A rich, mainly acoustic fabric. [#86, p.59]

Nothing about Sunday Run Me Over should stop fans from flocking to this. [No. 92, p.53]

Mala is his finest attempt at not killing momentum by diving down a rabbit hole. [No. 97, p.52]

It's an artful & well-crafted collection. [No. 98, p.60]

Ledges seems effortless in its creation. [No. 106, p.55]

It's not difficult to hear everyone from John Cate to Ryan Adams in the soundtrack. And yet, it's always distinctly Margot. [No. 108, p.57]

Whether in the flesh or behind-the-scenes, each work is all Wainwright. [No. 131, p.61]

Vacancy has a more organic, "big indie rock" real feel to it as opposed to something automatically designed to blast from convertibles and iPods in high-school lockers. [No. 134, p.53]

Too frequently, though, the new material doesn't have the constitution to withstand the heavy hand of producer and former Dawes guitarist Blake Mills. [No. 137, p.55]

Fans and obsessive will love this, but it may not qualify as a return journey for the rest of us. [No. 147, p.55]

While not on par with the best from those two bands [The Clash and Stiff Little Fingers], American Fail is still potent. [No. 148, p.53]

Even at 16 tracks, RKives feels paltry and incomplete. [No. 98, p.59]

This is the most blistering set the duo have put out in a long time. [No. 81, p. 56]

In control, indeed, and not just of scathing language. His command over his songwriter's rainbow, from pop sprite to pastoral sage to rockabilly goat gruff, redlines on "Hegira Emigre." [No. 103, p.56]

Turn Blue is a soft pack of post-coital smokes, and Marlboro Lights 100's at that. [No. 110, p.51]

It's when things slow down that Tare and Co.'s melodic intentions (and intensity) gets a better, clearer outing without losing their daring noisiness. [No. 108, p.58]

The Foo sextet has made its hardest, yet most curvaceous and warm-blooded record to date. [No. 148, p.54]

The overwhelming success of this unexpected Mac mashup is clear evidence that it's more than a one-off idea. [No. 144, p.52]

Only when [Earle] tries to escape his tuneful-yet-limited vocal range do the songs struggle. [#86, p.54]

This fourth full-length goes somewhere stranger: the 1980s. [No. 115, p.61]

Erasure avoids the obvious pitfalls with its usual combination of intelligence and good humor. [No. 104, p.55]

Home Again is an album with a powerful voice, but little to say. [No.89, p.56]

As an exercise in shimmering, occasionally funky rock, What For? succeeds. [No. 119, p.61]

The formula is familiar... but the results can be stranger than recent 'Lab fare. [#71, p.91]

It would seem the sun has risen over Dead Meadow and the flowers are finally in bloom. [#67, p.90]

In some ways, shedding the epic storytelling has given Vanderslice a more universal appeal. [#69, p.111]

This one's a keeper. [No.99, p.52]

The pulse of their motorik grooves feel more mechanical than menacing, and the decision to put '80s-vintage synthetic drums and pomp-rock synths up high in the mix distracts from evil intent. [No. 139, p.59]

The album includes a perky Cure pastiche, a taste of synth-pop and some very Spoon-ish back-and-forth between fuzzed-out, noisy guitars, but the succinct, kinetic rockers are its high points, and leaves you wanting more of them. [No. 97, p.59]

The results are everything you'd expect from the guys responsible for Pulp's This Is Hardcore, Air's Moon Safari and Beck's Sea Change. [#75, p.98]

By no means is this debut original, but the hooks are sharp enough and the no-Frills, overdub-free presentation shreds hard enough that it doesn't really need to be. [No. 108, p.59]

The new/old Psychedelic Swamp LP of today fuses the best of both worlds. [No. 128, p.51]

Musically, the quartet is borderline worthless. [#48, p.84]

Their first album in five years captures the comfortable joy of falling back into sync with old pals. [No. 112, p.61]

Nothing ever explodes on The Evens, which eschews Fugazi-style noise in favor of subtle dynamics and unsettling clarity. [#68, p.92]

