The album sounds beamed in from an earlier decade, but it runs deeper than nostalgia.
Papineau’s voice is paper-thin, and she’s usually only as good as her source material.
The Return of Dr. Octagon seems like false advertising.
The lines may not be as frequently “cutting” as before, but the Pet Shop Boys’s empathy for human suffering was never so concise.
Slowly, almost imperceptibly, Live has drained any sense of drama from its music.
The looming specter of death darkens every corner of American V: A Hundred Highways.
Fundamental may be the Pet Shop Boys’s most promising bid for commercial viability in years.
As far as dance music goes, tracks like “Apologies” are as dance-floor-ready as anything being produced by, say, Oakenfold these days.
Ganging Up on the Sun is easily Guster’s most sonically adventurous work to date.
Keane’s Under the Iron Sea is an uncanny impression of U2 and The Bends-era Radiohead.
One small step for the band’s back catalog, one giant leap for record collections everywhere.
While the album may not place the Handsome Family among their influences, they remain among the best of their contemporaries.
Western Dream is the sound of a borrowed credit card being swiped in a mall Hollister.
The album The Eraser is, quite simply, Thom Yorke clearing his throat.
Nelly Furtado’s style-hopping nature makes her a never less-than-interesting artist.
There’s an unmistakable soulfulness to the Futureheads’s songwriting and their performances.
Laps in Seven is a remarkably focused work that nonetheless manages to capture the freewheeling spirit of Sam Bush’s live shows.
Rather Ripped continues with the mellow, poppy vibes that Sonic Youth started emphasizing on 2002’s Murray Street.
Sinner finds the rock icon’s trademark sneer turned on the conservative sociopolitical climate.
Mr. Lif’s Mo’ Mega keeps the bar set pretty high.
This is a record for the jazz aficionado who listens more for performance than songwriting.