Curiously akin to Violent Femmes, the trio are precussively sparse, defiantly devoid of distortion and occasionally potty-mouthed. [Jul 2010, p.122]

It truly does feel as if they've been holding this emotion back since the day they parted and now unleashing everything in an explosion of creative energy, delivering a magnificent record that while fresh and exciting, could only be the work of far. [Jun 2010, p.102]

With This Is Happening, Murphy remains far ahead of pretenders trying to steal his thunder. [Jun 2010, p.107]

At its best, Arms is a pleasant album, one that sounds good on the surface or as background music. For most bands, that's perfectly acceptable. But for a group like Band Of Horses--whose ambitions have always intersected with being meaningful and transcendent, too--somehow just being acceptable makes Arms fall short.

Tempos have been ground down to a slow crawl, but as Melvins and Sunn O))) have proven, that tactic just gives a band the chance to prove how heavy they really are. [Jun 2010, p.105]

While the pair should have more fully explored such detours from the norm, Revolutions Per Minute is arguably the finest hour for both Kweli and Hi-Tek.

It could have easily gone into darker, scarier narratives and/or sonic atmospheres but they shut it down at the near three-minute mark. Unnecessary brevity is a sticking point: Sea Of Cowards' 11 tracks run a little over 35 minutes.

Overall, Keane's efforts to move beyond pigeonholing succeed more than they fail. [Jun 2010, p.107]

All in all, Levalle's got a solid effort on his hands with Night. [Jun 2010, p.108]

Besides boasting some of the band's most violent music to date, what makes The Powerless Rise such a stunning metal record is the band's commitment to vigrously kicking at their boundaries while remaining true to their sound. [Jun 2010, p.104]

Li(f)e's musical concept is great, but he's been better on the mic. [Jun 2010, p.105]

Refreshingly retro without being anachronistic, Free Energy burst with unironic sun-flecked highs--it's classic rock from 8-track heaven. [Feb 2010, p.93]

Although former member Franz Nicolay's piano parts are missed, the Hold Steady have still managed to craft a great record for a barbecue on a hot summer day--and for the hangover the next morning. [Jun 2010, p.105]

The breathable production and quality arrangements allow the band's instantaneously familiar melodies to glow. [May 2010, p.102]

Although their fifth album has plenty to satisfy orchestral-rock geeks and hook-heads--especially the ecstatic, merry-g-round-dizzy "up In The Dark"--the collection shines when it goes for nuance and subtlety. [Jun 2010, p.108]

Diamond Eyes is more concise than 2006's "Saturday Night Wrist" because it streamlines (or disposes) much of that album's sonic excesses while still delivering taut songs. [June 2010, p.101]

As Minus The Bear stray further from the prickly, smartass math-rock of thier early days, the group seem focused on crafting the perfect album to launch them into another dimensuion entirely--and Omni, with its brainy intricacy and adventurous heart, may just be that spaceship. [Jun 2010, p.106]

Mondo Cane is surprising considering how engaging a listen these visits into grandiose operatic profundity really are. [Jul 2010, p.127]

On Fever, it's all about the harmonized riffs and the high-flying melodies interlocking with the type of rhythmic thud that feels like it could move the earth--and the pop charts. [May 2010, p.104]

Considering how much it costs to get Rick Rubin in the producer's chair, it's no surprise Gogol Bordello aim for something beyond full-throttle drunken mayhem on Trans-Continental Hustle. Those worried the party is officially over can rest easy, as "Break The Spell" and "We Comin' Rougher (Immigraniada)" show Gogol Bordello haven't completely forsaken four-on-the-floor folk punk. [June 2010, p.105]

Thnakfully, as the album continues, the songs grow more developed as orchestrally augmented tracks "Right Place" and "LA Rain" showcase Burhenn's distinct vocal abilities. [May 2010, p.108]

Ebullient songs like "Dream About The Future" and "Told You Once" have the choruses to give ELO fans "Back to the Future" chills, but they should also make any pop lover an instant Apples adherent, too. [May 2010, p.102]

Love & Desperation may not be perfect, but it sure is fun. [Apr 2010, p.130]

