R Plus Seven isn’t the masterpiece of technical error that its predecessor was; it’s the dissection of a heart.

Event II is a satisfactory sequel, if not quite a gem on its own merit.

The results are expectedly familiar, fantastic and welcome.

FUZZ is commanding and infectious--this could be the project Segall was born for.

Not the best Quasi introduction for first-time listeners, but there’s plenty for the band’s fans to love.

Hung on the haunting vocals of frontwoman Sarah P, At Home is no mere retread, but a full-fledged genre renaissance.

Though they may have felt immense pressure to replicate the monster hits that have come to be expected of them, the band have struck proper middle ground between the jaggedy, bluesy Southern rock of their early years with more polished commercial anthems.

While this carefully choreographed dance of feedback and vox is what made the post-punk wave so influential in the first place, Glow & Behold just misses the mark.

It’s the aural equivalent of sweet syrup—slow, molasses-y and utterly satisfying.

Move In Spectrums is good—with more ambition it could have been great.

As a whole, it’s not so much sonically austere as utterly aesthetically totalitarian.

Reaching even farther back to the jangling, surf-tinged guitar work of the ’50s and ’60s as inspiration, the three-piece has created yet another charmingly melodic record.

Loud Like Love’s loudest moments (“Exit Wounds,” “Purify”) are all puff and no power. But on the tormentedly bemused “Too Many Friends,” we get incisive philosophical reflections on technological alienation and the swelling meaninglessness of modern existence.

On his band’s fifth album, On Oni Pond, the experimental-rock showman sharpens his Frankenstein mash of genres down to a gleaming point and plunges it deep into his carotid artery.

The blackened Ski Mask listens like a work in progress about how one would read an unfinished manuscript. Yet with every page turned, it’s a promising step forward towards what Islands are working to become: fulfilled.

With lush instrumentation so rich that non-vocal versions of the songs are also included on the album, these pills aren’t exactly chewable, but they’re easy to swallow.

This is an album hard to grasp at first, let alone on second or third listens.

It’s a throwback, but there are some new twists, from the entrancing (“Listen”) to the goofy (“Inquiries”).

There are no distinguishable hooks or chorus lines anywhere on Coming Apart; instead, it’s just Gordon and Nace simultaneously subverting and creating musical forms that will surely polarize listeners who want to “get it” and those who refuse to.

In a world that increasingly rewards short attention spans and encourages distractions, Callahan’s music is well worth taking the time to patiently absorb.

Singer Phil Benson still croons in a tone much like that of Morrissey or Robert Smith, and the guitars still crunch through each urgent track, but we’ve heard it all before, and rowdy, noisy punk songs lose their luster quickly.

What unifies the record is Beal’s ability to create concrete images within his abstract menagerie of sounds, which he then animates through his oddly charming and less paternal Screamin’ Jay Hawkins persona (also a good thing).

Sound System drives home the foursome’s adeptness at boundary hopping, while never forgetting the value of a good hook and a politically righteous lyric.

A short film accompanies the release, but it hardly seems necessary, given the music’s powerful cinematic evocativeness.

It’s easily the most-realized project from the guitar-wielding freewheelers, shy in the right spots but also unafraid of boogieing down in a dive bar.

As soon as AM’s 12 tracks are over, you’ll be lunging for the play button again--it’s that good.

It retains Califone’s signature continuity effect--with slowed acoustic guitar and droning, industrial electronics--burning a 50-minute album into a grand, cinematic waft.

Every album tells a story and, thankfully, Wolfe’s story changes all the time, a morphing type of self-expression with completely pure intent.