4.29.2016

Savages - Adore Life: Feels oddly contrived.

Ra Ra Riot - Need Your Light: Undeniably dance-pop, but really good at being that.

Pears - Green Star: Something for everyone into punk/hardcore.

Parquet Courts - Human Performance: They are a modern day Talking Heads.

Nothing - Tired of Tomorrow: Good for what it is, just not for me right now.

Madder Rose - Hello June Fool: A best-of will suffice.

Madder Rose - Tragic Magic: Diminished returns.

Madder Rose - Panic On: No need to panic as it is more of the same.

Madder Rose - Bring It Down: Beautiful John is an unbelievably great song the rest of the album cannot match.

Korn - Korn: Thirty minutes too long, but not as bad as anticipated.

Killswitch Engage - Incarnate: Best album in nearly a decade.

Elton John - Wonderful Crazy Nights: Over-produced songs detract from its potential.

Into It. Over It. - Standards: Culmination of everything he has been working towards.

Hotel Year - It Never Goes Out: Glimpses of what they would become.

Explosions in the Sky - The Wilderness: I just cannot get into it.

Face to Face - Face to Face: Really great street punk with pop sensibilities.

Deftones - Around the Fur: I should have listened to this long ago.

John Congleton and Nighty Nite - Until the Horror: I missing the pAper chAse.

David Bowie - Blackstar: When the dust settles, really curious to see its place in history.

Andrew Bird - Are You Serious: Really solid as always, but no Armchair.

3.06.2016

World Be Free - The Anti-Circle: Like a melodic '80s hardcore classic.

Wingnut Dishwashers Union - Towards a World Without Dishwashers: Love most of the message, but delivery starting to wear thin.

Saul Williams - MartyrLoserKing: Always look forward to what he does, but never enamored with it.

Ramshackle Glory - Live The Dream: Not exactly polished, but certainly contains higher fidelity.

Johnny Hobo and Freight Trains - Chaos Infiltration Squad: Starting to grow on me.

Johnny Hobo and Freight Trains - Caught in Act of Not Being Awesome: Not exactly not awesome.

Johnny Hobo and Freight Trains - Anarchy Means I Hate You: Hate is a strong word.

Attickiss - Chasing Time: Not afraid to wear its influences on its sleeve.

1.20.2016

Kamasi Washington - The Epic: Not sure where to cut, because it all teeters on good-to-great, but there is probably an extra disc of material here.

They Might Be Giants - Why: Exactly.

Vince Staples - Summertime '06: Much better first half than second, but what a first half!

Reggie And The Full Effect - X-Mas Mini EP: Feels like not enough and too much at the same time.

Jason Isbell - Something More Than Free: Always weird when critics finally catch up to a great thing.

Free - Demo: Glad they are back, even if under a different name.

Dwarfstarr - Agnus: Atlanta-based rock band not afraid to wear their influences on their sleeve.

Baroness - Purple: So glad they did not hang it up.

Courtney Barnett - Sometimes I Sit And Think: I can see why it ended up on so many lists, but I need more time.

11.28.2015

Wavves - V: An improvement over an already-great Afraid of Heights.

Pentimento - I, No Longer: Barely noticeable from their early days.

Joanna Newsom - Divers: One of the most compelling voices in music.

Mountain Man - Rumination: Progressing towards a bigger sound.

Modern Baseball - The Perfect Cast: A little teaser to more.

Libertines - Anthems for Doomed Youth: No longer lightning in a bottle.

Front Bottoms - Back on Top: More of exactly the things to love about them.

Foundation - Turncoat: Sad to see them go.

Craig Finn - Faith in the Future: Odd production choices become a distraction.

Dylan, Bob - Bootleg, Vol 12: 18 discs of fly-on-the-wall greatness is worth listening to.

Dungen - Allas Sak: Ta Det Lungt was such a triumph I will have to pretend this album does not exist.

The Decemberists - florasongs: Need more.

Blitzen Trapper - All Across This Land: Such consistency begins to lose its impact.

Black Breath - Slaves Beyond Death: A step forward towards mixed outcomes.

Adele - 25: A few great singles, but not as consistent as 19 or 21.

11.13.2015

Neil Young - The Monsanto Years: Love (most of) the message, but the delivery is better-than-mediocre.

Worriers - Imaginary Life: Chorus-less and fantastic.

Wonder Years - No Closer To Heaven: Great pop-punk.

Wire - Wire: Settling into the complacency. Or finding themselves in textures.

Wilco - Star Wars: Might be my favorite of theirs.

Junior Wells - Hoodoo Man Blues: I struggle with blues after Robert Johnson.

Weatherbox - Flies In All Directions: Not enough to bring me back for more.

Wavves X Cloud Nothings - No Life For Me: Sonic Youth an obvious inspiration for a compelling-enough collaboration.

Various - Ramallah/Sinners And Saints: More from each, please.

Various - Ciao My Shining Star: Come for the stars, stay for the songs. Frank Turner steals the show.

Various - Curse Of The Seven Jackals: E6 diehards only.

Titus Andronicus - The Most Lamentable Tragedy: Album of the year.

Coheed And Cambria - The Color Before The Sun: Concept or not, when the songs are there the songs are there. The songs are there.

Tame Impala - Currents: Too much dance rock for me.

Tallest Man on Earth - Dark Bird Is Home: Can we get yearly, or monthly, releases?

Slayer - Reign in Blood: Not as good as I was hoping for.

Royal Trux - Accelerator: Meh, but the hype will have me revisit.

Jeff Rosenstock - We Cool: Much more cohesive and listenable.

Jeff Rosenstock - I Look Like Shit: Do you like Reggie? Meet Jeff.

Max Richter - The Blue Notebooks: Classical I can get behind.

Ike Reilly - Born On Fire: Sounds like he is having so much fun.

Refused - Freedom: Still do not get the adoration.

H2O - Use Your Voice: Still killing it after all these years.