Though the lo-fi D.I.Y. production slows the momentum on a handful of tracks, when Slug's rhymes and producer Ant's beats click, the results are as good as underground hip-hop gets.

Despite the fact that it seems more like a bunch of songs on a disc than a singular body, its impact is substantial.

With Molé, Jourgensen has mobilized the fatalism and fury that always rumbled through industrial and thrash music, and left everything else in the staging area.

In many ways, the Cambridge, MA, trio is like a Toad the Wet Sprocket for the 21st century.

And "dazzling" isn't really hyperbole -- based on these 18 songs, Blur isn't just the best pop band of the '90s, with greater range and depth than their peers, they rank among the best pop bands of all time. The Best of Blur illustrates that, even as it misses some of their best moments -- omissions that prevent it from being the flat-out classic it should be. Even so, it's pretty damn terrific, particularly for the unconverted.

Some moments are upbeat indie pop, but most of this is dreamy despite its slightly gloomy textures.

It feels as if Manson now feels liberated from not being consistently in the spotlight, and his music has opened up as well.

By cutting away some of the fat and finding new ways to deliver their trademark roar, the members of Korn manage to offer a strong and lean album that maintains their place as innovators in a genre with few leaders

Fast Future Present is a self-assured and often fascinating collection of songs that artfully blend the standard elements of post-rock with unexpectedly melodic pop.

Hands down, In the World of Him is Timms' masterpiece.

Carrabba's work is so specifically stuck in adolescence that, even if it's presented in a prettier package as it is on A Mark, it's still very difficult for anybody past sophomore year in college to really connect with his music.

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."

While the mood of this record stagnates after a few songs, it does give a strong indication of Jones' alluring talents.

Like its predecessor, Golden Greats meanders a bit too much and it places a little too much emphasis on surface, but when the surface sparkles like this, it's hard to complain too loudly.

Like all Delgados records, it takes repeated drives along the city outskirts to sink in, but when it does there's no going back, and the listener is rewarded once again with something rich, happily overcast, and strangely intangible.

Despite the weighty subject matter and kinetic mayhem, the Danielson Famile are just an indie pop band, and listeners already familiar with Smith's distinctive shrieking and intricate arrangements will find much to love on Brother Is to Son, while the untested will either submit or run screaming to their mommies.

While the accompaniment is always thoughtful and inventive, Prekop's vocal idiosyncrasies tend to be a double-edged sword, delightful on the good songs but only accentuating the dreariness of failed experiments like "Le Baron" or "Try Nothing."

Quite possibly the finest of the group' s five albums to date.... A sophisticated pop pleasure from start to finish, Oui is the aural equivalent of a perpetual Indian summer.

Perhaps 3D doesn't blaze trails like their other albums, but it never plays it safe and it always satisfies, and it's one of the best modern soul albums of 2002.

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.

Electronic elements balance out the harsh guitars with regularity, resulting in a handful of full-blown zingers.

A definitive work of sorts since he's at the top of his game as both a craftsman and conman.

This is her most focused and accomplished full-length to date.

By far the most engaging album yet from Mono, Walking Cloud proves that the band is an entity unto itself.

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.

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

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.

Even if it is a very impressive statement overall, Figure 8 isn't quite the masterpiece it wants to be -- there's something about the pacing that just makes the record feel long...