Herren manages to deliver another dense, cinematic electronic record without repeating himself or--worse--the competition. [Dec 2007, p.187]

It's all very simple, organic and, best of all, easy on the ears. [Oct 2004, p.140]

Score yet another triumph for a man whose legend continues to grow. [Jul 2014, p.98]

Vital [is] the most we;l-rounded Anberlin album to date. [Nov 2012, p.86]

What really makes News And Tributes impressive, despite lacking the immediacy of its predecessor, is that it captures the Futureheads comfortable in their own skin. [Aug 2006, p.218]

.5 is a fitting tribute to a musician who can never be replaced. [Nov 2014, p.88]

Peeling back the layers of boom-zydeco and soulcholia on songs like 'El Azteca' and 'Easy Eats Or Dirty Doctor Galapogos,' you'll find a ramshackle genius in the bans's new wave kitchen-rock. [May 2008, p.134]

Fantastic. Yesterday is a breath of fresh air for hip hop. [Feb 2009, p.107]

All beautifully realized, the kind of album critics say they love and then file far, far away. [Jul 2003, p.113]

Relentless rhythms and boisterous basslines propel the disc's quick-paced tunes to their catahrtic capital-letter choruses. [Aug 2003, p.104]

What stands out is how Crocodiles have lightened up, embracing everything from grrrl-group alt pop to deliciously spacey new wave. [Jul 2012, p.90]

There are a number of joyous moments of six-string clang and rhythmic dynamism... that are positively invigorating. [Aug 2004, p.104]

Moreno's breathy vocal soar over the backbone of guitarist Clifford Mayer, bassist Jeff Caxide and drummer Aaron Harris, as melodic and uplifting as they've ever sounded, and the end result is absolutely beautiful. [Jul 2013, p.102]

Those who stick with Arab Strap will discover endearing wit and vulnerability in the duo's songs, as well as tender melodies and graceful acoustic playing. [Apr 2006, p.204]

Like a primer in recent rock history. [Dec 2006, p.200]

Welcome back ladies. The world's more fun with you in it. [Nov 2009, p.114]

Bigger production values and more group playing than her previous piano/vocal introspection. Haines delivers urgency and depth without having to shear off her throat lining, and can convey vulnerability and uncertainty with a brave face. [Oct 2017, p.81]

Everybody has something for, well, everybody. [Jun 2007, p.151]

A fantastic musical landscape that's practically carnivalesque. [Jul 2004, p.136]

The sixth studio album by the international power-metal squad largely makes the positive changes heard on 2012's The Power Within stick. [Sep 2014, p.106]

On their eighth album, the breadth of Godflesh’s influences are wider than ever, and their capacity for psychological excavation runs deeper.

Gibbard isn't reinventing himself with Former Lives, but after a decade and a half in the business, he proves he's still got a lot to say. [Nov 2012, p.88]

Much of Normal Happiness combines the effortless charm of classic power-pop with elements of prog as put through the filter of early Genesis or Ween; kind of like that last New Pornographers disc, but better. [Nov 2006, p.188]

A ripe thriller, the work of a facile talent with a newfound fecund baritone that goes places where Pulp could not tread. [Jun 2007, p.150]

LOG maintain all thise essential elements and more, yet still venture into uncharted territory. [Apr 2009, p.136]

The album makes a vibrant statement. [Dec 2001, p.82]

Feast delivers the meal Waste fans expect. [May 2012, p.81]

Turns out you can be the next hipster nuzz band and actually be good. [Apr 2010, p.123]

II's best moments actually come when the songs sound like nothing either singer has ever done. [Nov 2012, p.90]

Garden Window's individual songs could stand to find better cohesion, but the band's quest for answers packs a consistent thematic punch, and certain musical moments that surface as a result of their boiling frustration are just spellbinding.

Easy Listening has enough great riffs for Big Star and Cheap Trick to share, with leftovers to spare. [Jun 2003, p.103]

Ballou has captured the genuine sound of its four members together in a room, less of a monster in your closet and more of a brilliant basement show. [Nov 2012, p.90]

A fine bounce-back from the lackluster They Want My Soul, as they seemed to have found their attitude and swagger. The glitzy, moody atmosphere they conjure up is a hella good look. [Apr 2017, p.82]

God is an album perfect for daytime iPod consumption--and suitable for keeping the party bumping well after midnight. [Apr 2009, p.142]

TSSF have created an album that will help young listeners navigate the murky waters of growing up. As for the older listeners? Just appreciate the fact that a band this young are able to write an album this thoughtful and passionate.

