Today, yet another album filled with introverted hip-hop instrumentals--even one with occasional moments of beauty radiating from the murk--is doomed by comparison to the more innovative work the label has been offering lately. [Mar 2006, p.138]

Lonely will buy Hawthorne Heights a few more minutes beyond the 15 they've already received. Here's to hoping they'll use that time to think outside of the box a little more when they write LP3. [Mar 2006, p.119]

It's not that Elbow's half-Travis, half-early-Radiohead Britpop shoegaze routine is patently shitty; it's just hopelessly forgettable. [Mar 2006, p.134]

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]

Davies' tone has the ironic air of a cockney calypso, while the music anchors his musings in familiar surroundings. [Mar 2006, p.88]

Rubies is nothing if not ambitious. [Apr 2006, p.204]

A swirling, guitar-driven headtrip. [Apr 2006, p.220]

More power to those who can do it, but from this perspective, it's nearly impossible to enjoy Man Man's Six Demon Bag while sober. [Apr 2006, p.222]

The Humbucking Coil's captivating soundscapes evoke more emotion via machines than most bands can with "real" instruments. [Mar 2006, p.138]

The M's understand the value of a smartly delayed compositional payoff. [Mar 2006, p.124]

Finds the outfit in fine form, but it seems unlikely that the casual fan will fully appreciate what Everett has done with his songs here. [Apr 2006, p.214]

A bit too cleverly loaded with cultural critiques, winks and nods. [Apr 2006, p.207]

Light years beyond any current dance-punk act. [Apr 2006, p.203]

[A] sterling debut. [Mar 2006, p.122]

For Matchbook Romance, Voices is adventurous. [Mar 2006, p.122]

Every song sounds like background music in an art-house film. [Apr 2006, p.207]

The Life Pursuit is less confused than the three albums that precede it, but it's also just as forgettable. [Mar 2006, p.124]

Herren's gift for finding order--and even melody--amid such chaos is too strong to allow this collection to be written off as self-indulgent. [Apr 2006, p.224]

If Magnificent City is occasionally over-friendly-sounding... well, so what? [Mar 2006, p.138]

[An] interesting album. [Apr 2006, p.204]

Fresh and interesting. [Mar 2006, p.138]

Walks the fine line between indie and lo-fi rock, encompassing the best elements of both genres. [Mar 2006, p.136]

Occasionally get[s] a tad too close to Jamiroquai territory. [Nov 2005, p.226]

She's gone from being an indie rocker's wet dream to sounding like the most NPR-friendly singer-songwriter your parents haven't discovered yet. [Mar 2006, p.124]

While the band's last album, Amber, showed the beginnings of something great, Amber, while not perfect, has actual moments of brilliance. [Mar 2006, p.134]

Contains three best-of-year-brilliant songs. [Mar 2006, p.124]

Lewis still sounds like she's trying to figure out where she belongs. [Feb 2006, p.118]

Tortoise sound remarkably un-Tortoise-like on nearly everything... [and] Oldham's stunning vocals are rarely allowed the space they deserve. [Mar 2006, p.126]

Contains all the usual suspects: a few great songs, a few throwaways, a bunch of head-scratching song titles and indie rock's best take on the Who. [Mar 2006, p.124]

The disc Ryan Adams keeps threatening to make but never quite delivers. [Mar 2006, p.126]

It may be one of the least "punk" albums a pop-punk band will make this year--but it's probably one of the best, too. [Feb 2006, p.113]

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

The words are as bleak as ever, and the songs still cut like coal-black shards of anti-pop bitterness. [Apr 2006, p.204]

It's anything but a lo-fi vanity project. [Mar 2006, p.138]

It's sometimes an odd fit, but the friction sparked from these mismatched traits lends Detrola an eccentric charm. [Apr 2006, p.222]

[A] divine disc. [Apr 2006, p.207]

Sounds rather pedestrian. [Jan 2006, p.142]

Sound[s] like the work of a band once again coming into their own. [Feb 2006, p.128]

Most of [the remixers] subtly tweak the originals into charming facsimiles of Beck's clap-happy, orchestral folk-blues funk ditties. [Mar 2006, p.138]

The best Def Leppard album "Mutt" Lange never wrote. [Feb 2006, p.126]

Could pass for a set of lo-fi synth demos Sir Paul McCartney cooked up one long weekend for shits and giggles. [Feb 2006, p.130]

Despite the variety and many obvious influences... the Greenhornes leave their own unique fingerprint on every song. [Feb 2006, p.126]

Hypnotize isn't a radioactive pile of suck, but had the Down boys offered some genuine hairpin turns in their aesthetic, there might be more reason to pursue a more meaningful dialogue that transcends the tired notion of "System just being System." [Jan 2006, p.127]

Plays like the soundtrack to a string of awe-striking discoveries. [Feb 2006, p.120]

Sound[s] equally as interesting, but rarely as essential, as the studio material from which it's drawn. [Feb 2006, p.120]

The collaboration is far from perfect... but the players take plenty of risks, ultimately emerging with a new sense of discovery and a whiff of greatness. [Feb 2006, p.120]

The songs, though we've heard them many times before, take on a surprisingly fresh and delicate new identity. [Feb 2006, p.122]

As exhausting as it is brilliant. [Dec 2005, p.202]

Rogue Wave now resemble a more earnest Flaming Lips. [Dec 2005, p.204]

While The Campire Headphase sounds slightly defalted compared to [earlier] discs, it stlll has many charms. [Jan 2006, p.144]