Familiar moves all, by two musicians with whom familiarity breeds contentment.[No. 93, p.57]

Ultimately, this is really only of interest to random member of Teenage Fanclub and die-hard obsessives alike. [No. 103, p.52]

Visitations doesn't produce the novel shock that greeted Clinic's debut single, but it does find new rewards within predictable parameters. [#74, p.94]

The album features covers of songs they love, with folky, stripped-down arrangements that feature Amanda's smoky alto and Jack's rich, bass voice. [No. 134, p.59]

Negativity is well worth a shot, but there may be times you'll end up sleeping it off. [No. 102, p.55]

There's melody and rhythm, but mostly the overtones float through the ether, seldom resolving into anything approaching a song, although the overall effect is soothing and dreamy. [No. 135, p.54]

Full of life and sunshine. [No.87, p.53]

These tunes feel huge, enhanced by a newfound confidence, choirs literal and adhoc, and the snap-bracelet rhyme schemes of pal Aesop Rock. [No. 82, p.54]

A few songs flop... but the overall is a fitting celebration of the Chieftain's 50 years of music. [No. 85, p. 53]

Balances restraint and abandon in a near-perfect ritual tease. [#71, p.99]

While RZA has never sounded so alive, Banks has never sounded so, well, dead. This hot/cold, menace-and-moody pattern--it's what most of Anything But Words' song structures are all about. [No. 135, p.51]

Rigorously minimalist like a rock in the road is--a lump, emotionalessly excavated from nature's chaos. [No 134, p.55]

Dreamless might not be as thunderous as Endless Summer or as hooky as Crimes Of Passion, but it vastly improves on the scattershot Boys. [No. 138, p.55]

A delightful surprise. [#75, p.99]

[The songs] are luminous and affecting enough to outlast much of the bullshit shock therapy that silences that same fickle chattering class. [No. 132, p.59]

Occasionally, Tremain struggles to find a home amid the Collis' calm chaos, though his restrained and sustained bass lines are a non-cluttering foil demonstrating the importance of song dynamics, which isn't always a priority with math rockers. [No. 134, p.61]

The album's numerous ballads meander at times, but Stories Don't End is an overall solid effort. [No. 97, p.54]

Once a means to subvert pop/rock formula, the band's abruptly shifting dynamics have themselves become formulaic. [#67, p.97]

Pollard's most efficient and exploratory album in years. [#73, p.99]

Marshall’s second album of covers, mostly continues the cleaned-up, virtually lobotomized aesthetic of 2006’s unfortunately heralded "The Greatest."

Gonzalez is a romantic at heart, given to an array of lyrical possibilities even as his music ripples with the taut simplicity of someone strumming alone in his bedroom. [Fall 2007, p.96]

Save for the grooving, frizzy "Dreams," the ambient alterna-pop/R&B of Colors is sleek, clean and clear. [No. 148, p.53]

Cho's gorgeous, ghostly piano playing takes center stage on pensive slow-burner "Open Air," and finale "Gypsum" starts as a playful piano/bass groove, pit-stops at a carnival and transforms into what is arguably the most gonzo saloon tune ever. [No.88, p.53]

The voice and lyrics still confound but it's the music on this concise third LP that demands notice. [No. 107, p.55]

This California band seems to be one of those rare times when the major labels get it right. [#50, p.80]

Diploid probably has some ace songs, but you'll need an industrial belt sander to uncover them. [No. 109, p.55]

It's a clever set, no doubt, and ably built. But for the Soft moon's work to sound weightier, Vasquez may need to push his limits more aggressively. [No. 94, p.59]

Heaven? or Las Vegas? or, more probably (circa late '90's), Chicago? Hard to predict quite where Twin Sisters will end up, but it's a lovely, leisurely, labile journey all the same. [#81, p. 58]

It feels like the jazz/hip-hop album we've been waiting for. [No. 101, p.59]

Ultimately nothing curtails The Sides And In Between from taking large, genre-defying outbound steps. [No. 135, p.57]

