Styles plays all his roles gamely but unthreateningly.

Its smug, unexplored sense of intellectual superiority is pretty much all it has to offer. Musically, it’s an hourlong misallocation of the considerable resources that made a nu-metal minor classic out of 2000’s Mer de Noms.

Blue Songs' prevailing mood is deep indigo, not ultraviolet, yet that darkness heightens and complicates.

Peace Queer includes an acoustic antiwar rant and a ghostly reading of Creedence’s 'Fortunate Son' (with Patty Griffin on backup vocals). But the high point is a ragged bar-band jam about the dissolution of the middle-class dream ('Stuck on the Corner [Prelude to a Heart Attack]').

Libertad does improve slightly on the mostly hookless choogling of the band's 2004 debut, "Contraband," with songs that are punchier and a bit more memorable.

Rap's most hotly anticipated debut works best if you don't think of it as a rap album at all.

He shows the consistency to scatter those songs throughout Fetty Wap’s 17 tracks and to mostly stick to the limited formula that made them hit as hard as they did on the rest of the record.

Many of the tunes emerged after the duo’s chance meeting in Todos Santos, the Mexican town Buck calls his second home. This sense of discovery shines through the record’s layers of polish. Its immediacy makes Arthur Buck a rarity in 2018: a record that wears its messy heart, as pleased with its flaws as it is with its power.

Roan coaxes with an almost deliriously euphoric art-rock swagger, while O'Connor infuses every track with hedonistic energy. Amazing Baby are desperate to dazzle--and they often do.

Even the raw stuff has the humanizing detail that keeps Ghost interesting years after we've grown accustomed to his imagesplaying Joycean flow.

Audio, Video, Disco teeters on the edge of self-mockery, not an unfamiliar position for Justice.

Much of the rest recalls '90s rave and jungle at its most shamelessly glossy.

He still operates un the shadow of his semi-seminal indie rocjk outfit, due to an inconsistency that also plagues Forfeit/Fortune. [Nov 2008, p.89]

Its excellence and momentum vastly outweigh one’s ability to describe it.

Wayward Fire swoons and grooves deliciously, but the lyrics have a distinctly processed flavor.

The result is the trio's startlingly impressive debut: astute, melodic evocations of plinky new wave and the Cocteau Twins' smeary dreams that achieve a timeless emotional response. [Nov 2008, p.89]

His debut solo album sports lyrics of the sort Loudon Wainwright III has been writing for decades, set to harp, oboe, strings, and horns. Lacerating sentiments clash with pretty sounds as Kasher holds forth on his "death wish," detailing the foibles of prodigal husbands.

Effectively reinventing their sound with these glooomy anthems, Booka Shade should still rock the superclubs with ease. But some may miss the clever duo known for the carefree pulse of singles. [July 2008, p.94]

Business Casual's libidinous wit can't quite match 2007's Fancy Footwork, but this day at the office still features booty calls, romantic squabbles, and digitally syrupy declarations of devotion.

Their second B-sides compilation is a clear reflection of that indeliable good cheer. {May 2008, p.94]

Offers modest formal thrills without much depth beneath its glimmering surfaces. [Apr 2005, p.107]

[A] more toned-down, at times strikingly sincere, follow-up. [Dec 2005, p.104]

In their eagerness to show off the range of their toolbox, they stumble. [May 2004, p.101]

All Hope Is Gone, reportedly the first thing they've recorded in years without wanting to kill each other, proves that there's still musical unity in disharmony.

By staying on his uniquely off-kilter game, he's become an unlikely career artist. [Mar 2006, p.95]

The Georgia quintet's debut may appeal to My Morning Jacket fans, but songs like 'Heavy Petting' and 'Start Me Laughing' (which recalls Kurt Cobain at his nastiest) possess more growl than that comparison implies.

Four albums on, Mike Stroud and Evan Mast have barely altered their instrumental electro/indie/hip-hop hybrid, except to expand and refine its tasteful details.

Eventually it hits you just how godlike catchy these banalities are. [Aug 2005, p.103]