• "Happily, Slipknot can pull in these directions and still maintain a new standard of bone-crunching intensity. There are louder metal bands in the world, for sure, but the Iowan nine-piece continue to make the most noise." [The Observer]

• "Sure, there's some navel-gazing: the power ballad 'Snuff,' one of several tracks that continue Vol. 3's move into more melodic drama, tackles a personal trauma that Taylor can't bring himself to name. But Hope's fiercest tunes—the bludgeoning, math-rocky 'Butcher's Hook' and the sludgy, atonal 'Gehenna'—find Slipknot's usual self-loathing and internal hostility becoming even heavier and more powerful when it's turned outward." [Spin]

• "The group's development makes a lot of sense, because the members simply can't target the 'rebellious high-school freshman' demographic forever. In the end, this album is definitely a step in the right direction for the band members, but they haven't quite grown up yet." [The Daily Iowan]

• "In that sense, the slyest thing about this project is the way its sound and vision argue against the album's title. From the instrumental arrangements to the layered levels of meaning in the lyrics, Slipknot Vol. 4 comes across as smarter, deeper, and tougher than ever. And if that's not a cause for hope, we don't know what is." [Revolver]

• "Like many an English lad before him, [vocalist Richard] Ashcroft puts the sneer into soul; his fine-sandpaper voice tempers the music's heavenward thrust. It's satisfying, this blend of the angelic and the blokeish, but on Forth it never feels very urgent or original. If an anthem deficiency is what ails you, this album is a perfectly useful over-the-counter treatment. Just don't expect the trip to take you anywhere new." [LAT]

• "You get the impression that, for [guitarist Nick] McCabe, life in the Verve has been one long battle with Ashcroft's ego. Rumours already abound that he will be leaving the band again before long. But it's McCabe's self-possessed musicianship that makes Forth worth hearing. He is consumed by the alchemist's belief that such base materials as guitars and amps can be transformed into gold. Sometimes he fails. But when he succeeds, it's sublime." [Guardian]

• "While many bands who reunite years after they parted can't find the old thread, or can't advance it, the Verve has taken their core character and moved it a bracing step ahead." [NYDN]

• "But 'Appalachian Springs' gives the best afterglow. Built on the ballad-prayer model of 'The Drugs Don't Work' (on 1997's Urban Hymns) and coated in McCabe's melting guitars and Ashcroft's higher-than-you bleating, it is Forth's final trackk—and most complete trip." [RS]

• "So that about covers the Ultra Beatdown "juggernaut": come for the guitar solos, stay for the music. Power metal may not be the most inventive musical style on the planet, but Dragonforce are making it more exciting than most anyone else has for quite some time." [Allmusic]

• "If this is what an Ultra Beatdown is like, you can kick my ass any day." [Antiquiet]

• "In a time when enjoying oneself in music must either be done either through irony or novelty, it's good to see a band that recognizes how ridiculous they are manage to be pretty damn awesome in the meantime." [MetalSucks]

• "Worth mentioning is that the movie was directed by the Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst. 'Dude, give me some of that Hollywood magic music,' one imagines this hard-core rocker, in his capacity as cheesy family-film hack, saying to his (uncredited) composer. 'Nah, man, a little more sentimental and sparkly. That's it! Now put it everywhere, man. Awesome. Work it out, dude, I'm going to lunch.' " [NYT]

• "Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, who made his directorial debut with 2007's little-seen The Education of Charlie Banks, brings a workmanlike efficiency to The Longshots but not much style, apart from a few sequences in which he wanders away from the action to explore Minden's ragged brick streets and crumbling buildings. And even those shots seem obligatory and lacking in inspiration. It's almost always rewarding to watch an underdog triumph—what else could explain why movies exactly like this keep being made?—but Longshots is one underdog that's hard to love and harder still to champion." [Chicago Tribune]

• "Saddled with such a predictable plot and script, Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst, moonlighting as movie director, delivers a mildly diverting tale. But because The Longshots never escapes the sense of being too contrived, it never really gets the crowd on its feet." [Toronto Star]

• "Former Limp Bizkit frontman Fred Durst directs in a surprisingly dull fashion, and most of the characters, including Jasmine's mother and father, are numbingly one-dimensional. However, the saga is an undeniably heartwarming one about perseverance, hard work, and pride in community. And who could criticize that?" [USA Today]

• "Fred Durst, from the group Limp Bizkit, directs with the unsophisticated simplicity that the story requires. And in a time when so many movies throw in so much casual profanity, it's heartening to see one where the characters, even in the most cathartic stressful moments, are able to express themselves honestly and forcefully without cursing. That attitude earns The Longshots a solid recommendation for all audiences." [WP]

[Thanks to Radar for the reminder that this was coming out]

• "And although he has his moments of sentimentality on John Lennon's 'Grow Old With Me' and the Velvet Underground's 'Jesus,' Campbell is still a formidable interpreter of song who even overcomes heavy-handed production to remind us why he was always our favorite charismatic pop-music cowboy." [Boston Globe]

• "Much like Johnny Cash's late-in-life work with producer Rick Rubin, these are serious recordings where Campbell locates the emotional thread in meaningful lyrics from those with different backgrounds than his. The best cuts—his takes on Jackson Browne's 'These Days,' U2's 'All I Want Is You' and John Lennon's 'Grow Old With Me'—own a timeless beauty that bridges generations and cultures." [Canadian Press]

• "Overall, the tracks could've benefited from less showy musicianship in favor of a naked spotlight on Campbell's world-weary perspective. Certainly, at age 72, Campbell has earned the right to just sing it as he sees it." [Sacramento Bee]

• "He has picked well-written and age-appropriate songs. Jackson Browne's weary reflection These Days, composed in the late '60s when the songwriter was a teenager, seems more relevant and moving coming from a 72-year-old with a lived-in voice. Even better, the Replacements' wistful Sadly Beautiful, about a father watching his child mature, has a perfect foil in Campbell." [Miami Herald]

• "But what makes Fast Times one of the year's best albums is the sheer fearlessness of throwing everything they can into a big pop song and then artfully hitting the mark time after time until it becomes useless to resist TAI's many relentless charms any longer." [Newsday]

• "This album stumbles only when it strays from formula. On the odd 'Beware! Cougar!' Mr. Beckett writes a kiss-off to an older woman who has already expressed her lack of interest: 'When you fake a laugh behind the wheel/ I know where this road is heading to.' And 'Coppertone' is the album's most ponderous song, with convoluted lyrics and a tone that wavers between seductive and self-loathing. If only he'd stop thinking so hard. " [NYT]

• "Audiences may've been better served if they had the whole summer to play these tunes-as they are made for driving with the windows down on a hot summer night. Either way, previous Academy Is... fans will surely dig the tunes, but Fast Times is probably not the album that will see the band expand their scope too far out of the high school/Warped Tour crowd." [Alternative Press ]

• "The arrangements also dress simple tunes in surprising ways, with odd choral bits and percolating percussion webs that should tease movement from even reluctant hips. No surprise that, as YouTube confirms, Lykke Li is also a freaky dancer." [RS]

• "Chart music today is often so gloriously maximal that reproducing any of its thrills on limited means can seem an impossible task. By paying attention to detail, [Peter Bjorn and John's Bjorn] Yttling and Li's prove that doesn't have to be the case. But even more impressive is the way their intimate, playful miniatures capture the daring and novelty of modern pop, as well as its hooks." [Pitchfork]

