Over girl-group incantations, reggae lilt and courageously dinky old-school hip-hop allusions, Gartside searches for his emotional car keys, each comely coo abstracting him further from the truth he seeks. [Aug 2006, p.117]

Creatively cast, bonkers as ever--it’s a bright spot in the Bobby Digital series.

When Caleb evokes God's wrath on the "crucified U.S.A." or describes lost-highway lonelines, the batter-fried U2 atmospherics and portentous Dixiefied grunge makes his worry as real as Brimstone. [Oct 2008, 2008, p.80]

Her dream-cinema tales can meander, but Case’s voice will lay you flat, sure as any storm.

Perkins freewheels through American music traditions—Haight-Ashbury folk ('Hey'), New Orleans brass ('Doomsday'), junkyard blues ('I’ll Be Arriving')--with arrangements as rich as a pawn-shop display.

These are among the most rivetingly unconventional vocal performances she's ever offered. [Mar 2004, p.116]

When these Swedes get whacked by romance, they cushion the blow with a reed-kneed bedroom boogie that shimmies while evoking decades of great escapist groove music. [Mar 2007, p.141]

[Dents] is, by Buckner's standards, gentle. [Nov 2004, p.130]

Their hard-bitten Calvinist worry and storm-a-brewing' guitar tangle feel earthier than most back-to-the-land hipster escapism, especially when threshed out by roundhouse drummer Greg Anderson. [Sep 2007,p.129]

They invigorate brainy pop by adding slight belligerence. [#18, p.134]

The 2005 AIDS-related death of Extra Golden cofounder Otieno Jagwasi shades the follow-up to last year’s rough yet lovable "Ok-Oyot System."

Forth is that rare comeback record--unafraid to show its age, and better for it. [Sep 2008, p.85]

If recession-era Jeezy sounds a lot like boom-time Jeezy--describing coke cooking and the cars one gets in reward—that’s because he has always fancied himself an educator, a Learning Annex lecturer, an inspirational-desktop-calendar hustler.

Their first protest record. [Oct 2006, p.137]

His perkiest album yet. [Sep 2003, p.132]

Aubert’s dude-sings-like-a-lady tenor conjures false hope for a relationship he knows is doomed. SSPU salute misery as a kind of ideal, the opposite of love but just as beautiful.

These B-boys are as forward-thinking as they get. [Oct 2004, p.122]

Panic's cherry-picking yields several good songs, and a few brush up against greatness. [Apr 2008, p.76]

A heartfelt batch of art-pop that never sounds snobby. [Mar 2004, p.117]

The sound matches lyrics about isolation and despair, achieving a freeze-dried catchiness in the opening songs. But by the end of the album, cleverness gives way to the bleak and the drab.

It's like School House Rock for hip kids. [Aug 2006, p.117]

Benefits from a fatter recording budget, with swooping symphonic arrangements and dazzling melodies. [Aug 2004, p.138]

The result is a happy souvenir, best experienced among 12,000 of your closest, Ecstacy-popping friends. [Dec 2007, p.144]

Now and then, the energy lags. But mostly, Sugarland’s shameless mining of VH1 Classic hooks keeps their more tepid tendencies in check.

The Kills have put some machine-generated flesh on their bare-bones style. [Apr 2005, p.123]

Because he clearly aced his Beatles/Beach Boys classes, Noir's elaborately multitracked recordings... make his gentle bitching irresistible. [Aug 2006, p.113]

There's little unity of sound, but more than enough passion and unity of purpose. [Oct 2004, p.125]

Rae's music sticks in your mind like a pleasant scent you wish would linger. [Jun 2006, p.143]