It harnesses Circa's best qualities and adds a sense of direction previous releases somewhat lacked. [May 2010, p.105]

Turns out you can be the next hipster nuzz band and actually be good. [Apr 2010, p.123]

The isolation that came from recording in a remote cabin in the woods of upstate New York is palpable, and the sly inclusion of cello and viola upstage the requisite tambourines, handclapss and acoustic guitar. [May 2010, p.108]

While Matssib certainly isn't breaking any new ground on his follow-up to 2008's "Shallow Grave," the songs reign supreme and his emotive tenor mixes perfectly with his worn-down acoustic guitar, all captured in perfect lo-fidelity. [May 2010, p.108]

Rainbow feels every bit as massive as the world it sets up. It's not just the heaviest record in Coheed's arsenal; it's also one of the strongest.

Through it all, they retain their fundamental hardcore power-chug while vocalist Liam Cormier gives his most diverse screaming/growling/speaking performance yet. [May 2010, p.105]

It comes was a welcome surprise that their sixth full-length contains the most visceral, overtly hostile and sinister music of their career. [May 2010, p.102]

Though fans may expect these collaborations to be less structured than a MURS solo record, there's a few songs that just leave you feeling unsatisfied. That being said, Fornever is still a solid disc, and will please the average indie-rap fan.

Go is a genuinely beautiful, emotionally resonant must-hear. [Apr 2010, p.126]

He's rarely assembled a stronger collection of songs. [May 2010, p.102]

This North Carolina sextet's satisfying angst gets replaced with tinny keyboard effects and Guster-ready bongo drums. With every song, vocakist Adam Baker oozes further into an imaginary indie-lite Pixar flick. [May 2010, p.102]

Dissonant strings, clasical piano and eerie quiet spells infuse the album with a wird, roiling darkness that gets under your skin rather than filleting your skull. The result is more dramatic than any Dillinger release this decade--and more powerful because of it. [Apr 2010, p124]

Volume Two, as its title announces, succeeds Volume One's charming, old-timey sensibility, relying again in Deschanel's sweet croon to augment the already inviting tracks. [Apr 2010, p.130]

Goldfrapp’s skill at adopting and fully embodying different styles is what makes them distinctive, not necessarily one signature sound. If the album seems somewhat slight, it’s purposefully so: Head First is a love letter to the frothy, fleeting, but very vital joys of pop music.

The album's transition between punk-rock madness and mid-tempo melodies keeps Rush To Relax from getting redundant, and while you may have heard this sound before, it rarely sounds this good.

Much of Sisterworld has a decidedly seasick feel punctuated only occasionally by angular blasts of carnival-esque speed. All told, it's more than enough to satisfy and just enough to keep you guessing. [Apr 2010, p.126]

The vibe on Broken Bellls is so mellow and laid-back that the album dissolves into mere ambient wallpaper. [Apr 2010, p.122]

Stand too clsose to the bagpipes, harmonica, scream-along choruses and a constant artillery of thundering drums, and your ears are gonna get powder burns. [Apr 2010, p.130]

Mostly, the band have improved their songcraft and melodies, as evident in the positively infectious album highlight "Bad Blood." [Apr 2010, p.122]

The Brutalist Bricks is an experimental and enjoyable pop-punk record. [Apr 2010, p.128]

With Jace Lasek's glistening falsetto intertwining with wife Olga Goreas' dreamy midrange pipes, the Montreal group's third album, The Besnard Lakes Are The Roaring Night, creates a nocturnal viobe in broad daylight. [Apr 2010, p.122]

Via Audio thrill at taking risks, succeeding throughout the album's 12 tracks. [Mar 2010, p.98]

It's not for a lack of experimentation on Collet's part that Rat foregoes any sort of bar raing. It's still a solid forging of '70s-rock gruff. [Apr 2010, p.122]

Home Acres is rooted in stunning energy that tells the tale of a Midwestern dream falling apart. [Apr 2010, p.122]

The group's fourth outing supports singer Joel Pott's super-earnest reflections with melodies and arrangements direct and sturdy enough to bear the emotional weight. [Feb 2009, p.92]

Drummer George Barnett's military-precision beats are way up in the mix, but the band dynamic that made "Pyramid" so engaging, vibrant and coruscating, is virtually non-existent. [Apr 2010, p.130]

He's aided in this task by Anticon genius Alias, who produced the entire record--his spastic, head-nodding beats are so good, that they occasionally overshadow the headliner. However, that's not due to any lack of talent on Dolan's part, who's on the top of his game throughout the disc.

