The saccharine harmonies are still present on the title track; they're just augmented with more expansive arrangements that bring out a welcome new dimension to the band's sound. [Apr 2011, p.114]

Only the album-ending title track tones down the noise, and even then, it's about as restrained as early Husker Du. [May 2005, p.132]

Plays out like a sequel to BF5's last album... with one key element missing: humor. [May 2005, p.172]

Ultimately, the album's main fault is its resolute consistency, namely the fact that things basically run on one speed, and it gets repetitive quickly.

This heart-cleansing vulnerability renders much of Final Straw's latter half monotonous. [May 2004, p.96]

After four very similar albums, they seem to be in danger of painting themselves into a corner. [Jun 2003, p.93]

It's ain't perfect, with some primitive playing popping up at inopportune times. But if you're after a soundtrack for these late summer months, look no further than Lost Control. [Sep 2013, p.88]

Longtime Black Lips fans will notice a more polished production compared to past albums, but it also seems apparent that these boys have barely begun to scratch the surface when it comes to showing us what they've made of. [Nov 2007, p.170]

Young has a good chance at becoming a worthy replacement for the Postal Service; he just needs to monitor the ratio of sugar to substance on subsequent efforts. [Oct 2009, p.111]

There is a breadth of influence throughout, even if the energy level rarely falls below absurdly scorching and the sonic approach remains a fuzzy haze. [Apr 2008, p.150]

At times their odes to the long-gone era of '60s psychedelia get lost in their lofty ambitions. [Apr 2004, p.84]

Though there's little here to entice newcomers, fans should rejoice. [Mar 2002, p.77]

A precious orch-pop labyrinth that unfolds with sudden melodic left turns and zany shifts in dynamics and instrumentation. [Aug 2001, p.94]

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

If 1987-era U2 is your bag, you'll dig it. [Jul 2001, p.74]

Coheed's fourth album simply doesn't deliver on the suspense that's been loaded into it. [Nov 2007, p.155]

Too many tunes struggle to remind listeners of their catchiness. [Aug 2005, p.166]

Musically, it doesn't seem like Chan has gone anywhere. [March 2003, p.88]

Overall, the Beeps still seem like a work in progress. [Nov 2004, p.140]

Contains three best-of-year-brilliant songs. [Mar 2006, p.124]

They weave simple, childlike melodies that slowly grow into full-blown opuses.... A surprisingly innovative album that sees them swimming forward instead of treading water. [#153, p.76]

South are at their most compelling when they apply the aesthetics and methodology of dance music to their epic rock music. [Mar 2002, p.88]

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]

The 10 drone-y songs on Brightblack Morning Light sound more like a soundtrack than a traditional album. [Aug 2006, p.206]

Heart On is on par with the band's previous efforts when it comes to ultra-swarthy innuendos. [Dec 2008, p.146]

Takes a step back to the crossroads of the accessible and the head-scratchable. [Oct 2004, p.148]

They're so busy crafting the perfect pop song... that they've made a uniformly dull album. [Sep 2003, p.102]

The London-based compulsive hair-dyer follows 2007's soulful breakout "The Magic Position" with the luxurious sounds of The Bachelor, the first half of a double album to mixed results. [Sep 2009, p.108]

Not every song hits the mark, but the Monkeys should be applauded for spreading their wings and not dropping like stones. [Sep 2009, p.100]

Building on the same base that made his early material brilliant (a love for both odd sounds and cheesy pop), Warren has painted himself into a musical corner: knowing its hard to get any listener to swallow the same thing repeatedly outside the mainstream market, but also wanting to indulge his muse. [#151, p.78]

For now, this stands as another good if inessential addition to their catalog-a phrase that, for better or worse, applies to the majority of their output.

