Like a tightrope walker toeing a slack line, the Helio Sequence enters and exits this fifth full-length at its highest points... In between, Negotiations breaks down. [No.91, p.55]

It's difficult to accept him as an angry rocker. He's so great as a lovelorn crooner - heard here on "Seek It," one of the album's few moments of tenderness - that it's hard not to be nostalgic for the old Hawley. [No.91, p.55]

Algiers appears designed not to define, defy, offend and - most heinously- explore. [No.91, p.53]

Try to listen to a whole [Azure Ray] album and time stands still, not out of boredom, just deja vu. [No.91, p.52]

The rest of Pleiades isn't so memorable [as "further"], but it's never less than pleasant and frequently pleasurable. [#82, p.53]

It's an LP full of computerized, Auto-Tuned dance-pop anthems, perfect to drive the kids at junior prom into a frenzy. [No.90 p.59]

Although the harmonies and pickin-skills are still top-notch, Carry Me Back falls short in songwriting. [No.90, p.59]

Sadly, Beams doesn't show Dear changing up his game in any meaningful way. [No.90 p.55]

[Frontman Jesse] Elliott seems more preoccupied with packing prosaic lyrics with regional references than encouraging the participatory response these large-band arrangements often beg for. [#88, p.60]

Smith is least persuasive on the latter [unexpectedly aggressive, blues-based power ballads] - her delicate voices sounds strident when fronting heavy electric guitars, and those scattered tracks break the spell that her more restrained songs cast easily. [No.89, p.59]

Admittedly, it's hard not to respect Patton's creative adventurousness, but sweet Jesus, the gulf between admiration and enjoyment of one of his projects has never been so wide. [No.89, p.57]

Home Again is an album with a powerful voice, but little to say. [No.89, p.56]

Friends lose themselves when they try too hard to sound like the Ting Tings, Cults or the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, which they do too often here. [No.89 p.54]

Its performances over the past year have generated much anticipation for DIIV's debut full-length, but Oshin doesn't connect the same way. [No.89, p.53]

While the beats set SpaceGhostPurrp apart, his microphone skills are lacking; his flow, always sleepily riding behind the bass, doesn't fluctuate... But his apocalyptic perspective is refreshing. [No.88 p.59]

Two albums in, Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros sound just as phony as Ima Robot did. [No.88 p.59]

May piles up cresting false falsettos, disco pulses and Beach Boys wall-of-sound swells and, with the exceptionally sappy "Tell Her," offers a serviceable "So Happy Together" homage. [No.88 p.57]

If you're a fan of heavy psychedelic bands, but wish they'd spend less time writing songs and more time blazing on the fretboard, this is your record. [No 88 p.56]

It's hard to get too hot and bothered. [No.88 p.55]

You wonder if he's forgotten how to have, you know, fun. Approach with caution. [No.87 p.61]

Decidedly pleasant. [No.87 p.60]

Unpatterns is indeed mostly patterns, in fact - moody, bloopy instrumentals that don't really fit into one subgenre box because they barely muster the strength to be defined by a category. [No.87 p.59]

Lyrics ... come off as exceedingly everyday - as well as vital.

The Ghost in the Daylight is a thing of great beauty... [yet] sounds dull - perfect, of course, with every note in the right place, but perfectly predictable too, with 10 songs that blend into one long, brooding whole. [No.87 p.55]

The songwriting is flat-footed, with few moments that break from the homogeneous stupor. [No.87 p.54]

The Baltimore four-piece has the fuzzy guitar, the screamo vocals, the charging bass lines and an overwhelming sense of doom for stomping, post-Seattle noise punk. But the parts don't fit together. [No.87, p.54]

A record that plays like just the sort of effort we've come to expect from the Dandy Warhols: an uninspired, over-referential half-nod to the group's heroes. [No.87, p.54]

Unlike a deadmau5 or Skrillex, Van Dyk can only do his one style, and by the time the album is two-thirds over, you're already ready for him to mix out. [#86, p.59]

[It sounds] little more than controlled and reserved stabs at Lower East Side new/no-wave of early talking Heads, Social Climbers and Blondie driven by some uppity Britpop rhythms. [#86, p.54]

Van Dyk can only do one style, and by the time the album is two=thirds over, you're already ready for him to mix out. [#86, p.59]

Gab's good-natured hustle is commendable. [#85, p.55]

Even album highlights "The Malkin Jewel" and the almost serene "Vedamalady" aren't likely to do much more than appease the group's most ardent fans. [No.86, p.60]

