As it stands, it's pleasant music to fall asleep to, but offers little to keep you awake. [Oct 2011, p.108]

He strikes gold enough times to make it worthwhile. [Oct 2011, p.108]

The rest of Hello Sadness, however, finds the band drifting into less familiar territory, with mixed results. [Oct 2011, p.101]

The tunes wash over nicely, but ultimately fail to endear the listener. [Oct 2011, p97]

It's a nice try, but the collection proves that ultimately, Gainsbourg shines more in the studio than on the stage.

Tarwater mutants tropes from post-punk, outre-jazz, and Krautrock, but there is some sensitivity embedded into all their isolating experimentation. [Oct. 2011, p. 113]

Serviceable for the most part, Nightingale nevertheless sounds dated. [Oct. 2011, p. 113]

There are moments of minor success (mostly in the first half), but these are moments that rely the least on samples, retracing some of Returnal's dark, boundless, ambient journeys. [Oct. 2011, p. 113]

Although Zig Zaj has a couple of strong songs that will likely find good homes on public radio and progressive dance floors, it sounds more like a collection of individual tracks than an actual album. [Oct. 2011, p. 112]

Where previous releases used Lekman's idiosyncratic worldview to paint a universal picture of love and loss, here he just seems... cute. [Oct. 2011, p. 111]

There are a few highlights, such as the gorgeous "Surfer King," but the rest is reverb-drenched murk. [Oct. 2011, p. 108]

The intimacy can become suffocating, but on songs such as the "Blackbird"-esque "Even Rain," Baird's delicate touches hit a nerve. [Oct. 2011, p. 108]

Garden of Arms lacks the shuffling melodies and stark homemade craftwork of the band's debut. [Oct. 2011, p. 108]

One might say it's a composed, mature listen. [Oct. 2011, p. 108]

Though at times a difficult listen, the album is at its best when Bozulich's voice is paired with haunting cello. [Oct. 2011, p. 108]

On this debut they often seem too busy trying to charm our pants off. [Oct. 2011, p. 106]

Coming off their auspicious 2010 EP Color Your Life, Long Island's Twin Sister have delivered a maddeningly ambitious, haphazard, and unfortunately inconsistent debut LP. [Oct. 2011, p. 106]

The quieter moments on Mountaintops work best....Because this is primarily a direct, uncompromising collection, the weak songs stick out like sore thumbs. [Oct 2011, p.105]

The duo's hook-laden, dangerously infectious, bottom-wiggling formula is still in place. [Oct 2011, p.112]

With a few great epics, some nice ear candy, and an abundance of mood, they're serving up the usual like bartenders. [Oct 2011, p.108]

The results are nearly as haunting, but the songwriting just isn't at that level yet. [Oct 2011, p.108]

Pinback co-leader Rob Crow's He Thinks He's People sorely lacks the push/pull tension that makes his main act so compelling. [Oct 2011, p.108]

Overall, Ashes & Fire is a delightful Saturday-morning House-cleaning music. [Oct 2011, p.96]

It's nothing groundbreaking, and at times seems nothing more than a friendly jam session between pals. [Oct 2011, p.101]

How Do You Do actually has a bit more reach than just that classic period, but Hawthorne's strengths shine brightest when he channels the 40-year-old vinyl. [Oct 2011, p.99]

The Great Escape rarely moves past generic dance-floor thump and sway. [Oct 2011, p.100]

The mix is unrepentantly lo-fi. You may lose your inhibitions or just get a gnarly migraine. [Oct 2011, p.99]

Still likeable in their simplicity, and sweet in their execution, one has to wonder what might have been if there were just a touch more coffee in the studio. [Oct 2011, p.97]

The problem is that the rest of High Flying Birds is not as successful as it is ambitious. [Oct 2011, p.99]

Their purported badassery falls short. [Oct 2011, p.108]

As with Albarn's other altruistic ventures, the intention is better than the product. [Oct 2011, p.98]

Tape Club has some strong moments, but they're too often reminders of a band that seems to have lost its magic somewhere along the way.

A Very She & Him Christmas' main fault is that it can so easily fade into the background as the season never would, no matter how hard one might try and avoid it.

A game-changing debut like Cross is nearly impossible to follow up, but Audio, Video, Disco is about as self-assured as a second album gets.

If you can't tell by the horribly obvious title, Looping State of Mind is designed as a return to The Field's roots--and in many ways, that shift is enough to make it a step up from Willner's last effort.

