A perfect commingling of the spirits of dub reggae and mid-'70s soul and groove jazz.... NdegeOcello's finest moment on record thus far.

It isn't often that one finds an American artist with such a mastery of collage technique and a desire to incorporate traditional folk instruments and melodies.

While it's not as diverse as Spanish Dance Troupe or as immediate as How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart, Sleep/Holiday is just as lovely and heartfelt, and another fine addition to Gorky's Zygotic Mynci's body of work.

The most amazing thing about A People's History is the diverse styles represented throughout.

Like David Byrne's underrated orchestral epic The Forest or Philip Glass' Koyaanisqatsi, Systems/Layers is cerebral and human, transporting you without insulting your intelligence.

Buy this with the full confidence that you are getting your money's worth.

The two have captured a cohesiveness that was lacking on previous Azure Ray albums.

At its best, on songs like "Monologue for an Old True Love" or the Nancy & Lee-styled orchestral country duet with Eugene Kelly, listening to Amorino provides nearly as many musical thrills as listening to a good B&S record.

Neither a retreat nor a leap forward, Instant 0 in the Universe is pleasant and nowhere near as trying as some of the group's recent work, but it's one more Stereolab release that is equally difficult to dislike or fully embrace.

Beet, Maize & Corn is a dramatic reinvention of the High Llamas.

Shows a serious artist crafting his medium.

Dear Catastrophe Waitress [is] the richest musical offering yet from Belle & Sebastian.

An utterly compelling, even riveting, selection of tunes that go from bright to opaque, to dark and back again by album's end.

The icing on the cake is in the little details.

The Ladybug Transistor is a return to form for the band and is right up there with its best work. That ranks it right up there as some of the best pop music being made today.

While many will no doubt see this as an unfocused record, those who take it on more of a song-by-song basis will value it as a respectable addition to RZA's body of work.

Comes off as a mix between the White Stripes' bluesy insouciance and AC/DC's cockeyed swagger.

The best record of his career.

It's the group's maturity as musicians as well as songwriters that make Transatlanticism such a decadently good listen from start to finish.

It's far from a bad listen, nor is it embarrassing, but it's entirely too predictable, coming across as nothing more than well-tailored, expensive mood music.

The appeal of Life for Rent is what makes Dido appealing -- she's unassuming and gentle, but her songs are so melodic and atmospheric they easily work their way into the subconscious, and the records are well-crafted enough to be engaging on repeated plays.

Bianchi may be as gloomy as ever, but after moving from California to Texas and from Tiger Style to Mush Records, Her Space Holiday maintains its lush IDM-powered indie pop.

While The Civil War isn't as exhilaratingly disorienting as A Chance to Cut Is a Chance to Cure, it's another triumph; history may repeat itself, but Matmos never does.

Despite solid songwriting, glimmering production, and a broad palette of emotions, Breathe shows the Leaves' potential more than anything else.

Just a set of productions that prove, once again, Bell is the most imaginative producer in British techno.

There's a sharpness that was absent before, a shift in focus and time that's strict in design.

Unlike his previous two releases, Wainwright's musings seem less focused and a little meandering on a handful of the songs.

Bristles with the independent spirit that put both punk and hip-hop on the map.

Ultimately this album is neither the triumph or the disaster that it could've been.

What's most heartening is that Harris is not only making some of the finest music of her career at a time when many artists would be treading water, but she's delightfully confounding our expectations at the same time.

Bazooka Tooth simply pushes too far.

A fantastic debut album that only gets richer and better with more listens, Gallowsbird's Bark is more fully formed and daring than most second or third albums from many bands.

Nickelback can now afford a little more time in the studio and a little more time to indulge themselves, and they turn out the same record, only slicker, which only highlights just how oppressively and needlessly sullen this group is.

Unlike The Juliet Letters, North never feels like an exercise, nor does it feel like Costello has something to prove.

Since the music has no melody, hooks, or energy, all attention is focused on the clown jumping up and down and screaming in front, and long before the record is over, you're left wondering, how the hell did he ever get to put this mess out?

Cheers boasts 74 straight minutes of inventive production, original ideas, thought-out lyrics, and straight-up MCing -- even if it lacks outright hits à la "In da Club" or "Lose Yourself."

Spoon and Rafter has no trouble making Ryan Adams seem like more of a farce than he already is, and it's deserving of at least half of the attention given to anything released by Wilco.

The end results are a bit unwieldy, perhaps, and not always successful, but it is interesting and certainly different than a Dave Matthews Band record.

Both records are visionary, imaginative listens, providing some of the best music of 2003, regardless of genre.

While the band still needs to develop more of its own sound, there's enough promise in stellastarr* to suggest that they might.

There's no crybaby posing here, no deployment of cliché. Even if SDRE had a hand in the popularization of the emo movement, the Fire Theft's music is much too personal to be anything other than a therapy session, both for Enigk and his musical co-conspirators and friends.

Sure, his collaborators have some of the best beats in the business. But they can't always take up the slack when Bubba's raps start to wither in the heat.

Without a doubt the most moving, ambitious, and elegant album of her career thus far.

Her confidence blossomed this time around and vocally, she's never sounded so good.

As easy as the disc is to slide into, it's far and away the least commercial R&B release of the year.

Not quite the big comeback DMX needed at this point in his quietly sagging rap career, Grand Champ regardless has its share of highlights.

The band's poppiest and most upbeat and musical record yet.

It could be the most innocent, charming and believable record of 2003.

Ultimately too derivative to fully enjoy.

She has unique phrasing and a huge voice that accents, dips, and slips, never overworking a song or trying to bring attention to itself via hollow acrobatics.

Even though Permission to Land isn't quite as metal as its singles suggested it might be, the album is surprisingly good, especially considering how bad the band's '80s metal revival could have been.