At his best, Ward's always walked a fine line between eloquence and vagueness, hope and disappointment. It's been a great source of tension, and he does that about half the time here. [No.86, p.59]

The LP works, but just barely... [Roberts] doesn't always mesh well with Morrison's cheerful singing. [No.86, p.57]

There's an easy likeability to Great Lake Swimmer's latest release. [Yet] many songs don't hold up on repeated listens. [#86, p.54]

Sharp and well-recorded, but although Rebennack's distinctive voice is featured front and center, there's a sacrifice of his artistry. [#86, p.53]

It's a set of slow, deliberate vamps that oh-so-gradually gather tension; they smolder, but ... rarely burst into flame. [No. 85, p.59]

The synths are crisp and warm, and the beats are motivational in that '80's coming-of-age soundtrack way. [No. 85, p.57]

Asleep and a Forgetting is [mellifluous], only crankier and somehow more personal than anything previous, soaked in the moody nuances of laughter and forgetting, memory and momentary lapses of such. [No. 85, p.55]

Everything with this band is bigger and more over-over-overdubbed than [Ruess' former band] the Format, which makes fun. about 10 times more annoying. [No. 85, p.54]

When everything's working, the band is a force. Which doesn't happen enough on this oddly-timed eponymous release. [No. 85, p.53]

While BPM ultimately feels disjointed, it does get you thinking deep thoughts, pondering the similarities between brain activity and seismic activity. [No. 85, p.53]

Even though bombast spawned the band's biggest hit, it sinks a lot of this record's second half. [No. 85, p.53]

There's a brighter sheen to the new Shins ... [yet] too often feels like Mercer's straining and striving when he used to be quirky and charming. [No. 85, p.51]

What's missing ... is a sense of perspective, or humor, or anything to leaven Buckingham's monochromatic intensity. [No. 81, p.54]

Williams pits his angst-y tendencies against grunge's proven, angst-coddling backdrop. [#82, p. 62]

For the most part, we're just not feeling Everything. [#82, p. 60]

The imitations/references spill out... But Spills Out is considerably less interesting and more cerebral, when Pterodactyl sounds like other bands.[#82, p.59]

Dracula gurgles with slower, more experimental moments at times, but the brief drags are balanced out by funky hip-swingers and modern nuggets. [#82, p.59]

Joker unwittingly set the bar high for his debut full-length. Unsurprisingly, it falls short. [#82, p.56]

DJ Shadow first made his name by delving deep into the world's bottomless pile of debris to redeem the wannbe hits and half-formed artistic statements of our musical past. Now, he contributes to it. s[#82, p. 54]

The Whole Love works best as aural comfort food.[#81, p. 60]

Lucky for Conditions of My Parole, Puscifer has graduated from embarrassingly stupid to simply boring. [#81, p. 59]

They focus more on freeform jams than commercial song structure. Then, as now, it makes for indulgent and difficult listening. But, if the path of wisdom lies in such excesses, then the Larsons are certainly well on their way. [#81, p. 59]

Especially in today's digital context, the album feels torn between big-P pop a la La Roux or happy-mode Goldfrapp (or, at least, Annie circa 2004) and the darker, broodier likes of Ladytron.[#81, p. 55]

Most of the songs deal with romance in its more dysfunctional guises, but Feist's comforting vocals keep things from getting too forlorn. [#81, p. 54]

The lack of focus and discernible melodies keeps CANT from being anything more than an interesting diversion. [#81, p. 53]

The duo’s third LP won’t reconcile the two camps; in fact, Heart On may be the first EODM album to really make the detractors’ case. Chugging riffs and falsetto vocals abound on these 12 tracks, but instead of indulging whatever black magic that kept 2004’s "Peace Love Death Metal" and 2006’s "Death By Sexy" from devolving into jokey karaoke, Hughes and Homme decide to play it mostly straight.

Every song on debut Alight Of Night seems to be falling apart, mostly because vocalist Brad Hargett’s melodies are off the map.

Okkervil River can deliver terrific songs when ambitions are kept in balance, but this uneven record is in dire need of an editor.

Loads of echo and reverb rescue the album from this potentially fatal flaw, but overall, You & Me is a mixed bag.

Fatigue ensues from the relentless stream of common-man clichés, delivered in the most vocally bombastic way possible. Which makes the carefree 'Casanova, Baby!' such a pleasure; the Gaslight Anthem finally stops playing to the stadium, resulting in a positively joyous, catchy rock ’n’ roll song.

