There is plenty to enjoy, although it never comes close to recapturing the eclectic brillance of 1999's career high, "69 Love Songs. [Feb 2008, p.99]

The Spinto Band offer a softer, watered-down version of '90s US indie-rock--their influences include Pavement but now also Prefab Sprout. [Oct 2008, p.150]

While the songwriting draws heavily on bigwigs such as Elvis Costello, Burt Bacharach and Brian Wilson, albeit ckloaked in layers of woozy production. This is its chief asset, providing a dark undertow. [Oct 2009, p.111]

His synapse-fusing take on acid-house, however, first showcased on 2005's OK Cowboy, reamins an underground phenomenon--this sequel won't alter that. [Nov 2009, p.114]

[Lead singer, Corrina] Repp's spectral omnipresence enhances A Monument's addictive, dark-clouded atmosphere, especially when things get as chilly as later-day Radiohead and as pallid as Portishead. [Jun 2012, p.114]

The Donnas have reached the legal drinking age in their native California, even if their foxy glam/punk-rock remains fixated on teenage preoccupations...

Solidly enjoyable though Uno! is, they might have been wiser to mix things up fro the start. [Oct 2012, p.92]

Jessie, "The Devil" Hughes merges tub-thumping keyboards, '70s glam stomp and the sense that music making is a bit of a hoot on his solo debut. [Nov. 2011, p. 128]

A fearsomely efficient follow-up to Back To Bedlam. [Oct 2007, p.92]

Until the follow-up to 2006's excellent "The Crane Wife," this makes for an adequate stopgap. [May 2008, p.136]

Every track on Tender Madness sounds like it's been chiseled out of Mount Rushmore. [Jan 2014, p.124]

From Coldcut to DJ Shadow, every rap-era cut-up maestro owes a debt to Steven Stein. [Nov 2008, p.129]

Matt Skiba's bitter lyrics still have an impressive sting, and with My Chemical Romance on hiatus, his misanthropy may yet secure a broader audience. [Aug 2008, p.135]

Garwood's gruff whisper can't touch Lanegan's death rattle, but it lets him slip in the odd love song without sounding like he's sketching a suicide pact. [Mar 2015, p.106]

Creatively there are signs he's struggling to keep it up. [Feb 2014, p.114]

At times, this records triggers the vision of Ivor Cutler fronting Pet Shop Boys, the barrage of synths and layered vocals making for a mostly exhilarating experience. [Jul 2016, p.112]

It's a harder-edged, slightly less cartoony thing than their youthful debut, but it's still exuberant and frantic like a puppy with an important message. [May 2015, p.110]

Midway through, however, Karl Hyde stretches himself too far with the minimal This Mortal Coil-styled ballad SKYM, exposing the weaknesses in his singing voice.

Like a quieter, more thoughtful Sheryl Crow, Scialfa is a daughter of the city and her charms reveal themselves slowly. [Jul 2004, p.122]

Son of Evil Reindeer has a fun, collaborative atmosphere which produces some truly unique moments. [June 2002, p.123]

Lyrically, Terminator-like narratives such as Cyber God do underwhelm. Their music's intensity, however, holds everything aloft. [Mar 2017, p.112]

It's just that he has done all this better before. [Jan 2014, p.124]

If their emergence appears low-key, Everything Ever Written is a quietly triumphant return. [Mar 2015, p.110]

It's a clear-eyed first step to turning their ideas into reality. [Oct 2013, p.106]

Trad country and honky tonk duke it out with outlaw attitude and roadhouse rock, a high ground meeting point between early R.E.M. and Drive-By Truckers. [Feb 2014, p.120]

Very much an album of two halves. [Jul 2019, p.113]

They've never sounded heavier, now delivering songs without compromising their complex songcraft. [Apr 2914, p.103]

Lou Reed guests and she's brave enough to wrestle with both Greg Dulli and Mark Lanegan's unsettling The Stations, while her four lugubrious originals show the drugs didn't turn her brain to much. [Apr 2011, p.101]