Harper and her cohorts have certainly created a close approximation to the heyday of Depeche Mode and Human League--but ultimately their dated sound doesn't even come close.

Once the album finishes, the feeling is of a consistently pleasing spell, but one without many memorable moments.

Several tracks do reclaim some of Björk's past glory and inspire a bit of wonder, but the majority of Biophilia meanders weightlessly into space.

It's engaging stuff. It just outstays its welcome a bit.

It's a lovely collection of songs, but there's simply not enough happening to carry an entire album.

Work (work, work) is a desolate, urban lullaby, deceptively simple and definitely suffocating, but worth a little immersion.

A good start to your evening--but certainly not capable of carrying the whole night.

The issue with Dreams Come True is not a lack of talent but a lack of time and focus.

With Lortz's new project, sans the Dutchess, the styling is more psychedelic folk.

Standing between The Allman Brothers Band and Creedence Clearwater Revival is a high task, and this time, it gets a little lost in between. [Jul 2011, p.78]

How Hella can have the energy to keep cranking out their spastic, ludicrous-composition noise rock, let alone the brainpower required for memorizing all the parts, is anyone's guess. But sure enough, the duo-just the original two-piece for this one-is at it again.

Olsen's infatuations with analog R&B, psychedelic doo-wop, and '60s British pop maven Scott walker are fine for an indolent afternoon, but lacks the melodic robustness to warrant repeat listens. [Jul 2011, p.89]

Akin to their debut, Fool's Gold have a habit of fizzling like a caffeine rush half-way through, the once-crystalline pop teetering on rustic in its redundancy.

As it stands, You Are All I See is a very solid debut from a remarkable talent. I fully expect nothing but greater things in the future.

While Sun Araw's last proper album, 2010's On Patrol, felt carefully planned amidst all of the controlled chaos, Ancient Romans seems to wander for too long without aim or purpose.

It's not your typical listen for sure, but it is one that somehow manages to weasel its way into your synapses. [Jul 2011, p.90]

Overall, Drake's dreamscapes lack the vibrancy to capture even our most alert attention. [Jul 2011, p.84]

Mark Ronson-esque, electro-pop with an R&B soul, and immensely danceable tunefulness. [Jul 2011, p.81]

Put this cake back in the oven; it doesn't need more icing, but it could use more substance. [Jul 2011, p.82]

Even if the project isn't a wholly qualified success, Eno is still putting most of his peers to shame. [Jul 2011, p.84]

It's all just a mediocre, rewarming of Nothing Hurts. [Jul 2011, p.81]

Disappointingly, the second half of the album loses some of the sting. [Jul 2011, p.79]

While Taylor's voice is more adventurous than ever, it seems that the music hasn't quite caught up.

It's difficult to imagine Wooden Shjips recording an album that presents more of a psych rock statement of purpose than West. [Oct. 2011, p. 83]

There's plenty to love here in the melody department, and Dee Dee's too great of a songwriter to make a complete dud of a record. [Oct. 2011, p. 80]

Coastal Grooves is easy enough on the ears, but the bulk of it doesn't really connect, and it lacks the melodic gifts and pop sensibilities Hynes so magnificently displayed on "Dinner." [Oct. 2011, p. 79]

Aside from a few misses and the presence of Kid Rock, Rave On is the real deal. [Jul 2011, p.88]

The back half of the record in particular is a slog to get through. [Jul 2011, p.97]

The ideas here don't seem to hold together quite as well. [Jul 2011, p.86]

The album us one that easily endears itself wit its gentle, tuneful touch and just enough hazy heft to keep things interesting. [Jul 2011, p.86]

Although Perfect Darkness offers nothing new, for fans of Fink's distinctive approach to extreme unplugged delivery, it hits the spot.

