Almost too stiff to be funny, this might have been a surreal payday in the boardrooms of Berlin, but one presumes the buck stops here. [May 2008, p.142]

Russian Circles certainly haven't lost their edge. [June 2008, p.133]

Speakers and Tweeters is an admirably varied effort from a band whose Two-Tone jones is just the starting point. [June 2008, p.137]

Listening to Portishead has always been like floating through a waking dream, but now the sleek edges have atrophied into a dusty chaos, and it's all the more beautiful and perfect for the change. [June 2008, p.136]

What elevates Jim from faux-soul Jamiroquai ghetto is the effortless exuberance and keen reverence that Lidell brings to the vocals and arrangements, hand-crafting dusty grooves as fresh as the first drop of the needle. [July 2008, p.162]

To call this "sunstroked desert hallucination mood music" sells it short. It actually transforms the atmosphere of the space in which it's played. [June 2008, p.132]

It's a fun album, full of off-kilter, electro-tinged grooves. Trouble is, backpacker/conscious/positive hip-hop is every bit as cliched as the most unthinking gangsta rap. [Apr 2008, p.163]

The cumulative effect is a widescreen collection that seems destined to win a broader audience for the duo without sacrificing the intimate I-feel-you-fucked-up-life atmosphere of their best work. [May 2008, p.144]

Performing some of thre best party music for smart people this side of Black Lips, the rest of the band match Reis' powerhouse vocal eccentricities with a perfectly calculated degree of rock 'n' roll swagger, blasting ahead like the Wipers one minute and settling into a slow-burning Bo Diddley groove the next. [May 2008, p.128]

Pyramids can sound like several songs playing at once, a psychedelic instrumental played backward, or the muffled recording of a session two rooms away. [July 2008, p.155]

TDS' debut full-length captures punk's careless mischief and re-keys it for the new millennium.

M83's latest flight into the synthesized stratosphere is so steeped in '80s influence, it;s as if teen filmmaker John Hughes was lurking behind the keyboards. [June 2008, p.137]

The moodiest moments are what ultimately make this album Phantom Planet's best. [May 2008, p.140]

The gloriously retro You Have No Idea is what the last Rapture album should of been [May 2008, p.146]

Alone, Air and Earth are the weakest of the EPs, but taken as a whole, Thrice have managed to convert an ultra-abstract concept into a cohesive and innovative collection. [May 2008, p.143]

Fantastic. This is the best new band Sub Pop has worked with in years. [June 2008, p.131]

It's rare to pull off an album this succint and not invite boredom; it's even rarer if it fucking rocks. [May 2008, p.135]

The fifth disc in this succession proves Clinic never skip a beat or miss a step. [June 2008, p.134]

Peeling back the layers of boom-zydeco and soulcholia on songs like 'El Azteca' and 'Easy Eats Or Dirty Doctor Galapogos,' you'll find a ramshackle genius in the bans's new wave kitchen-rock. [May 2008, p.134]

Live! is essential listening for Decemberists obsessives--and an excellent primer for those who aren't fans just yet. [May 2008, p.135]

If you're looking for a little warm blood pumping through the veins of your dance music, as opposed to the droning and repetitive beat sketches plaguing a lot of the genre, this is just about ideal. [May 2008, p.146]

Youngster is only temporarily satisfying. [June 2008, p.135]

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 best comparison for April is Neil Young. [June 2008, p.131]

Bright Lights is a super-serious record that demostrates some super-serious song craft. [May 2008, p.130]

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

This doesn't say the labum doesn't have its moments, but when you consider the amount of time and patience it takes to get to tthat point, it's hardly worth the payoff. [Apr 2008, p.153]

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]