In expanding her breadth, Merritt relinquishes too much of the depth that made her debut so distinguished.

The 'Line now possess a maturity in their songwriting that most indie-rock stalwarts can only dream of.

There’s a remarkable continuity from track to track, and its obvious those contributing to Venomous Villain are long-time fans of Dumile’s work.

It may be an unexpectedly traditional and conservative album, but it’s also an unexpectedly beautiful one.

It’s incredibly inexplicable, and inexplicably incredible.

The wild humor and slash-and-burn methodology of Comets on Fire have outlived any pretense to trend; Blue Cathedral makes a strong case for the permanent re-emergence of undiluted psychedelic rock.

Rage, speed, and math are still here; but there’s a cinematic scope and a real attention to mood and texture that’s new.

It’s an ambitious album, but only in the sense that most of the songs are outrageously long and feature approximately eighteen gratuitous time signatures each.

Though Patterson is still largely peddling outdated sample-heavy narco-trance, the new disc is quite an improvement from 2001’s career-low Cydonia even if it may share that record’s flaws.

Out of the Shadow's blissful indie-pop tunes are as affecting as they are catchy.

It's the first record that, overall, feels serious.

What's perhaps most interesting about the album is that it steers clear of most indie rock tropes.

It more or less picks up where Beaches and Canyons left off, allowing for more subtle changes in tone while distilling the Black Dice sound down to a considerably purer essence.

Waves is an album filled with nice touches and sincere sentiment, not much more.

While it is undeniably a good record, reaching into the stratosphere of excellence at points, Ejstes' overall modus operandi seems more akin to outright homage at times than any sort of exploration of the means and methods of vintage '70s rock and its application in a modern context.

Positively stomps and bristles, with Smith and his band summoning up the type of chutzpah not normally found in middle age.

Sonic Nurse is the happy medium they've been craving. The songs, despite being mostly over five minutes long, are all to the point without feeling meandering.... The balance between noise and melody is right, with each emerging and vanishing at just the right point.

Riches' voice can still sound a bit flat on some tracks, but his vocal and lyrical abilities have grown by leaps and bounds.

It’s an impressive display of the sort of catchy and fun (natch) music that Newman can make, even without the substantial talents of his usual collaborators.

God Bless Your Black Heart is one of the best noise rock records in recent memory – and not in the sense that it’s bafflingly original, but in that the Paper Chase are amazingly good at what they do.

The only real downside to Louden Up Now is the surprising amount of filler surrounding the meaner cuts.

A pleasantly lush album that may be his finest work yet.

While some may scoff at the gentler side of the Animal Collective (especially when contrasted with the fully electric assault of last year's studio release), Sung Tongs easily stands alone as a crowning achievement in their eclectic discography, one that finds the group fully in control of their musical prowess and all the better for it.

To Rococo Rot's Hotel Morgen is seductive and suggestively sculpted; romance music for people with unforced, natural, and charmingly contrary style.

The End is Near employs much of fans found so pleasant about Bedhead, particularly the impressive build-up of two and three bar melodies.

With experimentation comes occasional failure, however, and at times Since Last We Spoke can feel a bit forced.

The overarching narrative structure and sequencing make this album a well-conceived exercise in storytelling.

In gaining power and speed, Secret Machines seem to have lost a sense of pace. Now Here is Nowhere rocks hard, but compared to the EP it contains half the ideas in twice the running time.