The debut album from Lafayette, Louisiana's Givers plays with a loose, ebullient spark that sounds borne of considerate friendly jamming. [Jul 2011, p.85]

Soaked in reverb and effects, the album reads mystical in both sound and title. [Jul 2011, p.85]

With Welch's most forgettable set of melodies and tasteful but well-trod arrangements adding up to a generally disappointing return. [Jul 2011, p.92]

This anthology of both new and classic mixes reminds us, if nothing else, that Depeche Mode remain an inspiring and influential force in modern music. [Jul 2011, p.91]

Long on spirit and short on hooks, it's an album whose main appeal is that it offers the listener a window into what one assumes musicians do for fun when no one else is around. [Jul 2011, p.91]

That eye for harrowing detail is Cohn's greatest strength as a writer and occasionally his biggest weakness, as one minute he's effortlessly bringing to life sons who shoot heroin with their fathers and the next stumbling into awkward rhymes about UFC fighters. [Jul 2011, p.91]

He remains in the club for his passable sophomore effort. [Jul 2011, p.91]

This is an album full of sophisticated late-night hangout music colored by '80s synths and blurry, desperate vocals. [Jul 2011, p.89]

It's hard to deny the Nashville charm of The Ettes, back for their fourth album, as they drive you down a back road with their blues-tinged rock, gliding as smoothly as Southern moonlight. [Jul 2011, p.89]

Depending on one's view, it could be heard as trance music for indie folks or prog music for electro pop fans.

On Sky Full of Holes, Fountains of Wayne is what we thought they were: some of the best songwriters this side of Big Star, who occasionally indulge their less populist impulses.

Here's YACHT, surfacing for another round on DFA, continuing roughly where they left off on 2009's See Mystery Lights, with the kind of stripped-down, danceable fare that made their move to DFA appropriate, and a continued/expanding salvo of cheeky, pseudo-cultish conceptualism.

Ultimately the effort is mighty, and Little Dragon is still clearly at the top of the electro R&B pile. But Ritual Union is a mixed bag, its feet uncomfortably divided between the dance floor and the couch.

Join Us, the band's first non-children's record since 2007, presents standard rock topics in unconventional packages.

Despite spiraling further into outer space with each release, the pysch-punk band that calls Long Beach, California home keeps the drone thick yet tailored and the raucous guitar-and-drum blitzkriegs-which drive tracks such as "By the Sawkill" and "Seance"-concise.

In a way, the clear stylistic changes here put a spotlight on how diverse the group's discography really is. Just when you think you know somebody....

Unfortunately, five tracks have been trimmed from the original release, the most conspicuous being previous standout "Chordaroy," leaving an album that feels a bit slight when taken as a whole.

FOMO is seldom revelatory, but its concise pop never wears out its welcome.

Vek's delivery is anticlimactic and sometimes exasperating. Angular songcraft dies hard.

The result? well, another Quintron album, all high camp and sweat0soaked shuffle, blazing organs and prehistoric electro backing. [May 2011, p.86]

Life Fantastic rolls along with signature Man Man sounds and forms, which is to say, a carnival of sorts. Part gypsy, part rock, slightly crazed.

Goblin will probably encourage some hand-wringing by non-fans/detractors, and Tyler is well aware of what's within the grooves of his record. It doesn't take radical thought to understand that outrage sells.

There's a sharp, crisp quality to most of these songs, Kenny keeps them short with a simple, often elegant presentation. [May 2011, p.82]

While At Echo Lake was essentially the same sonic blueprint as its predecessor, the mellower mood here is a marked change from those last two efforts, though it's not always the most successful of shifts. [May 2011, p. 82]

As a whole, The Errant Charm feels back-loaded and unsettled. [May 2011, p. 82]

Some of Rowe's work here calls to mind Van Morrison and Leonard Cohen, though his gifts suggest that those names will remain references rather than long shadow to escape. [Feb 2011, p.73]

It's these quiet moments that demonstrate what the Seattle-based musician does best--paint a specific picture with words that put you inside his memories and minimalist melodies that tie them all together. [May 2011, p.76]

These compositions don't even necessarily leave the listener anything to grab onto, instead leaving him/her adrift in dense and twisted musical landscapes. [May 2011, p.89]

It takes a while for Mind Bokeh to get going, and once it does it's rather compelling, but after the uniformly excellent Ambivalence Avenue, the album can't help but feel like an overcast sky with too few rays of sunshine shining through. [May 2011, p.89]

Relying on the same classic keyboards and Ric Ocasek's flat-affected vocal eccentricities, Move stands up surprisingly well next to the band's best '80s albums. [May 2011, p.88]

Digs aside, Ringo Deathstarr could probably stand on its own if it wanted to. [May 2011, p.86]

There is a half-hearted attempt at dusting the instrumentation so it doesn't have as much of the grittiness we're used to from The Raveonettes. But not a whole lot of polish is applied so the end product is still essentially grainy. [May 2011, p.86]