For the target audience, such education lines as "K is for kid fart/L is for long and loud farts" will leave house apes wondering what the fuck they ever saw in "Wheels On The Bus." [Oct 2008, p.153]

The trouble is that their debut album is saturated with the kind of contrived angst that seems to always maintain a level of popularity with upper-middle class white kids who don't pay their own bills yet. [Mar 2009, p.107]

While all the riffs and parts are brillantly performed, they rarely if ever repeat one, and none stick in your head after the band is gone. [Dec 2009, p.108]

The best songs are, as usual, the weirder ones... Elsewhere, Balls spends too much time riding the same quirky-dance autopilot that has fascinated Sparks since the late '70s. [Jan. 2001, p.102]

Both Sole's most accomplished album and his least distinctive. [Apr 2005, p.130]

The album runs out of steam toward the end, but the first few tracks are gold. [Nov 2009, p.109]

Though the album gets too repetitive, the uniformity of Acolyte still serves the band's purpose: Make the floor move.

Educational and motivational. [Jul 2003, p.126]

Call it growing pains for a storied discography, but the result leaves the album feeling unbalanced around the gems and less rewarding over multiple listens. [Sep 2014, p.110]

With this soft-spoken and delicate record of almost-drawling songs, he's moved his work one step closer to Nashville. [Mar 2002, p.81]

Lewis still sounds like she's trying to figure out where she belongs. [Feb 2006, p.118]

For the most part, the band's jagged guitars and bludgeoning backbeats play by the punk rulebook. [Jul 2006, p.186]

A solid album, but a must-have only for Tweedy completists. [Apr 2003, p.82]

Until Reptar develop their own voice, they have to keep making up for their derivative music with enthusiasm. [Jun 2012, p.82]

On some songs... the cutting-and-pasting fails to produce anything new, but a handful of others blend their textures beautifully. [Sep 2004, p.122]

The results of this experiment is decidedly mixed. [Oct 2014, p.101]

Sweaty and thick, convincingly urgent and highly sexual. [Jul 2006, p.210]

Records like this deliver atmosphere and little else, and most of Pelo's 10 tracks make a point of ending two minutes later than they logically should, but still, feel-good artsy pop has never felt bubblier or more confident. [#151, p.72]

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

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]

The Offspring once again demonstrate this knack for incorporating flavor-of-the-month flourishes into their sound in tongue-in-cheek fashion.... These embellishments aside, the Offspring hone in on the dyed-in-the-wool cheetah-paced punk that is their true bread and butter. [Jan 2001, p.81]

Decidedly mellow and acoustic in nature, 'Excuses' continues [Neil] Halstead's love affair with country, folk, and pop.... masterfully written, recorded, and played. [#147, p.103]

Long Live The King, by comparison, sounds distinctly like a cutting-room-floor exercise--a collection of outtakes left behind not in the name of aesthetic cohesion, but simply because the group had better songs more deserving of release.

It's a bit unfortunate that the Irishmen decided to keep their songwriting and musical prowess stagnant. [Mar 2007, p.143]

An accurate representation of the prolific group's career. [Aug 2004, p.106]

¡Tré! feels scattershot and slapped together, making it difficult to enjoy on its own merits.

La Luna's overall style is ambient industrial, with a hypnotic, grinding pulse and pounding kick drum, embellished by sporadic rhythmic tappic, guitar growls and strange electronic squiqqles... and while Czukay's industrial groove is righteous, 47 minutes of it is excessive. [Jan 2001, p.87]

A record of bittersweet delights that resonates with the brain and the heart. [Nov 2004, p.149]

It's something they've done better before. [May 2007, p.158]

Youngster is only temporarily satisfying. [June 2008, p.135]

The signature '97's twang takes a backseat to finely tuned pop songs. The downside? It falls short of going anywhere new musically. [Jul 2009, p.130]

Even if Oxeneers doesn't move you, it'll surely floor you. [Dec 2004, p.157]

There’s enough inventive, Jamaican-inspired music on Free The Universe to make it worth hearing--but here’s hoping Diplo keeps things Kingston-centric again next time around.

