Remarkably cohesive. [Aug 2005, p.176]

The closest punk has come to the dread of Robert Johnson, the mischief of Bessie Smith or the joy of Mahalia Jackson. [Jun 2003, p.94]

This is the best Foetus record in about 12 years. [Aug 2001, p.88]

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

Once you get inside this static, it's the ideal place to hang out. [Oct 2009, p.106]

On Habitual Leviathans, the group are more powerful than ever: but it’s a confident power that requires minimal chest thumping.

Lovely and heartfelt, Wheel is an introspective delight. [May 2013m, p.90]

Settle is a rare animal: an EDM album that actually flows like an album should. Listening to it, there's a feeling that as much thought went into the track sequencing as went into the sequenced rhythms.

At 17 songs, Manipulator is a psychedelic handful of kaleidoscopic visions for the post-Kurt Cobain world. [Sep 2014, p.110]

There's a foundation for true duality somewhere, but a lot of growing pains as well. [Nov 2014, p.94]

Sonically, it’s practically Sea Change Part II. Musical choices are almost identical—bells, swelling cinematic strings, ample harmonies--but Hansen’s voice doesn’t sound quite so sad.

Researching the Blues is more like a graduate dissertation on power pop, and should be required listening. [Sep 2012, p.94

The more realized updates of [Her Majesty] that crowd out the backed of Picaresque reveal a wit so bizarre and vaudevillian beauty so ultimately endearing that by the end, Meloy's sprawling form of theatrical folk has us all. [Apr 2005, p.116]

Call it growing pains for a storied discography, but the result leaves the album feeling unbalanced around the gems and less rewarding over multiple listens. [Sep 2014, p.110]

The album’s 10 songs are over and done in under 20 minutes. The impression they leave at the end of it all is huge.

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]

It's impressively well-wrought music, though no longer as instantly engaging, requiring several listens before its charms truly take shape. [Apr 2011, p.122]

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]

It's the little touches that make Daydream so appealing. [Nov 2006, p.190]

Avatar is further proof that Comets On Fire are one of the most relevant bands of this decade. [Sep 2006, p.214]

It doesn't really ever quite rise above excellently pleasant, yet it's remarkably consistent, musically varied and occasionally, endearingly specific. [Aug 2013, p.90]

New Leaves benfits from Kinsells'a vibrant looping and somber monotone lyricism. [Nov 2009]

Sycamore has plenty of upbeat rockers to counterbalance its moodier moments. [Jan 2008, p.128]

It's an album that holds nothing back. [Apr 2017, p.82]

You can feel that relaxed swagger throughout Moms thanks to some of Seim's slinkiest funk rhythms, and the giddy arena-rock guitar antics the pair allow to pop up throughout the proceedings. [Oct 2012, p.90]

What separates Cut Copy from the retro-electro-pop pack is the mixing prowess of French house maestro Philippe Zdar. [Oct 2004, p.146]

A sprawling, 17-song, 64-minute monster that is without a doubt the finest music these three artists--vocalist Hayley Williams, guitarist Taylor York and bassist Jeremy Davis--have ever made.

It was probably inevitable, but having raised the bar so high for cut-and-paste music, Shadow spends a little too long here looking up at it. [Jul 2002, p.96]