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

The Queens have officially given us the first legitimate Album Of The Year candidate for 2005. [May 2005, p.130]

How about just plain old "unbelievably goddamn gorgeous?"

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

It all comes together to create a perfect album for those sleepless nights when you need help to combat the loneliness. [Apr 2016, p.100]

For all the offbeat touches... Dawson's wide-eyed hope and wonder are the album's most affecting qualities. [Jun 2006, p.180]

[Cassadaga] finds Oberst cultivating a sophistication usually found in records made by people old enough to be his grandparents. [May 2007, p.150]

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

Denali sound more comfortable in their skin. [Dec 2003, p.140]

Cellar Door is clearly the work of a musical mastermind who has never met an instrument he didn't like--or a song he couldn't ruin with it. [Mar 2004, p.96]

A foot-stomping, bum-shaking good time from beginning to end. [May 2002, p.80]

Should please sophisticated pop connoisseurs. [Nov 2001, p.85]

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

If alt-country were truly alternative, it might sound more like Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea, especially on 'What Is Not But Could Be If,' where Silver Jews leader David Berman's booming vocals run as deep as anything this side of Johnny Cash or Leonard Cohen in their prime. [July 2008, p.151]

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]

Noisy pop-punk that's bratty with pogoing entitlement. [Apr 2005, p.124]

Sure there are some lulls; but the face-melting trash that surrounds these tunes proves the band still have it in 'em to, well, slay. [Dec 2009, p117]

This record contains the musings of a full-fledged adult who's still young enough to remember the ache of youthful restlessness, indiscretions and uncertainty. [Nov 2014, p.87]

Kaiser Chiefs melt their influences into something entirely non-derivative--and thoroughly fun. [May 2005, p.172]

The contrasts of light/dark, father/son and sinners/saints never sounded so danceable. [Mar 2011, p.92]

VV naturally still resembles PJ Harvey prepping for a catfight in spots, but her vocals on standout pop nugget "Rodeo Town" reveal vulnerability reminiscent of the original tough cookie, the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde. [Apr 2005, p.126]

Everything's emotional whole is greater than the sum of its individual musical parts. [Aug 2005, p.176]

A must for electro geeks. [May 2012, p.81]

The tunes are as melancholy rosey as ever, the confessional as soul-stirringly honest and open. [#147, p.83]

Though the music on Revelling/Reckoning ranges from brilliant to mediocre, DiFranco's bold, descriptive lyrics (as usual) redeem any shortcomings. [#155, p.75]

At times their odes to the long-gone era of '60s psychedelia get lost in their lofty ambitions. [Apr 2004, p.84]

It's category-defying: raw and cooked, muscular and cerebral, shifting gears in seconds flat. [Apr 2003, p.70]

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 band update a tired synth-pop sound with purring guitars and just enough punked-out drum and vocal flourishes to give texture to what might otherwise have become new-wave wallpaper. [Nov 2003, p.114]

He's free to let his freak flag fly with Destroyer, and Trouble in Dreams doesn't disappoint. [Apr 2008, p.152]

Ultimately, To Be Everywhere Is To Be Nowhere is a small triumph not just in its existence but also in its execution. Second chances don't normally sound this sweet.

It would have been incredibly easy for them to rest on their laurels and placate the faithful. Instead, they took a huge creative risk, pushing the idea of what--and who--they are as a band while still retaining their identity. And damn, does it sound good.

That Cohen and Midgett are still making music after decades of popular indifference and one act of unthinkable tragedy is admirable; that they're still making albums as soulful, uncompromising and evocative as Blood Under The Bridge is close to heroic.

Much of We Were Dead feels like a culmination of the sound that Modest Mouse have spent the last decade or so honing. [May 2007, p.145]

If he isn't a sage yet, he does sound like a future star. [Feb 2005, p.94]

Muddy, swamp rockabilly. [Jan 2004, p.108]

The record tends to fade into the background and become something so indistinct that it's forgettable, even after multiple listens.

These clattering seat-inducers plow through both rational song lengths and all hopes of a settling conclusion. [Oct 2009, p.110]

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

The relatively hushed tone of Several Shades Of Why is unnerving at first spin, strictly when considering the auditory atom bomb of Mascis' well-documented projects; but the second go 'round clears the clouds, revealing a vast lo-fi victory. [Apr 2011, p.115]

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

The combination of thundering drums with whimsical vocals and melodies can be charming, insanely catchy and headache-inducing, sometimes all at once. [Feb 2007, p.114]

Die! Die! Die! craft a rickety balance between cacophony and attractive post-punk melody. [Mar 2008, p.136]

Standards succeeds by making the most of the intellectual side of Tortoise--their stylistic cross-pollinations, their meta-musical analyses--without ever losing sight of the music's ability to do more than engage the mind. [March 2001, p.94]

If Lush hadn't died, it might have wound up in the same solemn, yet provocative, place. [May 2004, p.104]

Musically, he's a little more conventional than one would hope. [12/2000, p.90]

His arrangements are floral and handcrafted and warm. [May 2004, p.102]

This is a record that cuts deep, but rushes right over to tend to your wounds. [Oct 2012, p.88]

The Heart Is A Monster is not only a stark reminder of why the band have been so influential, but it also underscores their status as modern trailblazers. [Jul 2015, p.97]

An LP of remarkable dynamic shifts, stop-on-a-dime time changes, tribal menace and sinister lyrics. [Jun 2016, p.102]

Like their kindred spirits and labelmates in Turing Machine, Maserati have their headspace programmed to "liftoff" in an effort to take you higher than you've ever been. [Nov 2012, p.90]

This is a knuckle-walking, face-punching, tooth-spitting hardcore/metal album that’ll have you looking around for things and people that could use a good kicking.

