Enigk sounds like a mixture of Peter Gabriel, U2, Sarah McLachlan, and a little bit of Elf Power, and tries too hard to be profound and meaningful.

All told, the number of memorable hooks on display here is surprising.

He is writing and recording music that is profound, funny, topical, worldly, and ultimately, necessary.

This is Gill's masterwork.

One of the livelier and better country records of 2006.

Barnes' accordion playing has grown leaps and bounds since Noon.

Young Machetes is occasionally exhausting, but it definitely won't disappoint fans of either the band's earlier or more recent sounds.

The songs themselves are easy to approach if difficult to decipher, and the production details reward repeated listens.

A quietly compelling album, this will please not only fans of Hinson's other solo work, but those who were introduced to him through the Earlies and the Late Cord as well.

The feel is late night, on the edge of quiet, and full of pathos.

Normal Happiness is more in the tradition of his best work with GBV -- sixteen short songs (only one over three minutes, seven under two), with plenty of hooks, lots of guitar and no more fuss than necessary.

Merritt doesn't deviate from his signature lo-fi synth pop and brooding vocals, but he certainly sounds like he's having a whole lot of fun.

Be Still Please is another hidden treasure from one of the truly important bands, and persons, in pop music today.

The highlights are way high, but the album as a whole is "fans-only."

Though some might find it on the meek and lightweight side, many more will likely revisit Long Island Shores again and again.

Ultimately, the band has arrived with a poppier-sounding album while their signature sour earnestness remains intact.

For the most part, the ladies have chosen not to stray too far from their plainclothes rootsy sound, and while that may disappoint some fans, there's enough quality stuff here to light a fire in every train yard oil drum from Vancouver to Halifax.

This mixture of clattering, ramshackle arrangements and smartly put-together tunes... is an intriguing new direction for a band that previously seemed more interested in artsy, diffident post-rock.

On most of Inside In/Inside Out, the band sounds like a more energetic Thrills or a looser Sam Roberts Band, maybe even a less severe Arctic Monkeys at times.

It's filled with sophisticated yet welcoming changes in texture, dynamic, and form/genre that seem effortless, not forced or idiosyncratic for its own sake.

If you give it time, The Information eventually reveals itself as Beck's tightest, most purposeful album yet.

But even if the music doesn't really work, it's hard not to listen to it in slack-jawed wonderment, since there's never been a record quite like it -- it's nothing but wrong-headed dreams, it's all pomp but no glamour, it's clichés sung as if they were myths.

This is a smoking little record. Its focus is small, its reach is large; it's a winner.

While the tracks are longer and more realized, they're still distinctly remixes instantly recognizable as DFA output -- a mark of individual distinction many remixers strive to attain but few reach.

They're a little less baroque, they're a little less depressing... but they're just as emotional and affecting, which makes Gang of Losers very good indeed.

Some cuts, like the English murder ballad "Shankill Butchers" and "Summersong"... sound like outtakes from previous records, but by the time the listener arrives at the Donovan-esque (in a good way) closer, "Sons & Daughters," the less tasty bits of The Crane Wife seem a wee bit sweeter.

Given Brown's talents, it could have been much more.

Sonically, it captures the Evanescence mythos better and more consistently than the first album... but without the songs, it doesn't resonate.