Marriage is an album best served by deep listening on a good pair of headphones. [Mar 2013, p.92]

The majority of this disc expertly locates that elusive bull's eye between art and accessibility. [Nov 2009, p.106]

Beautifully melodic, quietly clever and painfully smart. [Jul 2004, p.136]

Clinic have evolved from a set of brilliantly mixed parts into a distinctive whole to be reckoned with. [Apr 2002, p.71]

With just his voice and an acoustic guitar, he's made these songs his own, and in the process created a most remarkable LP. [#154, p.93]

Here And Nowhere Else is Cloud Nothings' best effort yet--and that's saying something. [May 2014, p.90]

A document of one amazing night of music. [Mar 2005, p.124]

The album demands a lot from our short-attention-span culture, but it's not time you'll feel like you've wasted. [Sep 2015, p.98]

On their self-titiled debut, there isn't a dud in the bunch. [Mar 2009, p.101]

While it may seem as if Geneva is all over the musical map, the opposite is acually true--the map's just been redrawn. [Nov 2009, p.114]

They've honed their sound perfectly, hitting every mark they set and making Because Of The Times kick so much ass that it demands you respect them as new rock royalty. [May 2007, p.152]

Despite these sawed-off edges, Nouns is an extremely accessible album. [June 2008, p.135]

What could have been a sterling six-track EP is still a solid album to blast until the weather matches its summertime mood. [Feb 2010, p.97]

Their noisy attack has downright melodic elements, and the album exudes an energy that was mostly sporadic in their previous material. [Sep 2004, p.140]

A righteous wallop of club-crawling, rave-slumming fun. [Oct 2002, p.83]

Appealing on any level, this digs deeper than the studio albums to glimpse Smith's raw brilliance shining. [Mar 2016, p.99]

There's nothing here as flat-out beautiful as "Tired Climb" from 2010's Spiral Shadow, but Ultraviolet is both expansive and rockin' in equal measure. [Jun 2013, p.96]

None of these tracks are throwaways. [Apr 2015, p.92]

His low-riding G-Funk has morphed into a faster, catchier brand of soul that's often a dead ringer for early Prince. [Jun 2006, p.192]

With repeated exposure it becomes clear that these songs belong together, adding an extra dimension to the record, and those who to succumb to its charms could ask for nothing more.

They... seem to be getting better at distilling their myriad of influences into dreamy, quietly elusive four-minute pop songs. [Jun 2006, p.178]

Finds [Chasny] in peak form. [Aug 2006, p.224]

Finally, the coolest guy in rock makes a record worthy of his reputation. [May 2011, p.92]

Occasionally, it wears out its welcome, but at its best it's not just homage, but legacy-worthy. [Sep 2012, p.88]

Covering Ground, is Ragan forging his own lonely--yet hopeful--path. [Oct 2011, p.112]

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]

Koala contours his cuddly cuts for the ADD set. [Nov 2003, p.118]

While at times a bit plodding, Sunshine's dizzying musical excursions become more exquisite with each listen. [Dec 2002, p.74]

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

A match-up like this one needs the right balance between angel and devil, and... Campbell's fragile alto is just no match for Lanegan. [May 2006, p.162]

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

A fully developed, worthwhile offering of Killswitch Engage's monstrous metal. [Apr 2016, p.102]

Jamie Stewart lyrically references previous Xiu Xiu material, masterfully turning over the stories to find more nuances within. [Apr 2012, p.99]

The hope was that Beach Slang would be the next great melodic punk band; with this album, that's no longer in question. [Nov 2015, p.96]

Diamond Eyes is more concise than 2006's "Saturday Night Wrist" because it streamlines (or disposes) much of that album's sonic excesses while still delivering taut songs. [June 2010, p.101]

Calexico is back in the desert with Carried To Dust. Which is not to say it feels like a retreat, Dust is far too confident. [Oct 2008, p.152]

Essex Green do a fine job of staying on retro's good side. [May 2006, p.162]

Dymphna's genre distinctions are more sophisticated and nuanced. [Dec 2008, p.152]

Even if you can't fully grasp the disc's existential subject matter, Happy Hollow is still a pleasure on the ears. [Sep 2006, p.207]

Hold this band close to your temporal lobe.

Somehow, this record sounds like it's skipping or running at the wrong speed, yet completely natural all the while. [Jul 2014, p.100]

Sounds Phishy enough to satisfy the masses and fresh enough to reach those without a predisposition for patchouli and patchwork. [Jun 2002, p.76]

Most of Ward's quiet, contemporary folk songs are mere sketches, mediocre if not unmemorable. [Apr 2005, p.126]

Balancing a DIY mentality with a good ear for catch hooks, the Cool Kids have the ability to please both sides of the fence--which is exactly what the hip-hop world needs. [Aug 2008, p.174]

Often dark, but strangely triumphant. [Oct 2013, p.92]

Jayne shrouds his more subversive content in Laughter's Fifth's tambourine-tapping, upbeat numbers. [May 2005, p.164]

Their colorful tapestry of indie/alt/emo inspiration is distilled far more subtly then before. [Oct 2013, p.84]

It all makes for a remarkable, incredibly moving piece of work. [Sep 2014, p.106]

Much of Sisterworld has a decidedly seasick feel punctuated only occasionally by angular blasts of carnival-esque speed. All told, it's more than enough to satisfy and just enough to keep you guessing. [Apr 2010, p.126]

The Irish singer/songwriter demonstrates both his versatility and magnificence by wrapping his voice around 10 delicate but different songs. [Feb 2014, p.92]

Gone for the most part are the skittering disco-punk rhythms and fully engorged urgency that drove their material. Instead, you have a slower, more methodical approach that lets these pop gems blossom out in thin ribbons.

