Year In The Kingdom verges on limp self-indulgence. [Fall 2009, p.67]

here, Sennett clings to the cutesy indie-pop formula of the early 2000s, like a security blanket, once again adopting the precious pupy0eyed affect he probably should have outgrown by now. [May 2011, p.77]

As an album, there's little holding Smart Flesh together. [Feb. 2011, p. 72]

The album simply lacks the spark of his best work. [#15]

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.

California Son is uneven at its best, and borderline sacrilegious at its lowest points. This level of steady, maintained mediocrity will only make it harder and harder for all but his staunchest fans to continue caring.

The soundtrack version of The Knife's (in association with Planningtorock and Mr. Sims) first opera, Charles Darwin homage Tomorrow, In a Year, is such a frustrating experience.

These four hanging out and jamming is to be celebrated, no question, but a slightly less ad-hoc endeavor might elicit more spins. [May 2011, p.75]

Ultimately, Snow Patrol offers more bark than bite here. [Winter 2008]

Stylistically the album is too spread out, with ambient, rave, dance, trip-hop, hip-hop, synth pop and just plain pop, that nothing really sticks, and the album feels like a bunch of randomly produced singles instead of a cohesive whole. [Winter 2008, p.90]

While certain tracks capture a melding of The Clientele's lovely melancholy and Southern California psych-pop undertones, the bulk of the album suffers from an an impenetrable mix that simply has too much going on sonically to let the band's sunny songs shine through. [Spring 2009, p.68]

The View isn't bad, it's just that it's almost completely indistinguishable from countless other post-Pete Doherty, '60s-inspired Brit-rock bands. [#17, p.88]

Much of the material here harks back less to the 1960s acoustic folksiness it's shooting for and lands disappointingly closer to the more plodding end of 1990s Britpop also-rans. [Feb/Mar 2014, p.80]

The Tourniquet is the sound of a songwriter systematically polishing the edges off of everything that made his music so appealing in the first place. [#13, p.97]

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

On the one hand, it's impressive how she can weave so many different touches into her music, but on the other, things can get a bit schizophrenic. Unfortunately, the common denominator is nondescript pop-rock that loses its ability to enchant with repeated listens.

As talented as these guys are, they still can't write a song that stays with you. [Fall 2007, p.78]

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.

This isn't so much a bad record as a boring one. [Sep/Oct 2014, p.78]

This must be what they call a bad trip. [Spring 2008, p.74]

We’re not left with much to chew on but some pleasant melodies and Everett’s signature, raspy croon. Nothing on Earth to Dora comes close to the indie rock peaks of EELS’ past.

{The Temper Trap] lose the sugar high on their eponymous second album. [Aug/Sep 2012, p.122]

When the workers step into another room, suit up, and begin spray painting the boxes, the music takes on a more soothing, droning, electronic quality with distinctly ripping synths and chirping, muted background vocals. In short: the music finally becomes strong enough to make these unimaginably boring visuals watchable. Sadly that beautifully soundtracked spray painting sequence ends all too soon.

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.

On the Tony Visconti produced The Bright Lights of America, the band opts for the same brand of pristine song production and testosterone-soaked chants as every other mall-punk band, and, in so doing, makes it hard to discern them from the crowd. [Summer 2008]

YACHT often keeps flogging the horse long after it's dead. [Summer 2009, p.63]

It's a combination of cheesy digital embellishments and so-so songwriting that leaves you feeling that Spring may be better off a part of a team. [Aug/Sep 2012, p.125]

[An] uneven and unimpressive debut.

Mainly I Heart California is a series of love songs to California that play out like taunts to people who live in other places. Although, at times, it seems I Heart California is taunting itself. [Summer 2010, p.82]

As with most Fink efforts, the thrills are eclipsed by misfires. [Spring 2009, p.72]

It fails by dressing up its prettier moments in unnecessary clatter, whereas the noisier bits are already unnecessary. [Summer 2007, p.86]

O'Connor never really goes big with any of these songs and never passes the limits of the uninteresting backing music.

