Adeptly recorded both through the board and from the audience, Remember is a microcosm of the band's career--an ambitious mess.

Much of 4 feels like beautifully baroque soundtrack music desperately seeking a movie about a rainy afternoon.

The album is their most straightforward yet. Fortunately it's not short on the witty lyrics and solid songwriting that always kept them from being a novelty act. [Aug 2007, p. 109]

When he sticks to cheeky storytelling, the album gains grimy traction, but empty dirges like 'Pacemaker' send it drifting into novelty territory. [Oct 2007, p.112]

There’s plenty of groan-inducing lyrical inanity, and one can only assume the reggae-rock abomination 'Beat on Repeat' was a misguided effort to branch out. Sometimes the middle of the road is the proper path.

The Best tracks sweep ringing, acoustic-guitar verses into anthemic power-chord choruses. [Sep 2002, p.134]

There are more tracks to like than not, even stretching all the way to the end of the record. If you want Starboy to be a good album, it can be that. It may require some personal editing. It also may require that you ignore what even the most sterilized tracks seem to be about.

Milky keyboard washes and found-sound accents... give the music a darker, dreamier depth. [Sep 2006, p.100]

It's a blessing and a curse that he's never sounded more unhinged. [Oct 2006, p.105]

Sounds of a certain vintage, which can net a poignant, tragic-romantic classic ("The Weekend Dreams"), but occasionally overreaches.

The results range from sublime ("Remember") to so-so ("Safe Tomorrow"), while the beat-broken "Move On" and the oscillating breakdown of "Future Tense" keep things inventive.

Despite its title, The Formula has its charms. [May 2008, p.96]

Issa Album needn’t be The Infamous, but it could’ve benefitted from a clearer and tighter direction.

The big shift on his beautifully recorded, intermittently moving fourth album under the Sun Kil Moon moniker is that only his nylon-string guitar plucking now accompanies his wounded croon.

For all the squiggly melodies and bumpy computer beats, however, Smoke's strength is his spacey chameleon voice. [Dec 2007, p.126]

The rest of the album can't match that evocative pang on [best track No I Don't]--something like hot coals against cyborg flesh--and is generally more direct.

Their third album sports a more generic, arena-friendly sound, as if displaying too much personality was a liability.

Warning of nightmarish rural invaders in 'The Rifle' and vowing to keep her eyes open on the showstopping sea chantey title track, Diane seems destined for grander endeavors.

Get past glitchy irritants like 'SonDEremawe' and an artful payoff of cerebral, booty-shaking decadence awaits on their ninth album.

The second duo record by the former Talking Heads frontman and his experimental producing partner is a thoughtful singer-songwriter exercise. [Oct 2008, p.104]

Slime Flu has its charms, acting as an energetic reminder of insider-y, turn-of-the-century New York hip-hop long gone: sample-laden, ignorant, and wealth-obsessed.

The Far Field can’t match its predecessor, but it isn’t without its highlights.

The quartet's fervent debut, produced by DJ Erol Alkan, offers a fabulous simulation of '80s new wave, with burping, sputtering synths and sleazy, Bowie-inspired crooning from frontman Sam Eastgate.

They say good artists borrow and great artists steal, but here Gonzalez does neither--his heart doesn’t seem to be in the heist anymore.

Your enjoyment of Love Story will directly correlate with the amount that you enjoy Yelawolf’s singing, because boy howdy is there a lot of it here. If you respect Yelawolf’s progression as a musician and wish him luck on his journey to artistic self-actualization, you will be pleased.

T.R.U. Story contains few surprises, and one less once you realize that its own opening line--"Cut the top off, call it Amber Rose"--isn't threatening decapitation.

Changing Horses' Americana journey is hardly inventive, but Kweller's boyish charm and quirky songwriting keep it more promising than predictable.

Front-loaded with buzzy riffs and cutting vocals, the third studio album from this Swedish band is bracingly ambitious, clearly designed to be heard in arenas and stadiums.