Ultimately, Circles is pleasant and even fun in places, while being somewhat tedious and even boring in others.

Steve Forbert is a wonderful songwriter with a clear and sharply observed vision of how life in the heart unfolds and reveals itself with the passage of time.

The good songs are timeless facsimiles that float out of another era's memory, while the rest of the album's tracks, while well built, recorded, and sung, seem like forgettable, hazy clichés from 30 years ago.

It's music that breathes gently, establishing its own place, and providing a true reward for the listener.

These are late-night, club-ready tracks with a goth disco vibe.

While this is a remarkably process-oriented album, Soft Fall is also some of Barthmus' most engaging work, especially on the tracks where tight song structures give form and contrast to his grandiose tendencies.

Traveling Alone feels more spontaneous and immediate than most of Tift Merritt's previous work, but it's no less beautiful or affecting for it.

Lightning is no kind of departure, but the slight variations in sound and the slightly expanded emotional palette mean that it's an improvement over the last record or two.

Some judicious editing on the band's part would have made this a worthy follow-up to their first two excellent albums but as it stands, it's more of a confused and confusing record that is hard to recommend to anyone except fans who came on board when O was released.

Emotionally powerful, darkly beautiful, and troubling yet genuine at the same time, Don't Be a Stranger is the sort of album only Mark Eitzel could make, and if it's not always as strong and as focused as one might hope, it honors his muse better than he has on his own in some time, and shows this master songwriter still has some worthy stories left to tell.

His unique literary view into both the banal and the horrific mix with the most interesting and developed arrangement of any Mountain Goats album and the result is some of the strongest, most compelling work of an already brilliant run.

It's a fine set, worth owning along with Endtroducing… while giving beat-friendly newcomers a very persuasive career-to-date overview.

Even at a well-established level and decades into his craft, Vai takes some surprising risks on The Story of Light, and the album almost always benefits from them.

The warmth, sophistication, humor, and immediacy present on this set make it a welcome addition to her catalog.

The album doesn't immediately grab you, but if given time to spread through you like warm cider on a fall day, Levek's subtle charms will win you over and this album will be one of the first you'll want to reach for to help capture or create a mood of autumnal melancholy.

La Futura is the best album from ZZ Top since that '80s landmark but it flips Eliminator on its head, using synthesized elements as accents, not as a skeleton.

"March of the Wizards" and "Chameleons Tale," just end up sounding boring and out of place. Subtract these songs and The Return of Love is an impressive album that does almost exactly what it sets out to do, and sounds very pleasant while doing it.

Gold Dust is another of Amos' dreams realized--to record live with an orchestra--and it is most certainly for her dedicated fans, who will no doubt find elements in these new versions to enjoy.

Sugaring Season is sophisticated, mature, and rife with quiet passion.

Though not all of the band's experiments necessarily pay off, the album feels like a worthy proving ground for the ideas that will take the band boldly into the future.

His slight adjustments and increased restraint make this his most accessible and creative release yet.

With its restrained arrangements and spacious production, The Devil You Know allows Jones' enigmatic voice the room it needs to rise and deliver these songs, not from rock & roll history, but from her heart, marrow, and bones.

Awakened lives up to the reputation the AILD have built for themselves over the last decade or so of recording, showing their ability to find just the right balance between cathartic aggression and soaring melody while maintaining a velocity that seems more and more impressive.

Reckon is a statement that hits hard (and close to home) if you'll give it a careful listen.

Little Heater is a lovely, evocative album that touches the heart, the soul, and the intellect with equal force; this is the work of a singular artist working at the top of her game and it demands to be heard.

This long-labored album is a thoughtful and contemplative breed of off-kilter pop that becomes both more interesting and increasingly complex with repeat listening.

Flying in the face of his public persona, this is a sprawling (could be tighter) and humble (could be more persuasive) Deadmau5 album and one best suited for established fans.

hile it works well as a companion to Iradelphic, it's just as compelling in its own right.