Mark Kozelek Sings Favorites comes off as if it was created to serve Kozelek more than to stimulate the listener, making the no-frills, stripped-down set easy to fall for to but tough to return to.

The Competition may be Lower Dens' most accessible album, but its best moments come when the band slow down and strips back their sound.

The first half of the record clashes significantly with the latter half, which is... eclectic.

Despite the dream team behind it, American Utopia has much to like but little to love, perhaps its most apt, if unintended, critique of the country itself.

Medium Rarities isn't essential. A few tracks stand out, but the real excitement lies ahead. Mastodon's last few albums have crept up the top 10.

As rich and resonant as some of these synth tones are, it's ultimately an album that's more conceptually interesting than it is musically appealing.

Despite its brisk pacing, Starz still suffers from bloat. Songs like "Iceheart," "Dance in the Dark," and "My Agenda" could have been left off the track list and made the album more coherent and enjoyable to experience.

For all its vulgarity, predictability, repetitiveness and reckless musings on drugs, Juicy J's trippy music succeeds because of its spirit. His new album (his first since trading 666 for Taylor Gang) bottles that infectious energy, that reckless intensity, that raw hustler's "kapow!" and delivers it in an accessible package.

With so many of its songs employing fade-outs, Siberia also has this palpably unplanned feeling, which doesn't always pay off.

It's a traveller's record, but not one for the wide-eyed, "wanderlusting" tourist; rather, it's one for the detached and disoriented, Bill-Murray-in-Lost-in-Translation voyager. It hits this note strikingly, but it's a shame about the sonic mishmash.

A Better Tomorrow never really coalesces into a satisfying whole.

While The Home Inside My Head is by no means the band's magnum opus or a step forward for pop punk as a whole, it's definitely a worthwhile listen for fans of the band and genre.

The Mountain does not reach the same heights as the one called Monkey at the end of Demon Days, nor does it have the same sonic depth as Plastic Beach. However, it does continues in the path of both of those albums.

Pollard races through each song with all the gusto of the late '90s. His enthusiasm, though charming as ever, falls just shy of justifying what often feels like a collection of chaotic, unfinished demos.

Domo's Genesis is a step in the right direction, but he's walking to his destination, and not anywhere near where he needs to be just yet.

While the layers of oddball narrative that Black brings to the table help distinguish it, aesthetically it's at least five years too late and feels like something aimed squarely at hip, divorced dads.

On Last Place, the band returns to the same well again, and while there is enough here to sustain some nostalgia, that well seems drier than ever before.

In•ter A•li•a feels like a band trying to recapture the sound of their youth.

Mark of the Blade is a bit hit-and-miss. Musically, the new touches work well and flow with the rest of the album, but the clean vocals in particular feel forced and sorely out of place.

It's all very un-Explosions-like, but it works to not only create diversity in their discography, but also as a moody album that can provide moments of levity.

With so many loose threads, JACKBOYS isn't the compilation album one would hope for — instead, it seems rushed and put together to make a year-end release.

Grace/Confusion could have been a great 20-minute EP. Instead, it's a listless 40 minutes that works best as background music.

Be Myself is hardly a classic, but it's another solid, light-hearted sounding collection with some clear standouts on it.

A Wonderful Beast stands as a frustrating listen; a demonstration of what Calvin Johnson can do when he's motivated and what he can do when he's just fucking around.

Though the album lacks a unifying aesthetic, and a couple of pieces have a slight "interlude" quality, the strongest elements highlight Lipstate's unwillingness to place definitions or limitations on her music.

The production is top-notch, but Ghost rarely shifts into uncharted lyrical territory, holding back Sour Soul's otherwise consistent production.

"Nuage d'Ivoire" is one of Par Avion's highlights, while some slower pieces, like "Reflections," seem to drag on a bit.

This revised version offers fans a chance to listen closely to those musical constructions, at their most skeletal, revealing an often wondrous gestation process: just one that never quite compares to its own final product.