Sounds like the updated fourth side of Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On. [Nov 2004, p.142]

With strata of classical strings, reverbed guitars, epic piano chords and seemingly every piece of Yasunori Takada's drum kit simultaneously being hammered in salutation to the happy medium between tender, childlike phrasing, and grandiose movie soundtrack. [Oct 2012, p.90]

The moodiest moments are what ultimately make this album Phantom Planet's best. [May 2008, p.140]

While the band might sound particularly confident on Killing Time, this attitude never turns into cockiness. [Mar 2011, p.91]

The Raveonettes sound creatively liberated. [May 2005, p.174]

The Head And The Heart do pretty much everything right on Let's Be Still. [Nov 2013, p.88]

After the doom and gloom of 2012's Gossamer, Kindred sees Angelakos walking back into the light. [May 2015, p.100]

They might be moonlighting, but they've officially stepped out of Black Mountain's shadow. [Sep 2009, p.105]

Vespertine isn't immediately accessible, but after repeat listens, a smoldering heart of emotion and a true pop sensibility reveal themselves. [Oct 2001, p.77]

The vicious "We're Not Good People" stuns with a pulsing, near-metal urgency that will lead you to act on your darkest urges - prior to playing the album again. And if you're not stupid, you will. [Sept 2012, p.88]

Limitless might not be the album their fans all completely agree on, but it does mark a maturing band. [Mar 2016, p.96]

It's lovely stuff. [Feb 2014, p.90]

Meticulously orchestrated by frontman Conrad Keely, Tao Of The Dead hits a full-on prog rock pose with seemless transitions, classical movement structures and lunar background flourishes scraping the Dark Side Of The Moon. [Mar 2011, p.92]

A batch of lazy mid-afternoon pop songs that only sound better when his friends from Wilco show up to sing along. [Apr 2004, p.86]

We Don't Even Live Here explores the dementia of our current moment with its charged, nihilistic lyrics and a sonic swell of electronic experimentalism. [Nov 2012, p.92]

While devotees of Funeral... will surely enjoy Neon Bible, the album does have a decidedly different feel than its predecessor--mainly, there seems to be less of an emphasis on choruses. [Apr 2007, p.182]

Avery's overall strengths are his lyrics and his delivery, where each song tells a story that you simply can't wait to hear. [Apr 2017, p.80]

These shifting dynamics increase the record's overall potency, and while it makes an abrasive mark on first exposure, it grows more and more absorbing with each successive listen, making Black Breath one of premier heavy bands to be watching in 2012.

II hits like a concussion grenade, and you'll revel in the damage long after the room's been cleared. [Jun 2015, p.96]

Its sweeping cinematic scope and all-instrumental tracks recall the lushness of Orbital in their prime. [Oct 2002, p.86]

The triumphant streak continues with Southern Air, an album on par with 2003's beloved Ocean Avenue. [Sep 2012, p.93]

"You outgrew the sum of your parts," he raps at one point; that line describes the mature and masterful The Family Sign, as well. [May 2011, p.92]

The sound is just as expected: sweaty, sexy and leaner than a Thanksgiving turkey. [May 2002, p.94]

The Raveonettes are suddenly noisier than old-school Sonic Youth and every bit as menacing as the Velevt Underground circa '68. [Mar 2008, p.145]

The Messenger delivers. [Mar 2013, p.92]

The music is as ambitious as the plot, but more coherent. [May 2009, p.116]

The nine songs ooze out with floating bits of atmospherics and noise appearing and receding in the murk while hypnotizing listeners via insistent synth and drum loops. [May 2013, p.88]

Much like the bubbly permutations of recent Mouse on Mars discs, the four pieces on Sign feature over an hour's worth of rapturous electronic textures. [Mar 2002, p.90]

It's roots music that hums and rattles, hearing the dissonant sound of America singing and finding beauty in the collision of opposites. [Apr 2003, p.73]

Delivers huge hooks, metronomic riffs and driving drumbeats, all of which enhance the Kadanes' amplified whispers. [Aug 2004, p.108]

Seattle's Mt. St. Helen's Vietnam Band make a dramatic leap forward on this meditative follow-up to their eponymous 2009 debut. [Sep 2010, p.112]

It'll take a while to sink its clawed into you, but once it does, it won't let go. [Mar 2013, p.88]

Everything here is so enjoyable that it really doesn't matter that the man who helped give birth to the whole lo-fi movement has embraced a certain level of maturity. [March 2001, p.76]

