Pleasant but unmoving.

There is very little experimentation on the album, at least in relation to previous albums, but there is also a wider spectrum of songs.

The beauty of the album rests in Loretta Lynn's exceptional songwriting.

Things immediately slow down on the second song and stay subdued throughout most of the album. Once I realized that the rest of the songs weren't going to be as blazing as "Seventeen Years," I was able to enjoy it much more.

A mandatory release for all Les Savy Fans, both serious and casual.

Unfortunately, The Pretty Toney Album falls short in replacing what Raekwon had contributed to Ghost's previous album releases, causing the album to feel essentially incomplete.

Almost Killed Me is the most authentic, dirty, and rocking album you'll hear all summer.

Listening to Faking the Books makes you feel utterly alone; and maybe that's the whole point.

I'd like to say Automato is an album worth slobbering over, but it's not.

Falls between Starsailor, Travis, Elbow, Alfie, etc, always raising the question: who are The Veils?

It is somewhat disappointing that they would play it so safe at this stage in their creative life.

An invigorating breath of fresh music.

It's All Around You middles about with infuriatingly placid tracks that suggest a fading band merely treading water.

Again is probably one of the most derivative albums I’ve ever heard. That’s not necessarily a bad thing, though.

Albums of this caliber just don't come around that often.

On Neighborhood Watch, their delivery is stale and unimpressive, much like the overproduced Expansion Team.

The guitar work is all painted in one color and changes are predictable, while the vocals are less adventurous and human than before.

Ultimately, what makes Good News so successful is that it retains the melancholy mood of past works, while at the same time adding depth and maturity.

Satanic Panic in the Attic is a typically sprawling piece of music for Of Montreal. It runs only 43 minutes, but in that space, the band manage to throw in everything but the kitchen sink in winsome pop experimentation.

The Silent League sounds pretty, but their gooey emotional stuff doesn't run very deep.

Absolution is an emotional, philosophical, sophisticated, poetic, and beautiful piece of rock music.

An intriguing and mesmerizing compilation of songs that underscores any love you already had for Broken Social Scene.

More than one track goes on about how love will eventually get us to heaven and such, and the sickly, sugary sweetness of it all just leaves a bad taste in your mouth.

The whole affair has a grandiose, almost decadent feel to it, with its damaged beauty and elegance.

Murs fails to gain any ground regarding his approach to rhyming and lyrical ingenuity. Yet, Murs 3:16 is far superior to The End of the Beginning, due to the tight and refreshing skills of producer 9th Wonder.

Only about a third enjoyable.

Beam's voice is streamlined and a little too perfect for fans of his prior music who felt, with good reason, like Beam was serenading them from their living rooms.

A dizzying synergy of heavy brains and chemistry, culminating in blissfully fun, irreverent, and engaging brand of record-making magic.

The fact that Venice takes a few missteps before getting into full strut inevitably takes its toll on the overall body of work.

The mesmerizing quality they create through drone beats and varied vocals engage the listener in a whirlwind of noise, and it rarely ever lets up.

Many of the songs continue to showcase Stevens' avid and passionate banjo-plucking, accompanied by similar harmonized vocals that resonate with beauty and commitment.

It has a very laidback, late night, smoky loft vibe going on.

The album is most similar to Apple O', but while Apple O' seemed to have a somewhat lethargic quality, Milk Man sounds fresh and fully inviting. And it's a lot better.

The middle of the album is as hard-edged and relentless as anything of Squarepusher's, if not more.

If you're a fan of the rock and the roll and the denim and the Rolling Rock, then snatch this record up tout de suite.

For anyone who found themselves begging for more than five songs, you will be happy with this new album; the distance traveled from Young Liars is not so drastic as to alienate anyone.

Filled with quirky and inventive pop songs packed with sultry harmonies and an immense level of musical intuitiveness.

Two Way Monologue is an evident progression forward, but not forward enough. It is extremely similar to Faces Down and ultimately leads to disappointment.

Where the album stumbles is in its inconsistency, with some rather uninteresting filler that doesn't do much but flesh out the album.

When it Falls, while not a masterpiece, is a nice album which will likely appeal to a very broad fan base.

The music is great, but it's through his lyrics that Beans really heads out into the stratosphere.

If you get a kick out of The Fucking Champs riffing on Bach with "Air on a G String," you're on the road to Panda Park.

