Much of the record lands solidly in novelty territory.

The music is as soothing as a lullaby and as challenging as a modern art exhibit.

While In The Reins bears the unmistakable imprint of both Calexico and Iron and Wine, these collaborators donâ??t seem to be interested in playing it all that safe.

Not Them, You is one of those rare records that rewards on both repeated listens and initial forays.

A loose, engaging collection of songs that won’t knock your socks off the first time you hear it, but begins to work its way under your skin on subsequent spins.

The whole affair is polished to such mirror-like perfection that I have to dim all the lights and cover my eyes when I listen to it.

As with most things this conceptual, certain aesthetic sacrifices must be made. But Matthew Herbert is the remarkable musician, with his keen senses of rhythm and melody, who can pull off such an audacious ruse.

The tunes hop as often as they whimper, with stand-up bass, slap-happy drums and wordless vocals fleshing out the reverb-rich arrangements.

Songs is heavy on romantic longing, but the music is so coy and smart that it rarely feels mushy.

Black Dice doesn‚t shy away from risks, and this record is just as daring as Beaches and Canyons or Creature Comforts.

Amber Headlights has clear thematic and structural parallels to the Afghan Whigs' excellent 1996 rock opera Black Love.

This turn for the yee-haw is a bit mystifying but hardly a mistake; Howl is exactly the cry the BRMC needed to make.

There's just a little more space on this record for the songs to build and breathe. Twin Cinema is the first New Pornographers record you'll want to sit through from beginning to end.

Bright Ideas has an air of excitement and energy about it, and contains some of McCaughan's strongest songwriting to date.

The punk-informed material on Blitzkrieg Pop sounds like the missing link between Ministry's earlier, sensitive electro material and its later and more well-known incarnation as the nihilistic buzz-sawing and bile-spewing industrial unit.

Knitting Needles & Bicycle Bells is a near perfect collection of four-minute songs that recall a more ragged XTC, the skewed pop/rock style of The Kinks, and The White Album-era Beatles.

The production is crisp and idiosyncratic as usual, but many of the songs fade into the background.

If the fifties rocked this hard, we'd be dead now.

There is some irony in following up a record called We Fight Til Death with one titled (and as vital as) Giving Up The Ghost. However, Windsor For The Derby doesn't sound as if it has succumbed to anything save for its singular atmospheric pop tendencies.

[Has] a mysterious backwoods vibe worthy of Murmur-era REM.

On songs like "In the Afternoon" and "Time is Running out," Maclean fails to add even a shred of feeling to his chilly IDM clones.

Surprisingly, the time frame covered by the collection does not detract from the listening experience, rewarding Cursive-completists with moments of power punk and the angular guitar work the band has come to be known for.

Lead bat Eric Johnson is a talented songwriter but his '60s lite-psych melodies and scruffy acoustic backdrop are not just tired, they're nearly dead.

With his merely efficient playing, Mould never reaches the highs of electric ecstasy he perfected in his heyday.

Resilience is laid-back Kid 606.

A shot of raw psych rock that's as adventurous as it is accessible.

A gorgeous, shimmering 40 minutes of music - a sonic road trip through parts unknown.

To be sure, there is nothing on Often Lie that is revolutionary - for the most part Dalley delivers straight ahead power pop.