• "There are shades of Björk and Feist in her spacey voice, which on her first album is paired with a raw, electro-pop score that makes tracks such as 'I'm Good, I'm Gone' and 'Breaking It Up' 101 percent addictive. And what about 'This Trumpet in My Head'i? Pffffttt. We can only hope she never makes enough money to move to Los Angeles to do Pilates and Timbaland." [SF Chronicle]

• "Brimming with ideas but understated, even tentative in executing them, and big on hooks but nervously intimate in presentation, Youth Novels is a curious, decidedly unorthodox but endearing record. Both youthful and novel—Li was twenty-one upon its release, which may explain both her occasional goofy vocal affectations and the hesitant freshness of her sound—it's hard to pigeonhole but refreshingly easy to enjoy." [Allmusic]

• "Front man Joe has a pleasantly raspy voice, and the band somehow manages to steer clear of syrupy ballads you might normally associate with a Disney-sanctioned act of Christian rockers. Well, for the most part, anyway. The title track details brother Nick's struggle with diabetes in slow motion, complete with tears and an unintentional nod to Joni Mitchell with the line, 'You don't know what you got 'til it's gone.' Although they attempt to wrestle with other teenage traumas, the brothers are at their best on the brilliantly mindless single 'Burnin' Up.' Now if only the kids would shut up long enough to listen." [San Francisco Chronicle]

• "Sure, lead single 'Burnin' Up' is an excellent attempt at Maroon 5-style pop-funk complete with a killer Latin-percussion breakdown, and Jack Johnson will probably lightly tap himself for not coming up with 'Love Bug' first. But too many of these songs get bogged down in chord changes and lyrics likely to sound worn-out even to a 10-year-old. ('You don't know what you've got till it's gone,' Nick sings in the title track.) I'm sure the Jonases are worn out: These little dudes work like crazy. But though Miley Cyrus manages it on her new one, making exhaustion seem interesting is no easy feat. Pick up the phone, guys—there's a whole fleet of Disney-pop pros waiting to help." [Village Voice]

• "Parents will be relieved to know that the Jonas Brothers are about as wholesome and innocent a band as you can hope for these days. There may not be a ton of variation in the music, but the messages are thoroughly positive and life-affirming." [Detroit Free Press]

• "Lloyd tries to come into his own on smooth ballads like the Bryan-Michael Cox-produced song 'Year of the Lover' and "I Can Change Your Life," a piano-driven song on which he aims to sway a lady from her unstable relationship. Yet, both tracks lack the infectious hit capability as past hits like 'Get It Shawty.' " [AP/Chicago Tribune]

• "Lloyd comes off as randy, rather than skeevy, in part because his music avoids the low-down grind. By current R&B's slovenly standards, this is brisk stuff. But the crowning element remains Lloyd's light voice. His flutter offers just the right stroke." [NY Daily News]

• "Throw in help from Lil Wayne on the irresistible throwback single 'Girls Around the World' or playful '80s references - including the reworking of The Outfield's power-pop nugget 'Your Love' for 'Lose Your Love' or the Pet Shop Boys-influenced keyboards on 'Have My Baby'—and Lessons in Love becomes a class worth taking." [Newsday]

• "The U. of Love is always in need of good professors. Lloyd is still working on his résumé, though, and he's not quite ready to assume the Barry White Chair of Romance." [USA Today]

• "'Help me go slow, I've been carrying on,' he sings, and all the hype and expectations and ancillary rubbish recede, leaving only the sound of an earnest singer and songwriter fully coming into his own." [Hartford Courant]

• "'Milk Thistle,' which closes the album, is a grim acoustic song about dying (Oberst never mentions alcohol explicitly, but milk thistle, a purported hangover cure, is often employed, holistically, to treat liver disease—so it doesn't seem unreasonable to read 'Milk Thistle' as a song about suicide-via-whiskey). 'Milk thistle, milk thistle, let me down slow,' he trembles. 'If I go to heaven I'll be bored as hell.' It feels like a fitting, if morbid, way to end a record about escaping life—about escaping everything." [Pitchfork]

• "Perhaps the best of Conor Oberst, though, is the rich, Ramones-meet-Replacements tale about engineering a hospital escape in 'I Don't Want to Die (In a Hospital).' It's an amusing, rebellious take on a sad situation that shows off another welcome development for Oberst—a sense of humor." [Newsday]

• "By the same token it's probably no coincidence that the orchestra lays low on the album's most earnest songs. 'Losing You' and 'Feels Like Home,' conveying heartache and gratitude respectively, capture Mr. Newman's sweeter side. Those aren't the funniest or most clever songs on the album, and maybe not the truest to his basic temperament, but they are the ones we'll still be hearing years from now." [NYT]

• "For balance, he includes a couple of would-be standards: a heart-worn 'Losing You' and a reprise of his lovely 1994 ballad, 'Feels Like Home.' Newman could've easily fashioned a career out of such transparently emotional songs. But what fun would that've been?" [Chicago Tribune]

• "It's hugely likable, none the less. 'Laugh and Be Happy' sounds like something written for Toy Story while being about US immigration. By contrast, 'Losing You,' inspired by war survivors grieving over a dead child, and 'Feels Like Home,' a song revived from several years back, capture the pathos of Newman's best work. Like Updike, he's still one of his country's best chroniclers, a shrewd patriot indeed." [Guardian]

• "The gorgeously bummed-out love song 'Losing You' is bound to be covered many times over by singers with prettier voices than Newman's, to less emotionally wrenching effect than it has here. The rest of Harps & Angels is all gloriously, grumpily and singularly Newman's own." [Philadelphia Inquirer]

First, Powers' "Pop music critics embrace the mainstream," which ran on Sunday alongside Scott Timberg's feature on the American arts' continuing high-low collapse. Powers, as ever, has the overview:

This atmosphere of openness is mostly fantastic, but characteristically, pop critics have found a way to turn it confrontational. Prefer Ray LaMontagne to Toby Keith? You're an NPR-listening square! Irritated by T-Pain? You're a Luddite! Sick of Fergie? You're sexist! And just as many critics take the opposite stance, with equal righteous vigor.

In the past, our debates were sort of like sumo-style tummy bashes — a young Turk would stand up to the old guard and good-naturedly push his opponent out of the ring. Now, it's more like the scrum in rugby. Everybody pushes against everybody else, and we move forward in a huge blob of vehement opinion and mutual judgment.

Powers' talk about covering American Idol prompted Wade Tatangelo of Tampa's Creative Loafing to point out the monetary aspects of such coverage:

Ann Powers wrote a fine essay . . . But she failed to mention that a potential reason daily music critics like the St. Petersburg Times' Sean Daly are covering cheap reality TV like American Idol (Powers does, too, but more likely by choice, see below) is because they are no longer in a position to tell populist/desperate editors "no." Arts critics are being laid off at even a faster clip than reporters. In fact, there's not a single music critic job opening at a daily newspaper in the entire nation. I know critics rank right alongside lawyers in the receiving of sympathy department, but it's grim folks.

Carl Wilson of the Toronto Globe and Mail and the blog Zoilus weighed in on both Powers' piece and Tatangelo's reply:

There's something to [Tatangelo's point] - I remarked in my book that unlike, say, an academic specialist, a working critic has to address a broad audience, and one who wrote only about the ultra-weird and never about the popular eventually would be out of a job. In the book I add "(rightly)", but it's debatable.

