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Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts  Second Song

What you have here is a great record that, despite not reinventing the wheel, belongs in the upper tier of an illustrious catalogue Exclaim

Beck  Ride Lonesome

Ride Lonesome doesn't just serve as a fitting end of a trilogy: it's moving and inventive enough to make fans pine for the next instalment in what is is hopefully a long series Exclaim

Beck  Ride Lonesome

The chameleonic alt-pop star returns to the fold with the musicians behind ‘Sea Change’ and ‘Morning Phase’, resulting in similarly masterful melancholia NME

Erykah Badu & The Alchemist  Before the World Blows

On her first studio album since 2010, Badu turns Uncle Al’s dusty loops, digital dread and romantic chaos into a thrillingly strange survival manual NME

Beck  Ride Lonesome

Spellbinding stuff DIY

Beck  Ride Lonesome

The LA shapeshifter ditches the pop proclivities of his last album for a reunion with the musicians behind Sea Change and Morning Phase Paste Magazine

Mastodon  Marrow Deep

The Atlanta metal heroes’ first album after the founding guitarist's tragic passing suggests a band that has never once written about death, but rather is facing it for the first time and racked by uncertainty and self-doubt over how to deal Paste Magazine

Beck  Ride Lonesome

A stripped-down return to his folk-inspired roots that sounds familiar Northern Transmissions

Billy Strings  So Much For Goodbyes

The album affirms Strings as an old-school devotee, even as it equips him to further translate bluegrass for a younger and more eclectically minded audience Beats Per Minute

Beck  Ride Lonesome

He seems to double down on the great works of Petty and Dylan, connecting Ride Lonesome to a greater lexicon of melancholic and thoughtful songs that walk the line between folk and roots-based rock Spill Magazine

Beck  Ride Lonesome

Hurt and hope prevail on an intimate outing Far Out

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts  Second Song

The Chrome Hearts adapt perfectly into their role as an understated backing band, and Young presents some new reflections, some wandering thoughts, some beautifully tender moments, and a few welcome references to older versions of himself All Music

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts  Second Song

The 80-year-old continues his tireless output, delving into the past for inspiration to variable results – though two lengthy brand-new songs are real showstoppers The Guardian

Neil Young and The Chrome Hearts  Second Song

Second Song is comfortably his best since the molten sprawl of 2012’s Psychedelic Pill, the last hurrah of Poncho Sampedro-era Crazy Horse. Print edition only Mojo

Beck  Ride Lonesome

Catharsis comes in a closing duo, If You Don’t Know What Love Is and Beyond The Light, that makes Ride Lonesome the perfect companion for those dark nights of the soul Record Collector