Like her two previous solo records, Merchant's stately gloom is the stuff of pretension and precision, and her serviceably beautiful voice comes off as either darkly charming or annoyingly lilting (sometimes both at the same time).

Brion girds Apple's elastic melodies with off-kilter beats, giving her music a more rhythmic feel than it has previously had, while the singer herself runs the spectrum of grim emotions.

With Night Works, the gung-ho Layo and Bushwacka! have made an intelligent album that doesn't stray too much from it's shadowy overall mood, aided by determined breakbeats and drawn-out orchestral sounds.

Beautifully constructed pop songs, reminiscent at times of the Go Betweens, the Red House Painters, and even Brian Wilson in his more ambient mode. Broken by Whispers is a quiet album, then, but its intelligence, taste, and daring vulnerability hit hard -- whispers with all the impact of screams.

The eclectic, pan-genre disc opens -- as did 2000's Transcendental Blues -- as an unabashed rocker, but this time around Earle uses the heavy artillery to underscore weightier worldly themes.

Might already have an inside shot to be the best record of 2002 here in the states.

De la Rocha's rabid diatribes occasionally go overboard, particularly on the tracks (Eric B & Rakim's "Microphone Fiend" and Minor Threat's "In My Eyes," for example) that feed into the band's sometimes one-dimensional rap-metal groove. But when the band steps out of character -- as it does during its rudimentary take on MC5's "Kick Out the Jams" or its pacific reading of "Beautiful World" -- the results can seem truly transcendent.

As cohesive and potent as Everyday or anything else in the DMB's catalog

His most ambitious collection of songs to date.

This is blender pop of the finest order, held together by some of the most high-minded funk in this galaxy.

When Maxwell sings songs cultivated to melt a girl's heart ("Silently"), it sounds more like grand, fervent gospel than a cheap, fevered move.

The words are now injected with a new industrial strength venom that make the last album seem like Hanson's Christmas disc.

Elephant Shoe recalls the somber tranquility of Velvet Underground at its most remote.

Not every moment of Revelling/Reckoning is a winner. But the record is probably DiFranco's first where all the tags -- staunch D.I.Y.-er, feminist, bisexual folk-punk -- and the baggage of her brutally personal songwriting play second fiddle to the songs found within.

Throughout Standards, Tortoise takes the listener on mini-journeys into sound that alternately shimmer, contort, seduce, and confound...

With 18 songs that clock in at over 63 minutes, The Hour of Bewilderbeast meanders too much, and the quirky pacing (there are many random instrumental interludes) makes it difficult to enjoy as a whole. But taken in sections, it's a bit of a grower.

A thoroughly modern, introspective album... The lush sound of earlier Go-Betweens albums has been traded for simpler, more restrained instrumentation even when accented with cello and violin.

On Art and Life, Beenie's lyrical flow is unstoppable. He unleashes some of his sharpest and funniest rhymes over slickly-produced tracks aimed squarely for hip-hop radio airplay.

Although most tracks don't stray far from the studio versions (aside from a few typical chants and rants from Hyde and a nice transition or two), Everything Everything is a must-have as a milestone in the life of the band.

It is truly exciting stuff from a group that represents a sagging genre's vitally bright future.

Air's score darkens their brand of soft, introspective melodies with wavering pianos, funereal organs, and disembodied synth loops, and the resulting soundscapes often have a spacey, Pink Floyd-ish quality.

Carefully written, elegantly performed, and generously emotional, it's another work by an artist still at his creative peak.

Becker and Fagen seem to have found their happy place during the recording of Two Against Nature. And as it's presented on this extremely infectious collection, their joy is contagious.

When a band amasses most of its fan base from constant touring, as ATDI has, creating an album that captures the rawness of live shows is paramount. This natural ingredient in its sound is captured beautifully on Relationship of Command.

Everything about Folk Implosion’s One Part Lullaby admits to coming-of-age. The Lou Barlow /John Davis indie side project has gone major label; its so "lo-fi" sound has turned lush, and the adenoidal adolescent complaints have, if not completely matured, at least become more accepting of life’s cycle.

The Beta Band evokes the lushness of '60s AM popsters the Association in its soft vocal ensembles while demonstrating an instrumental prowess ("Eclipse") that recollects the lo-fi sonic buzz of Flying Saucer Attack.

The Boys unleash some of their most sublime and accessible material in years.

Scarecrow is a fine album, one that can be placed favorably next to Brooks' career milestones No Fences and Ropin' the Wind.