The dozen synth-and-drum-machine-laden tracks that make up Hologram Jams range from percolating to breezy to nostalgic to inescapably annoying as hell. [Apr 2010, p.123]

We Are Wolves', third album, Invisible Violence, features a bevy of captivating numbers and is a triumphant display of the Montreal trio's versatility. [Mar 2010, p.98]

What ultimately makes Similes so wonderful is that with every listen it seems to peel away the world around you, immersing you in its warmth, and for 43 minutes, it makes it so hard to believe that everything that might be wrong in your life actually matters at all.

While This Addiction might not be perfect, it's a more than respectable entry into the band's already sizable canon, proving that though they may be in that rarified group of punk-rock lifers, Alkaline Trio aren't done evolving yet. [Mar 2010, p.89]

The big hooks are fewer and further between, but the meat in the middle is where the real magic lies.

They may not be reinventing the wheel, but when a band play with this much riotous excitement, who needs reinvention? [Mar 2010, p.98]

Bassist Jeff Matz and double-kickdrum killer Des Kensel flank Pike at every turn. The album-opening title track establishes a menacing, mathematical momentum, and the trio never falter.

Past Lives seem poised to avoid various aesthetic dead-ends and the subcultures that foment said traps. It's a trend for listeners to get behind. [Mar 2010, p.94]

CIS convey aggression and energy through a maddening array of effects pedals and the haunting, grainy tenor of Kristain Hallbert's reverberating voice, combining to form corrosive anthems embellished by space and nuance. [Mar 2010, p.92]

Lightspeed Champion somehow fail to generate the true emotional sentiment that was the crux of the artists he's drawing from...Hynes has matured, though. [Mar 2010, p.94]

On The Constant, SOTY have shown they've mastered their current sound. Here's hoping for a little more experimentation next time. [Mar 2010, p.95]

The record succeeds as its own body of work sans premise, thanks to Valdés' deft keyboards and arrangements (which gives the proceedings hues of '50s hits, '60s soul and breezy Euro-pop) and Argos' patented sincere-or-smarmy delivery (the thing that makes Art Brut so compelling).

So it is wuth British quintet Hot Chip, whose progression toward traditional songcraft has reached a satisfying plateau. [Mar 2010, p.94]

Through it all, Massive Attack are more menacing than midnight in the darklands. Welcome back--you've been missed terribly. [Mar 2010, p.96]

When the band are a little more concrete and less spooky, the results are especially compelling, but Screamworks is ultimately successful in its blending of melody and muscle. [Mar 2010, p.90]

With a handful of vibrant songs that match either a late-night lounge vibe, or elevate their retro-country game, the album's only major flaw is forcing too many drastic costume changes on their angelic voices. [Mar 2010, p.98]

Alongside Barthel's sweet kiss-off in "Mouthful Of Diamonds," Carter's tortured lead vocals on "You Are The Ocean" keep the rest of Eyelid Movies brimming with palpable sexual tension until the closing credits. There had better be a sequel. [Mar 2010, p.95]

Although there;s wnough kicky keyboard-pop to satisfy long-time fans, the darker nuances are a welcome evolution. [Mar 2010, p.98]

While storytellers has a decent amount of vocals, it's still the gorgeous, lush melodies and layered soundscapes that speak the loudest. [Mar 2010, p.90]

The biggest problem on Hellbilly Deluxe 2 is that the campy B-movie samples and song titles like "Jesus Frankenstein" and "Werewolf, Baby!" come across as juvenile and lame. [Mar 2010, p.98

Blackjazz, by contrast, is fierce and unrelenting, a slavering beast of an album with the complexity and dissonance of the Flying Luttenbachers and the head-down intensity of upstate New York ultra-power trio Borbetomagus.

