It is a slow burning album, with Kenney’s immaculate voice and curious instrumentals drawing the listener through her complicated maze of emotion. As the listener draws back the layers of glassy melodies and discordant edges, one finds an intimate testament to love’s inherent contradictions.

Top-notch stuff. [#7]

While not as thrilling as his last few releases--it is another stellar chapter in a brilliantly penned book. [Summer 2007, p.87]

Instead of escaping for three and a half minutes, Torquil Campbell and Amy Milan take turns addressing, to the best of their ability, the tension created by such beauty and ashes around us. The real triumph of No One Is Lost is how Stars seems to carry such substance while on roller skates.

While there's a definite chance that some of their established fans might be turned off, if you stick with it you'll start to see glimmers (as on final track "Exile and Ego") that Merchandise--much like The National when they released Boxer--are a band standing on the precipice of arena-filling stardom.

Recording's musical vignettes display equal parts languor and incitement. [#11, p.105]

Moderat II is nothing if not navel gazing; however, the introspection allows ideas to flow freely, and moreover the diverse styles of the collaborators this time make cosy bedfellows to create a genuinely beautiful, atmospheric record.

Be Here Now, is both a protest against the current state of the world and a reminder to cherish what we hold dear. In doing so, Be Here Now is a celebration of love, freedom, and art.

Phillips and her band of brothers have created their own cinematic universe, full of sleazy B-movie villains and femme fatales, a world where glamour and sleaze, heartbreak and redemption walk side by side. But Written and Directed expands that hyper-real world, with horns, choirs, crashing guitars, and the occasional foray into New Wave pop (“Back of the Bar”) and is perhaps the album they were born to make.

Overall, Cherry Stars Collide is an impressive collection that acts as a gateway to discovering a host of bands and artists that previously would have gone recognized, and that alone makes this boxset an indispensable artifact.

Its Chappaqua Wrestling’s unerring ability to create a record where no two songs sound the same that makes Plus Ultra a delectable listen from start to finish. All killer with no time for filler. So, across all 11 tracks it feels like a ride, or more specifically a collection of diary entries set to music.

Phantogram shows a marked improvement in song conceptualization with Voices. Less fat goes a long way for the kind of weight this duo brings to each track.

It is not the most groundbreaking sound musically but certainly innovative in approach and original in delivery and presentation.

A reflection of its creator’s state of mind, Fragments is the perfect soundtrack to re-entry into normalcy after an extended stressful period.

It’s a good album, but not a great album; a chance missed perhaps. Laessig and Wolfe are covering some important, personal themes here, but you wonder if the glare from the dancefloor glitterball blinds the heart and soul of the record just a little too much.

New York City, then, captures all the grit and grime you’d want from The Men, but comes up short compared to their transcendent, melodic best.

After those two tracks [Mine Tonight & I Got Nothing], the EP turns something of a corner, a fresh start symbolized by the third track cover song, "Trees and Flowers." [Aug/Sep 2012, p.125]

A heartfelt, accessible rock record for emo kids who can't stand eyeliner. [Summer 2006, p.93]

As you can tell, those who are fans of dreamy electronic music with dreamy Scandinavian female vocalists can get ready to be thrilled by the sheer talent on hand for this record. [Spring 2009, p.79]

Who knows if Jonny will be a one-off project or a long-term collaboration, but there's a little something here for everyone. [May 2011, p..85]

Us is smart and thoughtful and sometimes very fun. It all sounds like great pop music on paper, but pop just isn't played on paper. Where Me felt wild and joyfully amateurish, Us feels professional and conservative.

It's an inconsistent album, with some songs slipping by in a swirl of sameness but there is enough here from a heartfelt and unique creative mind to keep interested in the band at a renewed and deserved high.

Nguyen has always had a handle on taking atypical musical paths and somehow turning them into mellifluous passages. The combination you may not have seen coming though is the confessional mixed with a prevailing sense of calm, that somehow sounds best when Temple is cranked to the rafters.

Heim is gorgeous. [Fall 2007, p.76]

Whether intentional or not, Quilt does a great job of appropriating those warped, vintage tones.

It’s Sonic Youth at its most psychedelic, though not in the flower power sense that term can evoke. It’s fitting that during this period, they once headlined the Terrastock Festival, which highlights neo-psychedelic underground artists from all over the world.

Additional instruments are brushed into the picture now and then, though the band seems just as natural with a lean, straightforward sound as they do fleshing out the spaces.

Perfect melodic indie rock. [#17, p.98]