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]

Rewolf is as essential to Asobi Seksu's oeuvre as any of their preceding records. [Dec 2009, p.108]

An uplifting, hope-giving affirmation of resurgence from a band who might have been down at one point but were definitely never out. [Dec 2009, p.117]

While there are moments of buzzing, high-flying bliss on Githead's third LP, one can't escape the sensation of horizon-hugging deja vu. [Jan 2010, p.94]

Raditude seems intent on establishing itself as a now album, sacrificing any sort of cohesive vibe for a pop-friendly disc designed for car stereos to be turned to 11.

Molina & Johnson's treasures are there, as long as you listen closely. [Jan 2010, p.95]

Sure there are some lulls; but the face-melting trash that surrounds these tunes proves the band still have it in 'em to, well, slay. [Dec 2009, p117]

That's how much of of this album feels--confusing....Our advice? Stick to the disc's first half; it's where you'll find the best songs. [Nov 2009, p.114]

Built off of two piano chords or a single guitar riff, Felix'a music is as ho-hum as their vocals, and without diversity in the songs' chord structure, the album blurs together until what's left is a coffee-table coaster. [Dec 2009, p.113]

This is a test

Tellingly, 'Angelika' and 'Maria Leonza' only get comfortably loose and silly when halfway finished. With a Strokes-y guitar part and a driving backbeat, the innovative '16th & Valencia, Roxy Music' is hopefully what Banhart will be in the future. [Dec 2009, p.108]