The trouble is, not much sets this new album apart from their career benchmarks, like 2002's Nothing or 1998's Chaosphere.

What glosses over those small, weird choices is the collective strength and sense of purpose found here.

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

Mastodon prove they keep moving ahead with this rewarding album. [May 2017, p.80]

Everything All The Time is almost pitifully lacking in soul, and it suffers from a few real snoozers, to boot. [May 2006, p.162]

If You ever needed proof that great tension can be generated without screaming or dialing an amplifier volume knob all the way up, start here. [Dec 2012, p.90]

Really, punk doesn't get much better than this. [Nov 2016, p.90]

For the wide-awake, it's a crashing bore. [Aug 2005, p.164]

There's not a ton of new ground broken, but The Fire is proof that Senses Fail consistently toe the line between singing and screaming better than most of their peers. [Nov 2010, p.116]

You & Me is a consolidation of strengths, intensity and pathos with enough '60s echo-chamber reverb to singe synapses. [Oct 2008, p.153]

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]

A sweetass blaxploitation-film score in waiting. [Dec 2001, p.87]

A substantial improvement over the gentle snoozefest that was 2000's Early Days. [Apr 2002, p.76]

A well-crafted ode to cock rock, minus the cliches. [May 2002, p.98]

Deftly balancing country, classical and cabaret, the National are darkly dramatic and deliciously doomed. [Oct 2003, p.124]

This is still some of the most original, passionate and listenable music of the year, but the mood has changed. [Jan 2002, p.95]

[In Kind undermines the mood of the entire album with a series of acrobatic vocal yelps.] It's a shame, because otherwise this is a record of near-perfect beauty. [Sep 2013, p.88]

[Earth Suck] gives off the sense that even the band don't quite know where they're going--but they'll have a fine, noisy time getting there. [Nov 2014, p.98]

Title withstanding, there's no rust on these guys. [May 2009, p.121]

Occasionally, this style of music gives way to too much meandering or noise for the sake of it, but Nothing's melodic and encompassing LP debut is guilty of neither. [Apr 2014, p.92]

Call it two EPs of material from two gifted frontmen combined into one LP--nothing more, nothing less.

Fantasies flows seemlessly from song to engaging song, with less focus on the dance-based instrumentals of "Old World" and greater attention to frontwoman Emily Haines' thoughtful lyrics and lilting voice. [May 2009, p.112]

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

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]

This self-titled album is a reflection of Adams’ continued growth as a songwriter, and is completely relatable to anyone who has managed to survive in a marriage--creative or otherwise--long past the honeymoon phase.

It's meticulously arranged and inoffensive, but well-played enough to keep you from falling asleep. [Aug 2002, p.80]

Sole's willingness to bust lyrical caps in the asses of the left as well as the right make him a fairly revolutionary revolutionary--one whose musical journal keeping, for all its excesses, is worth deciphering. [Apr 2003, p.85]

A middle-of-the-road OTC record heavy on angelic vocal harmonies and light on innovation. [Apr 2002, p.84]

It's still early to see if they'll transcend the hype, but Dying In Stereo bodes well by keeping it real over simple old-school beats. [Aug 2003, p.108]

Organically building upon thier contemplative-rock base, Lucky is full of intricate melodies and bridges, intense while at the same time awash with the delicate touch of human experience. [Mar 2008, p.144]

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

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

Sonically, Knopf has never sounded more confident. [Jun 2012, p.82]

Les Savy Fav received high marks before, but this album proves this oft-comical band are no joke. [Oct 2010, p.116]

Philadelphia sideshow punks Man Man have reached a newfound crispness with the production guidance of Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis on their fourth album, Life Fantastic.

Most of Valende's songs have that creepy nursery-rhyme thing that people who read too much Lewis Carroll would call "whimsy." [Mar 2005, p.132]

Prepare to be blown away.... Emotional Mugger is an out-of-this-world psychedelic venture meant to be listened to--and listened to very loud. [Feb 2016, p.98]

Epic-sounding and true to that signature AFI sound, AFI (The Blood Album) will be a record that stands out for hardcore fans, while picking up some new ones along the way. [Feb 2017, p.78]

New Again leaps forward as the best album of Taking Back Sunday's career to date.

A rapid barrage of sludge-rich bass, scalding guitar distortion and wrist-popping drums fill atop frontman Drew Thomson's infuriated black humor. [Nov 2014, p.98]

Represents the best of British pop music.... A lilting, suave and grandiose near-masterpiece. [Dec 2001, p.80]

Toth makes a greater effort to rein together all these different musical approaches into a crystalline whole. By doing so, he's inflated his songwriting even further, helping it reach greater altitudes. [Feb 2013, p.94]

On offers tight musicianship, intimate lyrics and a wider sonic berth in comparison to indie pop's lyrically trite mistake celebrations. [May 2002, p.90]

FC Kahuna tracks revel in the duo's simple blurbs of sound and less-is-more sonics. [Jan 2003, p.91]

An admixture of Stax soul, raw-boned punk rock, and California beach-pop that sounds more focused than their previous outing, 1998's R.F.T.C. [#154, p.84]