[Case] settles into a relaxed dive-bar groove. [Nov 2004, p.130]

For her to pull off something as ambitious, gritty and accomplished as this at age 21 is flat-out amazing. [#15, p.127]

A hip-hop Blood On The Tracks. [#27, p.143]

It's a declaration of independence, and she pulls it off stunningly. [Jan 2004, p.105]

When it works, his songs are intoxicating pop nuggets... But meandering instrumental interludes and clunky song titles are low on wink, high on wank. [May 2005, p.122]

The songs have as much personality as ever, reviving bygone styles, from falsetto lite-funk to electro proto-rap, with goofball energy and a music geek’s careful ear.

They've... picked up the tempo, sweetened the tunes and upgraded the rhythm section. [Mar 2006, p.109]

Pretty, weird and tricky to get a handle on. [Mar 2007, p.136]

Unlike other current heart-on-sleeve troubadours, Lekman uses his tender touch to brilliantly tease out the bumbling awkwardness that defines modern love.

Dangerous Magical Noise is a great Friday night, and your ears will ring through Sunday. [Nov 2003, p.112]

A casual, mostly charming sketchbook of diffident alt-country laments. [Mar 2004, p.116]

It's not as good as 1988's South of Heaven, but there's enough speaker-shredding guitar noise to make up for any vocal deficiencies. [Aug/Sep 2001, p.128]

Could be the best album he's ever made. [Dec 2004, p.146]

The dramatic arc of these songs is built around the way instruments lurch into place and dance drunkenly around one another before staggering off once again.

Pink is their fastest, most instantly gratifying album.

She's just as acute as [Rufus] is, as centered on the poetry within the profane, as able to write songs whose meanings stay kept behind doors within doors. [May 2005, p.125]

They've made a great record of choogling and--surprisingly for the wonky Malkmus--tender tunes. [Apr 2003, p.125]

Sentimental post-country tunes knock against acute lyrics about rent, overbearing parents and other aspects of the pre-midlife crisis, as rock-out moments keep grimness at bay. [#11, p.140]

The beats throughout are deliriously varied. [Dec 2004, p.138]

Finally, an album that bridges the gaping chasm between hipsters and Rennaisance Faires. [Jun 2005, p.112]

Tighter and freakier than her debut. [Jul 2006, p.102]

When the singer’s overfamiliarity with certain material risks turning him nonchalant, Dan Nimmer’s barrelhouse piano picks up the slack; just when you’re ready to give up on an uninspired Hank Williams cover, some New Orleans parade funk kicks in.

It partly works. [Mar 2006, p.110]

Refining the spare sound of her last studio album "Uh Huh Her," she herein presents an 11-part song cycle about loss, longing and wandering bereft through the moors. [Oct 2007, p.108]

Not surprisingly, their debut tends toward brooding, bluesy rock—a worthy soundtrack for those dark, whiskey-soaked nights of the soul and the regret-filled mornings after.

Keep It Hid is guitarist and singer Dan Auerbach’s affirmation of ragged principles, self-recorded with blunt, squawky ax-picking and loving lo-fi grit. The sentiments can be snoozily familiar.

The sound is simultaneously terse and expansive--moody and powerful, shot through with singer Chris Martin's grainy delivery. [#9, p.145]

Yanqui U.X.O.'s five long tracks unfold in distinct movements, like symphonic '70s prog, but with rawer, emotional atmospherics. [#13, p.93]