It's DM's ability to make you dance and look over your shoulder--sometimes simultaneously--that makes them relevant. [Dec 2005, p.212]

For an elite cadre of sound warriors, the disc perfectly bridges Slayer's demonic metallic riff majesty with the maniacally convoluted dynamics of French prog-rockers Magma. [Dec 2005, p.216]

The fullest sounding Silver Jews album to date. [Nov 2005, p.210]

It's not that Hey People! is bad, because it's not--but it's not that good, either. [Feb 2006, p.126]

Strange Geometry is a comely piece of old-fashioned melancholy pop, but it can also quickly turn into sonic wallpaper if you have a wandering mind. [Dec 2005, p.202]

There are enough interesting moments... that each spin reveals a new nuance that makes this genre roundrobin worth signing up for. [Nov 2005, p.218]

Both participants' artistic weaponry [is] set for "stun" instead of "kill." [Dec 2005, p.216]

Cinder proffers the majestic sweep of a nature documentary. [Nov 2005, p.208]

A schizophrenic collision of sound that's so expertly arranged, it still sounds utterly musical. [Nov 2005, p.226]

This revisitation of the band's canon burns brighter than a thousand nuclear-rector accidents. [Nov 2005, p.218]

[Their] best album. [Nov 2005, p.224]

A gimmick-free indie-rock record that's both instantly gratifying and that seems destined to join the timeless-pop pantheon. [Dec 2005, p.202]

dios (malos) is missing something--namely, guitarist Kevin Morales. [Dec 2005, p.212]

The irony police already have an APB out on these dudes... but in reality, the old guard are just jealous because they didn't think of it first. [Dec 2005, p.206]

Celebration represent the Baltimore trio's arty fringe-rock obsessions in sleeker, more resonant forms. [Feb 2006, p.120]

A full-on party record. [Nov 2005, p.201]

Overall, Witching Hour abounds with sugary swirls of Cocteau Twins melancholia retooled for a post-electroclash world. [Dec 2005, p.218]

Z is their OK Computer, an album of scope and resonance that lasts far longer than its 40-minute run-time. [Oct 2005, p.162]

The rich--and sometimes gorgeous--glitch-folk of Elephant Eyelash certainly does the trick. [Nov 2005, p.226]

An album that's for neither hardcore hip-hop fans nor punk rockers, but for everyone. [Nov 2005, p.224]

Even [Haines'] coos about war can't make Live feel urgent or save its slanted art-rock outbursts. [Dec 2005, p.214]

Candy Ass is a mess, drifting without a rudder between half-baked folk and warmed-over electronica. [Feb 2006, p.120]

The contemporary-grunge and vintage New York-punk nods packaged here are unthreatening; singer Lillian Berlin's vocals are forgettable; and his lyrics remain more stupid than socially aware. [Dec 2005, p.214]

Smart, eclectically but authentically funky, and humane to boot. [Oct 2005, p.168]

Bianchi's hackneyed lyrics... often overshadow the music's subtle pleasures. [Oct 2005, p.170]

Only odd detours like a Russian oompah instrumental break the rhythm of the album; Rouen is an otherwise textured and engaging disc. [Nov 2005, p.222]

All at once tragic, gorgeous and ugly in just the right ways. [Nov 2005, p.212]

While earlier efforts verged on immateriality, Set Free memorably mixes acoustic strums, brushed drums and Andrew Kenny's wistful vocals. [Nov 2005, p.208]

Finally, Coheed have made an album worthy of repeat listens, rather than a monster you skim through to hit the interesting parts. [Nov 2005, p.218]

An upbeat garage-pop act who are never cloying. [Dec 2005, p.204]

Thankfully, the electro-bleeped post-punk "All Night Disco Party" and buzz-band piss-take "Heard About Your Band" aren't just dead-on scenester satire; they're damned entertaining too. [Jan 2006, p.142]

This smartly sequenced album casts a cumulative spell. [Oct 2005, p.156]

Basically, Odditorium sounds like a giant "fuck you" to [their] record label. [Nov 2005, p.218]

A bit too jammy at times, but this is another solid effort for both artists. [Oct 2005, p.158]

Organic improvisational acts instinctively know which sonic snippets to expand--Lake Trout need to rediscover this ability. [Oct 2005, p.156]

The cohesion that made their previous records so captivating has been significantly diminished. [Dec 2005, p.204]

The band ultimately lose the pop craftsmanship and hook-filled bite that distinguished their debut. [Oct 2005, p.166]

If you're a fan of the British installment of the Nuggets collection, this album was made for you. [Oct 2005, p.166]

A nearly flawless album full of rocking pop songs that sound instantly timeless. [Oct 2005, p.156]

As good as anything out there. [Nov 2005, p.220]

What Apollo Sunshine may lack in cohesion, it more than makes up for in spirit. [Nov 2005, p.218]

It's the best post-retro, pre-futurist, avant-antiquarian psychedelia of 2005. [Nov 2005, p.226]

Seamlessly picks up right where 2003's Transatlanticism left off. [Nov 2005, p.208]

Their songs are categorically contagious and surprisingly smart. [Sep 2005, p.164]

Thinking-person's Britpop. [Oct 2005, p.166]

Disappointingly forgettable. [Nov 2005, p.218]

A confident and bold album... [but] it unfortunately expends so much energy being spooky and otherworldly that most of the anticipated enchanting beauty is nowhere to be found. [Sep 2005, p.156]

There's a constant sense of forward motion to Menos El Oso that suits the whole metaphor of growing up and growing out. [Oct 2005, p.156]