In lieu of dynamics, [bassist Thomas] Mayhew's pull-out method keeps the album engaging. [Mar 2007, p.99]

Surprisingly subdued. [Mar 2007, p.86]

Let's just put it this way: Throw All of a Sudden on while playing GameCube, and you'll have the most dramatic LEGO Star Wars experience imaginable. [Mar 2007, p.94]

While Atlantis sacrifices some of Rebellion's gospel spirit, its collaborations push boundaries with eclectic nerve. [Feb 2007, p.84]

A tepid effort that bogs down their previously rugged and introspective rock with power-ballad vibrato, lurid over-orchestration, and petulantly vague lyrics. [Feb 2007, p.83]

[It] never rests in one spot. [Feb 2007, p.87]

A near-operatic concept record about fantasy and delusion. [Mar 2007, p.91]

Hypnotic and strangely thrilling. [Feb 2007, p.86]

Rarely has dispiritedness sounded so uplifting. [Mar 2007, p.88]

There's charm in its corniness. [Feb 2007, p.82]

Think the Postal Service gone yoga or an un-self-conscious James Taylor gone minimal techno. [Feb 2007, p.85]

Let those [few sub-par] parts slide into the ocean and enjoy the remaining hour of perfectly golden brilliance. [Feb 2007, p.89]

For all its obvious wit and fizzy energy, Tones of Town ultimately feels self-congratulatory and a bit cold-hearted. [Feb 2007, p.83]

New Magnetic Wonder couldn't be brighter if it had been performed on the sun. [Feb 2007, p.82]

Not since U2 built an Atomic Bomb has one band tried so hard to turn each track into a breahless epic. [Feb 2007, p.84]

Though the hooks and melodies are spread a little thin... Lerche still has a convincing charm in his lighter, acoustic moments. [Feb 2007, p.84]

Infinity on High reveals a group that has grown so confident with success that the members are willing to give in to their every musical whim. [Feb 2007, p.83]

Riveting porch noir. [Feb 2007, p.86]

PB&J casually swap instruments and styles while carefully nuturing their ever-delicate tunes. [Mar 2007, p.88]

Rafter-reaching wuss rock that might appeal to those who find Snow Patrol a little too heavy. [Mar 2007, p.86]

Alright's sparkly high-life beats... all gleam with upmarket panache. But strong medicine always requires a little sugar. [Feb 2007, p.82]

This set of songs recaptures much of their original nonchalant magic. [Feb 2007, p.86]

That most welcome of albums: a great driving record that exquisitely soundtracks crushes and heartbreaks. [Feb 2007, p.89]

While 2005's Fear of a Black Tangent was a hilarious, merciless evisceration of rap hypocrisy from the bottom up, he's now trying to address the wider world. [Feb 2007, p.82]

The quintet conjures the Mars Volta doing Zeppelin karaoke over two-bit Mr. Bungle. [Feb 2007, p.84]

Both sides would be well served by a bit of mingling. [Mar 2007, p.91]

Visitations sounds more alive than anything since 2000's near-classic debut, Internal Wrangler. [Feb 2007, p.82]

Deerhoof's... most ambitious record, but it's also their most familiar. [Feb 2007, p.85]

Even with all the name players involved, Albarn focuses the spotlight on the songs, which are terrific. [Jan 2007, p.92]

Wincing is a purposefully low-impact affair. [Jan 2007, p.87]

Hissing Fauna might be an album of ego trips, but at least Barnes is on the good stuff. [Feb 2007, p.85]

This is dance music downsized for iPods but also indie rock expanded for the dance floor. [Jan 2007, p.89]

An ecstatic, angry, gorgeously mournful manifesto. [Jan 2007, p.89]

It won't satisfy hook-hungry Jewel fans, but Learn to Sing wears Hersh's experience like a custom-tailored hair shirt. [Feb 2007, p.84]

Drunk on ringing guitars, crashing drums, and swooning harmonies, singer Ross Flournoy and crew try to compensate for their shortage of fresh ideas with boundless enthusiasm -- and almost pull it off.

As lean and compact as its predecessor was expansive. [Jan 2007, p.88]

Some of the tracks sound pretty tossed-off, but it's nice to hear such a brainy bunch not overthinking things. [Feb 2007, p.86]

This time around, it's as if the script has been reshot by Michael Bay--glossy and viscerally stimulating--and we're watching a coming attraction for a film that never starts. [Feb 2007, p.88]

On Hell Hath No Fury, Clipse transform cliches into poetry. [Nov 2006, p.105]

The album flounders during their attempts at arty funk. [Jan 2007, p.92]

It's alternately spotty and spot-on. [Jan 2007, p.94]

Though the set's marathon length may keep casual listeners at a distance, fans of the eccentric characters, styles, and emotional arcs that compose Waits' oeuvre know there's no such thing as a "casual" Tom Waits listener anyway. [Dec 2006, p.103]

The mall-ready hooks and occasional stabs at acoustic pop on Deja Entendu have been replaced by the sort of Radiohead-indebted bombast that begs to be played at lease-breaking volumes. [Dec 2006, p.99]

He's just retracing past missteps. [Dec 2006, p.100]

[It] documents Stevens' transformation from unremarkable folkie Jesus freak to unorthodox Christian mega-talent. [Dec 2006, p.101]

[Franz Ferdinand's] Alex Kapranos... owes JK crooner Paul Haig a pint. [Dec 2006, p.103]

Throughout the album, Newsom's language is more colorful than on Mender; at its best, it works as music even on the page. [Dec 2006, p.95]