The Notwist’s last album, 2003’s "Neon Golden," was irresistibly catchy and irretrievably downbeat. Both of those qualities are muted on The Devil, You + Me, the German combo’s long-in-the-making follow-up.

This album isn’t a total disaster, but it’s difficult to imagine most people wanting to listen to Anywhere I Lay My Head more than once.

As tasteful as it all is, you still wonder what Vetiver is bringing to this material other than reverence. [Summer 2008, p.109]

Overall, though, Mr. Love & Justice is a collection of broken promises and lyrics that don’t live up to their potential.

You can only imagine the verbal bonbons Gallagher has in store for Oxford’s Foals, whose bristling, high-energy dance shtick borrows heavily from better U.K. bands--and whose members were gracing magazine covers months before the release of this underwhelming debut.

There's precious little invention at work on Attack And Release, and the stench of authenticity hangs heavy. [Summer 2008, p.98]

The multicultural mix and match works best on “Oh, Mojave.”... However, the Ruby Suns are less appealing when they land closer to home.

Marshall’s second album of covers, mostly continues the cleaned-up, virtually lobotomized aesthetic of 2006’s unfortunately heralded "The Greatest."

Krug's non-stop croaking yells get old quickly, and the few highlights are hardly worth sitiing through an hour of Renaissance Faire-y meandering. [Fall 2007, p.108]

Not Stars’ best, and far from their worst, but an album’s worth of the usual string-laden drama-pop seems a thin substitute for what today’s kids are seeking.

Magik Markers' simulations are dutiful, but they lack even a hint of the revolutionary spirit, menacing explosiveness, creativity, musicianship, savvy, wit, humor, heart or charm oif their heroes [Sonic Youth]. [Fall 2007, p.101]

Mentor Tormentor may be Earlmart's best album. But it still falls short of greatness, hamstrung by songwriting and production moves that have clearly become the band's comfort zone. [Fall 2007, p.93]

Unfortunately, on the rest of War Stories, Lavelle plays it safe by sticking close to poppy electro-dance tunes.

With a few exceptions, the rest of Goodbye remains little more than background music destined for life in service to candle boutiques and Saturn commercials. [Summer 2007, p.106]

It's not everyone's glass of absinthe, but Adventures will find a happy reception among listeners who want an occasional hallucination to go with their usual woozy drunkenness. [#75, p.94]

I can't help but think we've all been here before. [#75, p.102]

Pleasant if unspectacular. [#74, p.96]

Cryptograms is a pleasant enough record, but it remains to be seen if Deerhunter can add up to more than the sum of its gear and influences. [#75, p.96]

Strained, anachronistic verses may test your patience, but given what Arbouretum has to say when no one's singing, there's still a lot to uncover. [#74, p.90]

While it is technically flawless and masterfully executed, it makes for awkward listening. [#74, p.102]

Sometimes the gambles pay off... and sometimes they don't. [#74, p.108]

The sum of these elements could achieve greatness if not for one simple-yet-major falw: Beach House manages a memorable sound but not memorable songs. [#74, p.91]

Uneven. [#73, p.112]

A draining listen due to its scatterbrained ideas and patchy sequencing. [#73, p.106]

While Grizzy Bear often comes off as some backwoods cousin of the Elephant 6 collective, the band sports as much texture as Boards Of Canada. [#73, p.93]

Interesting sounds? To be sure. Impenetrable songs? That, too. [#73, p.94]

A mixed bag. [#71, p.102]

We're left with a meandering, psychedelic buzz--not a dizzying, mind-expanding head-trip. [#71, p.102]

THe duo has undeniable songstress skills, but it delivers its flawless melodies with the enthusiasm of a sewing circle. [#71, p.113]

There's a strange, practiced quality to the pop numbers that robs them of their buoyancy. [#71, p.87]

For those inclined toward the indie end of things, there's plenty to like here, but there's also plenty that will inspire head-scratching or, worse yet, yawns. [#71, p.89]

After making three great albums in a row, for Marshall to turn in a merely decent one seems like a letdown. [#71, p.88]

Like [Bright Eyes'] Conor Oberst, Sennett teeters between precious and wild. [#70, p.94]

On Makers, Votolato rarely digs deep enough to scar, and he tends to wander where he thinks inspiration might live instead of letting it find him. [#70, p.110]

Detrola, while still unpredictable, manages a certain unity. [#71, p.99]

Many of these tracks are simply products of their time. [#71, p.91]