The 16-track set showcases Dilated's combination of intelligent lyrics and mind-blowing production.

Much of "Drukqs" sounds like two different albums competing and thus canceling each other out.... An ambitious but ultimately failed experiment.

Arguably Mellencamp's best album since 1987's The Lonesome Jubilee and 1983's Uh-Huh.

There are some truly fascinating marriages of old and new happening.... One of the best albums you'll hear this year.

Get Ready follows through fully on the promise of "Crystal."

By scaling warm guitar lines, keen melodies, and a valuable sense of history, these Sparks continue to fly.

The album is certainly one of 2001's finest, most memorable releases. It just shouldn't be billed beyond what it is: a deliciously fun romp that draws heavily upon influences like the Velvet Underground, Television, and the Stooges.

If it's true that music of this nature doesn't get anymore heartfelt, it also rarely gets more infectious.

One of the year's best.

Even visionaries lose sight at times, as Pierce does on "Let It Come Down," an album that can only be deemed a fractured opus.

The backing tracks, brimming over with strings, guitars, vaguely Middle Eastern elements, and soundtrack snippets, are more musical than much hip-hop, proffering the perfect gateway to Aesop Rock's verbose world. Dig the dark sounds as you try to decipher the deep thoughts.

Jamiroquai continues to mine a musical playing field that pays homage to such soul, funk, and disco artists as Stevie Wonder, Curtis Mayfield, and Chic.

Some of its strongest work to date.

This intimate, often breathtakingly beautiful collection (primarily produced by the artist herself) finds solace in the calm after the storm.

New Zealand supergroup the Clean once again makes a case that the world's most intriguing pop music comes from that small, faraway land.

This is some of the most accomplished indie rock you're likely to hear.

A subtle masterpiece...

This album leaves little doubt that when it comes to expressing the joys and heartbreak of life, few R&B singers do it as gracefully as Maxwell.

A disc that flows with soulful vocals showcased in clean, back-to-the-real production settings

The duo wisely experiments with a wider variety of moods and melodies.

Some may find the subtle Fan Dance too unadorned, but its quiet beauty holds real strength.

The quintet has never sounded tighter.

Its most fully realized set to date.

Sleepy and soulful, Can Our Love . . . is delightfully powerful in an understated way.

It trades in the Robert Johnson and Dolly Parton covers that go over so well live for more of singer/guitarist/keyboardist Jack White's hard-blues, garage-rock originals.

Breathtaking and beautiful, as well as haunting and bleak...

Rooty revels in exploiting rhythmic combinations that shouldn't work--but definitely do.

Drawn From Life features some of Eno's most tightly structured and accessible music in years.