English Little League just misses greatness, but if it’s not the best album they’ve put out since early 2012, it’s certainly the most interesting, the most willing to take risks.

The result is an unfortunately all-too short album that deftly and smartly balances frenzied punk, aural ambience and a little bit of pop friendliness.

There are nine distinct, quite beautiful tracks on this record. But a few of them end up getting lost in this murky landscape, and in those moments the expansion of the record inverts itself into a slight limitation.

Where Women + Country mostly suffers is from Dylan's lack of edge. Over the weeping fiddles, creaking shakes and pounds of the percussion, and howling pedal steel, Dylan's gentle baritone and choirboy-like delivery often fails to compliment the production.

Together, on Sunergy, the two manage to find a similar language while also pushing the limits of the Buchla and of their compositions at every turn.

Even though not everything here quite works, the tracks that do are a great deal of fun and show Midler in fine form.

There's talent and potential here to do so by the boatload. But if they continue down this path, holding onto the nostalgia lever on one hand and trying desperately to expand and shed it on the other, they run the risk of becoming something even worse than a handy Sugarbabes reference; in the Pipettes, our generation could have our very own Sha Na Na if they aren't careful.

This is the second album in a row where the harder they rock, the less inspired the songs are. When they go mid-tempo and slower and add synths and other textures to their hooks, the songs sound better.

The ladies in Lady show the benefits of artistic flexibility--not focusing single-mindedly on a single genre, but working with different sounds, and different people.

Riser comes close to being it, but I would still like an EP that sketches a narrative as adroitly as those six songs put together do.

With brevity missing from Toledo’s musical toolkit (see the blame-deflecting “The Ballad of the Costa Concordia” and its 11:32 run time), the pain is exacerbated by songs that are simply too long to be memorable; what few hooks exist on Teens of Denial are quickly forgotten.

Love Comes Close shows some potential for artist growth with a little more seasoned songwriting.

Cautionary Tales certainly doesn’t feel new--it ultimately feels like a retread of the orchestral and maudlin sound he tried on two records ago--but it feels true to its songwriter.

What salvages the record from being an exercise in nostalgia, are the moments where Strange Wilds drop the mid-tempo grungy gloom for moments of pure hardcore bliss.

He's trying to simultaneously stretch and stay true to his roots. It's a hard balancing act to pull off, and he's only partially successful.

For now, the band seems to get distracted too easily--or else they don't have a good enough ear for editing. But even if they do throw every idea into the mix, they could at least play a little faster to counteract the sleepiness induced by the duller, more typical '60s pop rehash they sometimes serve up.

Privateering is a textbook example of a mixed bag--frustrating.

It may not be revolutionary—in fact, if anything, it’s too safe to feel any impulse to disagree with it—but Smith’s conviction is apparent, and her commitment is respectable.

It’s an uneven, but enjoyable ride.

Cheatahs bring enough winners to the table to make their debut a worthwhile listen and promise a bright future.

Solar Bears never sound like they’re blatantly ripping anyone off, but there are too many echoes of other band’s sounds floating around in the mix to make it sound truly like something that is theirs and theirs alone.

White Hills may not be blazing any new musical pathways, but there is no denying that they’re good at what they do.

At 50 minutes, Ufabulum is a little exhausting and monotonous to be declared a masterpiece. But chunks of it are quite brilliant and exciting, so it's better to take it exactly as it is: a Squarepusher record, through and through.

Wonderful Wonderful is the sound of a band rediscovering why they’re even making music in the first place, embracing their eccentricities instead of merely playing into what’s expected of them. It will never be anyone’s favorite Killers album, but it’s the most fun we’ve had with them in years, and a hopeful sign of truly wonderful things yet to come.

LφVE & EVφL offers wild and wonderful immersion, but once you're in it, you're on your own.

Remixes is an assorted bag of impressive highs and frustrating lows.

There’s nothing terribly ground-breaking here, but it doesn’t ever sound like they’re just repeating themselves either.

The sound is top-notch and very effective. But the songwriting often comes up short.