In the same way Radiohead took an impeccable album like OK Computer and stepped into unfamiliar territory with Kid A, Liars have sidestepped the majority of their familiar styles and broken free towards new explorations.

Coming in at over an hour in length, the album drags at times and begins to wear near the last part of the tracklisting.

Trans Am's Liberation is one of those rare albums that combine great musicianship, irony, sonic diversity, and originality. And to top it all off, the album rocks.

Kila Kila Kila contains numerous pristine sounds and rich textures that show subtle moments of ingenuity and progression.

During some of the more composed moments, the album manages to shine out in semi desolate wonder; but most of the time, Monsoon sounds too much like the Jonathan Richman two-piece band from There's Something About Mary to outrun the malaise of mediocrity that blankets it.

Fabulous Muscles contains some of the band's best songs since Knife Play.

Although I quite like some of the tracks here, overall there just isn't enough here to keep me interested. [combined review of both discs]

Lambchop show glimmers of invention, and if these were pursued more and the quality control was stricter, one very good album could be the result. [combined review of both discs]

The music is appallingly predictable, unoriginal, uninspiring, boring, over-polished, and vain.

College Dropout contains some of the most intelligent and clever lyrics hip-hop has produced in a while, be it mainstream or underground.

Although Ghost has an uncanny ability to pair their improvisational style with recognizable structures, there seems to be something missing in the overall design of this album.

The sheer ambition of it is staggering at times and you can't help feeling that Electrelane are on the right trajectory.

While Vanderslice's consummate production creates several indelible pieces of music, the stark repetition of John Darnielle's songs seems all the more apparent on his full-band numbers.

I'm not writing the Walkmen off just yet, but this is a genre that you can't afford to stay in one place and hope to keep an edge on the competition.

Peppered with dissatisfying, mommy-daddy emotastic lyrics, Jeff Tweedy impressions, and Four Tet-inspired, stop-on-a-dime, into-something-totally-unrelated segues that don't really belong on a country-twinged "let's hang out, drink, and make a record, dudes" kind of affair.

Dangermouse's actions have breathed creative life back into a 35-year-old record while inventing a completely new work of hip-hop art.

If you enjoy the ear-perkingly dense textures of friendlier experimental stuff like Four Tet and Fridge's Happiness LP, then you can't go wrong here.

In 37 minutes, there isn't a single moment when the music really hits with conviction.

While it may be the most unfamiliar work of Herren’s discography, it’s still one of the year’s first great albums.

An intriguing album that grows both more complex and more likeable with each listen.

In essence, it’s an improvisational nightmare that leaves you feeling extremely uncomfortable for an entire hour, while concurrently having you wish you could lie down to listen.

There is nothing new for the listener.

Boils with energy, excitement, and a passion to experiment.

These are eight rip-roaring, drag racing anthems mashed together with blood cakes and shards of bone.

This album has been done before and lacks the originality or quality of songwriting to merit repeated listens or set it apart from the scores of others playing this type of music.

Heron King Blues definitely signifies a transitional phase for the band.

It’s certainly a bit early to be throwing around "Album of the Year" type accolades, but Cellar Door is arguably the crown jewel in an already incredible body of work.

The delivery is too matter-of-fact, too genuine to evoke pity or sadness. It is lethargic, yet not dreary -- it grabs you violently and lays you down so, so gently.

They are unprepossessing in style, dainty and sweet in quality.

The songs are better than solid. They're catchier than catchy. These songs are just good.

With five songs, Jack establishes himself as a well-schooled artist in musical history and a fine performer with his traditional adaptations.

As a full-album, Love is Hell is a lovely, drug-induced contrast to the balls-out rockers on Rock n Roll, but Pt 2 is significantly weaker on its own.

Explosions In The Sky are the only instrumental post-rock band that matters, and The Earth Is Not A Cold Dead Place is proof.

A consistent, immediately catchy album that holds up after repeated listens.

De-Loused in the Comatorium is a very strong debut album for the Mars Volta.

This is one of the albums of the year: completely out of left field and completely solid from start to finish.

Kaito could be the best band in the world, but Band Red isn't the best album in the world. What it is, though, is a record that shows just how good this band can be when they get it right, even if that isn't all the time.

RELATIONSHIP OF COMMAND IS THE GREATEST ROCK ALBUM I HAVE HEARD IN THE LAST TEN YEARS.