Holy Fire isn’t a straight home run for the Oxford-based quintet.

Selections here appear sketch-like, but the artist's roots in post-punk drink amply despite the brevity.

The record does sound like the soundtrack to a bad dream--but you won’t want to wake from it.

Open Season opts for simplicity, its plainest moments being its most transcendent, and for the most part, it carries you along. [#15, p.92]

Songs like "Santa Cruz" make this album fallible--they aren't as beautiful as the place and memories evoked from the titles.

Our hero of Whiskeytown has returned. [#25, p.89]

A collection of reliable, trustworthy tunes. [#24, p.98]

Each consecutive [song] is stranger than the last. [#19, p.88]

Her sound is undeniably more mature than what you would typically expect from a 21-year-old, but tracks like "Don't You Remember" make you wonder if the overall vibe is more mature than it should be.

Expect talk of his crossover potential, the way he weds a mighty, funny, fresher-than-hell stage presence to the tried-and-true gangsta tropes of stunts and blunts. Expect 2Pac comparisons. Expect, based off this EP, great albums.

Thankfully, none of Lidell's guests do much to blunt his funky trajectory. [Spring/Summer 2010, p.108]

The project was, in fact, meant to be set to a stage show that never materialized, but the songs do mostly stand quite well in their own...sort of. [Fall 2009, p.94]

The dream-pop duo layers together featherweight electronics, '80s beats and island attitude-stirring them into a frothy blend indebted to both The Tough Alliance's harmonies and Air France's hazy atmospherics.

Stop bitching about never hearing anything new or different and pick this up. [#22, p.94]

There's no pulling them out of the abyss on this defiantly downcast Calexico record.

Gift Of Gab is assured and even-keeled on Escape 2 Mars--never reaching the intensity of Blackalicious' best work, or descending into the mellow lounge -scapes of "4th Dimensional Rocketships."

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

The Weakerthans’ music ages well, and when they free themselves from style and are left to focus purely on their music, it never fails to make you feel special—thus making the Weakerthans a perfect band for fandom.

Craig Finn's lyrics house the crass beauty of a worn-down dweller of the turning century, making this album a movie I'd pay 10 bucks to see.

Particularly inspired by old '50s rock and roll like Little Richard and Fats Domino, the group does not disappoint its impulses, even if they're stuck on repeat.

Grandiose, theatrical and picturesque, it's not to say the album isn't beautiful, but comes off as somewhat contrived.

Autolux crawls through sophomore album Transit Transit, paring the exquisite agony of rush hour traffic with Lynchian surrealism.

Finally, the soundtrack to your most ineffable longings.

Andersson allows her vocals to swim straight to the surface of her latest record. The resulting 12 tracks yield mixed results. [Fall 2008, p.100]

It's not that Rose City has nothing to offer, it's just at its best when it's most forgettable. [Spring 2009, p.98]

Daisy demonstrates that Barnd New can remain forever sincere and massively intriguing composers. [Fall 2009, p.96]

On Departing, there's no lack of that rawness or emotion, and the crippling nostalgia still reverberates throughout.

As usual, though, the group are at their best when trying to come to terms with grace and beauty.