Over the top and steadfastly retro, but in a good way. [Dec 2005, p.155]

For years, Smith has excelled in her profession as rock's great heroine; at its best, Trampin' sounds more like leisure time, but it still pays off. [May 2004, p.132]

It's protest music gone gleefully psycho. [Jul 2005, p.122]

From the way gently twanging guitar builds to toxic fuzz on 'Man Made Lake' to the whistling in 'El Gatillo' that nails the stranger-in-town vibe, the band’s best stories are in their music.

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.

Their sixth album sticks close to what they know best. [Nov 2007, p.153]

Angrier than ever, Bad Religion aim punk's adolescent fury at grownup targets. [Jun/Jul 2004, p.134]

He switches styles and moods nearly every song, but his caramel harmonies and swirling guitars are reliable constants. [Apr 2005, p.113]

Things get almost crushingly heavy, but he fights through his nightmares like he's one spastic stab in the dark from flicking on a night light. [Apr 2008, p.77]

On his solo debut, Bradford Cox sinks, phantomlike, into lush, highly processed arrangements of organ, drum machine and (evidently) whatever instrument is laying around. The disappearing act really can be magical.

Like [Norah] Jones, Mayer never lets his personality talk over his elegant melodies, but unlike her, he has range. [Oct 2003, p.112]

This is dramatic, radio-loving rock primed to outlive the current I Love The '80s infatuation. [Apr 2005, p.113]

Here, he seems more comfortable in his pasty skin. [May 2008, p.76]

Moves seamlessly from ironic cock-rock and steel guitar-kissed hymns to crisply melodic pop and full-on hippie freakouts. [Oct 2004, p.116]

It's quite a feat: crushing, weighty themes conveyed via music that floats in a netherworld a few steps off the ground. [Dec 2003, p.144]

Coldplay barely scratch these levels of exultation and agony. [Apr 2007, p.111]

At once intimate and far-off... like a beautiful broadcast from a room down the hall. [Apr 2005, p.125]

They're fascinated with rhythm, repetition and duplication, like early-'70s German experimental bands Neu! and Can. [Mar 2007, p.136]

As a songwriter, Carrabba is growing: this album shows more melodic and tonal variety than his previous efforts. [#18, p.118]

The band's warm way with weirdness remains; it's just flashier now. [Oct 2005, p.140]

The music is dominated by the same pounding pop-disco beats and thick textures that have defined all her record. But now Lennox sounds like she's been rubbed raw by life. [Oct 2007, p.111]

Most of their songs gallop by in a minute or two, erupting with new beats the moment they start to itch. [Apr 2008, p.83]

The songs are more blustery than ever. [Jun 2007, p.108]

Even the otherworld instrumental 'Oceans of Venus' can’t counterbalance Venus’s ballad-heavy bottom half.

A set of tuneful, atmospheric doom-pop gems that appealingly swirls stiletto-heel beauty and black-leather brawn. [May 2006, p.108]

The music follows in the ruby-slippered footsteps of the first album. [Oct 2006, p.134]

While straying from metal's path, they uphold its legacy of conservative politics. [Nov 2007, p.148]

The doggedly retro approach ultimately muzzles the Noise COnspiracy's radical bite. [Nov 2005, p.136]