Much like that of the band's previous albums, the value of Ma Fleur is in its exploration of how to grip an emotion out of simplicity.

The album is a stunningly lackluster, impersonal anti-work.

The album often ventures into the cheesiest territories of pop music, but this is Rihanna's strongest effort to date.

The indie-rock universe hasn't coughed up a record as rhythmically thrilling as Mirrored in ages.

The writing, arrangement, and pacing is deliberate enough to create a sensible package yet light enough to invite a listener in.

This album is a detour from the straightforwardness of Per Second, which means that comparatively it also often feels disjointed and uncomfortable.

You probably won't remember the first time you hear Plague Park, but that's not because Boeckner and Perry have failed or their record's pleasures are few. It's simply that their goals are modest and their tools humble.

When it all comes together, as it does on the amazing singles "I Could Fall in Love with You" and "Sunday Girl," the effect is intoxicating. Music like this makes you happy to be alive. When it doesn't come together, as on "How My Eyes Adore You", the result isn't unpleasant so much as tedious.

What makes Fort Nightly rise above the dance-rock pack is an ear for writing immediately catchy songs.

Five Roses is far from mere homage. This is the work of a precocious and incredibly ambitious songwriter who is playfully navigating the history of pop music.

The real problem with Stars is that the most poignant, affecting songs sound like natural, and somewhat neutral, follow-ups to his other songs.

Sky Blue Sky is Wilco's first step toward aging well, but it transcends transition and is an album that sounds right in its place and time.

A tight, orderly marriage of the pastoral and the psychotropic -- plenty precise, but short on soul.

As she sets her sights on bigger targets, namely war and terrorism, it's hard not to wish she'd remained as narrowly focused on the politics of personal freedom.

All the swirling riffs and overlapping repetitions might be tiresome if not for the sad, imperfect voices at their center.

From the first notes of Everybody, the band is trying to recapture the fire of its early albums. But the band has been moving away from that style since its inception; it's not surprising that the transition back may not be as smooth as they had hoped.

What makes New Moon succeed is something similar to what Shakespeare gets at in many of his sonnets: the ability of art to beat death.

Everything Last Winter may be the most accomplished debut of 2007, and it will invariably be one of the best.

The Magic Position feel[s] more like a missed opportunity than a legitimate breakthrough album.

Baby 81 is a wicked crystallization of all the sounds on the first album, tightened up and brightened up and even louder and more textured.

Beyond's highlights not only stand comfortably with Dinosaur's legendary best, but they also sound like they could have been lost outtakes from the very same sessions.

She continues to extend a thoughtful arm, whittling intricacy into something poignant and manageable.

Tears of the Valedictorian is an incredibly dense record and may take several passes before you can even begin to peel away its layers. That sense of rigor, though, is what makes it so arresting.

A stunning, grandiose pop record.

It's far from his best work, but, as Callahan takes a detour into rootsy musical traditions such as country and gospel, it is a characteristically eccentric release.

Favourite Worst Nightmare is tempered by a few duds -- "Balaclava" and "If You Were There, Beware," please stand up -- but more than that, it's kind of joyless.

As Olivier's lyrical content matures along with the rest of the band's elements, Midnight Movies could be ready to move into primetime.

Largely forgettable.