Buffeted by big guitars, her thin, untrained voice occasionally sounds listless. [May 2004, p.118]

A set of abrasively melodic pop songs. [May 2004, p.124]

The group aims for a mix of artistry and cred, a la N.E.R.D. or the Beastie Boys, but their music is rarely as catchy. [Aug 2004, p.130]

She has deepened and darkened her sound without sacrificing her platinum-plated melodies. [#27, p.141]

The basic Slipknot sound has improved. [#27, p.147]

A rather polite album... but it's also comprehensively gorgeous. [#27, p.138]

Persson does sadness the way Eminem does anger: with a conviction that takes the breath away.

Kravitz has evolved merely from one set of retro-’70s surfaces to another, with uncharacteristically uninspired hooks.

Her signature sound -- voice snarling through a tangle of massed guitars -- is here, but so is a softer, more vulnerable tone. The melodies, while radio-ready, have a stomping insistence.

This set bogs down when the band flaunts its slow-chug technique at the expense of hooks and jokes. [#27, p.139]

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

Delays have found a way to combine the sparkling harmonies of the Byrds with the glorious noise of My Bloody Valentine, and still sound as fresh and surprising as a London heat wave. [#27, p.134]

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

Feels like surprisingly generic party rap. [May 2004, p.126]

A prince's share of his royal talent survives. [Aug 2004, p.136]

Grand in scope, majestic in sweep and only 57 percent pretentious. [#27, p.143]

The Thermals are the rarest of punk bands: a three-chord, three-member outfit whose clamorous drive actually resolves into a riveting, accessible worldview. [#27, p.146]

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.

His best album since Vauxhall & I. [#27, p.140]

At times, i turns dangerously slow and arty.... But for the first time, [Merritt's] lethargic croak also emits a few degrees of human warmth. [May 2004, p.124]

Sometimes the tone is self-congratulatory, but a house band this glorious deserves some kind of standing ovation. [May 2004, p.127]

It's an attractive kind of stoner-folk, whose dimensions she controls on a minute level, with enough gradually shifting detail to get lost in. [#27, p.139]

Lost in an eerie, graceful torpor, he opens his mouth and lets words seep out and linger, like so much intoxicating smoke.

Feverish and bruised, dense as chowder, the songs describe danger and alienation in distressed voices. [May 2004, p.128]

His wisest and warmest record yet. [#27, p.136]

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]

[Holland] has been rather mistakenly compared to Billie Holiday; she’s more like Jeff Buckley covering Nina Simone, turning a very modern ear toward yesterday.

If the comfy, mostly acoustic, fiddle-inflected tunes are pure Nashville craft, the lyrics speak bluntly about personal dislocation and loneliness. [May 2004, p.119]