Certainly I know people who've been required professionally to review shows they wouldn't have volunteered to watch. Tatangelo says that a couple of years ago he quit a job rather than cover Idol—and that he's not sure he would feel emboldened to make a similar move today.

But wait, imagine a film critic who proudly resigns his job rather than write about a popular movie or genre of movies—say, movies based on comic books. Would we think that guy was a hero, or kind of an asshole? Wouldn't we point to great film critics who have written favorably or unfavorably about blockbuster popcorn flicks and found insightful aesthetic and social analyses there? If you're being told what to say by your editors, that is cause to make a stand; if you're being asked to cover a major phenomenon in your field, that's the job, bucko. Granted, in the more flush past of newspapering, you'd probably have been able to slough off lower-status assignments to the junior critic, and today there usually is no junior critic. And nothing against Tatangelo making life choices that make him happier. But there's a boon to critics being pushed out of their aesthetic habits to observe what's happening out in what remains of the mainstream - it gives us the function of conducting that cross-conversation about common cultural objects that those lamenters of the semi-mythical, semi-extinct monoculture say they miss.

Still, the most salient point of all may be from Marc Hogan's Tumblr, in which the freelancer (best known for his contributions to Pitchfork) spells it out even more plainly:

As anyone who knows anyone who has blogged about "American Idol" knows, you get more clicks blogging about "American Idol" than blogging about Steinski, Harvey Milk, or Fleet Foxes. So it's not as if the turning tide toward "poptimism" among critics who want to be paid for our work is entirely un-self-interested.

Pop music critics embrace the mainstream [LAT]
Debating Ann Powers, poptimism and American Idol [Creative Loafing Tampa]
Forced to Write About American Idol? Call Our Help Line Now [Zoilus]
"As anyone who's read . . . " [Offnotesnotes]

• "Alice Cooper has done it again, delivering a strong album that should not be overlooked. He has crafted a loose tale of murder, dismemberment, and evil with a soundtrack that is deceptively upbeat. He even ties it in with an older release, mentioning Steven of Welcome to My Nightmare fame. Cooper obviously still has it, and I look forward to whatever he has to deliver in the future." [Blogcritics]

• "Musically, the disc harkens back to old-school Alice, closest to the "Love It To Death" era, with some modern touches thrown in. Time-share (with Kiss) drummer Eric Singer provides a solid underpinning to the mayhem." [AP via the San Francisco Chronicle]

• "Though every two-bit heavy-metal band may seem to have bled dry the vernacular of homicide, in songs like Wrapped in Silk Cooper uses a dark wit, which steers him well clear of cliché. Like his best stuff, it's funny, sickening and rocking all at once." [Telegraph]

• "At 60, Cooper's sneering delivery hasn't deteriorated. Guest guitarist Slash, a longtime Cooper compatriot, enlivens the catchy Vengeance is Mine to such a degree that the track sounds like an outtake from Appetite for Destruction." [The National Post]

• "Such maturity isn't surprising coming from a singer in her early 30s who was working the Georgia club circuit for years before she, Bush and their former bandmate Kristen Hall hooked up with Universal Music's Nashville division. It's also just the sort of seasoning that enables Nettles to pull off the campy 'Steve Earle.' Equal parts mash note and send-up, the cantering romp has her dreaming of becoming the latest bride of the irascible troubadour, someone for whom 'fallin' in love is a pilgrim sport.' The studio where Sugarland made the album, Atlanta's Southern Tracks Recording, likely also was an inspiration. With a client roster that has included everyone from Jerry Reed and the Indigo Girls to Bruce Springsteen and R.E.M., Southern Tracks has gained a reputation, over the past four decades, for attracting artists like Sugarland with expansive musical palettes." [Washington Post]

• "The stripped-down acoustic songs give Nettles the most room to show her talent, this time on the heartbreaking 'Keep You" and the wise 'Very Last Country Song.' The duo also show some nerve, and plenty of wit, on the goofy 'Steve Earle,' about a woman pleading with the alternative singer-songwriter to fall for her long enough to write a great song about her. It's in the moments when the band stretches that this million-selling duo paves a platinum road toward a long, sweet future." [AP]

• "Although much of the disc is cut from the act's most obvious available cloth, the fanciful, exuberant 'Steve Earle' is a fun departure, a slice of over-the-top role-playing in which Nettles builds an amusing character. The likes of the shimmering ballad 'Very Last Country Song' are less ambitious and more typical, but despite the duo's penchant for hauling out the cookie cutter, the results are frequently something sweet." [Hartford Courant]

• "With Love on the Inside, Ms. Nettles and Mr. Bush define and stretch their artistic boundaries, making Sugarland much more than a modern country sales commodity." [Dallas Morning News]

• "'Listen to Your Body Tonight' nods to 'Take Your Time (Do It Right),' the S.O.S. Band's slinky 1980 electro-funk strut, with Youngblood urging boys and girls to jump into bed with someone. He might convince you to do so too." [RS]

• "While Democrats debated whether an African American or a woman should be our next president, Black Kids became the most buzzed-about new band since Vampire Weekend. They resembled the future but sounded like a past only plugged-in Anglophiles could've fully inhabited. But now, with confident new songs like 'Listen to Your Body Tonight,' they seize the moment by blasting past underground insularity: Their self-assured hooks position the group as winners no matter how hard their leader loses in love. Kissing goodbye to the obsolete racial and gender roles that pop, hip-hop, or indie rock still demand, Youngblood and pals throw a thrillingly subversive victory party to lift the country out of eight years of anguish." [Spin]

• "Part of the appeal of the Black Kids' approach is that they nail the technical delivery of each song on all fronts. The vocals, for the most part, sound like The Cure's Robert Smith on helium. If the music was understated, it wouldn't work as well, but the songs have a habit of coming to a crescendo nicely and giving lead singer Reggie Youngblood a platform on which to soar. If they are to be faulted for anything, it's for being a little too hook-heavy. But at least the hooks are good. Most of the songs are about sex and love and sprinkled with randy language throughout, so tender ears beware." [AP]

• "There are moments when Youngblood's vocals become too affected for their own good - he keeps doing an English accent that has a tendency to lurch around the country like a tourist on a tight schedule - and moments when the lyrical punning becomes a bit torturous: 'Like many a Mael, I've got angst in my pants,' opens 'I've Underestimated My Charm (Again),' a flurry of Sparks-related puns that even Youngblood's bandmates seem to find painful, following it with a synthesised groan. But his ear for a tight, catchy pop song and ascending chorus hardly ever lets him down. 'Listen to Your Body Tonight,' 'Hurricane Jane,' 'I'm Making Eyes at You': almost everything here sounds like a hit waiting to happen, equipped with a tune strong enough to be heard above the hype—or the hype about the hype or the people complaining about the hype about the hype—and memorable enough to make the idea that Black Kids will be forgotten by Christmas seem a highly unlikely suggestion." [Guardian]

