Oh, big breathy bombast, they name is Sense Field. [#60, p.113]

The album's most obvious failing is the way in which the vocals are presented and mixed. [No. 101, p.55]

An ambitious album... but it's undercut by Fink's inconsistent readings. [#69, p.96]

The Monsanto Years is another head-scratcher of an album. [No. 122, p.61]

Unfortunately, on the rest of War Stories, Lavelle plays it safe by sticking close to poppy electro-dance tunes.

A showcase of clean, unadulterated guitar talent. [No. 105, p.59]

Not as intentionally abrasive as its predecessor, 2013's Testimonium Songs, even if the new record also opts for clangor and heard edges over tuneful song structures. Still, if He's Got is noisy, it's not unmelodic. [No. 159, p.58]

Despite valiant efforts at punking up "O Come, O Come Emmanuel" and "White Christmas," this is starting to sound like a bad joke. [No. 105, p.52]

For the most part, we're just not feeling Everything. [#82, p. 60]

The potential showed on Explore is evidence that GRMLN still has more to say. [No.94, p.55]

[The album presents a] well-formed, poppy and updated take on their post-punk and new-wave heroes. [No. 85, p. 56]

As a group, they're missing the sheer fuck-it-all unpredictability of the original band.... For the first half of Golden Lies, everything clicks with long-remembered power; but after half an hour, Curt and Co. start groping for new ideas and wind up repeating themselves, falling into formula instead of rewriting it. [#47, p.106]

Everything with this band is bigger and more over-over-overdubbed than [Ruess' former band] the Format, which makes fun. about 10 times more annoying. [No. 85, p.54]

On [A Joyful Noise] the fire of youth has been replaced by a sexy confidence that oozes cool. [No.88 p.54]

Producer Greg Kurstin ensures a familiarly sparkly synth-pop sheen throughout. [No. 110, p.52]

The truth is, even Angels & Airwaves do this sort of epic-emo thing with more verve, if not more Verve. [#73, p.96]

Shook Me offers little that doesn't sound like any one of those bands [Vampire Weekend, the Kooks, and fun.] sanded down to their blandest core. [No. 97, p.58]

Its best moments stand among its members' better experiments, though the rest will likely be replaced after another decade-long ice age. [Summer 2008, p.106]

It mostly drives down that most scenic of romantic-pop roads, honking and waving at fellow motorists Death Cab For Cutie. [#64, p.104]

Take the fake phone call and run, don't elephant walk, away. [No. 98, p.56]

It's not everyone's glass of absinthe, but Adventures will find a happy reception among listeners who want an occasional hallucination to go with their usual woozy drunkenness. [#75, p.94]

Wow, is Beyond Good And Evil bad. Thudding, empty albums about nothing, held together with some of the worst guitar solos since late-'80s Lou Reed. [#51, p.90]

I don't feel moved by Lee's progress toward enlightenment. [No. 121, p.56]

Sonically, it's all pretty enough, but the songs rely too much on goofy valentines and cliches. [No. 104, p.55]

Play[s] like a remember-the-'90s rundown. [#58, p.98]

"Does this make this more or less weird than what I've come to expect from JOA?" the answer is yes. [No. 101, p.56]

Jamaica Plain feels fittingly tentative and exploratory. [No. 105, p.58]

Even when you can't quite tell whether you want to laugh with or at Morrissey's heavy-handed proclamations, they're provocative, and that's worth a lot. [No. 149, p.51]