Unlike... Worlds Apart, So Divided is built less on brute force and more on hyperdetailed songwriting. [Dec 2006, p.101]

Yusuf's supple folk tunes predictably take a more spiritual route, yet largely avoid cosmic corn. [Dec 2006, p.104]

Rice seeks 24/7 momentousness here. [Jan 2007, p.92]

Devotees will probably find it terribly amusing. Everyone else might want to hit the bong pretty hard beforehand. [Dec 2006, p.102]

Sheets is Campbell's hallucination of a cozy English garden party. [Jan 2007, p.94]

This lo-fi duo... continue to make charming albums while simply shrugging at their own limitations. [Jan 2007, p.88]

The toughest cuts are still the early singles. But shorty's in the process of becoming something bigger than a hot, patois-spitting grime MC. [Nov 2006, p.101]

A sideways step in the right direction. [Nov 2006, p.97]

That she succeeds on a record as sophisticated as the self-produced Pretty Little Head is not only a testament to McKay's talent, it's also a tribute to her artistic sense. [Jan 2006, p.90]

The highlight "It's Not Enough"... proves [Townshend] hasn't lost his knack for pop precision. [Dec 2006, p.104]

Meat's voice is there, the cover art rules, but something vital is missing. [Nov 2006, p.102]

Truth subverts metal's natural will to power with dreamy, ambient passages that are never as sublime as the band clearly thinks they are. [Dec 2006, p.98]

Like Lifted, Once Again offers a mesmerizing blend of canny sample science and Stevie Wonderful life-band R&B. [Dec 2006, p.96]

It's a savage, heartfelt, at times hilarious goth-mosh emopera. [Nov 2006, p.95]

Sparta have evolved, with a melodic approach and a postdepression, fist-pumping attitude. [Nov 2006, p.104]

There's a lot of Conor the Character Actor in these folk-rock set pieces. [Nov 2006, p.96]

Just as winningly sloppy as its source material. [Nov 2006, p.104]

Warning of nightmarish rural invaders in 'The Rifle' and vowing to keep her eyes open on the showstopping sea chantey title track, Diane seems destined for grander endeavors.

Gough pens poignant pop-rock tunes... but he overdresses them, adding bells and whistles where they're not needed. [Nov 2006, p.96]

The songs here may be marginally less interesting than his best, but it's comforting to know that he can ratchet down the passion without losing it entirely. [Nov 2006, p.98]

Haunting. [Dec 2006, p.98]

A real corker. [Nov 2006, p.96]

Here, [Califone] take a straighter path on their seventh album... but with the same basic ingredients. [Nov 2006, p.97]

[The songs] sound like woozy shanties for seasick barflies. [Nov 2006, p.100]

[His] most consistently entertaining album since 1999's 69 Love Songs. [Dec 2006, p.96]

Refreshing, breezy rhythms propel densely intermeshed guitars and Jeremy Bolen's incantatory vocals. [Dec 2006, p.96]

The Kooks... boast an ingenious pop-rock sound. [Nov 2006, p.102]

It never quite captures the other-worldliness that it clearly seeks. [Nov 2006, p.96]

It's about three songs too long and a little all over the place. [Nov 2006, p.99]

Sam's Town is basically Hot Fuss with bigger, spanglier guitars and an all-round lack of restraint. [Oct 2006, p.93]

Finn infuses his windy tales of youthful debauchery with a mixture of detective-fiction luridness and first-club-show romanticism. [Nov 2006, p.100]

Chapter 2 doesn't merely document; it selects tracks that hold together as an album. [Nov 2006, p.104]

Gang of Losers leaves behind the preciousness of 2003's delicate No Cities Left. [Oct 2006, p.105]

The best-sounding Decemberists record to date. [Nov 2006, p.103]

[Brown] comes on like a lovable, if genetically engineered, soulman. [Oct 2006, p.95]

It's when Jet explore the territory between their lodestars [AC/DC and the Beatles] that they go from being decent mimics to inconsequential imitators. [Nov 2006, p.96]

[He] gets back to the sweetly twisted folk rock that he does so well. [Nov 2006, p.100]

Though not blessed with the strength of his father's voice, he makes the most of Dad's knack for pretty melody. [Nov 2006, p.102]

Subtle... build their hybrid from a quarter century of pop and college radio, then animate it with a megawatt jolt of race/class anxiety. [Dec 2006, p.100]

Startling turns of phrase are just another of this stunning album's grim charms. [Nov 2006, p.103]

Never succumbing to mere cleverness, Adem achieves a singularly intimate expansiveness. [Nov 2006, p.96]

Agreeably chunky guitar pop. [Nov 2006, p.102]

These new songs gleam with nouveau riche sparkle. [Oct 2006, p.96]

The sound remains crisp, ensuring that its rough-hewn beauty shines through. [Oct 2006, p.104]

Mostly frustrating... the spare instrumentation and samey melodies wear you down. [Oct 2006, p.96]

When the clamor stays spare, the threesome's clank and bleep stumbles into beauty, and their feedback morphs toward free jazz. [Nov 2006, p.105]

The anger is a new look for him, as is the role of political pundit or chronicler of social ills. And ultimately, Ludacris still sounds best on tracks like the NC-17 "Woozy." [Oct 2006, p.99]

An aesthetic- and career-defining set, it's the album they were destined to make. [Nov 2006, p.103]

Music this hard-partying can make for a tough morning after. [Oct 2006, p.105]

Slinging new styles and innovating them are separate matters. [Oct 2006, p.100]

So faceless that it'll make you hanker for Dirty Vegas deep cuts. [Oct 2006, p.96]