Overall, the band seem to be running long on ambition and short on ideas. [Jul 2005, p.172]

A progressive work with plenty to offer the open-minded. [Jun 2004, p.106]

Unlike more polished bands with little to say after two releases, the Walkmen sound like they're gradually striding into some big shoes. [Mar 2004, p.106]

The studio can't really capture their awesomeness, and wile there are some killer songs on Our Own Masters, they might have been better preserved as a live album of all-new material. [Jul 2013, p.106]

Sainthood was produced by Death Cab For Cutie's Chris Walla and Howard Reddekopp, allowing the album to take on aspects of both its predecessors while still feeling new, and per usual with this duo, impressively skillful. [Dec 2009, p.114]

Dulli is in peak form here. [Jul 2006, p.194]

They continue to exercise more craft i their work than newbies a third of their age. [Apr 2013, p.94]

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

Their songs have a weight beyond the bell and whistles, retaining your interest once the shock of new sounds and the novelty of genre-hopping is gone. [Apr 2008, p.152]

A quantum leap above not only Brand New's prior work... but beyond anything that any band in this scene are currently creating. [Jan 2007, p.129]

Dark is one of the first great records of 2008. [Mar 2008, p.146]

While their occasional reliance on wide-eyed sloppiness isn't endearing, when the band clean up, they have some irresistible pop nuggest in them. [Apr 2003, p.80]

Deerhoof's 13 years of experience have honed their sound to near perfection and is pleasing even to the most critical of ears. [Mar 2007, p.136]

Shows signs of nuance and restraint--relatively speaking. [Oct 2006, p.214]

This should be in everyone's stereo this spring, as it may go down in the history books as the Pet Sounds for the aggressive-rock world. [Apr 2003, p.82]

Compared to hearing 2001's instantly gratifying I Get Wet, listening to The Wolf is like getting mindblowing sex on a first date, only to have that person get a job at the Vatican the next day. [Oct 2003, p.136]

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

It's stylish, poppy and striking from songwriting to production. [Jul 2013, p.100]

Where a lot of new bands drop the ball is not quite capturing the state of bliss that made so many of those hippue classics what they were. But that's not a problem on The Ruminant Band. [Sep 2009, p.104]

It's 22 minutes of thoughtful, intricately expressed vexation like never before. [Jul 2014, p.103]

Although his output as City and Colour is drastically different from the visceral post-hardcore of Alexisonfire, his following is huge; both his previous C&C albums have gone platinum in Canada. With his third effort, Little Hell, it's easy to hear why. [Jul 2011, p.107]

Stickles seems more into channeling his inner Mick Jones, making Local Business sound weirdly like lost sessions from Give 'Em Enough Rope. [Nov 2012, p.94]

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

The pair of albums don't feel at all like a gimmick, but more like a labor of love that gives each of frontman Will Sheff's characters the appropriate amount of time to shine. [Oct 2008, p.152]

Much of ex-Lives is encumbered by well-trodden ground turned muddy and attempts at atmosphere. [Apr 2012, p.96]

May be the weirdest record Malkmus has made since Pavement's Wowee Zowee. [Jul 2005, p.174]

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

Long live the king of hip. [May 2005, p.132]

These songs are silly without being cloying. [May 2005, p.134]

MMW charge brazenly past cries of Jimmy Smith worship into territory rarely covered by artists either acoustic or electric. [Jun 2002, p.80]

Kittenz is stocked with decadent electro-house grooves, slinky synth burbles and Ms. Kittin's glammy, deadpan vocals that sound like Madonna on Quaaludes. [Mar 2002, p.80]

Finn employs an arrhythmic delivery... sounding like Jello Biafra covering Talking Head's "Once In A Lifetime," or a snake-oil huckster participating in a poetry slam. [May 2004, p.96]

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

A tour through three decades of sonic recalcitrance, Renegades is the genome map of seditious sound. [#151, p.90]

The songs are getting samey. [Sep 2003, p.102]

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]

The Brag And Cuss gently pulses with tasteful power. [Jul 2007, p.168]

This disc is more fun than leafing through a schizophrenic's case history and twice as loud--and this reviwer can't wait for the sequel. [Oct 2008, p.158]

From start to finish, Leveler is exhilarating. [Jul 2011, p.106]

overflowing with slick hooks and dynamic nuances, Twelve Years masterfully balances cathartic restraint and melodic aggression. [Jun 2012, p.80]

Awakened is the best As I Lay Dying album you can point to as metal both modernized and maximized. [Oct 2012, p.84]

With Gilbert's powerful pipes and his bang-on production values, Shai Hulud have never sounded better than on Reach Beyond The Sun. [Mar 2013, p.89]

At times lushly orchestral and at others achingly stark, Migrant is the masterfully actualized first chapter in the true story of the Dear Hunter--the band. [May 2013, p.88]

This is the stuff that draws people in and this is the record that should bring a whole passel of new fans into Seaway’s world.

There's confidence in the slower tempos and meatier hooks that add as sense of foreboding to these 11 songs. [Apr 2016, p.99]

The Home Inside My Head cements Real Friends' place as new-school pop punk's lead dogs. [Jun 2016, p.102]