There is little on Golden State to differentiate it from its predecessors. [Dec 2001, p.76]

If you read The Wire, you probably already own [Kesto], but if you don't, don't bother. [Jul 2004, p.148]

His world-music diversions should challenge even those who aren't pedestrian Iron & Wine fans--but that's what EPs are for, right? [Apr 2005, p.116]

It's not brilliant, and some tracks are just dumb. [Jun 2007, p.156]

World Peace is a frustrating experience, moving too quickly between temperaments and overstaying its welcome by a good 20 minutes.

Here, vocalist Yuki Chikudate's stacked, reverberating vocals sparkle like the glint of light off of fresh morning dew. [Apr 2009, p.134]

They focus too little on well-made songs and too much on creating an angst-ridden atmosphere. [Jul 2002, p.78]

With a deeper, more mature sound, Halfway sounds like the work of a producer in mid-career crisis making music inspired by the dancefloor, but not shackled to it. [12/2000, p.89]

The crossbreeding makes for a difficult listen, even thought it sharpens the Oscar Wilde-like wit Momus brings to the endeavor. [#155, p.86]

This husband-and-wife team have made the same album for the third time. [Nov 2003, p.100]

At times, the album gets a little precious, but the more inspired moments are truly undeniable. [Jun 2007, p.156]

With Ancient Melodies, Built To Spill are concentrating more on developing a single idea rather than worrying about the patchworking of the past. This fails to play to Built To Spill's strength: their firm handle on alt-guitar dynamics. [Aug 2001, p.78]

[Stephin] Merritt likes to sing about dancing--'I'm Lonely' gives us good reason to join him on the floor. [#147, p.92]

There’s a good deal of filler on In A Warzone, to be sure, but fortunately there are still some rewards awaiting those who stick it out.

While the musicianship is first-rate, the middling tempos and docile, homogenous instrumentation quickly grow boring. [Oct 2002, p.94]

Although memorable hooks are few and far between... there's no denying the album's ferocity. [Mar 2005, p.132]

Farm isn't the kind of Dino record that has a keeper single like 'Start Choppin'' or 'Feel The Pain.' Instead, it boasts some of Mascis' biggest departures under the Dino name. [Aug 2009, p.110]

Though their sometimes generic juddering occasionally dulls the impact, it's still clear the Color Morale are trying to be more than just "another one of those bands." [Apr 2013, p.88]

You'd be hard pressed to find a more confessional album released this year. [Dec 2003, p.142]

Merely okay. [Apr 2007, p.194]

Young New England may not define Transit, as it's wildly uneven and sometimes oddly raw, but there's enough good here--the missteps, you'll listen and forgive. [May 2013, p.91]

This restless, rootless disc suggests Cex hasn't settled on his future destination just yet. [Aug 2006, p.222]

Nothing Hill works best when Adamson keeps his mouth shut and focuses on crafting moody instrumentals. [Oct 2002, p.76]

Asstoria radiates a childlike glee and naivete you'll wish you still had. [Apr 2003, p.70]

Though this is limp-wristed stuff, it's also undeniably beautiful, often recalling Nick Drake and Belle & Sebastian. [#154, p.82]

A reliance on monotonous tempos and rhythms--and a disappointing lack of melodic variation--further make Endless Now fell curiously lethargic. [Sep 2011, p.112]

Like a late-night screening of Blue Velvet, it may be hard to get through, but impossible to ignore. [Dec 2011, p.121]

Overall, the songs are well-written and daring. Some tracks are more successful than others (”Where Did It Go?” and “Vultures” are standouts), but it is an altogether engaging listen.

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]

There's nothing bad here, but also nothing new. [June 2003, p.103]

Far from essential, but... a good jazz starting point for the unitiated. [Mar 2003, p.90]

For Matchbook Romance, Voices is adventurous. [Mar 2006, p.122]

There's lots of talent in this New York sextet, but it gets lost in all the unbridled exploration and layers.