Unpatterns is actually more engaging and accessible than Simian Mobile Disco's past work, perhaps because no gimmicks or distractions cloud the band's analog alchemy. [Jun 2012, p.84]

Comfort Eagle is infinitely smarter, smarmier and catchier than Weezer's Green Album. [Oct 2001, p.79]

"Key Entity Extraction: Domino The Destitute" contains everything that makes Ascension a great record: heavy riffage, soaring leads, shouting, undeniable hooks, and no bullshit in between. [Nov 2012, p.91]

They reinvent themselves as house-music auteurs exploring a sound closer to shoegazing's late, great headphone womb than house's aerobic aphorisms. [Nov 2001, p.79]

By letting the listener into his universe this time, Washed Out have created an album that inhabits you as you inhabit it. [Sep 2013, p.94]

Darnielle still ties this album up under a loose theme, but it is a bold, Cinemascope-like vision of social and religious outcasts. [Nov 2012, p.92]

Although ever so slightly more modern in feel than his critically adored 1998 self-titled debut, Poses is still built upon Wainwright's mastery of highly composed, early-20th-century popular-song styles. [July 2001, p.86]

Loaded with lilting melodies, powerfully introspective lyrics, swelling harmonies and an orchestral quality whose timelessness transcends trends. [Jul 2003, p.121]

It is the best parts of a bar brawl, a naked Twister party and a street race in one cumulative package. [Sep 2004, p.117]

The highs are higher, the lows are lower and what resonates in the middle is a frontrunner for one of the best summer-transitions-into-fall records that you'll hear in a long, long time. [Nov 2012, p.94]

On The Fountain, the Liverpool, England, legends shake off the sluggish tempos of their recent albums in favor of brisk, vibrant pop songs. [Jan 2010, p. 94]

On their fierce third album, METZ have ratcheted their cacophony up high enough and still have it be considered rock music. [Oct 2017, p.81]

An impressive and diverse follow-up to an already-impressive debut.

Exposing her honest and disarmed self more than ever, Neko proceeds to open old wounds.

He's rarely assembled a stronger collection of songs. [May 2010, p.102]

Largely standard Luna fare: smooth, loungey, literate alt-pop with quirky yet instantly moving melodies. [Apr 2002, p.79]

Parallax II may be the strongest 72 consecutive minutes they have put together so far. [Nov 2012, p.86]

The end result escalates The Lucky Ones into one of the finest albums Mudhoney has ever produced, as well as one of the best albums of the year thus far. [July 2008, p.158]

If Good News... isn't the pillar-like masterpiece Modest Mouse fans have waited years for, it's proof that things haven't completely fallen apart. [May 2004, p.92]

What... is immediately evident is the extent to which McKay has grown as a musician. [Feb 2006, p.130]

It's still familiar emotional portraiture, but these scenes often appear through a high-powered telescope instead of a magnifying glass. [Jun 2014, p.106]

As a listener it’s a thrill to experience the album’s myriad twists and turns. Although it’s almost ominously dense in terms of the sheer amount of notes played, Rescue & Restore’s 11 tracks still seem to blaze by without becoming repetitive.

'Slow Race' is an example of how, while moody, their soundscapes still rock and--unlike many of their pensive prog-oriented peers--feel more like songs than dissertations. [Mar 2008, p.140]

All that keeps Zoo from being a perfect record is the nagging feeling that Ceremony has even better work ahead. [Apr 2012, p.90]

Underneath The Owl is unquestionably the best album of the Gamblers' career thus far. [Apr 2009, p.132]

Although former member Franz Nicolay's piano parts are missed, the Hold Steady have still managed to craft a great record for a barbecue on a hot summer day--and for the hangover the next morning. [Jun 2010, p.105]

If bastard of ceremonies Nic Offer would shut his piehole, Louden Up Now! would improve 50 percent. [Aug 2004, p.106]

The music on The Indian Tower is relentless. [Mar 2006, p.130]

Floyd kick the shit out of 99 percent of the current post-rock crop, so you can't fault CBP for clinging to Picasso's claim that "Good artists copy; great artists steal." [Jun 2009, p.104]

