The tunes sound lustrous but Amos, the singer and writer, sounds richer. [No. 93, p.53]

It is, in a way, a dad-rock opus, the songs imbued with the residue of a man pondering not just the intricacies of family but the greater implications of existence that come with it. [No. 93, p.51]

Accelerator is the most focused album Royal Trux ever made. [No.92, p.57]

There's aren't a whole lot of songs here that really stand out on their own.... But the members of Tam Impala possess such boundless energy and obvious, puppy-like enthusiasm that it would be downright churlish to dismiss them. [No. 92, p.81]

Much of the LP will be familiar to anyone who caught them on the road last year, but songs that curled into smoky haze onstage come into sharp focus here. [No.92 p.61]

Good-natured, utterly accessible dance pop with meta-awareness of its own shallowness and disposability. [No.92 p.58]

When it's not pounding out overly mechanical drum patterns, the band is crowding the better moments with unnecessary noise. A friendly suggestion for Sea Wolf LP number four: solo acoustic. [No.92 p.58]

[Runner] is something more akin to Eliot Smith, but airier, and with more synth. [No.92 p.58]

Bishop's well-established fascination with Eastern music and mysticism proves a ready foil for Chasny's expansive, psychedelic Americana. [No.92 p.57]

Every move this unit makes feels intrinsically and unaccountably right in all sorts of inexplicable ways. [No.92 p.57]

Sometimes the pace renders parts of the LP a slow-bore, but there's still enough effective moody dynamics to giver 'er a spin. [No.92 p.56]

Better than ever. [No.92 p.55]

Townshend-ian windmills are all over... but it's greatest when Lucas makes his politics explicit on this record on the stomping "woo-ooh" hooked "They Saved Reagan's Brain" or breaks musical script for the intense metal-with-horns of "Here Comes Ol' Laptop." [No.92 p.55]

Unfortunately all this hi-watt talent [guest vocalists] can't cover up Iha's weak vocals, which pass from winsome to wan early on and never recover. [No.92 p.54]

A sameness of style makes things feel a little redundant, but taken in discreet portions, these tunes are unimpeachable. [No.92 p.55]

A wonderful rumination on late nights, leaving home and self-medicating. [No.92 p.54]

Bettye LaVette is able to tap into the deep, sanctified stream of black-church music to come up with performances that shine with hope, even as she deals with life's more difficult situations. [No.92, p.55]

Here Dee Dee even strips the roaring guitar off a lazily tuneful stopgap that's not quite as revelatory as High. [No. 92, p.53]

For those curious what the San Fran-tastic Four has left in the tank, here's what: false starts, faint praise, fart noises, mischievous grins, horns of plenty, golden deadpanning.... [No. 92, p.53]

There is still pullback, and delicate, melodic music seeps in, sounding like (synthetic) waves crashing on a (glass) beach. [No. 92, p.52]

An organic expression of the beauty that can be found in the fragile, arbitrary nature of communication. [No. 92, p.52]

It's all very impressive (and pretty), but that doesn't necessarily mean it leaves much of an impression. [No. 992, p.52]

Babel is the more subtle and accomplished album. [No. 92, p.56]

The sound is more lush than usual and has clearly matured, but it does come across a lot like indie new age music. [No. 92, p.55]

Languid and sometimes lagging, [a] sensual 47-minute set. [No. 92, p.52]

Sugaring Season isn't a breakthrough, but it's a consolidation of Orton's strengths. [#92, p.58]

The 10-song Heavy Mood is eclectic enough to say that the band has matured. Almost. [No. 92, p.60]

The album's first half explores the same musical territories as Nocturne--the chiming euphony of a hundred things happening at once, the guileless melodic patterns that wander up the scale and back--but it does so in lifted fog. [No. 92, p.59]