There isn't a moment when Arthur Lee is anything less than Arthur Lee: brilliant, unpredictable and relentless in his drive to reinvent himself. [No. 116, p.59]

Simmons can write lengthy tomes, but Sylvie shows she's also adept at paring her words to simple truths. [No. 116, p.61]

Twenty years later, the Shellac so many swore by is back, and swinging. [No. 116, p.61]

Even more than on its two earlier LPs, Rhyton knows where it's going. Each piece zeros in on a particular mood. [No. 116, p.59]

The selection here covers a comprehensive gamut of hymns, carols and miscellaneous Christmas songs from all the usual suspects to a few curveballs. [No. 116, p.59]

A gravity-defying 23-minute take of "My Favorite Things" shows how far Coltrane had come in such a short time. [No. 116, p.57]

Burnt Offering resembles nothing so much as the soundtrack to a '70s exploitation flick. That's no dig. [No. 116, p.55]

Gentlemen could be the best album of the alternative era, and the new deluxe double-disc reissue loaded with demos, b-sides and rarities just confirms out opinion. [No. 116, p.53]

A 65-track, six-CD boxed set featuring several mixes of 1969's studio album, live recordings from San Francisco's Matrix and a disc of VU's never-released fourth album.... This disc is worth the price of admission. [No. 116, p.51]

If you're not already a fan, this won't convert you. But if its obtuse kraut-rockabilly's your particular addiction, this will be pure manna, pilgrim-uh. [No. 116, p.57]

Different Every Time is a two-CD overview illuminating Wyatt's strengths as a musician, politically outspoken performer, singer, bandmate, leader and composer. [No. 116, p.61]

Flesh is musical, but also minimal, a soothing pink noise that won't put you to sleep or interfere with your daydreams. [No. 116, p.59]

Results are varied.... Luckily, Deerhoof's blahs are better than most people's best. [No. 116, p.57]

To hear them here, in nascent form, performed by a band that had only played 10 shows in its lifetime, is to hear the nervous current that flowed through Fugazi when it had everything yet to prove, and a lifetime of excellent work ahead of it. Highly recommended. [No. 116, p.56]

The songs contained within make fellow travelers such as Dr. John or Tom Waits sound like eunuchs. Marvelous stuff. [No. 116, p.55]

Nothing Has Changed makes his entire discography sound more consistent than it actually is. [No. 116, p.52]

This five-LP/four-CD set collects all of its albums and a ton of extras, and paints romantic picture of a band that possibly could only have existed when it did. [No. 116, p.53]

Transformation is richly and lushly inherent in everything Hegarty makes his own. [No. 116, p.53]

IX strips down the layers and offers walls of noise, but cushions the blow with moody interludes. [No. 116, p.53]

On release, a collection of singles over the band's career, its stability takes these years-spanning pieces and forms them into coherence, it's also one of the year's best listens. [No. 115, p.55]

Too Bright highlights the moments of buoyancy that dotted his first two outings--both of which sounded nothing if not dour on first listen--and setting the stage for Hadress as one off the most compelling new American songwriters of the last half-decade. [No. 115, p.61]

The music, co-created with producer Patrick Leonard, is sparse but energetically diverse, with dips into Memphis soul, country, cabaret and jazzy funk. [No. 115, p.58]

His artistic sophistication and derring-do has reached a new (and, frankly, unexpected) level of maturity. [No. 115, p.56]

It's yet another excellent Oldham album. [No. 115, p.54]

Syro is surprisingly listenable without drawing much attention to itself. [No. 115, p.52]

This fourth full-length goes somewhere stranger: the 1980s. [No. 115, p.61]

No One Is Lost features some of the band's richest melodies, not to mention some of its heaviest grooves. [No. 115, p.60]

Hold is the most fun Melvins record in a minute, somehow combining two of the weirdest bands in the history of American rock to come up with an almost-straightforward rock record that shreds hard. [No. 115, p.59]