pm With disco enjoying one of its periodic moments in the sun, a supremely classy 21st-century reboot was possible. But this isn’t it Continue reading…
Theon Cross: Intra-I review – digging deep
on 31st October 2021 at 3:00 pm (New Soil)The Sons of Kemet player’s second album swings between inner-city toughness and a search for something more spiritual Continue reading…
The War on Drugs: I Don’t Live Here Anymore review – songs for cruising endless highways
by Phil Mongredien on 31st October 2021 at 1:00 pm (Atlantic)Recorded in seven studios over three years, Adam Granduciel and co’s latest is a rich, mesmerising affair Continue reading…
Ed Sheeran: Equals review – no more Mr Wild Guy
by Kitty Empire on 31st October 2021 at 9:00 am Despite keeping one foot in the club-pop groove, commitment and maturity set the tone for settled-down Sheeran’s latest outing Continue reading…
Pasquale Grasso: Pasquale Plays Duke review – boggling brilliance from the guitar virtuoso
by Dave Gelly on 30th October 2021 at 3:00 pm (Sony Music)Grasso astonishes on an album of Duke Ellington covers, with classy, unshowy support Continue reading…
Doran: Doran review | Jude Rogers’s folk album of the month
by Jude Rogers on 29th October 2021 at 8:00 am (Spinster)Elizabeth LaPrelle of Anna & Elizabeth anchors the four-piece behind this comforting, intimate album of a cappella harmonies and Appalachian ballads Continue reading…
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