Despite the odds, their fifth album is arrestingly, chillingly good.

Thankfully, Brightblack's mellow mysticism never comes at the expense of a frisky groove. [Jul 2006, p.97]

[Frontman Jim] Adkins loosens the reins with darker themes and longer songs... but the guitars and harmonies have never been brighter. [Nov 2004, p.139]

YYY cram their furious music full of twists and spasmic enthusiasm, filling every second with motion. [#8. p.127]

Continues Cash's no-fun, high-literary period. [#15, p.121]

Fervent and fierce, with a half-earned world-weariness that can recall Johnny Rotten himself, the Dresden Dolls mean to make goth theatrically smart. Quite often, they do. [July 2008, p.71]

Production by Bjork’s longtime collaborator Valgeir Sigurosson paradoxically plays up the transparency of Brun’s music, floating ghostly string arrangements and vocal harmonies nearby without ever making her sound less alone, or less mournfully serene.

Sometimes the sumptuousness feels a little excessive, like an ice-cream headache. But most of these love songs are uncommon, illuminating and elevating, just like the real thing at its best.

This Austin trio makes a uniquely wigged-out noise, like genuine Lone Star lone wolves, mixing psychedelic boogie and spastic punk (á la ’80s titans the Minutemen) into shifty, sharp songs that whirl by like tornados with ADD.

Kayne West once again saves his friend from the NAACP lecture circuit with soul-snapping beats that effectively turn the headliner into a guest star on his own album. [Aug 2007, p. 110]

Over skeletal guitar and drums, An Horse balance scruffy musicianship with offbeat melodic beauty as Cooper narrates the day-to-day drama of a flailing relationship.

Only a central, three-track lull--where grooves are preferred over songs--sours this eclectic, irresistible stew. [Jul 2005, p.114]

Weird, hook-filled, and irresistible. [Nov 2004, p.146]

Rejected Unknown proves why those fans are so devoted. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.106]

Urgent, atonal post-punk. [Nov 2003, p.113]

For the tunnel-visioned Zeppelin fan, there's enough vintage Plant here to hold interest. [#8, p.121]

Unfortunately, the ticked-off one breaks up the most consistently grooving album of his career with too many well-meaning but intrusive conspiracy-minded skits. [Jun/Jul 2001, p.110]

The ponderous lyrics sound cribbed straight from A Mighty Wind, and LeMaster's nasal whine is hard to take. [Apr 2004, p.134]

Feels like an episode of her growing-pains TV show Moesha. [Aug 2004, p.130]

Thompson's pure, effortlessly soaring vocals feel undimmed by time. [#9, p.156]

This LP, which matches "Transatlanticism" as Death Cab's best. [June 2008, p.71]

On this produced-in-Paris gem, they beef up chilly synth-pop tunes with elegantly distorted guitar, German-industrial drum loops and plenty of goth gloom.

Strange stuff, but oddly appealing. [Feb/Mar 2002, p.111]

The songs on Cuttin' Heads are his strongest since 1993's Human Wheels. [#4, p.120]

She spices mountain purism with rich instrumental and vocal harmony. [#9, p.153]

The lyrics [are] darker than your average soul/R&B debut. [#7, p.114]

The production seems to capture a band that's playing live, with the guitarists constantly pushing each other and tunes evolving on the spot. [#11, p.122]

Piano ballads and muscular thrash that hearken back to his days with proto-goth ghoulfathers the Birthday Party. [#13, p.91]