The melodies are still sweet and her voice us still shrewd, but Orangefarben gets in its own way too much to cut deeply. [Jun 2012, p.155]

Freeman's folk-pop tip of the hat is so sweetly earnest that you just might feel moved to blow the dust off your own acoustic guitar. [Jun 2012, p.153]

Language can feel tepid and assuring at the same time. [Jun 2012, p.151]

There is much here to be thankful for, but there is nothing as immediately thrilling as some of her past pop gems. [Jun 2012, p.150]

You've got the soundtrack to a fun night out...but little more. [Jun 2012, p.147]

It features Crocodiles' most accessible work to date. [Jun 2012, p.146]

While Worship occasionally soars on its own beautiful anonymity, it misses the bar set by a line of charismatic frontmen who exposed themselves through compelling narratives.

The album is slow and steady without ever finding its pinnacle.

Showcasing what feels like every instrument immediately available to Pratt, including his breathy and sincere vocals, the album manages to avoid collapsing under its own weight. Instead, the myriad lines of music coalesce into cogent, nay satisfying, songs.

This album never devolves into a self-indulgently morbid pity party.

Even if it's a temporary diversion from the primary concerns of these artists, Ursprung is still more earnest exploration than working holiday.

It's better than your average album, but by the standard of Let's Go Eat the Factory, it leaves a bit to be desired.

It's still a solid first LP, but with two or three less ho-hum songs it might have been something pretty special.

There's enough creative progress here to prove that the band isn't in a holding pattern, though they're shrewd enough to still be easily recognizable to the audience that formed around their debut.

What is meant to sound intimate and sparse only sounds unfinished, and-dare I say it-downright boring.

Some wonderful and very carefully constructed material here.

Things are spacier than usual on the first six tracks, and there's not much melody to be found. But things cohere a bit on side two.

Ultimately though, All of Us, Together is a slight affair, with Teen Daze desperately clinging to genre hallmarks when he has the potential to be so much more.

A pretty set of songs, but this time out, it appears that Sigur Rós's reach has failed to exceed their grasp, resulting in an album that is simply good rather than outstanding.

The 11 upbeat, noisy tracks just fly by at under 30 minutes, but there are some notable highlights.

The Light the Dead See is a good and, at times, even great album. It just ultimately fails to live up to the standard set by its predecessors.

Danger Mouse's presence-and underperformance-on Little Broken Hearts turns what might otherwise just be another safe but bullshit-free Norah Jones album into an especially underwhelming affair.

Although it lacks the beat-oriented, build-and-release formula of his best work, Exercises is elegant, textured, and cerebral enough to be an excellent after-hours soundtrack.

It's not terrible, but it is a weaker effort.

Wolfgang Voigt and Jörg Burger, the electronic duo known as Mohn, are at their best when at their least conventional.

There isn't one song on Dr. Dee that forces its way into the world the way something like "Feel Good, Inc." or "Parklife" did.

While the varied approach is commendable, there's no denying an impulse to repeat the speeding pop thrill of "Valentine" or the Sabbath-y throb swelling within "Four Wishes."

Master of My Make-Believe lands with a bit of a thud in contrast; lots of filler propped up by a few far-out pop jams, possessing as many ups and downs as her 2008 debut record.

The remixers seem bent on matching Battles' creativity, though the end result, while at times admirable, may leave listeners longing for a full airing of Gloss Drop.

It's a beautiful--if somewhat predictable--affair. [Mar 2012, p.80]

Listening to the collection outside of that mental framework [an album aimed squarely at preexisting fans curious to see the band's progression] reveals an album that, while pleasant, never seems completely realized--save a few select tracks.

Somewhere along the way, though, the emotions fail to match up, or the song structures that always sound so familiar fail to separate themselves from what's come before.

It's a fantastic soundtrack for a slow-moving morning after a long night of misbehaving.

