[Tweet] offers more mature and demure R&B this time out.

The band builds on the power of the previous Thirteenth Step, applying hypnotic arrangements, brooding melodies, and droning rhythms to a collection that sounds absurd on its surface, but is woven together by A Perfect Circle's heavy and dark-lidded instrumental approach.

An album that sounds vital and immediate.

One of his best.

An album meant to enrage, amuse and enliven.

The basic ingredients are delicate, minimal, well-conceived songs that utilize instruments ranging from guitars and analog keyboards to melodicas and chop sticks.

The Thrills continue to crank out buoyant melodies that keep singer Conor Deasy from downing in his bittersweet lyrics and brokenhearted vocals.

This is an astounding body of work--and definitely one of the year’s best.

For those who missed Nico’s erotic darkness the first time around, Midnight Movies have found the recipe.

Weightlifting is stellar TCS, expressing everything great about the band.

Straight Outta Cashville is simply the same, moderately catchy collection as Beg For Mercy or The Hunger For More, made inferior by the addition of a few tuneless crunk trunk-rattlers.

Happy People [is] a featherweight collection of midtempo, Marvin Gaye-influenced tunes... The sacred material on U Saved Me, by contrast, is more exciting--and troubling.

A pleasure to examine at close range.

Roughly half these 19 songs burn themselves out on first listen, but the rest are sublime.

Certainly a tougher and more traditional album than its two predecessors.

What gives Afrodisiac its allure are the confident club jams that mask B-Rocka’s vocal limitations without overpowering her.

Kiss Of Death is certainly an improvement on its predecessor... However, what continues to bar Jada from the inner MC circle populated by Jay-Z, Eminem and even Kanye West is his lack of a broader vision.

Wait a minute... you mean this isn't a Duran Duran album?

Skinner has often been declared the Eminem of British rap. But on A Grand..., he proves that if anything, he's British hip-hop's answer to master storyteller Ray Davies, or maybe idiot savant Brian Wilson.

Sonic Youth sound like their cover band in comparison.

Unfortunately, the spell breaks down and the songs grow tedious as the album nears its end, practically running out of a steam like an emotional rollercoaster stranded at the bottom of the tracks.

These dozen songs, which swing with the organic, old-school funk Prince began embracing in the late-’80s, also avoid his ‘90s excesses, combining rock and soul as effortlessly and succinctly as he ever has.

Not quite jazz, not quite electronica, and not quite indie rock, Tortoise continues to define and evolve their own compelling cosmology.

Honkin’ On Bobo is a big bruiser of an album, with heart, soul, and fury to spare.

No matter the song, from the stumbling “Me And The Devil Blues” to the murmuring “Come On In My Kitchen,” Me And Mr. Johnson sounds rehearsed and controlled.

A smartly schizophrenic solo debut filled with the anything-goes dancefloor abandon of the ‘80s.

An album that’s simultaneously stimulating and crappy.

Sure, it's nothing that hasn't been done before.... Still, there's no denying that She's In Control is one helluva bad-ass, booty-shakin', funky-fresh party record.