Omar Rodriguez-Lopez and Cedric Bixler-Zavala are fantastically talented musicians and arrangers. But until they rein in their astronomical pretension, they'll always look more important than they truly are. [#9]

Think strummed guitars over whale songs and barely audible vocals for about 40 minutes. [#9]

An abrasively divisive record in that you're either going to get down with the sound, or you're going to immediately turn it off. [#9]

Nothing here approaches innovation, and while the music isn't offensive to the ears, it provides little to get excited about. [#9]

While they might not track as much rich sonic mud over these tracks as they have on past albums, it doesn't hurt for a band to clean up every once in a while. [#9]

Where artists such as Elliott Smith or Jeff Tweedy manage to express their unique creative personalities while they wield the traditional tools of the trade, Rouse's songwriting lacks a similar sense of urgency or drama, too often stumbling into amazingly trite cliches. [#9]

When it's good, it's great.... However, when it's bad, it borders on boring. [#9]

The lack of distinctive arrangements eventually diminishes the songs' individual merits. [#9]

The wide-eyed soundtrack to an afternoon-stoner daydream. [#8, p.106]

The harmonies are tight and the guitar riffs are jangly... but because everything already sounds so familiar, nothing really stands out as an essential track. [#8, p.107]

The backing members of Magnolia are perfectly competent, but sound justly uninspired by the material. [#8, p.115]

A fairly specific album--great when you are similarly sullen, but somewhat tiresome when you aren't. [#8, p.112]

There's not a moment on Nothing's Lost that justifies the attention of any of his contributors. [#8, p.117]

Wildly inconsistent but sometimes brilliant. [#8, p.110]

An appealing but ultimately uninspiring work. [#8, p.116]

The biggest problem with Key is that Knapp is just not an interesting songwriter. [#8, p.112]

Most of the songs on this record float by, leaving little or no impression. [#7]

The minor downfall of the album is a handful of songs that seem too laconic, too chilled. [#7]

They failed handily on this effort, but as we all know by now, it was only a matter of time before they got it right. [#8, p.112]

Surely, it's not hard to appreciate the intelligent yet visceral guitar work and the unshakable groove... The problem is that it's nearly forgotten once the music ends. [#8, p.116]

It is fun to hear the songs re-imagined [on Disc 2], no doubt, but the first disc is sketches of invention with the seedlings of genius. [average of scores of 7 for Disc 1 and 5 for Disc 2; #8, p.108]

There is some pabulum filler... But Abaddon's best moments are as good as Pinback's ever been. [#8, p.111]

The less a-political songs fall far short of REM's extremely high standards. [#8, p.111]

The result is like listening to the next (or any) Mogwai record. [#7]

Delivers deeply personal, uncompromising songwriting tucked into intelligent and clever lyrics. [#8, p.114]

It can't quite replicate the experience [of their live show]. [#8, p.111]

Rather than being a well-planned effort, the record is perhaps a means of casual, off-the-cuff catharsis for the artist. [#8, p.116]

It would seem that Earlimart have elected to frequently and blatantly mimic their spaced-out friends Grandaddy... and--to a lesser extent--the tightly wound apartment-rock of The Postal Service and Plus/Minus. [#7]

Though only a couple of tracks could hang with the Hazelwood days, it doesn't mean the rest of the songs aren't a pleasure. [#8, p.112]

For all their merits, Frausdots suffer from the same affliction that plagued Beachwood Sparks. They mimic the sounds of the past and do little to improve upon them. [#7]

Not so much a staler rehash of So Much For The City [as] an exact rehash of So Much For The City. [#7]

A relatively inconsequential bit of buzzing, chipper rock songs that mainly proves how adorable they are together. [#7]

By the time the fifth track plays, I feel like I just listened to the same song five times in a row. [#7]

Mellower, more adventuresome, and more uneven. [#8, p.117]

The Sunshine Fix occasionally slip into cringe-worthy ELO territory, but, for the most part, their sophomore release is a pleasing auditory adventure. [#7]

Album Of The Year is able to sustain a listener for 53 minutes--not necessarily interest, and certainly not to inspire, but sustain. [#7]

To hear this album is to feel like things are falling down on you, and although that can be wearing after a while, there's not much to complain about. [#7]

Of all three albums to date, none seem to live up to their electrifying live performance. [#7]

This is an album in short supply of great songs. [#11, p.110]

More like an album of B-sides than an original work. [#7]

Another solid addition to the Giants' catalogue, but as with their last few records, it doesn't seem likey they put their back into it. [#7]

They're certainly not reinventing the disco ball here, but [Dykes and Geller] are generally successful in putting a human face on the almost too-polished arrangements. [#7]

A night spent listing to In A Safe Place still begs one question--"Why didn't I just play Agaetis Byrjun instead?" [#7]

Without the production pizzazz that made Slowdive so compelling, Goswell is left somewhat adrift. [#7]

The band betrays itself on the album as a one-trick glam rock pony. [#7]

Shimmery, metallic and fairly unspectacular city boy rock. [#7]

There's just nothing that sets her apart from the bevy of female artists she holds as influences. [#7]

Isn't intense enough to demand listener attention, isn't wandering enough to be hypnotic, and isn't melodic enough to be immediate. [#7]

The Cocteau Twins-lite feeling persists. [#7]

One of the most easily forgettable albums in recent memory. [#7]

Overall, it's refreshing to hear an album so disarmingly free of pretense... but those who like their rock with a little more edge are advised to look elsewhere. [#7]

Sometimes fades into the background, but it is interesting background music at that. [#7]

Burma seems to be playing catch-up after all this time away. [#7]

The lack of highs and lows in each song gives the album a repetitive and anti-climactic feel. [#7]

Can't escape the looming juggernaut of Fugazi. [#7]

Elf Power seems to be confined by the pop formula rather than doing much to improve upon it. [#7]

For all the unchecked tension and messiness that At Crystal Palace goes for, all it hits is a derivative, occasionally exciting sound that's disposable at best and ingratiating at its worst. [#5, p.112]

How unfortunate that their album has sleep in the title and that's the one thing you'll want to do while listening to it. [#5, p.101]

Not particularly memorable. [#5, p.109]

Cool but slight. [#5, p.101]

This bold misstep is evidence that even the greatest bands on the planet occasionally display mortal chinks in the artistic armor. [#5, p.98]

The band seems to have stalled out on the sun drenched idealized California road of love. [#5, p.102]

Fans will most likely appreciate the new batch of songs, even if they do little to improve on the standard established by the first album.[#5, p.102]

Yoko isn't exactly what fans of the first three albums might be expecting, but it's still a Beulah album. [#5, p.99]

For fans, You Gotta Go... is just different enough from what came before to keep ears interested. For everyone else, this will seem like more of the same. [#5, p.103]

Hits a nice stride between toe tapping and stargazing but doesn't rock the boat too far in either direction. [#5, p.114]

The album is plagued by overcooked production, and these are the type of songs--confessional, despairing--that are best served rare. [#5, p.114]

Sounds like a flashback to the early eighties that at times is an adjustment to modern-shaped ears. [#5, p.101]

Pollard has evolved into college-rock comfort food of little consequence. [#5, p.106]

Shine has a nasty penchant for treading water instead of making any real artistic statement. [#5, p.100]

His heart-on-a-sleeve earnest emotionalism falls short of being impressive. [#5, p.116]

Their flow and their confidence argue against them being just a novelty act. [#5, p.114]

If you don't yet know NYC bands like The Witnesses or The Natural History, this album is worth a try. [#5, p.116]