Pretty.Odd can be summed up in one word: ambitious. [Apr 2008, p.147]

Smoke is a pleasant pastiche of David Bowie's "Berlin" period--with a lab-coated synth freakout at disc's end for all those Morton Subotnick fans out there. [Dec 2007, p.188]

A Hundred Miles Off is nearly 100-percent on. [Jul 2006, p.204]

There is a breadth of influence throughout, even if the energy level rarely falls below absurdly scorching and the sonic approach remains a fuzzy haze. [Apr 2008, p.150]

Either way, previous Academy Is... fans will surely dig the tunes, but Fast Times is probably not the album that will see the band expand their scope too far out of the high school/Warped Tour crowd.

Comatose-inducing. [Mar 2003, p.94]

Points to a genius that should overtake the world of IDM like a funky tsunami. [Jul 2002, p.81]

Warm, lush soundtracks bathe the ears in the same bittersweet symphonics that marked out the latter-day Verve. [#146, p. 82]

Eight near-impeccable tracks. [Nov 2004, p.140]

Their most complete-sounding disc to date. [Mar 2004, p.91]

Either the worst or the best thing I've heard all year. [Dec 2004, p.152]

The anger is what makes The People's Key's best moments so vital. [Mar 2011, p.98]

The cutest couple this side of Jack and Meg do exactly that [get serious] on the shockingly accomplished Grand. [Feb 2009, p.100]

Choosing to keep the songs dark and dreary bogs down Mini Mansions. That criticism aside, the band know how to craft a song, letting it build and drop when necessary. [Dec 2010, p.114]

They can take their time crafting their next move, as they've given us lots to chew on here with this dense, pleasing, and--most importantly--fully enjoyable album.

What's left are halfhearted Hold steady wannabes and dull stabs at poignancy.

Like many trilogies, though, the third one stumbles to reach the bar set by its predecessors. However, Morning certainly doesn't suck, and fans will appreciate its place in the evolution of Eels. [Sep 2010, p.109]

The fantastic Ghostory actually sounds more realized than their previous two full-lengths. [Mar 2012, p.98]

They care not a whit about market share, EDM remixers or having annoying YouTube stars and/or rappers guest on their sessions, choosing instead to light up psychic votive candles for Joe Strummer, Desmond Dekker and Lemmy in order to capture the very same spirit those artists conjured all those decades ago.

For all of its precocious, borderline bratty moments, Death Of A Bachelor is a remarkably nuanced affair. [Feb 2016, p.95]

Flowers suffers from lyrical impairment and bloated self-importance throughout the rest of the album. [Jan 2008, p.121]

This is metalcore comfort food from two veterans, and little more. [Feb 2011, p.90]

It might not be Disintegration, but Optica confirms these Swedes as worthy acolytes. [Mar 2013, p.93]

Sound[s] like the work of a band once again coming into their own. [Feb 2006, p.128]

Nothing Hill works best when Adamson keeps his mouth shut and focuses on crafting moody instrumentals. [Oct 2002, p.76]

Packed with earnest but impotent stadium rock. [Jul. 2002, p.82]

Green's heightened tunefulness along with the broadened emotional resonance that results should enable this band to relate more to an enlarged fanbase... [#154, p.63]

CRX's only real mistake might be releasing a top-down record perfect for summer at the end if the year. [Dec 2016, p.100]