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]

Pleasant, if not very gripping... [March 2001, p.70]

The addition of electric instruments and Morello's nasal speak-singing do make Rebel Songs read a little like a radicalized Dylan. [Sep 2011, p.116]

The least pretentious--and most accessible--thing AYWKUBTTOD have ever released. That's probably because it sounds a lot like your record collection. [Feb 2005, p.92]

They haven't lost any of their quirky cool mojo. [Nov 2001, p.97]

Overlook has its moments. [Sep 2011, p.120]

She's gone from being an indie rocker's wet dream to sounding like the most NPR-friendly singer-songwriter your parents haven't discovered yet. [Mar 2006, p.124]

The ominous charm that had fans nose over tail is not completely lost in Agony & Irony. [Aug 2008, p.156]

There is very little here that makes any sort of meaningful connection. [Dec 2001, p.85]

In Waves hits some high notes with solo-heavy scorchers, but bury them seven tracks deep is as dumbfounding as their guitar work is breathtaking. [Sep 2011, p.120]

The combination of thundering drums with whimsical vocals and melodies can be charming, insanely catchy and headache-inducing, sometimes all at once. [Feb 2007, p.114]

Taken individually, Damon & Naomi's songs possess distinct personalities.... However, when consumed as a whole, The Earth Is Blue metamorphoses into a thin musical mist. [Apr 2005, p.116]

The majority of the album sounds like generic radio rock. [Jul 2012, p.98]

Vanderslice's detached delivery of this riveting material, combined with the somnolent string arrangements, makes Pixel Revolt feel like a chilled-out remix of a book-on-tape recording. [Sep 2005, p.158]

Like many trilogies, though, the third one stumbles to reach the bar set by its predecessors. However, Morning certainly doesn't suck, and fans will appreciate its place in the evolution of Eels. [Sep 2010, p.109]

Somewhere Else is only rewarding if you can stay awake. [Feb 2013, p.90]

The songs tend to meander along without a sense of overall purpose. [Dec 2006, p.188]

The songs explode with more energy than the whole underground combined. This makes it very hard not to love Los Campesinos!, and makes it easier to forgive the fact this record could have been better served as an EP. [Nov 2008, p.162]

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]

Against Me! were great because of their flaws, not in spite of them--White Crosses just isn't that much fun to listen to. [Jun 2010, p.102]

Gay For Johnny Depp succeed because they don't take themselves seriously and they know how to write a crushingly good hardcore song. [Mar 2011, p.93]

Their new EP, Middle States, is occasionally tedious, thanks to those meandering tendencies. [Jul 2011, p.106]

The 15 songs here chart a typical course through the American songbook, with paradoxically straight-faced camp, morose show tunes and orchestral chamber pop without the aid of an actual orchestra. [Apr 2012, p.96]

Teetering between genius and madness, Repo is a few hooks shjort of a successful fishing trip for experiemental music, left mostly with "experiemental" and not much in the way of traditionally defined "music." [Jun 2009, p.102]

Coxon's solo career has long suffered from the Bob Pollard syndrome of self-indulgent quantity over quality--a setback that, unfortunately, also plagues much of Happiness In Magazines. [Mar 2005, p.132]

A set track list and a few new tunes....[creates] a more well-rounded picture of the band than last year's smorgasbord. [Apr 2012, p.92]

What could have been a second coming of Stone Roses or even a newer New Order comes off like one big Spiritualized remix, light on the hooks, numbed by its own beats. [Apr 2002, p.82]

The cohesion that made their previous records so captivating has been significantly diminished. [Dec 2005, p.204]

It's important that albums like Ghost exist--but unfortunately, those albums don't always make the most enjoyable listens. [Aug 2004, p.116]

Sounds like every other disc Matador has released by them. [Oct 2004, p.134]

The second half loses momentum slightly. When in concentrated form, however, the Mountain Goats still manage to reach their peak. [Apr 2011, p.115]

It won’t satisfy the appetite of fans of the band that are salivating over the thought of a brand new album with Lindberg’s patented shout-sing back and leading the charge. But as a stopgap and look back at the band’s early years, Yesterdays is a rowdy Pennywise romp.

