The Long Goodbye is no cutesy, navel-gazing crap; it's the neglected pop practice of C-A-R-E and reverence of form and forefathers. [#59, p.93]

The opposition between sonic abstraction and more familiar pop elements like beats, riffs and grooves creates a welcome tension. [#58, p.83]

Louris' vision is still pretty much stuck in 1992. [#58, p.94]

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

The S4 seems very confident in getting away from itself and making music not burdened by influence, but propelled by it. [#58, p.106]

With its plumb-pretty songs, Mouthfuls will be part of the Smithsonian's year 3000 exhibit on white people. [#59, p.95]

It stands as not only the most fully realized Portastatic album but as one that ought not be overshadowed by its creator's more well-known outlet. [#59, p.107]

When they fall into slow, sullen standards like minimalist closer "I Cry Alone," it's magnificently evil. [#59, p.86]

It's what the British Invasion might've sounded like had it come after punk rock. [#58, p.109]

He slouches in with "Sisters" and begins his album-long teetering on the brink of affectation, sounding like a teenager with restratint. [#59, p.89]

Keep On Your Mean Side suffers from the same-samey quicksand tha bogs down the overhyped Yeah Yeah Yeahs. [#58, p.95]

Not even Linkous can prop up this house of cards for long. [#58, p.94]

Manages a graceful, humble, grounded timelessness without sacrificing the groove. [#58, p.82]

An embarrassment of riches. [#58, p.91]

Less, in this case, proves to be much more; Jurado's songs just cut closer when unadorned. [#58, p.95]

Just start at track six, where the getting gets good. [#58, p.97]

The misfires pale in comparison to the stomp and swagger of the record's best songs. [#58, p.91]

Even at their most obvious, the Buzzcocks can smoke the young guns. [#58, p.83]

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

Probably one of the better pop recordings you'll hear in '03. [#58, p.98]

Ward's far-ranging sound transcends the room.... If only his lyrics were as fresh. [#58, p.106]

Sounds like classic overcompensation, a racket on wheels trying to live up to its hype by merely playing over it. [#59, p.98]

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

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

Inhabit[s] some weird middle ground between The Teaches of Peaches and Prince's 1999. [#58, p.98]

He sandbags every song with gigantic, syrupy string arrangements that make John Williams sound like John Cage. [#58, p.82]

More of the same, yes, but riding what sounds like an autumnal rebirth. [#58, p.86]

Give Up is a record that says, well, nothing. [#58, p.100]

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

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

Play[s] like a remember-the-'90s rundown. [#58, p.98]

A near-perfect record to hold onto with all the might you can muster. [#58, p.103]

A half-hearted attempt to outshine 2001's A Better Version Of Me, but lacks all the "Spit And Fire" that made that album so human. [#58, p.105]

Predictable. [#57, p.105]

The unintentionally hilarious Mount Eerie misfires so dramatically, it makes you want to reconsider not the Second Amendment but the First. [#57, p.98]

For all its attempts at hipster currency, Evil Heat reveals the needle-shaped creative hole where the drugs used to be. [#57, p.102]

Turgid at best. [#57, p.102]

She's a ghost in the machine; unfortunately, the machine is an Atari 2600. [#57, p.80]

Nowhere near as strong and complete as Bewilderbeast, but its best moments burn just as brightly. [#57, p.81]

Could be a Tortoise record with vocals. [#57, p.81]

Easy listening has never been this painful. [#57, p.106]

Like a handful of Flinstones Chewables, Velocity is sugary, prehistoric and well-intentioned, but Apples don't make a meal. [#56, p.78]

Offers little bits of everything Luna does well. [#57, p.93]

Even at 42 minutes, it's hard to take iin at one sitting. But it recalls ambinet Eno and Nurse With Wound's Spiral Insana by effectively blending abrasive elements with moody atmosphere. [#56, p.101]

Shallow and superficial. [#56, p.101]

A beautifully dark masterpiece. [#56, p.99]

Seems a transitional work connecting As Above to the future. [#56, p.78]

O'Neill's voice is so perfectly suited to the material that you can hear single spour forth like rain. [#56, p.109]

The album fares best when Evelyn lets his sampler do the talking. [#56, p.101]

The playing is imaginative, the ideas vibrant and shimmering and the band's considerable melodic gifts sabotaged by either willfully obtuse compositional tricks or outright punk bratiness. [#55, p.84]

Fully realized tracks such as "Affection" and the peppy "I'm A Vampire" are so fetching that they eclipse the rest of Eternal Youth, which is padded with brief, blippy non-songs and is often top-heavy with (literal) bells and whistles. [#56, p.93]

More of the same, yes, but good enough to make longtime fans crank the volume on the way to their divorce hearings while younger converts learn that the rock wasn't born last year. [#55, p.83]