For fans of hook-laden music, the album's a must. [Mar 2011, p.99]

The band are writing songs still riddled with emotional turmoil, but they seem more jaded and contemplative. [Nov 2014, p.100]

It's an alarmingly great album in most ways superior to their ballyhooed debut. [Feb 2011, p.86]

Dense soundscapes that seemingly start in progress and stretch invisibly, yet infinitely, in all directions. [Apr 2005, p.118]

Bright Lights is a super-serious record that demostrates some super-serious song craft. [May 2008, p.130]

When they do attempt to play things straight, it hits the mark with impressive accuracy, commanding your attention--and a few of your most limber-limbed dance moves. [Feb 2011, p.87]

Narcotic, hypnotic and quietly cerebral, it's more satisfying and less elusive. [Jul 2003, p.112]

Hip-hop is only a fragment of Jmaie T's DIY grenade, and the messy hybrid of punk, rap, and reggae on Panic prevention makes Skinner's grime gleam. [Oct 2007, p.172]

I Blame You is where they make good on that promise, delivering a record as electrifying as their live show. [May 2009, p.122]

Palmer captures the human condition like no other artist. {Oct 2012, p.90]

Powerful riffs and jangly choruses propel everything in between. [Mar 2012, p.94]

Outside has a knack for taking these slow-building verses toward delayed rewards--by the time you reach the marrow of a tune, it's already the best Tapes 'N Tapes song you've ever heard. [Feb 2011, p.90]

Ebullient songs like "Dream About The Future" and "Told You Once" have the choruses to give ELO fans "Back to the Future" chills, but they should also make any pop lover an instant Apples adherent, too. [May 2010, p.102]

While some of the songs from 2008's "This Is Not The World" seem encumbered by big production, the 11 tracks on The Chaos sound more rough and immediate, allowing the band's natural energy to come through naturally. [Jul 2010, p.126]

Boston's finest prove that far from having nothing left to say, they're just getting started. [Apr 2011, p.114]

As always, Loveland's eye for details elevates Candy Hearts' songs. [Jul 2014, p.100]

A romantic, self-referential collection of songs that, even though we've heard this inimitable voice singing the same old tune for years, manages to avoid staleness. [May 2006, p.174]

Hella fun. [May 2006, p.166]

Too big for the shallows, White Whale are at their best when pushing out into the depths of dense melodies and sea-breezy lyrics. [Sep 2006, p.216]

Some of the band's most gut-wrenching and powerful melodies to date. [Mar 2007, p.133]

This compilation has something for every fan, and with any luck, Bloodshot has another 20 years to look forward.

They've evolved into a leaner and meaner rock machine. [March 2003, p.98]

Aesop Rock proves he's also a viable beatsmaker--his spacey, highly textured production is easily the best in the Felt series so far. Slug's rhymes are better than anything on the last few Atmosphere joints and MURS is on point, as always. [Dec 2009, p.113]

The sound on Stay Gold is what suits him best: heart-on-sleeve Americana that’s equal parts earnest and exuberant.

It is shattering and completely heartfelt. Iero has made a grand statement with Parachutes that should not be overlooked.

With the track order shuffled entirely, it almost plays like a greatest hits album: Closer examination reveals cohesive new context for the collection, one that's more satisfying than anything we've heard from the trio before. [Mar 2014, p.88]

While storytellers has a decent amount of vocals, it's still the gorgeous, lush melodies and layered soundscapes that speak the loudest. [Mar 2010, p.90]

This is a seminar in how to age gracefully and still rock like demons. [Mar 2004, p.106]

The paino ballads make Black Dirt more melancholy than previous efforts, but no less masterful. [Jun 2010, p.102]

If the songs blend together a bit, that's called a style, and Interpol have always had that on their side. [Oct 2014, p.100]

She succeeds by involving lots of traditional instrumentation from various regions of the continent, and allowing for a variety of vocalists to join her throughout. [Oct 2014, p.100]

Other post-metal bands may be getting more attention right now, but few are doing it better than Pelican. [Nov 2013, p.90]

It's unnerving, exhilarating and surprising. [Feb 2017, p.80]

When partnered with visuals, these songs will probably be a lot more impactful and resonant. As it stands, they're still pretty great. [Dec 2014, p.104]

Although a more varied use of the two drummers would be appreciated, the overall echoed effect with the cleaner production offers a complete, homogenized sound, which, when consumed en masse, makes for a killer album. [Jun 2009, p.105]

