While Pond reverts back to his laconic ways toward the album's end, the dazzling tracks leading us to that soft landing make up for the slight regression. [Mar 2013, p.92]

While minor lulls can be found and their habit of zeroing in on daily life's mundane nuances risks self-parody, this s*** still rips. [Mar 2013, p.92]

The pristine third album from UK rhythm junkies Foals is a study in contrasts. [Mar 2013, p.8]

The Bronx (IV) [is] their most infectious record to date. [Mar 2013, p.88]

The Afterman: Descension almost manages to stand alone, but because of one key element, it doesn't. The lyrics aren't literal or married to a narrative--the theme explored through metaphor. [Mar 2013, p.87]

No new ground is broken, but it's enjoyable, cathartic mosh pit fodder. [Feb 2013, p.88]

The Connecticut-based band have truly outdone themselves. [Feb 2013, p.92]

Thrillingly adventurous and tuneful, if occasionally indulgent. [Mar 2013, p.90]

Ambitious but understated, intelligent but immediate, Pedestrian Verse is simultaneously heartbreaking and life affirming--and anything but pedestrian. [Mar 2013, p.90]

Oddfellows is a multifaceted and consistently fascinating album. [Feb 2013, p.94]

Every track on the Umea group's sixth album is a story onto itself. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Somewhere Else is only rewarding if you can stay awake. [Feb 2013, p.90]

Beta Love feels too much like the band's token electronic record. [Feb 2013, p.92]

This record possesses a contagious energy that exists not in lieu of a hook but actively as the hook. [Feb 2013, p.90]

True North is an engaging return to form. [Feb 2013, p.88]

"Black Balloons" is built on a riff exactly like Bon Iver's "Perth" sped up, and hearing the grating lyrical wail of "Columbia" and you're left wondering if so much time away was a result of writer's block. [Feb 2013, p.90]

The duo's strong suit has always been songwriting, and this still comes through on Heartthrob. [Feb 2013, p.93]

The album maintains a steady flow that allows melodic ideas and rhythms to melt into one another to create an intoxicating whole. [Feb 2013, p.92]

Dogs Eating Dogs is a strong effort.

While James Murphy's production skills are missing this time, the songs themselves are still strong. [Feb 2013, p.90]

It's like BVB's other output in that it's not perfect, but the high points are still pretty damn high.

Toth makes a greater effort to rein together all these different musical approaches into a crystalline whole. By doing so, he's inflated his songwriting even further, helping it reach greater altitudes. [Feb 2013, p.94]

Crazy World is as phony as they come.

III features the type of effortless electro-pop which made the act's 2006 debut, We Are Pilots, so irresistible. [Nov 2012, p.94]

Thanks to such marked songwriting growth, Wolf's Law cements the Joy Formidable as a ferocious rock act and as a band with plenty to say. [Feb 2013, p.89]

Lysandre proves the chameleonic Owen can say the same thing over and over and never run out of inspiration. [Feb 2013, p.92]

While these songs are closer the band's beer-in-the-air beginnings, greater sophistication and songcraft are evident from the crisp melodies and infectious choruses to earworm anthems with direct, bumper-sticker sentiments. [Feb 2013, p.88]

Enjoyable throughout. [Dec 2012, p.92]