• "Much of the music comes with clattering, tempo-pushing Dave Grohl-ish rock drums (some of it played by Josh Freese, of a Perfect Circle) and distorted and shiny electric guitars. For variety there's a watery slow-jam, 'Bottom of the Ocean,' and a ditzy cry for the environment, 'Wake Up America,' complete with cheerleader chorus. Then there are the simple-message tracks for the younger set: an overblown, synthetic-orchestra-and-rock-band version of Cyndi Lauper's hit 'Girls Just Want to Have Fun,' a mild techno reprise (from Ms. Cyrus's last album) of a song about a crush, 'See You Again.' But 'Breakout,' the title track, appeals to both age groups. It's a girls-only call to fun, but it hints at a decadent, school-free future. 'My friends and the mess we get into/These are the lessons we choose," she sings. "Not a book full of things we'll never use.' " [NYT]
• "After all this fun, Breakout's second half gets overly ballad-heavy—guess that's where the growing up factors in—although, impressively, she's a dead ringer for the Dixie Chicks' Natalie Maines on the mournful 'These Four Walls.' And then we discover the one clunker, 'Wake Up America'—Cyrus' eco-anthem, on which she pleads for the earth: 'Can you give her a little attention?' The song's a dud, but you've gotta love that she talks about our troubled planet as if it were a needy adolescent." [EW]
• "It's a polished-sounding album, but there is always a hint of sandpaper in Cyrus' voice, and that turns out to be a big help, preserving the illusion of teen normalcy. Cyrus always sings with real, relatable emotion, and that alone puts her miles ahead of most of her teen-pop contemporaries." [Newark Star-Ledger]

• "Religious imagery abounds as Finn refracts secular through sacred and arrives at his own inclusive spiritual understanding: 'The sing-along songs will be our scriptures,' he declares on the title track. And they are, which is part of what makes the Hold Steady's fourth album so powerful. These songs are built for sing-alongs, whether you're in the car with the windows down or at a Hold Steady concert, pressed in among people who are ready for a constructive summer of their own." [Eric R. Danton, Hartford Courant]

• "While its title and lyrics often make Stay Positive sound like a darkest-before-the-dawn kind of record, the themes Finn keeps returning to—skipping town, starting over clean, resurrection—all speak to the redemptive power of second chances. When the Hold Steady plead with you to 'stay positive,' and you consider their unlikely and continued ascendancy, you could do worse than take them at their word." [Jason Crock, Pitchfork]

• "What connects everything is that for all the drugged-out messes he chronicles, Finn is about as far from a nihilist as rock has. What he'll never expunge from the church is the same thing he can never forget from all those basement shows as a kid: the sense that you can make yourself more powerful by giving in to the collective. He isn't trying to be anybody's savior. He just wants to spread the word." [Michaelangelo Matos, Salon]

• "The Hold Steady are keen to remind us of the parallels between rock and religion, how the joining of voices is a favourite of both pulpit and punk moshpit. The album opens, peaks and closes on rousing, communal 'oh woah ohs'. 'These singalong songs are our scriptures,' Finn notes at one point; elsewhere, he raises a toast to 'St Joe Strummer—he might have been our only decent teacher'. Bleak but hopeful, Stay Positive is about a belief in the transformative powers of rock'n'roll. It more than repays your faith." [Kitty Empire, The Observer]

• "Boys and Girls in America was the first Hold Steady album that actually sounded nostalgic; while Stay Positive is more musically rich, it's only because the band has become so proficient at recreating '70s classic rock. The problem is that the band has always used that sound as a reference, not a goal. Its 2004 debut, Almost Killed Me, tried to create preening classic rock out of jittery punk insouciance, and in the process came up with a hybrid that was better than both. So while Stay Positive earns the Hold Steady its rightful designation as the Bruce Springsteen and the E Street band of its generation, it's a bittersweet coronation knowing the band is capable of so much more." [Bret McCabe, New York Sun]

• "Of course, Nas is too talented to come up entirely empty. Jay Electronica's plaintive piano on 'Queens Get the Money' meshes perfectly with Nas' imagistic stanzas, while 'Fried Chicken' finds Busta Rhymes and Nas wreaking havoc over a throwback '94 NYC track tailor-made for the duo. More often than not, though, Nas offers windy whines instead of innovative ideas. Sadly, the onetime kid out of Queensbridge has become a cantankerous crank. " [LAT]

• "Untitled features an invigorated Nasir Jones, and showcases one of hip-hop's greatest emcees as still one of the most prolific acts in the game today. Lyrically, Nas challenges himself to be better, taking on serious subject matter and taking the time to tackle it with dense, well thought-out raps that do the music justice. Aided by a production line-up that is highlighted by lesser-known beat-makers such as stic.man of Dead Prez, DJ Green Lantern, and Jay Electronica, Untitled is another great achievement to add to Nas' already stellar catalogue." [RealTalkNY]

• "Only someone as stubborn as Nas would have chosen the tremulous, distant-sounding piano loops of 'Queens Get the Money' to open his album. But then again, only someone as stubborn as Nas could find a way to deliver such a firm, arresting, if occasionally nonsensical verse atop it. Just two minutes long, it sounds almost accidental, and it is transfixing. Perhaps not surprisingly, the best song on this album is barely a song at all." [NYT]

• "On Hip Hop Is Dead, Nas made the mistake of presenting that topic as a loose theme over the album and expecting listeners to pick up subliminal messages. With Untitled, he's able to not only cohesively explain his stance on the word n****r, but detail its use throughout history on social, political, and judicial levels. And despite the dense subject matter, Nas' varied lyrical presentations keep the opus from ever becoming preachy or condescending. Notwithstanding minor missteps in sequencing and production, Untitled has delivered on its potential as a cogent, intellectually honest piece of art. And like its predecessor The N****r Tape, Nasir Jones has crafted not only a career highlight in his catalogue, but the most thought-provoking and challenging mainstream Hip-Hop album in a long time." [AllHipHop]

• "Neither preachy nor overly polemical, Nas uses his lyrical gifts to keep us guessing: One moment he's addressing rap fans who 'live way out in safe suburbia,' the next he and guest Busta Rhymes gleefully play with stereotypes on the funky 'Fried Chicken.' Over a soul sample, 'Testify' starts, 'I just burned my American flag'— yet before the Obama-sampling 'Black President,' Nas declares, 'I love America.' In a summer of 'Lollipop,' it's refreshing to hear a complicated record that doesn't shy from grown-up ambition." [EW]

• "With its off-the-cuff cover, brevity, and ramshackle feel, Modern Guilt comes off like Beck's attempt to outrun those songwriting complications. But the reluctance to break with his own conventions is still evident. The album ends with a look ahead: 'I don't know where I've been, but I know where I'm going/ To that volcano/ I don't want to fall in, though/ Just want to warm my bones on that fire a while.' It's a cautious prophesy—maybe too cautious." [Pitchfork]
• "'Chemtrails,' the prettily trippy first single, flirts with Aquarian Age rapture even as the flowers woven into the singer's golden locks wilt in the harsh light of a damaged ozone layer ('That's where we'll be when we die in the slipstream/We'll climb in a hole in the sky'). And when Beck sings, as he does on the thumping, percussive 'Soul of a Man,' 'Beat my bones against the wall/Staring down an empty hall/Deep down in a hollow log/Coming home like a letter bomb,' Burton makes the ultimate endgame sound like a party you'd still want to be invited to—one that even Beck might enjoy, despite himself." [EW]
• "The first half is first-rate Beck, particularly the way the hymn-like melody of 'Chemtrails' morphs into a chaotic finale. But the latter half of the disc sounds half-finished, as 'Soul of a Man' pounds a pedestrian blues riff into tedium and 'Replica' dabbles awkwardly in the mid-'90s British dance music known as drums-and-bass. As entrancing as Modern Guilt sounds, its slap-dash songwriting makes it an inconsistent listen." [Chicago Tribune]
• "Modern Guilt feels like a vanity project: there is no attempt to reach out, none of the classic pop singles Beck has been revered for, just 10 inward-looking, unlovable tracks. 'Orphans' is a clever rewrite of Free's 'Wishing Well,' and 'Chemtrails' is muzzy shoegazing. Perhaps this is a good time to say goodbye." [Guardian]