For the most part, the album rehashes an overdone genre full of blustery, unoriginal, cryptic lyrics. [Mar 2010, p.94]

The riff-roaring arena anthems "Racon Eyes" and "The Firebird" are among the most infectious tracks Priestess have ever written. Elsewhere, the band's retro-fuzz machinations don't fare so well. [Mar 2010, p.98]

Romance may be boring, but this ambitious triumph is anything but. [Feb 2010, p.96]

They occupy an ethereal wonderland of their own design on Teen Dream, a place where '80s soft rock mingles with slow-pop soliloquies, producing an oscillating, supernal bliss both sparkling and somber. [Feb 2010, p.92]

Merritt's singularity just feels awkward, and Realism is another album in a catalog more concerned with quantity than quality.

Haters can hurl epithets toward Drew and NSN as much as they want, but the singer's sincerity simply cannot be denied.

Thanks to nuanced production by Flood and a dizzying array of synthesizer textures, In This Light & On This Evening is a resounding step forward for the British band. [Feb 2009, p.93]

RJD2 has taken a lot of different paths in the past, but here he's found a way to make his diverse tastes blend into one cohesive effort. [Feb 2010, p.97]

What could have been a sterling six-track EP is still a solid album to blast until the weather matches its summertime mood. [Feb 2010, p.97]

As usual, the production is raw with traces of the recording process still evident. Although Transference lacks the overwhelming variety of "Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga," there are notable moments of exploration. [Feb 2010, p.96]

End Times is easily one of Eels' finest achievements. [Feb 2010, p.93]

Motion City Soundtrack have made the best album of their career and easily one of the best albums of 2010 or any other year. [Feb 2010, p.91]

These four songs fulfill expectations for minimalist, rhythm-based deconstructions of genre. [Feb 2010, p.93]

Misguided in points, Contra shows a more accomplished and daring Vampire Weekend--albeit a less endearing one. [Feb 2010, p.97]

There are more detours, from austere acoustic avenues to vocodered pop to '80s disco, to fill you with hope for the next decade's offerings. [Feb 2010, p.94]

While DJ Shadow keeps us hanging for a return to form, Blockhead picks up the slack with a fantastic disc that's solid throughout. [Mar 2010, p.90]

Far from the emperor with no summertime clothes, the five songs on Fall Be Kind--a mixture of holdovers from the MPP sessions and new material recorded this year--retain the electronics, but add some samples and head in a darker thematic direction.

Even with these late-in-the-game flubs This Is War still shines as an artistic triumph for 30 Seconds To Mars. [Jan 2010, p.91]

With its techno beats, yowling vocals and laughably cliched lyrics, "I Am Your Skin" fumbles at being a love song, while "She's So Bendable" (the band's vision of Lou Reed fronting the Jesus And Mary Chain) is beyond generic. [Jan 2010, p. 92]

Fun with out being frivolous or dumb, the album lives up to pre-release hype and solidifies Kid Sister as the fiercest new hip-hop female on the block. [Feb 2009, p.107]

Aesop Rock proves he's also a viable beatsmaker--his spacey, highly textured production is easily the best in the Felt series so far. Slug's rhymes are better than anything on the last few Atmosphere joints and MURS is on point, as always. [Dec 2009, p.113]

The Cribs manage to keep enough of their edge while dishing out another pile of consistently great pop songs. [Dec 2009, p.112]

On The Fountain, the Liverpool, England, legends shake off the sluggish tempos of their recent albums in favor of brisk, vibrant pop songs. [Jan 2010, p. 94]

Momento Mori is a good album, with the awesome 'Set Apart This Dream' and 'Again' shining with their anthemic choruses and deft use of pop melody. The tragedy is that it could have been great. [Dec 2009, p.108]

Frontman Chris Carrabba then shifts into the "Mature Artist" EP, showcasing critic-approved influences like U2 and the Cure ("Blame It On The Changes"), but goes too far with the acoustic mewl of "Even Now" (which is so personal, it's awkward) and "The Motions," a failed experiment in '80s pop. [Jan 2010, p. 92]

It's a moody composition with occasional moments of brilliance that will ultimately leave most listeners as confused as they are content. [Oct 2009, p.114]