A draining listen due to its scatterbrained ideas and patchy sequencing. [#73, p.106]

When everything's working, the band is a force. Which doesn't happen enough on this oddly-timed eponymous release. [No. 85, p.53]

Sonically, it's all pretty enough, but the songs rely too much on goofy valentines and cliches. [No. 104, p.55]

[Frontman Jesse] Elliott seems more preoccupied with packing prosaic lyrics with regional references than encouraging the participatory response these large-band arrangements often beg for. [#88, p.60]

Its successes just about match its failures. [#70, p.100]

Flute and saxophone abound on this record, employed with a degree of schmaltz that works against the songs more often then not. [No. 95, p.57]

Everything with this band is bigger and more over-over-overdubbed than [Ruess' former band] the Format, which makes fun. about 10 times more annoying. [No. 85, p.54]

He mostly sounds like a fish out of water. [No. 95, p.57]

It seems so mild. [#64, p.98]

[The final track Love Is Love] has the sprightly energy that's missing on most of the record. [No. 143, p.61]

Beyond often rings with the bumbling awkwardness of a band taking itself too seriously for the first time. [No. 108, p.55]

This LP does little to propel her anywhere near the ranks of the big-name women of contemporary pop/rock. [No. 108, p.61]

Like a tightrope walker toeing a slack line, the Helio Sequence enters and exits this fifth full-length at its highest points... In between, Negotiations breaks down. [No.91, p.55]

DJ Shadow first made his name by delving deep into the world's bottomless pile of debris to redeem the wannbe hits and half-formed artistic statements of our musical past. Now, he contributes to it. s[#82, p. 54]

Although the harmonies and pickin-skills are still top-notch, Carry Me Back falls short in songwriting. [No.90, p.59]

At it's best, Barragan sounds like typically inventive musicians sleepily phoning it in. [No. 113, p.54]

Hold/Still tries so hard to be ominous that it almost always forgets to be interesting. [No. 130, p.61]

Sadly, "Everything Is Wrong" announces another second-half fade, the back side congealing into the same zombie histrionics that sank Interpol. [No. 113, p.57]

This album isn’t a total disaster, but it’s difficult to imagine most people wanting to listen to Anywhere I Lay My Head more than once.

Consider this follow-up one step back. [#69, p.98]

It's hard to get too hot and bothered. [No.88 p.55]

Rouen is all long jams and breezy acoustics, the telltale signs of a band that feels it's time to sober up. [#70, p.110]

An ambitious album... but it's undercut by Fink's inconsistent readings. [#69, p.96]

Most disappointing about PersonA is that it oscillates between gutsy and lazy. [No. 131, p.51]

Nearly buries itself in interesting ideas that are ultimately unrewarding. [#69, p.98]

Joker unwittingly set the bar high for his debut full-length. Unsurprisingly, it falls short. [#82, p.56]

Space-rock created in an energy vacuum. [#47, p.104]

Unpatterns is indeed mostly patterns, in fact - moody, bloopy instrumentals that don't really fit into one subgenre box because they barely muster the strength to be defined by a category. [No.87 p.59]