• "As nasty and filthy as ever, but despite the band's latter-day sense of mortality, not as irresistible or as contagious. " [Dallas Morning News]

• "The riffs aren't quite as lasting as the memories. They easily could soundtrack a kegger, but most stick like temporary tattoos. Guitarist Mick Mars still won't win any shredding contests, and overrated drummer Tommy Lee probably should just marry Meg White. Still, the title track rekindles Shout at the Devil-era evil, and the album's boozy memories of girls, girls, girls do sound genuine—if not downright wistful. Cheer up, fellas, there's always the chance of starring in VH1's Rock of Love 3. " [Washington Post]

• "From front to back, Saints of Los Angeles is the sound of a band unabashedly wallowing in its old hair-sprayed heyday, no longer sweating concerns about keeping up. It's as if the group has realized that modern rock—with its fragmented appeal and diminished cultural cachet—is no longer the threat it might have once appeared. And in its own little defiant way, it's a move that makes old Mötley Crüe seem more relevant than ever." [Detroit Free Press]

• "There is some of the old energy here, thanks in part to the presence of drummer Tommy Lee, who drives 'Down at the Whisky' and 'Chicks=Trouble' like somebody with a head full of stimulants. Yet the album lacks the tune-craft that once made vintage Crüe such hits as 'Dr. Feelgood' and 'Kickstart My Heart' so appealing." [LA Times]

• "This one kills me to write, but the great JUDAS PRIEST has flopped with Nostradamus. While I'm sure honor to the legacy of this great band will cause people to be kind to the band when reviewing it, calling it as it is you have to say that this album is simply unappealing to listen to. The sad thing is that with all the expectation on it and following such a great album with 'Angel Of Retribution,' Nostradamus is simply a bust. There's no other way to say it." [MetalEater]

• "I loved the album—I dare not compare it directly with another Priest album—as the songs on it never manage to cause the same amount of excitement—in the course of a single song's duration—as with the bands previous mega hits, but taken as a whole—Nostradamus is just massive and impressive. Massively impressive!" [Metal Invader]

• "A few infectious melodies, such as 'Pestilence and Plague,' do survive the cod operatic structure and glutinous orchestration, but what gets lost in the portentous kerfuffle is the band's three-minute-pop side. Without it, their meisterwerk marks a new extreme in self-indulgence." [The Telegraph]

• "From simple soldier he will attain to Empire, from the short robe he will grow into the long. Brave in arms, much worse towards the Church, he vexes the priests as water fills a sponge." [Nostradamus]

• "Coldplay made its fortune on Martin's hypnotic roundelays, songs that bore simple titles like 'Clocks' and 'Fix You' and invoked comforting styles like the hymn and the lullaby. Eno pushes the band toward other forms based in circularity—the ambient music of the marketplace, the video game and the movie trailer—to make those warm little tunes even more marketable. Are they more memorable too? That depends on whether you like your chicken soup mild or spicy." [LA Times]

• "The record's violent, revolution-themed artwork is misleading. Viva is more like a bloodless coup—shrewd and inconspicuous in its progressive impulses." [Pitchfork]

• "Coldplay's desire to unite fans around the world with an entertainment they can all relate to is the band's strength, and a worthy goal. But on Viva La Vida, a record that wants to make strong statements, it's also a weakness. Sometimes, to say what needs to be said, you need to risk pissing people off." [Rolling Stone]

• "Coldplay is about sound, not sense. If a big, stadium-sized rock record can be praised for its nuances, Viva La Vida is it. But those looking for a bold progression to rival Eno's finest collaborations will be disappointed." [Chicago Tribune]

• "'Mannequin,' a lament about a guy who's too stoic ('You're not a man, you're just a mannequin!'), recalls Cher's Eighties catalog. And the acoustic ode 'Thinking of You,' which compares an unrequited lover to 'an Indian summer in the middle of winter,' is generic Dawson's Creek schlock. Yes, Perry has a heart, but it sounds like her bustier's too tight for her to use it. " [Rolling Stone]
• "But Ms. Perry, who wrote or helped write every song here, has an easy way with melody and is best served by producers who give her room to emote. Dave Stewart (of Eurythmics) takes the helm on 'I'm Still Breathing,' a calm and certain obituary for a dead relationship. And 'Thinking of You,' produced by the underappreciated Butch Walker, is gently and compellingly angry. Turns out that feeling deeply is shocking enough." [NYT]
• "Engineered for short attention spans at just 44 minutes, One of the Boys is still more than enough to make this one long, hot summer for Perry." [Billboard]
• "The problem is not with Katy's gender-bending, it's that her heart isn't in it; she's just using it to get her places, so she sinks to crass, craven depths that turn One of the Boys into a grotesque emblem of all the wretched excesses of this decade." [AMG]

• "The great tragedy of the R. Kelly case would be if the jury's not-guilty verdict accelerated that erosion. Rather, the verdict should be read for what it is and nothing more: A jury listened to all the evidence and concluded the prosecution had not proved its case. And it was a challenging case, at that. The alleged victim testified before a grand jury that it wasn't her on tape. Prosecutors couldn't tell the jurors where that sad and ugly sex tape came from, and then they botched having it copied. No matter who you believe was on the tape, or whether you believe Kelly is a hero or a villain, one fact remains — an adult man taped himself having sex with a young girl and urinating on her. Whatever innocence that girl had left was stolen that day. And that's a crime." [Chicago Sun-Times]
• "Since 2002, Kelly has released seven albums, including a joint record with Jay-Z. He is due to release another album sometime this year. While it remains to be seen how many copies it will sell, it is clear that, as always, this latest scandal won't affect Kelly's popularity." [Nkesa Mumbi Moody, AP]
• "Hopefully we'll get a few more chapters of Trapped In The Closet! Sike." [illRoots]
• "The piquant reaction USA Today found from the "entertainment director" of Essence magazine Kelly's prosecution is just another example of how the focus of the scandal on Kelly, rather than on the large number of young girls he's been accused of molesting, has worked to the singer's benefit. Here's Kelefa Sanneh, in the NYT, writing about Kelly two years ago: 'Mr. Kelly, the legendarily freaky R&B star, long ago established himself as one of the greatest singer-songwriters of his generation. The sex scandal that threatened to derail his career in 2002 ended up doing the opposite: it made him more productive, more successful and, somehow—maybe because more people began paying attention to his excellent music—more respected than ever before.' " [Hitsville]
• "Most of all, [Kelly] wants to thank God for giving him the strength to get through this. He's going to have more to say about all of this very soon. But for right now, he'd be more inclined to be with his family, collect himself and get strong again." [R. Kelly spokesman Allan Meyer]

[Photo: AP]

