Stygian Stride may officially be divided into six differently titled pieces, but it actually exists best as a start-to-finish totality. [No. 97, p.59]

Despite faithfulness to the originals, this is unsurprisingly polished compared to the source material. [No. 112, p.61]

Kindred is fun, but best in small, sugary doses. [No. 120, p.59]

It's bold, colorful palette is wider and more enveloping than in the past. [No. 107, p.53]

Pond manages to use just about every trick in the psych-rock playbook to create energetic, borderline-unstable earworms that bury themselves deep in your brain for days. [No. 101, p.59]

Though Deer Tick has moonlighted as a Nirvana tribute band, it's the group's love for the Replacements that shines on Divine Providence. [#82, p. 55]

There's no real depth allowed in the themes, of course, and it bears no small resemblance to most other post-LCD Soundsystem fare. But it's beyond pointless to fault another person's idea of goodtime music. [No. 98, p.52]

This is a singer's album, one that luxuriates in the pure, lovely tones of Nadler's warmly intimate, darkly insistent voice. [No.87 p.57]

Tales From Terra Firma takes them to a more generic realm of sing-along indie rock, which is too bad. [No. 97, p.59]

There are seeds of talent in Phox, but this album doesn't let the band flourish. [No. 111, p.59]

Black Eyes gives barely a hint as to what this band achieves onstage. [#59, p.84]

Easy listening has never been this painful. [#57, p.106]

Boo Human is far from cohesive, but the playing is sharp, sympathetic and strong enough to create poetry out of everyday desperation.

Offering finds the band retooling its sound, and a few songs meander. But at its best--on the vibrant. assertive title track, on the buzzy, fizzy "Recovery," on the swaying, bittersweet "Good Religion"--it rivals Cults' revivalist previous offerings. [No. 147, p.51]

The Pack A.D. hews closer to the grunge side of the equation, playing with the slow-boiling fury of the geographical touchstones of the Pacific Northwest while never forgetting the history its forged. [No. 106, p.57]

The songs [on The Bloom and the Blight] have a folk/blues foundation, but they're delivered with a grungy punk energy. [No.91 p.60]

Imelda May's fourth album works best when she drops the bad-bad-girl stereotypes, but takes a few songs for her to hit her stride. [No. 112, p.59]

Mansion Songs isn't a great LP, but there's a damn good EP buried in here. [No. 117, p.55]

[Filled with] fine, subtle moments. [No. 85, p.54]

With its disjointed turns, it plays like a score to a David Lynch film: sinister, with moments of beautiful and icy-cool respite... Highly recommended.[No. 90, p.52]

Sunshine Lies contains some of Sweet’s best moments in years, with the classic push/pull of gloriously sunny melodies and lyrical darkness underneath.

Gab's good-natured hustle is commendable. [#85, p.55]

The arresting gorgeous title tune here destroys everything else, of course. But the rest have a loose, jammy feel that wouldn't have been tolerable in any phase of the DP's career other than the pop one. [No. 94, p.53]

The tight, buzzing guitars and chugging rhythm section have been deconstructed--subdued, even. [#54, p.78]

As If To Nothing occasionally lapses into moments that more closely resemble a compilation tape than a cohesive body of music. [#54, p.76]

Their most sustained work... It's sometimes ethereal, sometimes sedate, sometimes dissonant--but it's always artufl, quoting tiny fragments of Steve Reich, Brian Eno, and Miles Davis to steer the music toward a smart new seriousness. [#47, p.122]

The result is classic Blondie, the band's best album since it reunited--maybe its best ever. [No.142, p.53]

With BRMC, the curtains match the drapes in terms of words and music. [No. 150, p.51]