Eclectic
Stephen Carradini
If adults dumb things down unnecessarily for kids, then Monty Harper’s not your average adult.

Pop
Stephen Carradini
Luke Rathborne’s next five days look like this: opening for tastemakers Noah and the Whale in West Hollywood, playing the Paste SXSW showcase and opening for The Strokes in Austin on the same day, playing the Filter Showcase at SXSW, then hopping on up to his stomping grounds of NYC to play Bowery Ballroom with Noah again.

Pop
Stephen Carradini
It’s Friday, and your girlfriend is having a girls’ night.

Eclectic
Stephen Carradini
I loved the earthy sound of Gil Scott-Heron’s poetry-and-music album “I’m New Here,” but I disliked the coldness of The XX’s “xx.”

Pop
Rod Lott
I’m not sure I’d call Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water” album the “masterpiece” as it packaging proclaims, since a couple of its tracks have never clicked with me, but it’s as damn close as pop music gets.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
The positive prog-rock movement that Fang Island helped break last year has been a blast to listen to.

Rock
Rod Lott
Old Billy Joel songs fit like a glove — a baseball glove, in the case of “Live at Shea Stadium,” a recording of the Piano Man’s 2008 concerts at the iconic New York stadium before it was destroyed the following year.

Folk
Stephen Carradini
Remarkable consistency marks “Break in the Clouds” from Colorado-by-way-of-Tahlequah folksters Elephant Revival. Although the album is 14 songs long, there’s not a bad tune in the bunch.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
Imagine that “Kiss Each Other Clean” isn’t by Iron & Wine, and you could really like the album.

Country
Stephen Carradini
Mark Growden’s 2010 release, “Saint Judas,” saw him comfortably in mournful, New Orleans jazz mode.

Indie
Stephen Carradini
For an album that boasts 13 different instruments, eight vocalists and a bling-tastic title, I expected the Oklahoma City-based Kite Flying Robot’s debut to be a giddy, stuffed-to-the-hilt affair.

Jazz
Stephen Carradini
Do you miss the era where Frank Sinatra was the biggest thing around? Do you pine over the days when the musical was king in pop culture? Are you already a fan of Harry Connick Jr., who apparently never left those days?

Pop
Stephen Carradini
Adele doesn’t really need my help, but I’ll say it anyway: “21” shows her blossoming into a diva that could be a force for a long, long time.

Folk
Stephen Carradini
The Rural Alberta Advantage wrote two of my favorite songs of 2009: “Don’t Haunt This Place” and “The Dethbridge in Lethbridge.”

Eclectic
Stephen Carradini
Bait-and-switch is at best a bummer and at worst offensive.