• "James' lyrical expressions of fulfilled or disappointed longing combine with the extroverted song structures on Evil Urges to make this a sexy bunch of songs, even when the desire expressed is for an unnamed god or for humanity as a whole. (That hot bespectacled bookworm does get her due.) Already beloved by a growing cult, MMJ reaches out in a different way here, becoming more accessible without shrinking its ambitions." [Los Angeles Times]

• "With its patient, synthetic gleam slithering around James' lusty hoodoo, 'Touch Me, Pt. 2' is My Morning Jacket's Moroder moment, bringing a highly frustrating record to a close with the line 'Oh, this feeling is wonderful/ Don't turn it off.' If it hadn't been such an exhausting ride to get there, I might not want to." [Pitchfork]

• "Several tracks exude an indie-space-rock vibe not entirely unlike the Flaming Lips, but simpler moments are often more moving. The imagery in 'Librarian,' a ballad about love among the stacks, is strikingly delicate. 'Take off those glasses and let down your hair for me,' James sings wistfully, summing up what My Morning Jacket has done as a band." [Washington Post]

• "James seems well aware that any definition of "classic rock" that doesn't include Prince, Radiohead and Wilco is pretty bereft. Now, with Evil Urges, he can add My Morning Jacket to that list." [Rolling Stone]

• "Lil Wayne has always been a hit maker, a hired gun who spices up his surroundings. On Tha Carter III, he shows he is capable of building a memorable landscape on his own, as well, a place where he isn't just the entertaining jester but where he can actually be king." [Newsday]

• " Wayne's preference for recording whenever he's moved to, and releasing the results on mixtapes such as Da Drought Is Over, Part 4, suits his ADD nature while keeping fans busy with a constant stream of music. Tha Carter III was, indeed, worth waiting for, but there will undoubtedly be more from the same place—and soon." [Philadelphia Inquirer]

• "Tha Carter III is not the record that will save hip-hop, but Wayne has delivered an album that, after more than a year of delays and expectations that few could never deliver upon, asserts he's a grand talent, no matter the playing field. 'This is history in the making ... now let me make it,' he raps during 'Shoot Me Down.' It's not quite history, but it'll do." [Detroit News]

• "As he reaches for pop exposure, Lil Wayne is tempering braggadocio with a different kind of audacity: he's showing himself as more vulnerable than ever." [New York Times]

• "By the end of its over-long 80-minute run time, the Jay-Z album it most recalls isn't The Blueprint, but rather the scattershot Vol. 3: Life and Times of S. Carter. Ultimately, Tha Carter III will have you believing in Wayne's greatness but wondering why, as often as not, he just isn't very good." [LA Times]

• "I can imagine Chris pulling at his hair as the band perfected every single second of Viva La Vida. They set out to make a musical equivalent of a work of art—and succeeded. They've come a long way since singing about the colour yellow." [The Sun]

• "But for those who are prepared to take Coldplay at face value, to presume unless there is evidence to the contrary that this an honest collection of songs from a band doing what they know best, Viva La Vida is a bright, warm, rich and strikingly memorable album." [The Telegraph]

• "At its best, however, Viva la Vida poses an interesting question: do you need to be cool or experimental if you can write songs that carry the listener along regardless of their reservations—indeed, almost despite them?" [The Guardian]

• "The purported passing of their former style, however, has been greatly exaggerated, though whether the attempt here to chart a new musical course will lead anywhere as imposing remains to be heard. This is pretty average stuff." [The Independent]

• "Mann may not have found answers to all of life's questions on Smilers— the search for self is perpetual, after all—but each attempt means refinements to her craft. This time, the strong songwriting and astute musical arrangements combine to make Mann's latest her best album so far." [Hartford Courant]

• "Midway through another nuanced collection of mid-tempo '70s-pop-referencing tunes that document the lives of folks who manage only fleeting moments of happiness between protracted stretches of frustration, this L.A-based veteran songwriter runs head-on into what she typically approaches sideways. 'I thought my life would be better by now,' she sighs over an anxious keyboard riff in 'Thirty One Today,' a song about getting older (but no wiser) that's so simple and catchy and scarily true that it opens an ordinarily shut door into Mann's dimly lit, astutely rendered world." [Spin]

• "Billed as a dramatic change in sound, but not really—there certainly are new instrumental textures, but basically it's still a collection of Aimee Mann songs. Which means, since she couldn't write a bad or even mediocre song even after extensive waterboarding, that it immediately springs to the top ranks of this year's releases. Just the tonic for all those mellow, mopey female singer/songwriters littering the landscape." [USA Today]

• "As a writer and performer of lovelorn, piano- and guitar-driven pop music, Mann stands with the best of her era. She can sum up universal relationship complications in three-minute, eminently hummable musical nuggets. Cases in point: smoldering love song 'True Believer'; the earnest, string-laden ballad 'It's Over'; and 'Columbus Avenue,' where a street serves as metaphor for an ex's downfall. Plus, on album standout 'Phoenix,' an elegantly turned melody accompanies a singer still working things out in her head as the highway takes her farther from a misguided lover." [Billboard]

• "I think Journey has hit this one a mile. The music and vocals are spot on. The sound is like a 30 plus year band should sound like, and you can tell Neal being sober has only made him better. There is a difference I cannot explain in his guitar playing, especially some of the solos. Very smooth guitars throughout. Awesome job by all band members. They should be proud today." [jrnysc]

• "My only complaint is FITH. Why on God's green earth would you put a shitty song on two albums? Confused Other than that I think I like every song on the album...with WDILYL, NWA, WIN, WITTW, WD and CFTB, really standing out. The 2 ballads...AATY and TDTWT are really, really good. This album is superb. Great packaging, a cool DVD and lyrics as well." [Saint John]

• "Wow. Holy crap. This is the best Journey record since Frontiers." [7 Wishes]

• "Completely blown away! I said I'd hold my opinions on Arnel close until I heard the new material and heard him Live 2-3 weeks into the tour but... Journey has hit a complete Home-Run with this guy! This album is packed with some of the best music Schon/Cain have written since the Escape/Frontiers era. EVERYONE sounds amazing (Thanks Caveman!), there is a distinct 80's vibe running throughout (mostly Cain's synths) and some of the emotion Arnel and these songs throw at you literally had me teary eyed at times! I know that sounds pretty gay but it happened!" [Carlitto H@kk]

***Forum Members Revelation Reviews*** [MelodicRock]

• "Like the YouTube culture the 'Pork and Beans' video depicts so well, the song ['The Greatest Man That Ever Lived (Variations on a Shaker Hymn)']—and this album—relies on a high quantity of short-lived pretty good ideas to distract from a shortage of great ones." [Pitchfork]
• "The Red Album isn't the best album in Weezer's long career, but it's far from the worst — and it's a fine disc to keep in the front car seat as summer rolls along." [Detroit Free Press]
• "The Red Album isn't without flaws: Cuomo makes the well-intentioned gesture of allowing his bandmates to write or co-author one song each, and these turn out to be the album's least memorable. But the high points are as high as any these still essential alternative-era veterans have given us." [Chicago Sun-Times]
• "The only difference between the Weezer who shat out Make Believe and the Weezer of today is that the band isn't so obviously gunning for the Warped Tour crowd anymore, but instead attempting to lure back the attentions of an older crowd, maybe those who vaguely remember hearing 'Buddy Holly' on the radio or aging rockers who also shun Rogaine. It's music for insecurities: brash, crass, repugnant, and very small. Despite what they'd like us to think, The Red Album sounds like every one of Weezer's misfires since The Green Album: a few songs that work and a whole slew that flounder completely. Will diehard Weezer fans dig it? Undoubtedly. And they should, because nothing has changed." [Tiny Mix Tapes]