It feels a lot longer than it is, and that's a bad thing. [May 2009, p.115]

While their occasional reliance on wide-eyed sloppiness isn't endearing, when the band clean up, they have some irresistible pop nuggest in them. [Apr 2003, p.80]

Gimme Some is grounded in a guitar-based directness it seemed PB&J had left behind. [Apr 2011, p.118]

Sounds like a good Wallflowers record. [Mar 2003, p.98]

Boasts a sort of steady, creeping beauty, like a slower, groggier Failure without the loud arena bombast. [Nov 2001, p.97]

Ably backed by bassist Michael Cotterman (ex-the Loved Ones) and Andrew Black on drums, if there's any flaw to the Title Tracks formula, it would be that they could make a few moments more flawed. But that's just the Q And Not U fan talking.

Like vintage B&S, this Glasgow group's sound ranges from full-blown orchestration to tunes on which a lot of musicians make very little noise. [Mar 2004, p.94]

Taken alone, these six tracks are fascinating enough from a conceptual standpoint, and listening to a band audibly restraining themselves is quite scintillating. But it's hard to shake the feeling that these pieces would likely have a significantly greater impact when connected with the entire Testimony performance.

Everlast hints at a hip-hop amalgam of Johnny Cash and Howlin' Wolf, but only when being chased. [Jan 2001, p.88]

It's virtually impossible to listen to Show Me Your Tears from start to finish; but individually, each song is a dark, delightful peek at Black in the throes of therapy. [Nov 2003, p.108]

There's enough patented 'Pusher weirdness here to tingle your noggin. [Apr 2004, p.100]

Marks a slight improvement from 1999's Bury The Hatchet. [Nov 2001, p.79]

The hue of the proceedings feels significantly dialed-down and stark and the result feels more like a Jollett solo album and less like a great band flexing its myriad abilities. [May 2011, p.92]

Offers yet more fun funk/blues-rock mashups for unpretentious gatherings of all sorts. [Nov 2004, p.156]

It's still a blast to listen to Hot Hot Heat when they sound like they're having fun, even if they have to fake it. [Sep/Oct 2007, p.169]

The recording quality is awful, but the glee with which these legends dust off forgotten gems like "Never Been In A Riot" easily makes up for it. [Feb 2004, p.76]

Sound[s] equally as interesting, but rarely as essential, as the studio material from which it's drawn. [Feb 2006, p.120]

The Menzies score big about half the time. [May 2014, p.93]

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]

It has a hard time hitting the kind of peaks required to make a singer-songwriter disc truly memorable. [Jun 2006, p.180]

Face Tat demands remarkable attention from its listeners; if only Hill would have challenged himself as much during its creation. [Nov 2010, p.112]

Channels the spirits of no wave via clinks and clanks, doomy vocal chants, ominous tribal thumps, abstract guitar scraping and jarring haunted-forrest samples. [Mar 2004, p.110]

Pariah isn't without its merits, and diehard fans will likely find few flaws anywhere. But for the casual listener, the album might seems a little less "Of The Room" and a little more "Rent." [Jul 2009, p.126]

Undoubtedly his catchiest record so far. [Feb 2007, p.122]

Even if this Boat doesn't always stay afloat, Cook's eager-to-please melodic sensibilities can still get jaws a-smilin'. [Mar 2009, p.116]

A feel-good collection of (mostly) poppy songcraft. [Aug 2001, p.103]

Much of the album reflects a tension between melancholia and euphoria that sounds more like an epic battle between Fischerspooner's love for New Order and Pet Shop Boys--but with beefier, disco-fied beats. [May 2005, p.174]

The bulk of the album's 14 tracks find her playing it safe with a helium-voiced squeak reminiscent of (take your pick) Gwen Stefani, Santigold, Kate Bush or Cyndi Lauper. [Nov 2011, p.97]

Alternately maddening and enlightening. [Jun 2003, p.110]

Their fourth album, Right Thoughts, Right Words, Right Action is just as resolute as the title. [Sep 2013, p.88]

There's a bit more quiet time on this effort. [Nov 2004, p.149]

At times, Iwrestledabearonce could almost pass for In This Moment. Whether that's a compliment or not is your call. [Sep 2013, p.90]

Occasionally, Roderick gets in the way of himself and makes the proceedings more difficult than they should be. [Sep 2006, p.214]