It's a little artier than Heathen, but similar in its feel and just as satisfying.

Thirteenth Step is the sound of a musical and lyrical maturity that normally doesn't occur until a band's third or fourth albums.

A swirling, beautiful, and warmly complex road trip of an album.

Those who just enjoyed the sound and feel of Room for Squares should feel right at home.

Serene and tranquil, but never uninteresting, 5 is a lovely album.

It is a generally pleasant effort, but it isn't in a class with either Hatfield's best solo output or the Blake Babies' most memorable jangle pop.

Quasi's crass sense of humor is in full force, but throughout their witty criticisms Quasi are imaginative songwriters and conscious of their curiously cool indie rock style.

As worthwhile as Shields' contributions are, it would be a mistake to let them eclipse the rest of this fine soundtrack.

Despite being heavy with unexceptional tunes, Seal IV has enough going for it to warrant the next four years of anticipation.

With an unlikely rock blend of classicism and narrative, British Sea Power has composed a brilliant album that's nearly perfect. It's not exactly pop, but it might as well be.

Byrne leaves behind all the international rhythms that have dominated his solo work and turned in an album of moody, subtle beauty.... This is one of the strongest albums of his solo career.

In all, My Morning Jacket may be a journey through the past, but it's also a solid step into something rock & roll has been missing for an awfully long time in the mainstream arena: melody, extremely catchy and well-written songs that aren't afraid of the mainstream, and a love of the great pop continuum that translates into something new.

As promising as it is inconsistent, Hocus Pocus may not be Enon's strongest album, but it's still a fairly interesting one.

Amazing Grace is far from a bad album, but it's not an especially compelling one, either.

Even though Her Majesty isn't quite as striking and full-formed as Castaways and Cutouts, it's still a consistently charming album that finds the band coming into its own.

A switch in approach and sound definitely worked for them, and fans shouldn't be put off by Beulah's toughened confidence.

Far from being an angry album, Show Me Your Tears is filled with the kind of conscious joy that comes from working through your problems.

A solid rock effort.

Andrew W.K.'s debut found meaning in partying, but The Wolf sounds like a party about finding some meaning in life.

Put Pretty Girls Make Graves on the short list of bands that matter and make sure you get this record.

It's possible that The Meadowlands might be a "better" album if it were more focused and logical, but there's something to be said for its immersive, stream-of-consciousness approach.

An added bonus for Orton loyalists.

A greater combination of accessibility and subversion would be nearly impossible to imagine.

Sure, it's more interesting than the still-born, awkward second Black Grape album Stupid, Stupid, Stupid, largely thanks to its intricate, layered production, but the end result is calculated without reaping the rewards of its precision.

More gutsy, more aggressive, and more dynamic than B.R.M.C.

It's hard to shake the feeling that the National is highly influenced by and studied in the bands it emulates, but the album is still worth a listen for fans of moody country-tinged lounge music.

The Chain Gang of Love is far more glossy and layered in melodies compared to Whip It On's gray-colored coolness.

If you say you've heard a better adult pop record this year, you are lying.

More New Order and Saint Etienne than Smiths, and with male and female vocals, the band comes across as an electro-pop Belle and Sebastian.

Musically, Reconstruction Site has more in common with literate indie types like Clem Snide or even the mature, clear-eyed work of Michael Penn.

The album's stripped-down sound and approach may leave the listener wishing the band had found a little space for some flashy chords or glitzy orchestration to break things up a bit. Still, it is hard to argue with an album as pure and true as this.

At least half a dozen cuts will vie for slots on a future best-of.

The Wind feels less like a grand final statement of Warren Zevon's career than one last walk around the field, with the star nodding to his pals, offering a last look at what he does best, and quietly but firmly leaving listeners convinced that he exits the game with no shame and no regrets.

Fortunately they never swap their emphasis on some serious crunk-drawling for rap music's usual curb-sitting; in fact, the group expand their purview to look lovingly at lower-class life from several viewpoints.

Anyone with an Adult. or Add N to (X) album, or even Berlin's Pleasure Victim, know it's been done better.

For most of Bazooka!!!, the Star Spangles sound like a rowdy bar band just playing a set of songs they love.

If you know Rancid and love Rancid, you will love this record like an old friend.

Thirteen Tales From Urban Bohemia might still be the band's most accomplished album, but by embracing their emptiness and stylishness on Welcome to the Monkey House, they've crafted an album that is no less enjoyable because of its disposability.

If anything, Clones puts an end to any thought that the duo randomly selects a track from their beat bank when collaborating, since it ably demonstrates how their skills can adapt to any conceivable personality.

These days music fans will be hard-pressed to find an album so satisfying.

Tour de France Soundtracks is a successful record on anyone's terms; it's one that fans won't need to cringe from, and one that newcomers will be able to enjoy for what it is.

If Earthquake Glue isn't a masterpiece, it's as close as this band can be expected to get, and is the rare Guided By Voices effort that's imaginative enough for longtime loyalists and tight enough for dabblers at the same time.

Franti and Spearhead almost made a deliberate attempt to stray from the typical hip-hop beats and go for something a bit more organic and acoustic than their previous efforts -- and the experiments more than pay off.

A tautly crafted, thoughtful album, Shine a Light more than follows through on the promise of their debut, and proves that the Constantines have the ability to be both down to earth and dramatic within their grasp.

It all adds up to a very good record -- one that is interesting, and one that satisfies musically.

Youth and Young Manhood isn't sonically adventurous, but in the new-millennium pop realm, some greasy licks sure sound good.

Haha Sound may not be Broadcast's most superficially perfect album, but it's a more challenging and exciting one because of its deliberate imperfections.