This hybrid approach works well, but RJD2, even at his finest, doesn't have the complete vision of DJ Shadow or other soundscape artists; RJD2 sounds best with a rapper accompanying him. [Holiday 2009, p.82]

There are a few winning moments here, but overall the disc can't hold a candle to 2007's "Country Mouse City House," let alone career highs such as "1972." [Winter 2010, p.70]

The award for most disappointing album of the year (so far) gos without question to Rilo Kiley's Under the Blacklight. [Summer 2007, p.76]

Changing Horses crams its few memorable moments onto the back half of the album. But its not enough to compensate for the lack of creatvity and foced nature of most of the disc. [Winter 2009, p.72]

The execution here might have seemed a bit more authentic had they been going for a pure concept album with a Civil War theme; unfortunately, hearing Stickles locked in bloodied-but-unbowed mode throughout the record doesn't add any greater emotional depth to the intertwining themes.

The trio's ambitious, albeit generic arena rock sound proves more appropriate for frat boys than campus indie rockers. [Spring 2010, p.72]

Throughout Swim, Snaith employs similar tactics, getting something interesting started, seducing the listener, only to challenge them to stay on board as the song develops. [Spring 2010, p.69]

The ephemeral instrumetal tracks are less bothersome this time out but don't keep the band's tenth effort from eventually toppling over. [Summer 2009, p.66]

Requiem for Hell doesn't engage this canon with an evolved musical lexicon and its familiarity leaves you flat footed.

Decidedly less than the sum of its parts, this is one musical feast you might want to think twice before digging in to.

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]

Astralwerks inexplicably chopped this thing in half for its US release--which, if you're a fan of subpar neo-garage rock, is a change. [Fall 2008, p.86]

Blue Lights is more of an affective slow burn, which is to say it is often a bit of a bore. [Spring 2009, p.70]

Even the nimble and funny "Guns" and the nothing-you-haven't-heard-from-Coldplay-before "Champions of the World" and "Orphans" aren't enough to forgive the shortcomings of the other tracks. Over the course of the whole record, the uninspired songwriting becomes a bit tiring, so the album as a whole is a disappointment for a band with so much talent and past successes.

Unfortunately, it plays like a joyless formal exercise that precludes a dialogue with the listener.

One's patience for this material can vary, and without a visual component, the experimental tracks wear thin and won't likely be revisited. [Summer 2006, p.92]

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

In the end, of the 13 tracks here, eight probably could've been scrapped and he's have turned out a strong EP. Instead he's added a weak album to a strong, but not always reliable, body of work. [Fall 2008, p.81]

Like the Killers, the Vines, The Bravery or countless other bands before them, Switches have absolutely nothing original to say. [Spring 2008, p.87]

One has to applaud The Go! Team for their restless energy and dogged determination to stick to a previously tried and true formula, but Rolling Blackouts proves that louder and faster in no way equals hip.

While it introduces some interesting new ideas to The Strokes' repertoire, there are more clunkers here than anything resembling the dizzy highs of Is This It.

Goldilocks x proves that Genesis still has the presence to command a beat with her atmospheric, sultry voice and natural swagger, but the mediocre writing and production keeps her from bringing a cohesive, compelling body of work to fruition.

Bloc Party has always been capable of great and deep thought, even when moving at a high rate of speed. Without that added urgency, Hymns falls flat. [Jan/Feb 2016, p.54]

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

The record is admirable for its crashing ambitions, but it unfortunately devolves into a tuneless, nearly unlistenable mire of avant-noise fragments. [Spring 2009, p.77]

It's a fine line between mesmerizing and droning, and, on Slow Dance, Jeremy Jay has unfortunately tip-toed across it. [Spring 2009, p.72]

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]

Dripping in falsetto and awash in synths, their latest attempt is painfully lacking in the refreshingly hyperactive guitar riffs that made their debut so memorable.

