The advantages that The Capitol Years have over many of their compatriots are the excellent voice of lead singer Shai Halperin and swoon-inducing harmonies.

Unlike Rogue Wave's timid debut, Vultures blazes forward with the kind of assured bravado not usually seen this side of U2.

More a sketchbook than a fully-formed statement of purpose, Jay Farrar's second solo release is nonetheless an excellent addition to his oeuvre.

It's one thing to treat your influences with reverence, eyes and goals fixed on a past that brought them to you. It's another to fold them into the present, into the elusive omnipresence of the moment. And how Dead Meadow pulls this off on Feathers is an amazing thing to hear.

There’s a consistency in quality throughout the record, but nothing stunning enough to send you running to your stereo to hit the repeat button.

More often than not it's stylish, adventurous and damn fun.

A near perfect record that will have The Rapture,!!!, and every other dance punk band looking over their collective shoulders.

The smart pop hook chops displayed on So Much For the City make it clear that this is one retro-minded band that may just make it to the future.

Delightfully pushes boundaries.

Broder puts art before music -- as if he's recording an audio version of a painting.

Hotel Morgen serves as a blend of some of the more appealing aspects of both the electronic avant-garde and its more mainstream dance music wing.

Both Costa and Lindsay Anderson have an uncanny ability to evoke multiple emotions through their lyrics. The downside seems to be their lack of range; all the songs feel the same.

Sometimes evocative of Joy Division on PCP, sometimes of Arab on Radar on codeine, Ian MacKaye's production maintains the right balance of tin-can sounds with bullfrog disco stylings.

Knitting Needles & Bicycle Bells is a near perfect collection of four-minute songs that recall a more ragged XTC, the skewed pop/rock style of The Kinks, and The White Album-era Beatles.

Manzanita may be too diverse to be cohesive, but it is filled with interesting songs and the continued potential for great things.

As the album wears on, however, it becomes clear that Einstürzende Neubauten has spent more time cultivating their bristling sonic elements than exploring compositional variety or subtlety.

Particularly striking is the group's ability to mix vast instrumental soundscapes with subtle electronic manipulations, creating a synthesis of analog and digital elements that is visionary in its sonic impact.

Sewed Soles makes out decently for a greatest hits disc.

The record may have a little less electronic slink than prior efforts, but it has a propulsive energy, even in the mid-tempo tracks, that makes the record easy to like.

LaValle demonstrates that he is one of post-rock's strongest artists.

This is a headphone record of the highest order, where every last detail should be isolated against your ears and pored over.

Black Dice doesn‚t shy away from risks, and this record is just as daring as Beaches and Canyons or Creature Comforts.

Moments of the overfed ambience familiar to the band's debut, Feel Good Lost, poke through as the album drags on.

What the band lack in cohesion they make up for with a healthy mania.

A loose, engaging collection of songs that won’t knock your socks off the first time you hear it, but begins to work its way under your skin on subsequent spins.

Absolutely brutal.

A debut album so confident and flawlessly developed it seems more like the work of a band hitting its mid-career creative peak.

This is an absolutely satisfying listen and a feat of songwriting that few acts could match.