Unfortunately, the tinny stutters and retro keyboards... drag when they're not amped up on desire. [Dec 2003, p.158]

Instead of building on their strengths, frontman Jaz Coleman & Co. have backslid into subdued sogginess of the band's mid-period. [Jan 2010, p.91]

The disc is at least 20 minutes too long, with Slug coming off like he's simply recycling the same lyrical ideas in the last third of the album. [Jun 2014, p.104]

Matt and Kim deserve albums that sound clean and ambitious, but in all of Sidewalk's studio processing, their endearing personalities--decidedly brash, raw and awesome--unfortunately aren't well-represented. [Jan 2011, p.93]

There are way too many cooks in this kitchen. [May 2011, p.91]

The energy makes it feel like there's too much going on, leading to songs blending structurally, downplaying hooks.

At their best, the churning rhythms, swirling synth and vocals suggest Animal Collective digging through a crate of DFA Records. [Mar 2014, p.94]

Walls tends to fade into the background during its instrumental moments, dulled by textures and emotional ebbs that aren't very distinctive. Better are sharper rock songs. [Aug 2009, p.115]

The band takes a few sucessful detours on Chase This Light, but by and large, it's more of the same. [Nov 2007, p.172]

Their newfound nods to pop music... overshadow the expected balls-out rockers. [Apr 2006, p.220]

Where the band struggle is writing memorable tunes. [May 2014, p.91]

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

There's generally more of the same here, but Doves' alternate influences this time around... don't exactly add up to a great band "stretching out." It's more like they're grabbing at straws. [May 2005, p.134]

Unfortunately, everything is so finely polished on Alternative To Love that his brand of rock lacks any grit. [Apr 2005, p.124]

The Lemonheads is the album Dando should have made 10 years ago, and poppy punk ain't what it used to be. [Nov 2006, p.200]

The Invisible Band has more layers, more moods than ever before, and more tunes as well. [July 2001, p.88]

If he isn't a sage yet, he does sound like a future star. [Feb 2005, p.94]

While Boo! is far less indulgent than JOA's most experimental records, it remains a far cry from Kinsells's earliest work in the mid-90s emo forefathers Cap'n Jazz. [June 2008, p.131]

Considering how strong a songwriter Bazan has proved himself to be on the last few Pedro discs, the results here are mildly disappointing. [Jun 2005, p.164]

While Personality is all masterful and ambitious, nothing really sticks in the end. [Sep 2006, p.232]

A scappy but lovable collection of power pop. [Oct 2008, p.152]

Repetitious choruses and monotonous, middling tempos make the songs blur together. [Oct 2003, p.126]

All too often it feels like the band are ignoring the part of their name that gives them carte blanche to experiment and toy with expectations.

A bit flat. [Jan 2007, p.131]

Only the blindly in love will fully appreciate Suitcase, which is chock-full of bruised and blemished tracks, though it's not all throwaways. [#147, p.94]

Yes, it sounds like Yes, and, no, I don't mean that in a good way. [Nov 2003, p.99]

There's nothing surprising or too far outside their comfort zone.

Tracks like "Terra Firma" evoke every new-age-groove cliche imaginable, from Gregorian chants to pan flutes to politely understated hip-hop beats. [#152, p.74]

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]

Although a less consistent effort as a whole, Time Bomb is a lot more fun than its predecessor and suggests capacity for songcraft not evident on the band's debut. [#154, p.66]

The collection as a whole has a transitional feel, as though Jamie T is still finding his way between the two poles of his primary inspiration. Yet with his propensity for both engaging storytelling and hooks, he's too talented not to figure it all out in spectacular fashion.

At times, the disc trades solid shoegazing for a slip into blase modern rock, with songs that beg for broadcast next to STP and Third Eye Blind; ultimately, however, Gwenmars' recasting of the dark British sounds that lent depth to sunny American movies is intense and compelling. [#153, p.75]

Unfortunately, as with many Verve albums, Bar's dreamy tempos and strung-out riffs, while fragile and beautiful, start to fade into a middling mess of sameness around the middle of the disc. [March 2003, p.98]

Avenged Sevenfold is so all over the map musically and lyrically, it's difficult to decipher whether it's pure genius or the most convoluted mess of music you'll hear all year. [Dec 2007, p.178]