Stealing Sheep could have easily made another weird art album, and it would have been great; instead, it made a weird pop album, and it's a bold step into a bigger world. [No. 119, p.61]

Second Hand Heart weakest moments are when it's a little too familiar, though.... He more than makes up for it elsewhere. [No. 119, p.61]

They've managed to write one the hookiest, most satisfying albums of their career. [No. 119, p.53]

Calder never strains, never belts it out; she finds her sweet spot and reveals in all album long. [No. 119, p.53]

These new arrangements--mostly piano, trumpet, upright bass and pedal steel--lend the songs a deeper loneliness, a richer tragicomedy, as if they really belonged in a concert hall, and maybe they do. [No. 119, p.55]

Untethered Moon is almost undeniably a classic slice of BTS. [No. 119, p.51]

The whole bloody history of England's greatest cult act unfolds, rendering obscurity ultimately noble and rewarding. [No. 118, p.61]

Nothing here will supplant Smith's own definitive versions, but fans of the Avett Brothers, of Mayfield, and, indeed, of Smith will find plenty to love in this affectionate and unassuming album. [No. 118, p.53]

Bid's disaffected-yet-engaging vocals and slice-of-life lyrics remain compelling as ever. [No. 118, p.59]

Sadly, the first full album of new Swervedriver music since 1997's 99th Dream is 10 loud and thick attempts to recapture the catchiness, energy and all-important mood of timeless classics and exactly that same number fall short of the magic. [No. 118, p.55]

Oddly familiar and familiarly odd, Season Hire is a challenging and progressive counterpoint to staid and fallow takes on folk music that have been crapping the airwaves--and our news feeds--in recent years. [No. 118, p.61]

The back half gets slower, darker and weirder--integral ingredients all. But there isn't one track here that stands out from the rest. [No. 118, p.59]

On this enthralling sophomore effort, Spaltro continues to refine her skill set and approach without sacrificing any of her signature adventurousness or decidedly un-lamb-like power. [No. 118, p.59]

There's something comforting about hearing this stripped-down version of Iron & Wine again. [No. 118, p.54]

The group's self-titled debut smoothly splits the difference between the glassy, grime-inflected production that Nguzunguzu typically trades in and a whole host of contemporary club sounds from around the world. [No. 118, p.57]

The incense hangs thick and hazy, dancing wispily through guitar pickups, keyboards keys and effects processor motherboards. [No. 118, p.55]

Deacon possesses the rare ability to tweak the conventions of his chosen mode of musical expression while expanding them into a distinctive style signature. [No. 118, p.55]

For all the aesthetic hopscotching, Ripe 4 Luv never falls off its sharp, catchy axis. [No. 118, p.61]

The Rezillos have lost little in terms of sweaty, cranky boogie-rock fervor that they and the Cramps helped put on the map. [No. 118, p.61]

It's positively full of life. [No. 118, p.56]

The arrangements here never add anything to the songs that you haven't heard a thousand other bands do just as well, if not better. [No. 118, p.55]

Policy shows that Will is more than capable of getting the kids to wake up. [No. 118, p.53]

The duo [Marc Almond and producer Chris Braide] unspools deliciously theatrical (eerily dark) piano etudes and grand, minor-key mini-epics that are the musical equivalent of an Oscar Wilde work. [No. 118, p.53]

There's a candor here that hasn't always touched the Icelandic singer/composer's electro-dreamscape output. [No. 118, p.52]

The music carries you along, building to a very gradual crescendo that feels like Popol Vuh stretching out one Phil Spector moment for three-quarters of an hour. [No. 118, p.53]

There's still plenty to get excited about here.... But the stinkers here--like would-be Bowling For Soup b-side "Karaoke, TN" and "Coat Check Girl"--nearly soil the whole thing. [No. 118, p.57]

Knopfler inhabits his tunes with an earnest intensity, a slight melancholy and an age-old wisdom. [No. 118, p.57]

Brock and Co. manage to entertain and amuse as often as they don't. [No. 118, p.51]