• "The star turns spice up an 11-song collection that stand up pretty well without. Green does pretty well on his own, particularly on the neo-soul of 'All I Need,' with its cascading vocals, another tasteful string arrangement by Larry Gold and Adam Blackstone's deep funk bass line. Green has made no secret of his intentions to spread his message of love to a younger generation with Lay It Down. Maybe it'll work. Maybe it won't. But one thing's for sure—he lays it down in a way; the right way—that any generation should be able to appreciate." [El Paso Times]

• "Other new-schoolers—John Legend on 'Stay With Me (by the Sea)' and Corinne Bailey Rae on the languorous throwback 'Take Your Time'—also do an admirable job of lightly putting their stamp on songs, but have the wisdom to mostly stay out of Green's way. With his fan club members backing him, Green's growls and precious high notes on the steady groove of 'Just for Me,' the tortured love song 'Too Much' and the sumptuous title track recall the material of 1971's Al Green Gets Next to You and 1972's I'm Still in Love With You and find the soul great fully of fire and brimming with youthful energy." [Washington Post]

• "Green's effortless yet ever-astonishing vocal flexings are, again, wrapped around some fabulous co-written songs. The title track, 'No One Like You,' and the nimble 'Just For Me' are exquisitely seductive. On 'What More Do You Want from Me,' meanwhile, Green makes romantic desperation sound like a rather alluring condition. Now 62, Green has musical powers that still verge on the magical. Whatever the commercial outcome, we have a five-star Al Green album on our hands." [The Telegraph]

• "The litany of mediocre relationship songs—'Before I Met You,' 'His Mistake,' 'Love You Gently'—doesn't help matters any, though the yawning 'Lifetime' does offer a possible new outlet. Instead of being the soundtrack for the clubs, Usher could turn much of Here I Stand into the soundtrack for any number of Lifetime made-for-TV movies." [Newsday]

• "Because the bylaws governing current hip-hop soul music clearly state that one must use every second of disc capacity available, Stand overstays its welcome. There's fuzzy filler from will.i.am ('What's Your Name') and a few too many slow jams. Among the weaker tracks is 'Club.' With its quivery groove and exhibitionist (not to mention unsanitary) come-on, it fails to ignite as either dance track or sensual fantasy. But the even mellower remix, 'Love in This Club Pt. II,' featuring a sleepy rap from Lil Wayne and a vocal from Beyoncé, must be heard for the lyrics alone. At one point, Beyoncé hilariously trills, 'I strongly doubt this velvet rope would hold me up.' We'd prefer not to speculate on that matter. But with one foot in the glittering nighttime world and another in his lifetime pledge to home and hearth, Usher has found solid ground on which to stand." [Boston Globe]

• "Even as the quality of the material fluctuates, you can count on Usher's singing to provide something memorable—sweetness and power on the anthemic ballad 'Moving Mountains' or relaxed intimacy on the light, minimalist Motown homage 'Something Special.' Usher might be naturally gifted, but he's not a visionary like Prince or prime-time Jackson. With an eye on Broadway, a foot in hip-hop, his pelvic region in an R. Kelly-like erogenous zone and his heart in buoyant pop-R&B, he's aiming to forge an all-purpose entertainer. But these ambitions just seem to fence in what could be one of pop music's great free spirits." [Los Angeles Times]

• "Through it all runs a voice that has become more self-assured and adventurous, paired with a charismatic sex appeal all the more potent for its new subtlety. ('This album doesn't call for me to have my shirt off,' Usher has said, but that doesn't mean he no longer has killer abs.) Here I Stand isn't a home run; no album with lyrics like those on 'Trading Places' or a gratuitous cameo by will.i.am (on 'What's My Name?') could be. But it certainly adds to the argument that 'Same Girl,' the 2007 Kelly/Usher collaboration, was in fact a passing of the torch." [Chicago Sun-Times]

• "It makes fine, mood-setting background music, but ultimately it does feel as if there is no real point to this record. Johansson, as in her acting roles, struggles to connect with a deep enough range of emotions. Waits documents ugly, messy emotions, and this is what makes his songs so moving. Johansson too often just sounds pleased with herself for being so clever and cool." [The Telegraph]

• "Every song is like every other song, even the ones that sound different (such as the exercise in Spector-y early '60s pop 'Fannin Street') or have David Bowie on them ('Falling Down'). There's a strange flatness, a dislocated, underwater quality to these songs that seems to subvert their original intent, that's as far from Waits's swallowed gravel delivery, his exaggerated sentimentality, as it's possible to get and still be in the same universe." [Washington Post]

• "Musically the album is a mixed bag. The title track sounds like it was preprogrammed on a department-store keyboard. Other songs, though, have more interesting stylings, such as the music-box introduction to 'I Wish I Was in New Orleans' and the Waits-ian clang on 'Green Grass.' David Bowie also lends his vocals to two tracks. But none of it is enough to save Johansson's voice or convince listeners that this is more than a vanity project." [San Francisco Chronicle]

• "With her low monotone, ScarJo aims for Nico but comes off like Sinéad on sopors—never more so than on the zombielike 'I Don't Wanna Grow Up.' In burying Johansson's vocals so deeply in the druggy ambiance, producer David Andrew Sitek (of TV on the Radio) means well but ends up obscuring Waits' great tunes." [Entertainment Weekly]

• "Duffy's not a belter, but she boasts a cool power that is immensely aided by the cleverness of Rockferry's instrumental settings, which employ mostly acoustic instruments for a warmer sound that, in combination with Duffy's vocal prowess, stays sweet, soulful and satisfying." [Los Angeles Times]

• "There are moments when Duffy sounds a bit Idol-esque, as if she's performing to a televised audience and a panel of judges. But that's not surprising considering she competed on the Welsh equivalent of the Idol franchise in 2003. (Surprisingly, she placed second.) These are mere quibbles though when considering the mastery Duffy shows on most of the album. 'Hanging On Too Long,' 'Syrup & Honey' and 'Warwick Avenue' are fantastic examples of her singing—and writing abilities (she co-wrote all of the songs on the album). Duffy is a contender with teeth, as well as a whole lot of soul. She is a worthy and deserving new star." [Vancouver Sun]

• "With assistance from former Suede guitarist Bernard Butler, who doodles Beatlesque solos and provides evocative retro production, Duffy makes a case for herself as Amy Winehouse's better-behaved sister. Where Winehouse begged 'No, no, no' on her breakout single, 'Rehab,' Duffy counters with 'Yeah, yeah, yeah' alongside keening strings on the organ-pumping track 'Mercy.' Rather than crooning about being committed, she sounds like she's being released." [Rolling Stone]

• "Duffy has made an uncommonly beautiful album, loaded with love and melancholy and genuine 22-year-old yearning....[t]he gorgeous Welsh singer slathers her bruised-violet voice on a set of songs that float on an ocean of strings, brushed rhythms and heavenly Motown-style harmonies. It's hard to pick one—or even seven—favorites, but jittery single 'Mercy' aside, the late-night heartbreakers like 'Stepping Stone' and 'Warwick Avenue' are just about as good as this whole retro-soul thing is going to get." [San Francisco Chronicle]