It's as if Steve Miller and the Beach Boys got together, sacked the session players and sang over breakbeats and a thicket of digital clicks and clacks. [#56, p.105]

While every cut is identifiably Spoon and the album will satisfy hard-line fans of the band, a fiery R&B element is now a significant component. [#55, p.88]

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

It's everything you ever loved about obscure French and Italian new-wave cinema soundtracks without the stench of rancid popcorn. [#55, p.74]

While the song remains beautifully, remarkably, the same, it's getting harder to like. [#55, p.72]

It runs longer than an hour, and no matter how much you liked the Smiths you probably don't hav ethe patience for that much Gene. [#56, p.89]

Daybreaker, though neither as arresting as her debut nor as cohesive as its follow-up, almost corrects the inconsistency issue. [#55, p.86]

Listening to Coyne retreat behind the faux-Power Rangers horror-movie shtick he's created here is puzzling and ultimately disappointing. [#55, p.73]

Many of the songs meander, and the constant back-to-the-'60s vibe loses its charm. [#55, p.94]

After delivering a classic, Superdrag has returned with something just shy of that, but considering the quality here, no one has any right to spew complaints. [#55, p.91]

The way-cute, we're-just-messing-around-with-our-computer feel of Out Of The loop is missed, but The Tight Connection gives a crisper picture of the duo at work. [#55, p.80]

Instrumentally, Torino strays little from previous Cinerama releases.... But lyrically, Gedge... [has] developed a gritter, nastier edge. [#55, p.72]

Among the lot lie some stone-cold Pollard classics. [#55, p.76]

Not nearly as tear-stained as his 2000 mini-album Gerroa Songs, Three zeroes in on the uptempo, if not the upbeat. [#55, p.84]

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

Though it isn't as catchy or streamlined as Lifestyle, one of Italian Platinum's many strengths is the continued ability of bassist Tim Midgett and guitarist Andy Cohen to pen lyrics that are downcast yet inspirational, witty yet insightful, sometimes all at once. [#55, p.86]

The tight, buzzing guitars and chugging rhythm section have been deconstructed--subdued, even. [#54, p.78]

A genre-defying, glorious mess of an album. [#54, p.109]

A tremendous leap forward. [#55, p.77]

Song after song hurts in that oh-so-right way. [#54, p.89]

Songs so immediately enthralling you won't even notice the faint Dungeons & Dragons scent of [Rieger's] lyrics. [#54, p.88]

A rewarding, cohesive and climactic experience. [#54, p.88]

Dealing with Trans Am entails dealing with a great sense of humor that's a fun and striking listen to boot. [#54, p.109]

A note-cramming session heavy on the Little Feat and light on the Sea And Cake. [#55, p.70]

The 13-song set gurgles and gloops with the surreal intensity of a Morricone score revisted by a Bollywood auteur/mixmaster. [#54, p.91]

Music, while a pleasant listen, is nowhere near the heartfelt art Eitzel normally blesses us with. [#54, p.86]

It finds Wareham in rare form. [#54, p.95]

Control is the finger-pointing punk record of the year. [#54, p.101]

As If To Nothing occasionally lapses into moments that more closely resemble a compilation tape than a cohesive body of music. [#54, p.76]

What On really proves is that great albums aren't a thing of the past. [#54, p.94]

Their second album only partially makes good on their promise, delivering a lovely package that lacks the emotional punch of last year's terrific self-titled debut. [#55, p.70]

Every bit as visceral and thrilling as fellow Manhattanites the Strokes. [#54, p.98]

Their best work. [#54, p.107]

The band has finally become more than the sum of its friends. [#54, p.106]

If only [L'Altra] would wipe away the polish, stop being yet another tender pop band and let its melodies be springboards for exploration instead of straightjackets. [#54, p.94]

Here, on one compact disc, is what's wrong with the music industry. [#54, p.110]

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

One of 2002's candidates for record-of-the-year honors.... Too Late is a top-to-bottom masterwork. [#54, p.85]

The whole album rocks. [#53, p.74]

If Low or Acetone pull your melancholy levers and there's a need for some hurt feelings, then go ahead and reserve Skyscraper National Park a space on your 2002 top-10 list. [#54, p.92]

On a very small and exclusive CD rack, you'd file I snugly between the recent albums by Air and Cornelius. [#53, p.72]

As his politics become more complex, his writing has grown subtler, the melodies more sophisticated and the lyrics more richly detailed. [#53, p.72]

Given the confines of such a childlike context, these songs' emotional range is remarkably thoughtful. [#54, p.86]

Speed rock, Gretsch guitar thunder and frontman heroics give this rockabilly cat his claws. [#54, p.102]

It isn't always pleasant, but it's always surprisingly pretty. [#54, p.88]

[Town and Country] have the compositional savvy and play with the precision to make such passages hypnotic rather than pretentious. [#54, p.110]