It doesn’t always succeed, but it most definitely exceeds expectations.

None of these songs truly sound fully-formed, able and confident, but all of them have their "moments," and some of them do come crashing down like a tidal wave of yearbook memories

Before The Poison isn’t flashy, and it’s likely to get overlooked, but it may just be the single best album Marianne Faithfull has ever put her name to.

Out of Breach isn’t without its charms, but with an opening statement as assertive, exiting, and promising as Afro Finger and Gel, it certainly feels a little disappointing.

It's a mixed bag, to be sure, but even Autechre's clichés are more interesting than nearly everything else you'll hear this year.

They want to be every band to every bloke, shuffling between genres in an effort to jack all and master nada.

It’s not that Wolfmother are all that bad. It’s just that everything there is to say about them is best said by immediate reference to another band and Wolfmother always come up short in the comparison.

ABO keep the music tight and enclosed to match the lyrical mood, making Derdang Derdang a succinct, purposeful statement.

Out Hud’s shift to house-pop may not be the group ‘coming into its own,’ but it does throw aside the burden of influences that S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D. had attached to it.

The majority of Nastasia’s guitar-and-piano bit parts are full bodied and masterful, overshadowing many big-footed leading ladies’ recent folk releases.

This may be far too soon, more reflex than action, for the band to properly capitalize on their start.

Despite its exhilarating moments, The Runners Four feels like it’s missing something.

There’s plenty to recommend this album, but rarely do Shipp and Antipop ever really come together.

No Shouts, No Calls isn’t just their most song-based work, it’s also their most romantic.

Starting at the midpoint, "Twosley," Maritime starts to drag.

They've lost two members... so perhaps that explains some of the more aggressive focus and minimalist arrangement, but not the surprise-around-every-corner freedom they find within their self-imposed stricture.

Power In Numbers is like a coming out party for J5, as it shows their ability to shed their label as a novelty and proves they are talented in their own right.

While Barnes' lyrics don't indulge in apocalyptic imagery or read like autopsy reports, the lyrical subjects range from death, to low culture, to existentialism. When combined with such inexplicitly peppy music, the somber nature of Barnes' lyrics welcomes hesitant laughter.

<A HREF="http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=1410" TARGET="_blank">People are claiming The Rapture are geniuses, saviours and innovators but the simple truth is that they aren&#146;t.</A> [Review 1, score=70] <A HREF="http://www.stylusmagazine.com/review.php?ID=1411" TARGET="_blank">One hates to frown on a band&#146;s ambition, but you may find yourself hoping that next time out the band plays to their strengths the whole way through.</A> [Review 2, score=75]

Elvrum&#146;s tightest song cycle yet, truly focusing and clarifying the themes and ideas he&#146;s explored on all his albums.

Can’t Wait Another Day is another album of what Ladybug Transistor does best: distilled pop and folk from another era, part doppelganger, part contemporary sheen—an indie rock album in its Sunday best.

By adding textures, piano, acoustic guitars, and restraint, and losing some of the scowling and savagery, BSP have unleashed a truly unique pop creation, one with depth and feeling.

Easy Tiger sounds like the kind of album Adams could churn out every 18 months for the rest of his life.

Although this LP is sequenced into tiny fragments of varying speeds of mood, the LP feels like one super-caffeine express fairground ride.

The first chunk of Putting the Days to Bed consists of the kind of big-chorused, proudly conventional pop songs summers are made of... Elsewhere Roderick's voice and lyrical acumen fail him.

This is a band that, rightfully, just sounds tired.

Its unbearable tendencies are avoidable because they're overshadowed by bursts of creativity.

While I’ll stop short of saying that [co-producer Neil Michael] Hagerty ruined this record, I can definitively say that I’d love to hear what it would have sounded like before he got his hands on it.