• "An angelic choir of voices and celestial organ frame the penetrating images of 'Grapevine Fires,' where a man, his lover, and her child drive to a cemetery to picnic with prime views of a wildfire. 'A wake-up call to a rented room sounded like an alarm of impending doom/ To warn us it's only a matter of time/ Before we all burn,' Gibbard sings. That sentiment echoes throughout the album, but don't let it get you down. The end is near, but the little girl in the song dances on graves while the flames spread, and so, in his way, does Gibbard." [Boston Globe]
• "The songwriter has spoken about the influence that Jack Kerouac's end-of-the-road narrative Big Sur had on Narrow Stairs, especially on the opening track, 'Bixby Canyon Bridge,' a tribute to a Big Sur landmark. That song's narrator makes a pilgrimage to the sacred spot but finds himself 'no closer to any sort of truth' than when he began. Still, by the end of this haunting record, Gibbard has gained a deep understanding of lovelessness and the way people live in its quiet wreckage." [Rolling Stone]
• "The disc is nicely balanced between driving rock—the poppy 'No Sunlight,' anthemic 'Cath,' and joyous retro vibe of 'Long Division' and 'Pity and Fear'—and moody mid-tempo ballads—a poetic 'Grapevine Fires' and the self-deprecating oddity of 'You Can Do Better Than Me.' Narrow Stairs is a knockout, and will make you throw out everything you've come to know about Death Cab For Cutie." [AP]
• "Narrow Stairs is a great album, one that could make them very famous, but could very well also kill their careers. And you get the feeling they know that, but they don't really care. After all, there's no other way to really explain an album like this. They put it all on the line, which is something that I wish more bands would do these days. Whether they crash and burn is sort of up to you now, isn't it? No pressure or anything." [MTV]

• "Most of the songs Aiken chose present him as a lonely and longing figure, a role meant to make him even more sympathetic to a certain sect. Essentially, they're the latter-day equivalents to those who clung to The Lawrence Welk Show long after it lost its cultural resonance in the late '60s. To those folks—the last ostriches of the sexual revolution—Aiken remains an island of sanity, a final bastion of proud, neutered uncool. That, more than anything in his music, gives Aiken his dire place." [NY Daily News]

• "Aiken, who debuted on the Great White Way this year in Spamalot, sings like a theater veteran: almost too perfect, with a self-aware showmanship. But that doesn't make pop-rock nuggets like 'Ashes' any less catchy, or the ballads—on which Aiken's breathy tenor could break housewife hearts—ring any less true. With big American melodies, stock AC production and general inoffensiveness throughout, this should satisfy his army of self-dubbed Claymates." [Billboard]

• "As much as his record company would want him to be, Aiken isn't a crossover pop star. He's a male Celine Dion, a nerdier Michael Bublé, a new-millennium Barry Manilow, and there's nothing wrong with that. The sooner he embraces that, the better his albums will sound. With On the Way Here, he's not quite there." [Newsday]

• "It's amazing—forget what you've heard before, this is a grown up Clay Aiken; no longer just a 'ballad boy'. A little modern blues a-la James Morrison, a little uptempo rock/pop, a little jazz piano, a few ballads, a little country-crossover and even an inspirational song. And a beautifully sad song the man wrote with David Foster. Just goes to show ya what the guy can do when his record label lets him choose the songs instead telling him what to sing. The guy has good and very eclectic taste in music. If you remember Clay from American Idol, but have never bought any of his CD's, this is the one to get!" [Amazon Reviewer "HesGotMe"]

The Roots - Rising Down:
• "Concerns that the Roots would compromise its eclectic style when it moved to Def Jam were laid to rest by Game Theory. Rising Down makes clear that compromise was never even an option." [Boston Globe]
• "Without even listening to the lyrics, the majority of the tracks on Rising Down—their 10th album—have an urgent, twitchy feel to them. Their sound is still brilliantly organic—no drum machines or computers here. But it is several shades darker than their last album, Game Theory, making it less fun to listen to, unfortunately....Rising Down is not the Roots at their beat-driven, rhyming best, but it's still solid." [Vancouver Sun]

Portishead - Third
• "Though several doses of this languid, tension-filled music get a tad draining, taken altogether it is a suitable sound for our troubling times, and there's an invigorating mysteriousness. Its blaring electronic peals are a wake-up call." [LA Times]
• "There are very few moments that cry out for the single treatment —as is probably obvious from the decision to offer the metronomic harshness of 'Machine Gun' as first introductory piece after their lengthy hiatus—as the trio fight back against the cut-and-paste-playlist iPod age. Composing a singular piece of work, 50-minute experience free of era and commercial restraints that'll shed the fare-weather fans from the devout followers, as a creative stretch Third isn't likely to be surpassed anytime soon." [Manchester Evening News]

Santogold - Santogold
• "Still, Santogold's strength lies more in her musical inclusiveness than her cynicism. She flits from dubby bliss of 'Shove It' and the stop-start, bleep-synths of 'Starstruck' to the space-agey sound effects and echo chambers of 'My Superman' and the bubbly pop-rock of 'Lights Out' and 'I'm A Lady.' The genre jumping is not for the close-minded, but it's obvious Santogold's not here to adhere to any one pop sensibility. On the glitchy-twitchy disc standout, 'Creator,' she's not afraid to express her sense of self-worth. Over the gargantuan bass drops, she chants: 'Me, I'm a Creator/ Thrill is to make it up/ The rules I break got me a place/ Up on the radar.' She's definitely got our attention." [San Francisco Chronicle]
• "'You'll Find a Way' and 'Creator' are near-instant dance-floor gems, while the haunting downtown lullaby 'L.E.S. Artistes' is perhaps the best indie anthem since the Yeah Yeah Yeahs' 'Maps.' The album is hardly flawless, but in an era that retro-fetishizes rock and whitewashed pop, Santogold feels both raw and real." [Entertainment Weekly]

• "The dance floor — not the pulpit, not the art gallery — is Madonna's truest home, and it's a good place to shake off pretensions and excesses. Her grand statement on "Hard Candy" is nothing more than that she's still around and can still deliver neat, calculated pop songs. Madonna has had more profound moments — "Like a Prayer," "Ray of Light" — but not every pop star is cut out for full-time profundity. This time around, concocting new ditties that will have her arena audiences singing along, she was smart to stay shallow." [NY Times]

• "Hard Candy is a let-down after 2005's triumphant Confessions on a Dancefloor. Still, your disappointment is tempered by the certainty that there'll be another Madonna album along in a bit, and it would be a foolish man who wrote off her chances of scaling the heights again. "I can go on and on," she sings on a track called Heartbeat. Twenty-six years into her career, who would doubt it?" [Guardian]

• "Pop has never been about raging originality, but "Hard Candy" sounds like the least original Madonna album yet. It's not just the predictable lyrics about sex, dancing and more sex (lots of songs about doing "it" 'til dawn). Those of us who listen to Madonna for the tunes can be thankful that the self-help bromides and political pronouncements that clogged up some of her recent albums are long gone. The real problem is that Madonna sounds downright modest. In the past she was first among equals. But by deferring to her collaborators (it's telling that she takes no co-production credits), she sounds like just another pop mouthpiece. [Chicago Tribune]

• "The beats are tired and over-familiar: each producer sounds as if he is doing an impression of himself.