The songs are steeped in anguish and melancholy, distressing meditations on the loss and limitations that are coming to define life for many young people in these uncertain times. [No. 106, p.56]

Ridiculous packaging and intensely personal liner notes make this a must-have for fans. [No. 106, p.56]

Once it works its way through your ears, Too True won't leave your head anytime soon. [No. 106, p.56]

This attention-grabbing sophomore grower beckons with a wicked lick. [No. 106, p.55]

It's a transformative, fluidly orchestrated moodscape of dappled piano figures, synthesizer washes and swelling strings, horn and bell tones. [No. 106, p.54]

[A] joyless, meticulously crafted trudge. [No. 106, p.52]

It helps that the androgynous vocals carry a hook here and there.... Otherwise, it's hard to pull any other redeeming qualities out of Galore. [No. 106, p.59]

Benji isn't for everyone--what great albums are?--but it's a career-defining statement by a brilliant songwriter. [No. 106, p.59]

He's broadened his palette, finding the muscle to push against his lightness, the long, legato breaths to anchor his 30-second notes, and the heart to say all the things he can't say on his own. [No. 106, p.57]

That the feel throughout is cruel New England winter suggests July is one hell of a break-up record. [No. 106, p.57]

It's missing much of the quirkiness of its predecessors--and some fans will bemoan that fact--but Motivational Jumpsuit is the best, most consistent recent GBV effort. [No. 106, p.58]

It's as crucial and cool as set of eternally intertwined new-wave voices as Cindy Wilson and Kate Pierson, and that's saying a lot. [No. 106, p.54]

There's more to Cheatahs than throwback sonics, though it takes a few listens to really catch the complex melodies and structures in the album's strongest cuts. [No. 106, p.53]

Broken Bells' initial salvos may have set their parameters, but After The Disco expands, transcends and redefines them. [No. 106, p.52]

Ultimately, Olsen shows she can still be gripping, but with a much greater sense of presence. [No. 106, p.57]

On his own throughout this compilation, he sounds like a ghost haunting the dream house of his youth. Simply gorgeous. [No. 105, p.61]

The album, recorded mostly in one or two takes, reaches a deft balance of Simone's rich jazz settings and Xiu Xiu's avant-garde expulsions. [No. 105, p.61]

It certainly stands among his best. [No. 105, p.60]

A showcase of clean, unadulterated guitar talent. [No. 105, p.59]

Boot! goes back-to-basics in terms of lineup and material, but sounds heavier than ever. [No. 105, p.59]

Jamaica Plain feels fittingly tentative and exploratory. [No. 105, p.58]

Lightning Bolt is only more competent than Foo Fighters, Vedder and Co.'s rival for the planet's straightest rock band. [No. 105, p.57]

The pop hits sound as good as anything McCartney did with the Beatles, but it's the ballads that make this a winner. [No. 105, p.57]

While it lacks the singular impact of their still flawless debut, it's still an object of languorous beauty, rather like the band itself. [No. 105, p.57]

Fantasy would be far more appetizing as a photo-negative of itself, with a dearth of feedback and studio obfuscation and Ambrogio's poetry as front-and-center spoken word. [No. 105, p.57]

After a few tracks, you may find yourself seeking relief with your favorite method of self-obliteration. [No. 105, p.56]

It's a place Dessner has visited before, both inside and outside the National, and though he's earned plenty of concert-hall cred over the last few years, these incomparable Kronos recordings represent a huge leap. [No. 105, p.56]

Their grandiose mini-operas and stadium-size choruses can thrill. But to hear the relentless string of outsized anthems in a row is exhausting. [No. 105, p.55]