Unfortunately there are too many strikeouts for the album as a whole to achieve a winning score.

It's doubtful Marauder will win Interpol any new fans and may even leave existing fans somewhat disappointed, but if you work at it, you can find some redeeming qualities since a sub-par Interpol is still better than most.

For the second record in a row, Death Cab for Cutie are treading water, splashing about in the faded sound of glories past.

ShadowParty is a solid record teeming with musical explorations held together with catchy beats that entertains a little more with each listen.

What it lacks in real energy and excitement is more than made up for with a deep sense of place and atmosphere which truly consumes the listener.

The rich harmonies and sharp production isn't sustained throughout the album's 11 tracks. Several tracks not only step backwards from the mod rock but step back in time to mimic the slow tempo sunshiny pop of early '60s boy bands, but lack the freshness of their heritage.

His voice remains as compelling and as seductive as ever, but the music is unrecognizable, moving firmly into the territory of smooth jams and synthetic beats.

Joyride feels like an album that has had anything adventurous about it focussed-grouped away and its hints at conceptual ambition are quickly abandoned after the opening two tracks for run-of-the-mill R&B. Tinashe is a good singer and a great performer, with the looks and work-ethic to be a star, but she sounds bored on this album.

Whilst tracks like "Butterflies" and "High Horse" offer the best of what Musgraves can do in terms of balancing her obvious charm against a certain steely underbelly that has served her so well so far in her career, all too often, Golden Hour delivers a lackluster vibe and a feeling that Musgraves has become too infatuated with the pop side of her artistry and is beginning to forget about the things that made her so interesting and worth investing in in the first place.

To be certain, plenty of Lost Friends tracks loudly testify to the charm that earned Middle Kids a record deal in the first place. ... More often, though, Lost Friends lacks the risk of "Edge of Town" and "Never Start." To be certain, though, Middle Kids' natural songwriting talents still rear their heads; isolating any one song on Lost Friends reaps solid rewards.

Elton John has always has a country streak to his songs, and most of the choices on this compilation fit this repurposing like a hand in glove.

Revamp is a mixed bag. Several of the artists here take chances with the tunes, and at times are wildly successful. ... When things are bad, however, they are bad.

Is it funny? If you're a 15-year-old boy, you'll love it as there's enough toilet humor here to stun an Ox. Will it be funny after the first listen? Well, the jury is out. But probably not.

The conviction that has defined her career so far is nowhere to be seen here and, whilst the reason for this change is still unclear, the result is a record of missed opportunities and inexcusable shortcomings. [Mar - May 208, p.54]

Beautiful Things isn't the flashiest, and it sags along the way, but it comes with enough soul to carry the quiet moments. [Mar-May 2018, p.60]

The music has some commercial cross-over potential that most people can't help but like, with various electric guitars and electronic keyboards arranged into pleasing and polished pop-rock. But these pleasant tunes don't have enough sharp dynamics to give them an edge and so end up as mostly fluff without so much substance.

I Don't Run isn't a bad record, or a regression, nor is it the continued ascent the band had hinted at. Instead, it's a meandering detour through chill, lo-fi, and sometimes flat songs.

Eels have always shied away from the mainstream, and followed their self-indulgent tendencies. But while The Deconstruction gets off to an energetic start with tracks that rock and inspire, ultimately there's too many tracks that don't rock, so it falls a bit short of what Eels are capable of.

New Material is certainly not more than the sum of its parts, which causes problems for a band that thrives on the whole, rather than moments of individual magic. It leaves much of New Material ambling by.

Despite all the bluster, there's not a lot actually happening on this album. Its songs are collages of ideas that sound great in 10-second chunks but refuse to settle, shifting from fiery riffs to spoken word passages to jazz piano detours. At first, this restlessness has a mad-scientist charm to it but it quickly becomes tiresome.

While the shift to a kinder and gentler sound doesn't live up to the spectacular music of past efforts, you can't fault the band for trying something new to broaden their appeal. And even with a few shortcomings, Violence still has enough alluring music to make it a worthwhile endeavor.

Whilst there are flashes of intriguing and exciting music on here, these moments aren't enough to convince anyone listening that the project is a complete success.

Ultimately, there's too much of it and not enough of the tracks here are anything other than mediocre, indie singer/songwriter tunes that are as easily discarded as they appear to be easily written and produced.

Three of the 16 tracks are spoken word, self-help messages, which match the rest of the album's rather cloying lyrical content. Every motivational buzzword is used repeatedly until you're almost praying for a bit of My Chemical Romance style, teenage nihilism to creep in, just to break up the monotony.

Record is solid, without a bad song on it, though with that said, aside from "Queen," "Guitar," and "Go," not much really stands out.

From the forgettable country rock of "So High" to the dispensable interlude that is "Sleep," Drift proves to be a tiring exercise in desperately finding something, anything, to grasp on to.

Tape Recorder is an apt name for its unvarnished sophomore LP, which resembles a demo.

The Worm's Heart is a curiously pointless release and coming so soon after the first version does it no favors at all.