As comebacks go, it's perfect. [No. 124, p.61]

Even when the beat's bopping and the synths are grooving, we're still singing along to songs about jerks throwing themselves a pity party. But hey, it's still a party. [No. 124, p.61]

Not everything kills, but when the band's "psychedelic rock and blue-eyed soul" finds its groove, it's still a breathless wonder to behold. [No. 124, p.61]

Their [Doherty and Barat's] boyish charms are punctuated by sneers and jeers, leaving the listener clueless as to who ends where the other begins. That sort of daft mystery makes Anthems--and the Libertines in general--worth its weight in dope and gold. [No. 124, p.58]

It's pretty weird. Not necessarily any weirder than your average Lambchop record, although it is, for the most part, considerably less gorgeous. [No. 124, p.57]

The pop tunes are as good as any that Folds has written.... The "Concerto" tries too hard to be Gershwin or Richard Rogers, but lacks the flow of "Rhapsody In Blue" or the drama of "Slaughter On 10th Avenue." [No. 124, p.57]

While there's no lack of drama on Locket, it's a missing the bombast of yore--which is to say that if you hated Frog Eyes before, you might dig this one. [No. 124, p.57]

For anyone who would like to experience all of Hansard's estimable gifts in a single listening session, he has thoughtfully provided a compendium of his patented brilliance on Didn't He Ramble. [No. 124, p.56]

Further proof that Fidlar's headliner-destroying stint as the Pixies' opening act was no fluke. [No. 124, p.55]

Paper Gods is an exercise in shamelessly rehashing every tired, vaguely transgressive cliche that's defined Duran Duran's 30-plus-year career. [No. 124, p.55]

Feedback is the duct tape that holds it all together. There might be a little dirt on it, but it's still good. [No. 124, p.55]

The band clicks perfectly, as if it had been playing these songs forever, and the album brings out another side of Auerbach, with different guitar textures and a different falsetto channeling his blues-rock instincts in a different direction. [No. 124, p.53]

Here, the raw emotion in Grace's voice isn't diluted or smoothed out; her rage and vibrancy are front and center, and not just in song. [No. 124, p.53]

No No No plays less like a travelogue than simply what it is: a really good--if brief--Beirut album. [No. 124, p.52]

Depression Chery has four masterful set pieces, staggered to hit as odd-numbered tracks, each deepening the pervasive sense of rediscovered romance. [No. 124, p.51]

On A Raw Youth, Le Butcherettes find the perfect balance of oddball ideas and actual hooks, creating a heavy, sweaty avant-rock hybrid that's as catchy as it is bewitching. [No. 124, p.59]

Songs To Play sounds musically assured, but it's that double-edged sense of humor that proves that Forster is truly back. [No. 124, p.54]

While not as immediate a confection as past releases Ad Infinitum is Telekinesis' Golden Record. [No. 124, p.61]

The Memphis ambassadors display strength after songwriting strength. [No. 124, p.59]

These songs benefit from Gundersen’s past, yet leave hope (some of it, at least) and genteelness behind in a cloud of ambient smoke. Good. [No. 123, p.59]

The real pleasure is the instigation to sit through and hear JPSE go through the good, the bad and the near misses of a career that took the band from a light-hearted party outfit with an ingratiating delicate side in Christchurch, New Zealand, to game, but stressed-out grunts trying to flog big, catchy hooks that should have caught on with the Yo La Tengo and My Bloody Valentine crowds (yet never did). [No. 122, p.56]

The Sword continually updates ridiculously classic rock tropes in the most wonderful ways. [No. 123, p.60]

She dives into world music on this album, with interesting results. [No. 123, p.61]

The sound here is languid and lo-fi, even when it's rocking. [No. 123, p.61]

Its palette remains expansive. [No. 123, p.61]

The Membranes take on heady stuff. [No. 123, p.61]

Tense and dramatic from the get-go, Seraph hardly changes tack over its next 11 songs. [No. 123, p.61]

Overly busy.... They're best when they act just like Ratatat. [No. 123, p.58]