At times, the effect is akin to hearing Tortoise and Animal Collective covering the Steve Reich and Devo catalogs in tandem; but such reference points barely do justice to an album that just halfway through 2007, is already topping the year's best-of list in multiple genres. [Jun 2007, p.151]

The sextet take glitchy electronics, nerdy psychedelic rock and various forms of hip-hop to create a completely over-the-top concept album--and it works perfectly. [Dec 2006, p.208]

Shed's a wonderfully rough and ambitious re-introduction from Title Fight that occasionally belies the band's youth. [Jun 2011, p.111]

Unlike most of his contemporaries, singer-songwriter Gough is willing to explore all sorts of styles while allowing himself to be as playful or serious as he wants. [Dec 2002, p.74]

The Dream Walker tempers its aggression with songwriting nuance and emotional clarity.

A blissed-out menagerie of subtly morphing beats and elegant melodies within a dub framework. [Oct 2002, p.88]

What really impresses on the quintet's sophomore stunner is the way Black Mountain effortlessly shift from devastating to devastatingly beautiful. [Feb 2008, p.117]

Everything is organic, unforced and so subtly constructed that much of the time you don't so much hear the songs as feel them. Beautiful. [Feb 2014, p.91]

Feels like a jam session--bluesy keyboard lines and guitar riffs busk with soul-inflected harmonies, world-music percussion and complex, exotic rhythms. [Apr 2002, p.68]

The album's primary footholds--those downstrokes; that kick drum; those poker-faced paeans to wizards and wenches--are as true, and as sinisterly black-and-blue, as doom metal gets. [May 2008, p.136]

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]

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

Smartly packaged pop that's as slick as Stereolab, but human enough--thanks to Coyne's earnestness and sincerity--to malfunction in all the right places. [Sep 2002, p.77]

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]

Dave Fridmann's grand production touches enhance BMSR's otherworldly aura, adding dazzling glaze to this fruity cake. [Jun 2009, p.108]

Shit rules so hard. [Oct 2009, p.108]

What ultimately makes Similes so wonderful is that with every listen it seems to peel away the world around you, immersing you in its warmth, and for 43 minutes, it makes it so hard to believe that everything that might be wrong in your life actually matters at all.

They've given their songs a spine. Stark and deliberate, menageries of vocals ricochet irresistibly between reverb, piano and floor toms and stripped-down Americana. [Apr 2009, p.135]

Beyond weird? Yes, but in the best, most deliciously mind-bending of ways. [Oct 2013, p.88]

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

Brill Bruisers leaves a lasting impression in the best possible way. [Sep 2014, p.108]

There are no walls of distortion or crunching riffs; this time, they've traded all that for the beauty of Craig B.'s vocals and understated ambience. [Apr 2007, p.180]

Cliff has never needed to reaffirm his place in the reggae pantheon. With Rebirth, he went ahead and did it anyway--and then some.

A beautiful, quiet and pensive affair, bristling with subtle electronics and wonderfully layered acoustics. [Nov 2014, p.90]

Embryonic is an album full of little revolutions--a trippier, noisier, more experimental journey than the Flaming Lips have taken in forever. [Dec 2009, p.116]

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

Iron Balls Of Steel is as serious as a metal recording gets; and, at least until those new Meshuggah and Dillinger Escape Plan discs get mastered, it's also the greatest math-metal album of this still-young year.

11 tracks that scorch the earth lesser bands traipse on. [May 2007, p.150]