Blistering brittle and beautiful, this is a cold, winter wind of a record, perfect for shutting yourself away from the outside world as you mourn the passing of friends, loved ones and better days. [Apr 2011, p.118]

Guitarist Brian Izzi is given room to throw in engaging staccato wrist flicks or caveman his way through a down-picked sequence while vocalist Ryan McKenney is able to focus on exorcising his demons without worrying about time and tempo changes. [Jul 2014, p.103]

Beam may continue lacing his ragged acoustic with your heartstrings while quietly whispering about a growing understanding of self, but he isn't sitting beneath a pink moon quite yet. That's surely on its way. [May 2004, p.94]

Their latest full-length occasionally veers into darker territory than usual, but for the most part it sticks to what the band do best. [Sep 2013, p.94]

Stand too clsose to the bagpipes, harmonica, scream-along choruses and a constant artillery of thundering drums, and your ears are gonna get powder burns. [Apr 2010, p.130]

23 Live Sex Acts is the perfect culmination of where this band sit today: at the top of their songwriting and live-performance game. [Oct 2015, p.96]

It's Tony Clark's throaty, understated vocals and the way they complement the textured melodies, that really make Kingfisher stand out. [Sep 2014, p.110]

It's lo-fi simplicity makes for a welcome addition to any CoCoRosie fan's collection. [Oct 2014, p.101]

Musically, IX is less threatening then previous albums, but that doesn't mean it's any less potent. [Dec 2014, p.104]

Living With The Living takes steps back to New Jersey, with the sort of big rock 'n' roll, free of subcultural claim, that'd make the Boss proud. [Apr 2007, p.176]

While the band's by-the-book emo and fondness for '90s Radiohead may not break new ground, they've still made a hell of a record whose familiarity makes it feel like an old favorite upon first listen. [Oct 2002, p.95]

The most impressive aspect of Rogers' Thomas Giles persona is his ability to surpass the metalcore/mathcore trappings of BTBAM--it's probably the most versatile album to ever be released on Metal Blade Records. {Mar 2011, p.99]

LFO executes these retro moves with flamboyance and subtlety, so we can forgive Bell his derivativeness. [Nov 2003, p.118]

The record succeeds as its own body of work sans premise, thanks to Valdés' deft keyboards and arrangements (which gives the proceedings hues of '50s hits, '60s soul and breezy Euro-pop) and Argos' patented sincere-or-smarmy delivery (the thing that makes Art Brut so compelling).

Characteristically, Mogwai surrender just enough melodic nuance to sustain superficial interest--without forfeiting the abstractions necessary to save the whole affair from sounding like Enya for art school kids. [Mar 2011, p.96]

Where Starsailor failed at morphing Britpop with orchestral flair, the Veils soar. [Aug 2004, p.118]

A grab bag of great ideas, instead of a truly great album. [Sep 2005, p.170]

The music is--and should be--the primary focus, and that's a quantum leap beyond what they were doing four years ago. Essential.

The results is a rollicking continuation of their previous two albums' unhinged metallic-punk steamroller. [Nov 2012, p.90]

No matter how far they push their boundaries, the songs remain catchy. [Feb 2015, p.91]

Romance may be boring, but this ambitious triumph is anything but. [Feb 2010, p.96]

While this may sound like an Oprah Book Club selection, it's Sims entertaining flow and producer Lazerbeak's ability to switch between dancefloor packers ("Weight") and worldly drum-circle loops ("Future Shock") which takes Bad Time Zoo through the ceiling.

One of extreme music’s most adventurous bands continues blazing its own path. [Nov 2015, p.97

By creating an homage to youthful, timeless pop-punk--New Found Glory sound revitalized and relevant. [Nov 2011, p.91]

This album aims straight for your hips and doesn't miss. [Dec 2014, p.104]

The Rezillos might be your parents' age, but they rock. [Apr 2014, p.93]

What keeps this from being a cavernous frightfest is what the members of Ulver bring to the table. [Mar 2014, p.94]

The duo's engaging, self-titled debut isn't quite as easy to parse as their moniker. [May 2009, p.123]

Harmonious hymns such as "Bury Your Burdens In the Ground" and "Let's Do Something Impossible" prove that you don't need more than a banjo, an expressive voice and a heartfelt story in order to craft something truly extraordinary. [Aug 2011, p.122]

Girls Against Boys are still together making pwerful music that detonates the soundtracks of the new subcultures and corporate marketing campaigns. [Jun 2002, p.75]