The fact that Comicopera is a masterpiece proves it all right nicely. [Fall 2007, p.113]

There remain very few great "lost" albums. Make no mistake. This is one. [No. 147, p.59]

Her fourth and most accomplished album to date maps a course to know-not-where in the most emotionally direct, imaginative way possible. [No. 110, p.60]

Labradford continues to make music so quiet and haunting that, like falling leaves, creaking floorboards or the gentle flapping of bird wings, it seems to exist on its own terms... [#50, p.97]

That [M83] achieve My Bloody Valentine beauty through antiquated analog rigs is an achievement in itself. [#64, p.100]

Williams is competing with listeners' ingrained memories of these songs and thta can be a challenge. But the rock songs rock harder, the swampy blues groove more deeply, and the "He Never Got Enough Love" rewrite tells a better story. [No. 148, p.60]

Syro is surprisingly listenable without drawing much attention to itself. [No. 115, p.52]

Even when he's pouring on the lushness, the producer keeps Fay's gentle, weathered voice and arresting lyrics front and center. [No.91, p.54]

For all its listenability, Centres is still wildly inventive. [No. 133, p.55]

Essential listening for any heavy-music fan ... or youngsters wondering what that whole Seattle fuss was all about. [No. 138, p.61]

Separation Sunday is a book-on-tape, a grim and funny tome that draws from the Bible and Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas. [#68, p.98]

A more ambitious and confident document of Califone's ability to catapult old sounds into a new millennium. [#58, p.84]

As confusing as it is ultimately compelling. [#61, p.89]

A truly brilliant recording. [#53, p.93]

While all this sounds real pretty and is a pitch-perfect soundtrack for your hip cosmopolitan engagements, You Forgot doesn't have enough stick-to-your-gut songs to sustain a long-term, repeated-listening relationship. [#60, p.93]

Marling is the gutsiest of chamber folkies. [No.99, p.57]

Drummer Jerry Fuchs (now deceased) displaces air molecules the way advanced, AI-driven pulverizing machines in distant galaxies only wish they could throughout space banger "Yeah, C'mon," leaving guitarist Justin Chearno no choice but to vaporize his fretboard. [No.87 p.59]

A fascinating, headbanging and improbably accessible listen. [No. 136, p.55]

There's a lot to love about 'Sno Angel... Like You. [#71, p.98]

You can dance to almost anything here, but between breaths, you'll marvel at his control and the way each sound pops like a primary color. [#67, p.104]

Weller has always created a fine present out of traces of the past; A Kind Revolution is a funkier present. [No. 143, p.60]

This box set definitively captures the shaggy, psychobilly garage-stomp of U-Men during their decade-ling '80s run as the foremost representative of the Emerald City underground. [No. 149, p.61]

It's Great manages to create a cohesive set that engages the listener at each turn. [No. 126, p.55]

What strike most are Sheff's strained, impassioned vocals and the joyful variety of instrumentation. [#67, p.110]

An organic expression of the beauty that can be found in the fragile, arbitrary nature of communication. [No. 92, p.52]

It's all drunkenly cinematic, as prickly as a cactus and smart as hell. [#58, p.85]

There's nothing else like it, and once you listen, you'll never forget it. [No. 136, p.61]

Sharp and well-recorded, but although Rebennack's distinctive voice is featured front and center, there's a sacrifice of his artistry. [#86, p.53]

While it's hard not to hear Soul Of A Woman and mourn Jones' death, the joyful vibrancy and old-school expertise coursing through these tracks quickly supersede any hint of sadness. [No. 149, p.58]

Nothing Has Changed makes his entire discography sound more consistent than it actually is. [No. 116, p.52]

The whole thing is ghoulishly gorgeous in the most comfortably comfortable way. [No. 121, p.60]

The music, co-created with producer Patrick Leonard, is sparse but energetically diverse, with dips into Memphis soul, country, cabaret and jazzy funk. [No. 115, p.58]

A rousing, energetic exploration of the Roy Orbison-influenced rock 'n' roll, classic country and Latin influences--that blows all the damn mall-folk clogging up our inbox out of the goddamn water. [No. 96, p.57]

American Dream is, in purely sonic terms, their richest, most viscerally pleasurable record yet, rife with layered, polyrhythmic percussion and an encyclopedic array of synth textures. [No. 147, p.56]

The wall of sound this band generates with distorted guitars, samples, industrial noise and live drums is overwhelming at times, but the message it conveys about race and class in America is an important one. [No. 143, p.53]

The eight songs are all beautifully crafted, integrating elements of folk, blues and country/rock.... A new American classic. [No. 115, p.55]

The Convincer gives Lowe yet another gold star with which to pad that resume. [#51, p.99]

Circles finds the band leaving a bit of the motorik behind for more melodic and dynamic territory. [#82, p.57]

What makes the album exceptional is its thematic unity and storybook approach. [#67, p.85]

Shaking proves from the get-go to be easily the most ambitious and defiantly challenging release in either Dreijer sibling's catalog. [No. 97, p.57]

Hitchhiker is a perfectly wonderful solo-acoustic session recorded one day in 1976. .... This is a most welcome collection. [No. 148, p.61]

Musically, Fox fulfills the wish list of fans who've waitied for new material since 2002's Blacklisted. [#71, p.89]

All the elements anyone would want from the band are adroitly balanced. [No. 136, p.59]

Continues to mine the same sparkling vein of crushed-velvet pop/punk Spoon has perfected as its stock in trade. [#49, p.91]

Tyler's command of his instrument is commendable, but his ability to use it for a compelling, lyrical collection of instro cuts is even more so. [No. 96, p.60]