A bundle of raw, karaoke machine-recorded songs reminiscent of early Devendra Banhart and the more emotive work of Wesley Willis. [Mar 2012, p. 87]

Another 11 driving, sun-faded jams, occupying that headspace somewhere between early Flaming Lips and Traffic. [Mar 2012, p.87]

Races struggle hard with noteworthiness, which is a bit of a death knell in this day and age.

Quite pleasing. [No. 39, p.75]

"Got to Have Rock and Roll" is as fierce a rock statement as they've recorded. [Mar 2012, p.89]

Debelle's sound loses a level of what made it so unique [in her debut] by moving from the jazzy, instrumental accompaniment to rapping over more digital beats. [Mar 2012, p.88]

An oddball experimental pop record... Cheers for sticking with a concept, just a bummer it didn't add up to its aspirations. [Mar 2012, p.88]

It's an uneven affair, but at its best the album mines a hazy sonic netherworld akin to the works of ... Oval and Tortoise. [Mar 2012, p.88]

This is grandly executed wallpaper music. [Mar 2012, p.88]

Essentially, the music is crafted, beatific but ultimately characterless. [Mar 2012, p.88]

As a statement on simplicity, its' nothing they didn't say already on the first album; however, it is a more pleasing overall listening experience. [Mar 2012, p.88]

Unfortunately, the record's too all-over-the-place to build any sort of engrossing atmosphere. [Mar 2012, p.87]

It's catchy sometimes, but the fuzzy punk-pop stretches itself pretty thin over a full-length. [Mar 2012, p.87]

Bouncy and inexhaustible. [Mar 2012, p.87]

You want it to be better, to infuse some of the precision and fire of those [proto-industrial 80's] predecessors - but it lags. [Mar 2012, p.87]

Something of a head-scratcher, showcasing neither one of their best performances, nor really one of a highest quality-recording.... Fans looking for cuts from the band's early work are better steered toward their Legal Bootleg series. [Mar 2012, p.87]

At times, when some tracks get particularly loopy and seem on the verge of collapse, it's hard to tell if that's the product of organized chaos or slippery excess.[Mar 2012, p.87]

A very pretty album [but] it's difficult not to see it as a mere specter of School of Seven Bells' potential. [Mar 2012, p.86]

[Fans] will undoubtedly identify those elements that make the band special on this fourth album, though the intensely personal nature of Thorburn's songs and his vocals tend to make this seem at times more like a solo effort. [Mar 2012, p.84]

This is mainly just sunny, disintegrated, low-stakes rock music. [Mar 2012, p.84]

Earth are masters of this weird genre they've slowly, deliberately carved themselves. [Mar 2012, p.83]

The album, at its heart, is noisy and self-assured blues-rock with sweeter (read: softer) pop elements dotting the landscape. [Mar 2012, p.83]

Meshing his [Schaaf's] loop-rich bedroom pop with a live band sound yields uneven results: the thickly-layered, self-harmonizing vocal loops are one of the project's most compelling characteristics, and they're sometimes lost in the indie pop instrumental trappings that just aren't as distinctive. [Mar 2012, p.81]

The band's ferocity seems subdued here, and the road burn a little more pronounced... Regardless, plenty of it does the trick. [March 2012, p.81]

Pure candy at its highest moments, but perceptibly hollow at others. [March 2012, p.80]

Pond's music leans a little more joyous, perhaps, and is more infused with glam and classic rock [than sister band, Tame Impala.] [March 2012, p.79]

The album is a whole, steady listen. [March 2012, p.78]

It'd make great music for a trendy lounge bar hoping to give off an edgy vibe.

Alternately suffers and benefits from "too many cooks" syndrome. [March 2012, p.77]

It should be stressed that Fanfarlo never sound purposefully derivative of other acts, but as much as they've expanded their musical borders beyond what they displayed on their first record, the spectre of that Montréal indie rock juggernaut still looms over each complex, baroque number.

