Arcade Fire never babbled about “horse-shaped fire/Draggin’ stereo wire.” These guys make it seem like an Olympic sport.

They might sound like Girl Scouts, but these are tough cookies. [Aug 2007, p.117]

The blend of organization--even the oddest, most precarious combinations of instruments sync up--and derangement is Animal Collective's version 2.0 of hippie whimsy, and it's quite a buzz [Oct 2007, p.105]

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

Twain's songs are never deep, but they have hooks tattooed on their skin and harmonies that glow like bar lights. [#13, p.88]

The emotional terrain is much more treacherous here, and more rewarding for it. [Oct 2003, p.114]

This free-wheeling debut has the potential to run and run, carried aloft on the shoulders of the overly emotional. [#18, p.131]

The outfit dispels any virtuoso vibe with their joyous absurdism. [Jun 2007, p.104]

Oye's single-minded thematic focus and velveteen baritone hold everything together. [#14, p.142]

More diabolical and daring than the band’s shaggy 2005 debut, Future peaks with the primordial 'Bright Lights.'

This is slick, snarky pop with flashes of brilliance. [#12, p.151]

Funnier, angrier, weirder. [Mar 2004, p.123]

If their ultraviolet jams can sometimes get lost in the gaze, here they're balanced with more crisp songcraft. [Aug 2006, p.107]

Sure, it's commercial, but Rosey's expert melding of dance beats and hippie dippiness adds up to a debut slick with beatnik cool. [#8, p.122]

A gently involving and moving album, Yoshimi could be the negative image of Radiohead's Kid A: the sound of a rock band using electronica to make music that's inclusive and warm instead of icy and aloof. [#8, p.114]

Kelly sounds exhilaratingly unhinged by passion. It drives him into territory no one else is able--or willing--to navigate. [Aug 2005]

Texturally, it's a middle ground between her searing early album Under the Pink and the sun-dappled 2005 The Beekeeper. [Jun 2007, p.105]

Sounds like the work of musicians who've spent just half an hour apart, not 20-odd years. [#11, p.143]

Submit to these tongue-in-cheek disco-rock readymades and it's as if you're hearing irony and an ass-kicking backbeat for the very first time. [Mar 2006, p.112]

Aside from disposable ballads and the sappy "Perfect Man," Survivor blasts haters, child molesters, and "been-around-the-block-females," keeping the blood up as they whup ass. [Jun/Jul 2001, p.108]

It's sharp and in your face, like a scimitar. [Oct 2007, p.110]

Mastodon present a prog-metal concept that would make Stephen Hawking bang his head.

Even as they cherry-pick from seemingly incongruous sources (deep house, hard rock, smooth R&B), there’s a newfound decisiveness, a move toward heavier beats, meatier grooves and warmer sentiments.

At 72 minutes, the gorgeous gloom of It Still Moves lasts a bit longer than it has to--but it offers a host of tarnished gems along the way. [Sep 2003, p.126]

The exact opposite of background music, A Grand Don’t Come for Free demands the same attention as a movie, and that’s why some people will hate it while others will find it uniquely riveting.

The emotional peaks are so sharp, the wordplay so juicy, that all excesses are redeemed.

He's screaming louder than ever on his solo CD, but what's notable is how all the titanium riffs and loud-soft-loud dynamics now feel personalized, a little cozier and multihued than on SOAD record. [Nov 2007, p.157]

The Cameras mix sex and spirituality over a gorgeous bed of organs, harps and 12-part harmonies. [May 2003, p.120]