Loewenstein manages a decent impersonation of, well, Sebadoh, undercutting his bright melodies and morose shrugs with caustic bass lines. [#8, p.118]

Playing Coke to Knopfler's bourbon on some decent songs, [Harris] challenges his guitar to a beauty contest; it's a draw. [Jun 2006, p.140]

But there’s a fine line between subtlety and listlessness, and while Marshall’s purr excels at postcoital melancholy or numb disaffection, other times it’s just a bore. Her blues aren’t nearly as vibrant when they’re drenched in gray.

The bigger the gamble, the stronger she feels. By the end of the record, she’s lassoing the moon, getting through her loneliness the way she got past teen pop: by sheer force of will.

The details on October Road are exquisite, especially his tricky singing and deft acoustic guitar. [#9, p.155]

Much of the material features clamorous, heavy-handed production, and though Xzibit's subject matter ranges from orgies to the benevolence of his mama, his dexterous rhyming style is a little too undifferentiated. [#10, p.132]

Singing on nearly every song, the techno star gets more up-close-and-personal here--a ballsy move for someone the Lord didn't heap with vocal gifts, but one that pays off. [Apr 2005, p.124]

His band remains unsubtly one-dimensional... but Shaddix funnels a newfound sensitivity into gashing, coarsely melodic emo-metal that aches as much as it breaks. [Oct 2004, p.126]

His flirtations are mostly asinine, autopilot-Lothario stuff... but his voice is, as always, a hypnotic melt of menace and charisma. [Dec 2004, p.145]

The contrast between Pearl and Natasha isn’t always crisply drawn, but a central conviction animates both.

Her lustrous music can err on the side of sleepy, because she prefers atmospherics and tricky harmonies to blaring hooks. [Apr/May 2002, p.116]

A hedonistic debut that's thick with the stench of leatherette and fake fur. [Aug 2004, p.131]

There's a fine line between sounding passionate and overwrought, but [The Veils] find themselves on the proper side of that smudgy barrier--just. [Aug 2004, p.142]

Unlike some other singers, Timberlake never seems a puppet of his hot producers. [#12, p.154]

An ephemeral, genre-less mix of beat-driven mood music. [#15, p.127]

Case's own melodies aren't nearly as indelible as the country classics she's emulating. [#10, p.115]

The band's smart-boy quirks make repeated listens progressively more enjoyable. [Jun/Jul 2002, p.106]

After years of trading her signature flourishes for a radio-ready purr, she's left with almost no presence at all. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.118]

Textured mood music. [Apr 2005, p.119]

A vibrant, classy debut. [#10, p.126]

Liars are more about energy than solid songwriting, but these spastic, jagged grooves are powerful enough to inspire a sea of awkward punk-rock dances. [#9, p.150]

Vapor Trails combines the cartoonish familiarity of Geddy Lee's helium-tinged vocals and [Neil] Peart's hyperkinetic drumming with the tuneful, concise writing they've favored since 1989's Presto. [Jun/Jul 2002, p.113]

While his band's skeletal, rattling rhythms, swollen with synthesizer and studio ornamentation, feel more multidimensional than ever, Davis is most compelling when he retreats into the third person to describe an unnamed, uninspired singer with a "dumb-ass song" ('Ever Be').

The closest his polite bum comes to tearing loose is when he gives his music-hall skiffle a Dixieland bounce. [Apr 2009, p.80]

There are two even matched KT Tunstalls on her debut album: One borrows from Chris Martin's bag of shopworn metaphors... The other one is more unsettling and more intriguing. [Apr 2006, p.118]

Gutterflower, for better or worse, is a perfectly executed encapsulation of the unexciting state of mainstream rock in 2002. [Jun/Jul 2002, p.108]

On the harder-rocking half, Duritz is nearly emo-esque in his self-loathing.... The disk's Sunday Morning half, is more acoustic, quieter, reflective. But after the epic bender that precedes it, it's also just kind of a drag. [Apr 2008, p.78]

As double albums go, it's a hell of an EP. [Mar 2006, p.114]