Romance has its problems. In a vacuum it sometimes sounds cloying, as overtly cinematic as a Marvel trailer, and indistinct from its forebears. But it also does something I've never experienced before: making Love an impetus is the kind of staging trick that allows realism and idolatry to exist in the same room.

Sure, this is the worst Charly Bliss album, but it’s also the most fun I’ve had with music in a while: it’s an innocent, radiant celebration of life’s lovely parts.

A spunky, Hayley-driven vehicle that nonetheless proves that Paramore justly deserves whatever critical acclaim it was getting.

Solid and relatively consistent, Hope is better than a "finding their feet" experiment, yet that is ultimately what it is.

Long Live the King serves as a supplemental EP worthy of a glance from the casual listener, and most certainly from every fan.

Metals, in its muted, gray imperfection, feels vital--even when it isn't.

Perverts’ 90-minute runtime and average song length of ten minutes could be intended to alienate, and undoubtedly harmed the record’s replay value for me as I continued to dig deeper into it. Perhaps this is the point, or perhaps I’ve missed it entirely. Either way, my respect for these compositions never dwindled because of their bravery and clarity of artistic vision.

"Unbroken" is her best effort yet. Ignoring the first 4 songs, it's a great album, filled with songs that have meaning.

There's nothing wrong with writing four-minute protest songs that relish in the best of their psychedelic influences, but it'll be when Portugal. The Man really unshackle themselves and start writing what they do best that they will establish themselves as a band on par with their forebears.

It's different, its harder, and its honestly a bit of a disappointment.

Beyond’s main flaws come in a lack of variety.

Part of me wishes that Swift would do a bit more soul-searching. The Life of a Showgirl is good entertainment, but I'm still trying to figure out how any of it matters on a deeper level. If you’re not fully invested in all aspects of her life, and whatever drama stems from it, then it’s tough to get emotionally on board. That makes this a glossy, surface level pop record for the majority of listeners. It’s arguably her most infectious, energetic, and fun release in several years, which will buy this LP some instant mileage in terms of streams, but I wonder how its replay value will hold up once the novelty wears off.

The Unnatural World is the punk rock ethos of Deathconsciousness coming into its own and it feels really good to hear. New comers to the underground darlings will find quite a lot to love here.

A shorter, more focused affair could've easily been just as essential as Uncaged, while other cuts might have been more suitable for side projects or standalone singles. Few people will enjoy the album from start to finish, being clearly sewn to have something appealing to just about everyone, so pick up what you like and add it to your collection.

If Guster can grow old and still sound so damn cheerful, maybe everything won't be so drab after all.

Essentially, Infinity On High is From Under The Cork Tree, except this time done well.

Lyrically, however, the album is just another soul-searching journey, and while he may be getting too old to call a “boy genius”, he's not lost any of his wistful intelligence.

A Thousand Suns is an extremely well-crafted rock album from a band whose (self-directed) anger is, for once, well placed.

The multi-genre approach of The Colossus is refreshing.

Airtight's Revenge sounds like he had a lot of **** he needed to work through, but from great talent, and great catharsis, has come great art. It's hard to imagine that this will break through to any major audience, since it's even less accessible than the rejected Love for Sale, but it seriously deserves it.

Guns is a fun album, made for fun people, but that doesn’t mean that instants of awkwardness don’t result.

All told, this is an album which will almost certainly be enjoyable if you like kinda hazy, kinda ethereal, kinda catchy indie/alt thingamajigs, but it’s also an album desperately lacking the hint of an edge which would give the total product further potency. Even so, it’s a solid comeback from another crew of aging shoegazers, just don’t set your expectations too high.

Though it lacks depth, the music is exceptionally pretty. And rather than epiphany, Samia finds satisfaction in brief, glittery moments of quiet revelation.

Despite some missed opportunities, Violent Waves is exactly the album Circa Survive needed to make.

Architects have never shied away from clarion calls to action, but this is the band at their most inspiring and effectual, filling in the empty space left behind after a monumental loss. It is an epitaph that nonetheless suggests a bright future ahead.

With Kiss All the Time. Disco, Occasionally., he’s given us his biggest curveball yet. It may not be perfect, but the hustle deserves respect.

Most of The Bird and the Bee is average, albeit highly danceable and fun, Pop music: worth the download, but hardly the purchase.

Occasional flourishes reveal brilliance (‘Lost’, ‘Start Again’), but mostly it’s a homogeneous trudge through palpable emotional intensity. It culminates in some stunning imagery, which makes it worth the journey especially when you consider the relative brevity of the whole thing.