Largely, Reformation: Post TLC is the sound of a band striving for the level of menace and achieving the level of annoyance. [#17, p.91]

A more significant or signature contribution from the band might have made the Prince Avalanche soundtrack a more intriguing listen and a more compelling stand-alone experience than the polite frictionless record presented here. [Aug-Sep 2013, p.96]

The Spells cast here are easily escapable and instantly forgettable. [#17, p.83]

On the whole, it's not a big departure, or a grand statement. [Fall 2007, p.87]

When Benson's good he's great, but when he's only average--as he is throughout the better part of this disc--he's barely distinguishable from any number of '70s-inspired songwriters. [Fall 2009, p.61]

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]

Not clever enough to be a joke and too uninspired to be taken seriously--put the 1990's back on the shelf. [Summer 2007, p.78]

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.

His raspy, wonderful voice often lags behind, and the actual substance of the lines gets lost in the dust. [Fall 2010, p.74]

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.

From start to finish, they slather Partie Traumatic in quirk and tirelessly recycle the scrappy sonics of 'I'm Not Gonna Teach,' playing them out until even that gem of a single loses its luster. [Fall 2008, p.79]

Across six songs of minimalist repetition, the day-to-day of this 42-year-old librarian becomes meditative rondeaus, epic folk incrementals that make eerie nourishment for the wee hours. [Nov 2009, p.101]

Much of this album is a wash. [Fall 2008, p.75]

An aesthetically perfect long play er that dithers in the background. [Jun 2012, p.155]

Kaiser Chiefs keep making the same record, but most of the energy ran out in the first tow. [Feb-Mar 2014, p.72]

There are odd, almost-redeemable moments present but, recorded as it is, the album had no chance.

Where Just Tell Me is good, it's great, with these moments of greatness mostly coming from the elders on the compilation.

Rather than being something different or a step in a new direction, it's merely a continuation of the same thing as last time. [Winter 2010, p.65]

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

It gets old quick, but this goofy dance punk record is fun for the first few spins. [Jun 2012, p.158]

Father of All... is fundamentally toothless and lacking in wit, originality, and invention. Armstrong decries "fakes" across this album without once acknowledging the irony that these songs represent exactly the sort of corporate rock he is supposedly standing against. Of course, Green Day remains a competent band to the point that this slickly produced record is not an all-out disaster. But it is certainly not worth remembering.

This is oddly like Carrie getting named prom queen--Weezer defying expectations with an early flurry of edgy pop tunes to start #6 with a bang, before it all goes horribly awry and the bad songs come down like a rain of blood. [Summer 2008]

While it's fun to hear some new (old) material from Ryan Adams and his fantastic band, The Cardinals, it's pretty easy to see why this stuff wasn't released and while the jury is still out on whether or not retirement was a good idea for Adams, III/IV does indicate that it was time for an extended vacation.

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

Dulcet space pop for an audience, not headphones. [Jun 2012, p.158]

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

An overly mellow, maudlin, and melancholy outing that takes a well-played vibe and rides it until a 44-minute album seems overlong. [Jun-Jul 2013, p.97]

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

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

Monochromatic and underwhelming. [#10, p.109]

While this music may get heads bobbing live, it comes off flat on disc. [#11, p.116]

Campbell and Lanegan are still one of the most interesting and engaging vocal pairs in music, but here they sound positively hushed. [Summer 2010, p.77]

In its excruciating final half, her sophomore album recalls Nico's mid-period solo records not only for it's foreboding, gothic tone but its glacial pace. [Summer 2009, p.63]

Nothing really stands out, and the songs that do--the catchy "Short Elevated Period," as well as the two musical highlights of the album, "This Time" and "Sleep on the Wing"--don't leave enough of an impression to be overly impressed by.

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

Krell succeeds at creating a sonic universe he can call totally his own, but the lo-fi approach, his sharp falsetto, the in-the-red mix, and the foundationless compositions are both exhausting and alienating.

The music sure sounds like Squarepusher, though, which is to say: it is good. It's just not as good as what the man can do with his regular gear.

When you use the same instruments, styles and sounds of a bygone era, you are dangerously close to being a cover band. [#9]