Franti's brain-stimulating songwriting rises to a new level of proficiency here.

If it's not quite a triumph, it's challenging and ambitious stuff that rocks on out and doesn't tarnish the memory of what Johansen and Sylvain accomplished so many years ago.

Putting the Days to Bed finds Roderick writing his most intimate lyrics to date while also building upon the radiant pop sensibility of 2005's Ultimatum EP.

The songs, as far as the writing goes, are routinely terrific; however, the ones that rely most on convenient synthesized elements are a bit dainty and rudimentary and deserve to be made without the limitations of a home studio.

The album is impressive, especially in small doses or when Steele reigns it in a bit, as on the pretty, bossa-nova tinged "Miles Away." As a whole, it's a sometimes exhausting listen.

A much darker, more ambitious set of songs than the Knife's previous work.

Midlake might be stuck in the '70s, but they make it sound like the best place on earth.

It isn't easy to strike the right balance between ambition and emotion, scale and humanity; White Whale manage it with ease on WWI.

There's less of the wry humor Germano usually allows to shine through once in a while... This is also her least gauzy-sounding album since Slide... Despite these differences, In the Maybe World is still a strong addition to her body of work.

The only drawback for fans is this Golden Smog doesn't bear much aural resemblance to the band that made Down by the Old Mainstream and Weird Tales; then again, the bands who make up Golden Smog's membership don't sound much like they did back then, either, so that shouldn't come as much of a surprise.

Two Thousand is nothing if not well crafted; that it doesn't have more memorable moments is as frustrating as it is mystifying.

The record is very reminiscent of the Sounds' 2006 release Dying to Say This to You, because of the sassy, provocative vocals as well as the overall mood.

Necessary if you like that wikki-wikki-scratch; recommended if you enjoy impossible pop and hip-hop from the fringe.

Muse have really done it this time.

It's a poetic work of circling guitars and melodic phrases and vocal lines repeating and layered like monastic chants.

Even if it's not as traffic-stopping as her debut, this album suggests that she can keep her music interesting for the long haul.

Stevens constructed an alternate version of Illinois that is almost as good as the original.

Intensely focused and steady.

It's not quite focused enough to place among the best of his other work.

The Silver Lining suggests that Soul Asylum might still have another great album in them (especially if Murphy does more of the songwriting), but this one certainly isn't it.

Most of the musical content is diaphanous and fleeting.

There's still a kind of inconsistency in the development of Through the Windowpane, an inconsistency that can't quite work itself out in sweeping strings and vaguely dissonant chords, and unfortunately, this diminishes the power of what the album really could be.

Listening to this album, one can't get around the knowledge that it is a posthumous collection made in Cash's last days, but even without that context, it would have much the same impact.

As the album carries on, it becomes more and more evident that this albums is less about sex than a statement about the overblown pretentiousness and drama surrounding many of the bands with artistic merit that are popular, circa 2006.

The album is a major production.

The album is gentler and falls much closer to the feeling of The Places You Have Come to Fear the Most.

The majority of Fundamental is like the majority of their great album Behavior in that repeat listens are required to do these rich songs justice.

The Return of Dr. Octagon doesn't always make a lot of sense, but that's the beauty of it.