Mr. A-Z is too often marred by Jason Mraz’s self-aggrandizing tendencies.
Fireflies is less an “album” than a goddamn dissertation on everything rotten at the core of mainstream country music.
It might not be innovative or progressive, but Spelled In Bones is as straightforwardly good as any pop album this year.
Soft Dangerous Shores is sure to reward those willing to explore its varied terrain.
Okemah and the Melody of Riot is heady stuff, to be sure, but it’s also one of the year’s best straight-up rock albums.
If Multiply is all an elaborate, ironic put-on, it’s executed so flawlessly that Lidell’s intentions barely even matter.
That Stevens plays most of the instruments and still writes songs that often surprise for their minimalism is just stupid good.
Blame the Vain nonetheless represents a new peak in a career full of them.
Hot Apple Pie too-often adheres to mainstream country’s conservative formula to generate much legitimate heat.
X&Y promises to make it even easier to resent Coldplay’s success.
Face the Truth is exactly the album many hoped Weezer’s Make Believe would be.
Dressy Bessy’s Electrified finds the Denver-based quartet moving beyond ’60s-mod gimmickry.
Begonias succeeds on Cary and Cockrell’s modest terms as a pleasant, casually self-sustaining project.