The familiar-sounding song structures are an artfully crafted misdirection.

The songs transform emo's search for truth and its vivid angst into great drama. [#15, p.122]

[OK Go's] sophomore album rocks most amiably when wordy frontman Damian Kulash loosens up. [Sep 2005, p.135]

There's an intensity here that's hard to resist. [#14, p.142]

Kasher is back to the microscope and black light, using willful musical twists to tear apart his own thirtysomething hypocrisy on this ambitious, kinda-grossly-titled sixth CD.

DiFranco seems less the compulsive confessor here, more the storyteller. [Mar 2005, p.139]

The two Louris/Tweedy writing collaborations stand with the best work of both. [Aug 2006, p.108]

[An] excellent, star-studded farewell. [Sep 2006]

Where his pals Outkast seem like genuine freaks of nature, he sometimes seems apologetically weird.

Destroyer's slickest synthesis yet of ornate hooks and cryptic poetics. [Apr 2004, p.127]

A surprisingly heartfelt collection, heavy on lullaby-like ballads yet still oozing with sexy noir ambiance. [Jun 2005, p.113]

Scabrous, overdriven spallter-punk. [Nov 2006, p.136]

The cocky songs mask a lot of misery. [Jun 2007, p.107]

Junior Boys’ immaculate synth-pop comes with a heartsick afterburn, even such unrobotic elements as a wandering saxophone or gentle acoustic guitar.

As eclectic as these 13 songs are, they all sound of a piece: Experlty cut and finished with fine details. [Nov 2004, p.135]

Retro-atmospherics guru M. Ward and grizzled guitar genius Marc Ribot leave their dusty fingerprints. Holland leaves behind a trail of her own.

Us[es] Nevermind as a trusty road map. [Apr 2006, p.116]

On this eight-song EP--available for free on his Web site--the amiable 42-year-old lends his peach-cobbler drawl to songs about maimed soldiers and power-drunk bullies, a doleful cover of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 'Fortunate Son' and 'Mission Accomplished (Because You Gotta Have Faith),' which deploys a Bo Diddley beat to excoriate a leader who “drove us off a cliff and told us we were flyin’.”

Satisfyingly sloppy.

There's a little too much goop here. [Mar 2006, p.113]

Some selections are heartwrenching... But others bear the stain of sentimentality, denial, even exploitation. [Jul 2006, p.98]

Suffer through some over-eager violin and flute solos early on, and by the time Morrison hits the guttural blues moans of the bonus track 'Listen to the Lion,' the songs have opened up like a source of eternal life.

It’s a modest record, but also the first Byrne album in decades to feel sprung from outside the ex-Head’s head space.

Produced by hip-hop head case Danger Mouse, who is half of Gnarls Barkley, Modern Guilt mixes ancient rock--mainly the incense-and-peppermints-flavored ’60s psychedelia of Revolver-era Beatles, the Zombies and Pink Floyd--with the woozy, abstract beats Danger Mouse manages to turn into freaked-out fun.

One of the country highs of the year. [#15, p.121]

Perry’s creative-writing-class punch lines don’t always justify her self-congratulatory drag-queen tone. But she hiccups quirkily enough, and myriad big-name producers (from Dr. Luke to Glen Ballard) keep the new-wave synth hooks hopping

They're not just churning out electro-scuz-soaked romps, they're reclaiming music's right to drop the verse-chorus form, set out on weird five-minute electronic benders and end up somewhere strange and exciting. [Oct 2008, p.80]

This follow-up just isn't as lovable. [Jul 2007, p.110]