This double-disc retrospective includes an illustrated, 82-page hardcover book that tells her story, all six of her singles and an expanded version of her sole LP, a live album that captures her ferocious charisma and impassioned, gravelly voice on familiar R&B hits like "Money," "High Heel Sneakers" and "Shotgun." [No. 149, p.61]

Serves notice that Molina has discovered some heavy machinery and isn't afraid to use it. [#58, p.106]

Nothing here is throwaway. [No.88, p.53]

It continues to add up to something special. [No. 139, p.51]

Repeated spins reveal an exotic, intoxicating soup. [No. 146, p.61]

Benji isn't for everyone--what great albums are?--but it's a career-defining statement by a brilliant songwriter. [No. 106, p.59]

An unnervingly powerful, cathartic final statement. [#61, p.107]

This long-forgotten collection is a fine, representative memento of California country rock in its heyday. [No.95, p.53]

Deep and communal, Barefoot In The Head is CRB's most impressive studio effort yet. [No. 145, p.59]

Their best record since reuniting. [#68, p.95]

Intensely personal and musically powerful, Griffin captures the bold spirit of her family's history with top-notch songs. [No.99, p.56]

These songs--even the quiet ones--are bold, messy, unflinching, humming with life. [No. 147, p.61]

[A] momentous sixth LP. [No. 96, p.60]

This return to form annotates the band's last 22 years rather nicely. [#73, p.110]

A full band plays behind Joyner's acoustic guitar and quiet vocals, but they employ the same restraint that marks his singing, making very quiet note resonate with low-key, understated emotion. [No. 119, p.57]

The Icarus Line has created a masterful artistic achievement that can scarcely be listen to. The musical sweep is epic, highly orchestrated. [No. 125, p.57]

Her first solo LP in a 40-year career is as diverse as it is good, and plenty of Bagsian punk fury is in evidence. [No.133, p.53]

The trilogy's scarred, scary travelogue defines '70s Berlin as much as it does Bowie in uncompromising recovery mode. ... Brilliant. [No. 147, p.52]

Tillman wisely scales back the orchestration and flourishes to their bare minimum in order to put his voice and lyrics at the forefront. [No. 141, p.54]

While it is technically flawless and masterfully executed, it makes for awkward listening. [#74, p.102]

Supermodified is a culmination, for its operatic/cinematic soundscapes... are utterly unique. [#46, p.93]

From blunted bedroom nights with a drum machine to two decades down the line releasing one of the finest true hip-hop offerings since Moment Of Truth. Always listen to the Weathermen. [No. 131, p.53]

Though it's easily the group's densest, most challenging release to date, Tomorrow's Harvest will likely gratify anyone willing to dig deep enough to reap its wonders. [No. 100, p.53]

The songs are quiet and emotionally intense, and they unfold like a collection of short stories in which characters and themes recur and play off each other. [No. 137, p.60]

A staggering masterpiece. [No. 125, p.55]

The mixed results are troubling. [#55, p.86]

This is a sterling document well worth revisiting. [No. 123, p.59]

They've abandoned songs entirely in favor of pulsing, predominately electronic pieces that radiate a warmth that contrasts dramatically with Labradford's chilly austerity. [No. 141, p53]

These existential sonic sketches are minimalist in nature but come together as an electroacoustic whole far greater than its composite parts. [No. 143, p.61]

If it takes another 36 years for something so sublime, I await the next 36 years. [#70, p.86]

Musically, there's nary a bad track. [No. 107, p.54]

A formidable, spooky album you can lose--or perhaps find--yourself in. [#61, p.97]

A damn good sophomore effort. [#54, p.86]

Credit sludgemeister Alan Moulder's mixing with fashioning this trio's graceless clamor into a pop blasterpiece (though the high-gloss context occasionally suggests a randier, more cacophonous No Doubt). [#59, p.111]

The best punk record you'll hear all year, articulate and amped all the same. [#58, p.86]

A rare second album that matches a brilliant debut. [#54, p.76]

Not quite essential but is damn close. [#58, p.97]

One of 2000's most consistently compelling listens. [#48, p.95]

[Rossen] passes on Grizzly Bear and Department of Eagles' carefully manicured sprawl in favor of focus and immediacy. [No.86, p.57]

With the release of Old Ramon, Kozelek shows he's capable of sustained inspiration.... It's Kozelek's most successful LP: consistent, heartbreakingly sad and filled with gems that will linger in his fans' psyches. [#49, p.85]

El-P splits the difference between old-school bruisers, cyber-punk dystopias and misanthropic noir. [No.88 p. 55]

Although one of his most accessible, it's not constrained to formula. ... It was worth the wait. [No. 134, p.54]

Vega rarely got the opportunity to be heard beyond the underground, so clarity--in passing--was essential. And all the more piercing for it. [No. 146, p.61]

The group has dropped folky fingerpicking and bucolic string melodies in favor of episodic compositions full of complex horn and percussion textures. [#60, p.117]

It is, by any measure, a lovely, lovingly made record, its 13 tracks coming to enveloping climaxes via mystifyinng, electrifying turns of phrase. [No.99, p.51]

She didn’t play nice and didn’t take kindly to notions of acting “ladylike,” and Full Circle is her victory lap. [No. 129, p.57]

Despite lyrics contending with crippling anxiety, suicide and relationship strife, what ultimately emerges in a celebration of the defiant act of loving and living fully in the face of a world gone mad. [No. 143, p.59]

A quartet of droney sameness [in the second half] essentially grinds Moonlight's funkiest ingredients into a sluggish, repetitive pulp. [#68, p.111]

Feels is layered as no other Collective album before it. [#70, p.87]

Different Every Time is a two-CD overview illuminating Wyatt's strengths as a musician, politically outspoken performer, singer, bandmate, leader and composer. [No. 116, p.61]

Its palette remains expansive. [No. 123, p.61]

Takes a baby step toward the mainstream. [#69, p.108]