Despite Clarkson's sublime vocal talents, excessive gloss at times overwhelms the quirky charm and personality she displayed on Idol.

A diverse and engaging work.

Always clever, sometimes hysterical, and sometimes cloying, Lynch is a way hipper Weird Al for the post-millennium MTV generation.

Even with its share of jangle-pop gems, the disc also offers a few bland strummers that never quite take off.

Mixes arena rock in the vein of an Alice in Chains with the aggression of Pantera.

There's more Patti Smith in her than there is Patsy Cline.

If you like the Strokes, you should be spending this week’s CD allowance on Elefant’s first full-length recording.

In a sea of pretenders, the Kills are capable of providing some genuine competition for the White Stripes.

As much an album for slam-dancing nights out at Goth haunts as it is music for the psychiatrist’s couch.

Top to bottom, this may be Chesnutt's best effort since his 1996 disc About to Choke.

The album is a showcase for Cash's trenchant, soul-baring songs about love and mortality.

For the most part though, One Step Forward is more self assured and richly textured, nicely refining a winning formula that will no doubt enchant the many fans of its predecessor.

[A] provocative, if slightly uneven, album full of quirky lyrics and some irresistible melodies.

A truly remarkable progression, and a great album to boot--Antenna is the work of a band that's constantly moving forward.

There's not a weak moment on this dark-horse gem of a disc.

Dust is an atmospheric tour de force that doesn't just come from left field, it breaks through the outfield wall.

Sprawling, funny, angry, compelling, and entirely unafraid.

Here he shows more quirky imagination and inventive musicianship than on any of his earlier efforts.

If it's an album that also argues that the band is working from formula, it's one they'd be wise to patent.

Longtime fans might take it like a kick to the head, but this band is clearly moving toward bigger things.

Hersh has also masterfully tamed her potent vocal quirks here, using them to tease one moment and hypnotize the next.

Disciplined, varied, and often mind-blowing playing.

If play-it-to-the-back-rows, unabashed power-pop is what the Ataris were after here, they've delivered it with nigh perfection.

The F.A.B.O.’s smooth, deadpan flow cruises over benignly commercial beats, and the overall effect isn’t hard enough to stand up to "official" street-issue hip-hop.

Few bands... make slowing down sound this risky.

While Dar Williams's artistic trademarks--lyrical introspection, melodic warmth, an occasional tendency toward breathy vocal preciousness--remain much in evidence on this collection, the expanded musical support adds more rhythmic propulsion and layers of harmonies to the mix.

Bright Yellow, Bright Orange is further proof that the second half of the Go-Betweens’ career is one well worth following.

This album solidifies their standing as one of the most endearingly idiosyncratic bands on the American scene.