This album isn't going to change the way you think about metal, but Killswitch Engange aren't Mastodon; they just want to get the pit going, and this album will surely acomplish that. [Aug 2009, p.108]

The cumulative effect is a widescreen collection that seems destined to win a broader audience for the duo without sacrificing the intimate I-feel-you-fucked-up-life atmosphere of their best work. [May 2008, p.144]

Throw in lowered expectations and a few fine fellows, and Surfing becomes genuinely fun and ebullient effort, a toss-off that neither toss nor off. [Feb 2009, p.103]

A laid-back meshing of chilled hip hop, late-night jazz and upscale dancefloor grooves. [Aug 2002, p.84]

Thankfully, the band, aided by longtime producer Bill Stevenson (Descendents, Black Flag), have once again tapped into that intangible magic that makes them so great, and have delivered a full-on rager with Endgame.

These new hooks are just as sharp as you'd hope for. [Mar 2017, p.80]

'The Motorcade Sped On,' a track that chops up funky beats with verteran newscaster Walter Cronkite reporting the death of President John F. Kennedy, is worth the price of admission alone. [July 2008, p.170]

It's a handy metaphor for the record, and Folds in general: Obsessed with love but with a careful eye for the absurd, humanizing details. [Nov 2008, p.160]

On Brilliant! Tragic!, Argos has channeled his inner Johnny Rotten, seemingly vacillating between contempt and boredom. Fortunately, the band play with a similar sense of toughened rawness. [Jun 2011, p.106]

Their best album to date. [Apr 2013, p.85]

Mascis... provides the most compelling case yet to worship at the altar of his slacker guitar genius. [Jan 2003, p.92]

The high points are among the most fun songs Walker's recorded.

A Ways Away casts a spell you won't want to break. [Jun 2009, p.102]

The instrumentation and arrangements on Strange negotiations bring out the subtleties in Bazan's ever-evolving songwriting style. [Jun 2011, p.106]

Frankly, we think this is better than One Bedroom. [Jun 2003, p.98]

Laid-back and largely instrumental glitch-pop. [Jul 2005, p.186]

Live! is essential listening for Decemberists obsessives--and an excellent primer for those who aren't fans just yet. [May 2008, p.135]

Nicolay serves it up hot, no matter what musical milieu is on the menu. [Feb 2009, p.106]

Kid Loco's production style stresses the band's shimmering guitars and rich harmonies. [June 2002, p.82]

It's dizzyingly brilliant, and evidence of how tall these Lions have grown. [Sep 2009, p.102]

Against The Current's most mature and polished release yet. [Jun 2016, p.99]

On the whole, these are fast paced, highly-charged ska-punk songs, but they’re riddled with musical flourishes and nuances–not to mention impossibly catchy hooks.

Each track is different from the last, yet the album maintains a cohesive identity. [Jun 2012, p.76]

A radical reinterpretation of the material that expands and adapts it using inspired improvisation and healthy doses of feedback. The songs are all the better for it, with added shades of emotion and fury oozing through every chord and squeal.

The Rumble Strips are often seen as Two-Tone ska revivalists when truthfully the sound is more like Wreckless Eric doing Memphis soul with occasional stops in Michigan to raid the vaults at Motown. [Sep 2008, p.159]

Fans will enjoy his latest installment of heartbreak set to piano. [Mar 2003, p.92]

The project is pretty perfect, really.... Give Up ultimately becomes a beautiful lesson in how to dance life's pain away. [Mar 2003, p.100]

This quietly experimental album ends up being Death Cab For Cutie's great leap forward--an achievement of pop formalism wrapped inside a beautiful cacophony. [Jun 2011, p.108]

Punchier production and more energetic songwriting point The North in the right direction. [Oct 2012, p.92]

For all of its precocious, borderline bratty moments, Death Of A Bachelor is a remarkably nuanced affair. [Feb 2016, p.95]

Moon is bith dark and sweet, its elegiac tones creating a distinct mood that is at the same time beautiful and heartbreaking. [Oct 2010, p.112]

For anyone who misses the era when Tegan And Sara were still crafting fizzy, folky breakup--and makeup--songs, Say What You Mean is the perfect remedy. [May 2013, p.92]

A smart and occasionally gorgeous country-fried rock effort. [Mar 2002, p.77]