[A] joyless, meticulously crafted trudge. [No. 106, p.52]

Mixes equal parts Teenage Fanclub and mid-period Wilco. [#74, p.91]

Even album highlights "The Malkin Jewel" and the almost serene "Vedamalady" aren't likely to do much more than appease the group's most ardent fans. [No.86, p.60]

A bit more expansive and widescreen, a bit more fleshed out and muscular, but essentially a companion piece to their debut. [No. 120, p.55]

The perfect soundtrack for winter 1996.... It's icy, robotic and just a little bit behind the Curve. [#58, p.88]

What's miraculous about Promise Of Love is the way the band instills the music with such incredible warmth. [#59, p.85]

Like the most effective camp, the line between what's intentionally and accidentally embarrassing is utterly ambiguous. [#58, p.82]

When it's not pounding out overly mechanical drum patterns, the band is crowding the better moments with unnecessary noise. A friendly suggestion for Sea Wolf LP number four: solo acoustic. [No.92 p.58]

Once it works its way through your ears, Too True won't leave your head anytime soon. [No. 106, p.56]

The Baltimore four-piece has the fuzzy guitar, the screamo vocals, the charging bass lines and an overwhelming sense of doom for stomping, post-Seattle noise punk. But the parts don't fit together. [No.87, p.54]

The energy is unreal, but it also seems to be Dope Body's raison d'etre. [No. 114, p.55]

For all his anger, the most convincing songs on Washington Square Serenade are about love, devotion, messing up and simply wanting to be heard. [Fall 2007, p.93]

Lanegan's stamp here is reverent-yet-indelible--think Mark Kozelek channeling AC/DC--and the organic sonic approach is an especially intriguing left turn following the electro buzz 'n' thrum of last year's resplendent Blues Funeral. [No. 102, p.57]

Though there are crinkled guitars and tiny beats slipped into the mix, they only add to the eloquence of the lush affair.

It's a success throughout. [No. 94, p.53]

It's frustrating, because behind the superficial surfaces, these songs can thrill. [No. 150, p.52]

This is particularly adept record-collector rock for the rest of us. [No. 95, p.54]

Warning may not only be the most beautiful Green Day LP but also the bravest. [#48, p.93]

It's like somebody took all the great elements of FM anthems--the indelible choruses, the melodic tenacity and the rush of invincibility--and cut out the fat. [#64, p.110]

Policy shows that Will is more than capable of getting the kids to wake up. [No. 118, p.53]

Unexpected exits drop like hailstones throughout the Athenian psych/pop institution's 13-track 13th album. [No. 103, p.55]

The LP works, but just barely... [Roberts] doesn't always mesh well with Morrison's cheerful singing. [No.86, p.57]

Perhaps both the best and worst you can say about Revolution Radio is that it sounds exactly like Green Day. [No. 137, p.55]

White Hills [cuts to the chase;] the tempos are quicker, hooks more insistent. [No. 85, p.60]

While k2o might be a little more abstract than its predecessor, the tones and textures are more fleshed out this time around. [No. 102, p.57]

He's back again, doing what he's always done--speak his shattered mind while some band choogles in the background. Mostly they supply adequately sweaty R&B and P-Funk-meets-AC/DC riffing. [No. 132, p.61]

There's a brighter sheen to the new Shins ... [yet] too often feels like Mercer's straining and striving when he used to be quirky and charming. [No. 85, p.51]

Set Free is no rehash, simply an album whose parameters are clearly defined in order that its interiors can be brought to life. [#69, p.86]

Uneasy listening, certainly, and not for the cursory-minded. [#59, p.94]

The major distinction this time around is the eerily cheery delivery. [#64, p.110]

Lovers Know is an unexpected turn that is saved by the passion of the performer behind it. [No. 123, p.61]

There is still pullback, and delicate, melodic music seeps in, sounding like (synthetic) waves crashing on a (glass) beach. [No. 92, p.52]

Loud and big--stadium big, major-label big--and although it has soft patches, much of it hurtles forward with welcomed urgency. [No.89, p.58]