Its debut had a rawness that this album lacks. Nonetheless, these songs, especially "Dead Oaks" and the gorgeous "School Friends" comprise a winning collection of emotional songs about relationships, romantic and otherwise. [#40, p.78]

It's been a long time since their debut album was released in 2007 and maybe nostalgia is working against them, but No One Can Ever Know can barely keep the walls interested.

Their third, self-titled, full-length finds the band unable to rise out of their own formulas.

Repetition robbed of progression; themes are lobbed at the listener ad nauseum, until the whole thing is downgraded from "danceable" to "wallpaper."

The album's highlights are many, further proving that Stephin Merritt is one of the finest songwriters alive. He simply needed an editor this time around.

The Clearing is as pleasant as their previous work, but suffers from a nagging case of diminishing returns.

While The End of That features more wonderful song craft, that counterpoint is sorely missed.

It's heady, it's heavy, and it's classic Cursive, now in twin territory.

While it's clear that Learning has a lot to say, it sorely lacks variety of structure, arrangement, and melody, leaving the record with a bit of a stale aftertaste and merely the promise of something greater in Perfume Genius' future.

So the question becomes, is Born to Die more good than bad, or vice versa? Let's err with the former, hype be damned.

As APTBS refine what they do, they stir in more noise, along with stylistic drifts into the space-rock and noise-rock arenas. [#39, p.73]

It's raw, but Always Want doesn't change notions. [#39, p.75]

Too many have the feel of a low-budget production, and not in the loveable, lo-fi way. [#39, p.75]

Boucher is still making warped, sparsely-populated electro-pop, and the potential still outweighs the content.

Black Bananas mostly keep things tight throughout the record. [#39, p.66]

The Brooklyn's quartet vacillates between Camera Obscura's mawkish indie-pop, Regina Spektor's endearing flirtations and The Clientele's autumnal vision. [#39, p.68]

It's not an oeuvre that appeals too many people, but Live At The South Bank will be rewarding if you favor plenty of experimentation in your music. [#39, p.74]

U&I will only impress if you're already part of Warp's main target audience. [#39, p.74]

Sure, it's all dulcet ambience, but it's easy to appreciate the personality. [#39, p.74]

PHB are equally comfortable with light rocking as they are heavy popping. [#39, p.75]

Most often, the result is greater than the sum of its parts. [#39, p.69]

Bleak, caustic meditations for the hopelessly stoned or perilously patient. [#39, p. 74]

While soul-bearingly intimate, at times Regan can veer into sappy regrets that wear on the listener. [#39, p. 75]

While the stark quality here isn't necessarily harsh, it maintains a sharp sense of calm that rattles deep inside the body with its intensity. [#39, p. 73]

A hodgepodge of reheated, occasionally indulgent ephemera left over from the band's second full-length, Burst Apart. [#39, p. 73]

The album is at best ignorable and at worst irritatingly tranquilizing. [#39, p. 71]

Sounds and feels like most Nada Surf albums do - shimmering, mid-tempo guitars clashing with knee-buckled notebook poetry. [#39, p.69]

La Grande's subtle sonic shifts augur even more exciting directions to come. [#39, p.68]

Finn puts aside his usual shouty tales of druggy teenaged vagabonds to subtly engage with the quieter topics of God and love. [#39, p.68]

The new face of lo-fi bedroom pop. [#39, p. 67]

There are some duds, but overall it's a fun divergence for this group, now enjoying a year full of divergences.

Narrows is an auspicious opening salvo from Brooklyn's Warm Ghost. [Oct 2011, p.108]

Mercer always has been and always will be an acquired taste. If you're already on team Mercer, Fuck death should only reinforce your commitment. Oct 2011, p.96]

As an EP running at about 16 and a half minutes, Panic of Looking's brevity acts as a drawback; just as you're beginning to really soak it in, the EP suddenly reaches its conclusion.

The highs and lows of Sigur Rós and Jónsi sandpapered to a Prozac-worthy sheen, We Bought a Zoo is a sweet stopgap, but no substitute for a proper follow up.