Album reviews

★★★★★ Beyoncé worked with so many people on ‘Lemonade’, her sixth album which she dropped in late April with an accompanying short fi lm, that its credits run...

★★★★☆ Last winter, PJ Harvey sealed herself behind one-way glass in a room beneath Somerset House, along with her band and producer Flood. Visitors to...

★★★★☆ Once upon a time All Saints were The Spice Girls for cool people. Named after All Saints Road in Notting Hill, this combat trouser-wearing combo drew...

★★★☆☆ After quitting the world’s biggest boy band in March 2015, Zayn Malik shared his true thoughts on the group’s music a few months later. ‘Would you...

★★☆☆☆ In February 2012, at the height of her post-’21’ pomp, Adele Adkins told a reporter: ‘I can’t write another break-up record. That would be a real...

★★★★☆ First things first, it’s pronounced ‘k-wor-bs’, so relax: you can stop scratching around inside your underpants. But if you’re a fan of soulful grooves,...

★★★★☆ Montreal’s Ought are the closet their city’s iconic Constellation Records has come to signing a ‘normal’ guitar band – but they share their label’s...

★★★★☆ ‘I’ve got nothing much to live for ever since I found my fame,’ Lana Del Rey sings on ‘God Knows I Tried’, a typically wistful song from her impressive...

★★★☆☆ They may hate the tag, but avant-riffing three-piece Battles will forever be classed as ‘math rock’. Sounds geeky and boring, right? Geeky: absolutely....

You might think of Mac DeMarco as a wacky dude, always with the beer and the jokes. But on his fourth record he’s totally bummed out.

Nine months after their debut, the London indie duo have already birthed a second album in Harringay.

After the scene-setting ‘The Chronic’ and the comeback of ‘2001’, this is a man reflecting on life and his career – and it sounds...

The Welsh-language debut by the former Pipettes frontwoman pairs luscious, breathy vocals and sci-fi themes with funky electronica and industrial clanks...

As well as New Labour, Jayne Middlemiss and Lynx Africa, the ’90s also introduced us to the concept of the Great British Dance Album. These were big,...

Yannis Philippakis was once the Napoleon Bonaparte of the British indie scene. As frontman for Foals, he was the little guy with big ambitions and the iron...

Years & Years’ debut album arrives on a cresting wave of expectation. The London-based trio – singer Olly Alexander, bassist/keyboard player...

Back in the ’90s, dance music was different. A lot of the era-defining beats and bleeps were made by artists who considered themselves more musician than...

For once, believe the hype: this north London four-piece have made a stunning surprise of a debut album.

Mark Kozelek’s series of narrative sketches doesn’t sustain the career renaissance promised by ‘Benji’.

Some killer and some atmospheric filler on The XX beatmaker’s solo debut.

Reunited and it tastes so good: Blur’s comeback album is full of delicious licks.

Ms Welch is back with a stunning third album. We say it’s finally time for everyone to go with the Flo.

A self-assured, confident third album with plenty of great pop moments woven in.

Synths, suits and soul from the indie kid-turned-electronic producer.

The record proves the band's inherent restlessness, men made of mania, menace and some melancholy, as though they’re yelling at the whole world at once This...

Looking for a vital new indie voice? It ain’t nothin’ but a G thang Don’t you dare call Alex Giannascoli a slacker. He may have long hair, a...

Another jangly, psychedelic pop trip from the London quintet that’s sunny enough to make you forget the incoming winter Following hot on the heels of...

Woozy shoegaze-pop, oozing nostalgia: a welcome debut by the Londoners Childhood: a perfectly carefree time of ice-lollies and climbing trees, apple pie and...

Defiant and triumphant, Mike Hadreas goes pop without sacrificing his anger A 32-year-old from Seattle, Perfume Genius (aka Mike Hadreas) made his name with...

Dan Snaith is back with some new kaleidoscopic love songs to rave about and to When you think of love songs, who comes to mind? Michael Bublé? Nina Simone? Sam...

It’s an all-out pop trip for album number five, but executed brilliantly by this increasingly savvy star When Taylor Swift says this is her ‘very first...

The noughties superstars attempt a reinvention, but can't escape their pop-rock roots When it was first announced that The Kooks had dusted off their trilbies...

Elly Jackson goes it alone, and the result is an instant pop classic This album should have been messier than a fortnight in Magaluf. When La Roux released...

An inward-looking, slightly sleepy but still bewitching debut effort Oh, to be so beautiful and troubled. Fans of introspective, kohl-eyed woe will lap up this...

A brilliant debut of raw but sublime alt rock by the Glasgwegian duo Honeyblood's first release, back in 2012, was a long sold-out home-made cassette called...

We're grudgingly won over by the gooey-eyed romanticism of Ed's second On paper, Ed Sheeran makes no sense. He shambled into the spotlight in 2011 like a cross...

The White Stripe's new solo album is a stonker, even without the bells and whistles of the deluxe vinyl version Super-fans who share Jack White’s fetish for...

A super-sweet indie-pop feast that'll go down a treat with fans of the genre The really great thing about music is the way it can change your mood. Arrange a...

Armed with a violin and a glorious set of songs, the cool Canadian condenses complex into catchy Guitars are out. Violins are the new instrument of choice for...

The violin-toting foursome debut with a simply good pop album – no strings attached It’s almost too easy to dismiss Clean Bandit with a sneer of inverted...