A comfortable but nonetheless adventurous next step for this secretly brilliant band. [No. 131, p.61]

Buffalo Killers have conceived an evocative soundtrack comprising equal parts of rush, peak, contemplation and glow. [No. 109, p.52]

Akron/Family is John Brown's body, the ghost of Tom Joad and the art-school spirit of Andy Warhol crammed into one ornate, mossy mausoleum. [#68, p.100]

Forever Sounds’ strength is in its emphasis on the sound of the band, echoing its increasingly confi dent, assured live show. [No. 129, p.57]

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

A catchy rock record steeped in intelligent social and personal commentary that incorporates pedal and lap steel with great cowpunk results. [#60, p.119]

Sharply written and softly played, the perfectly bittersweet End Of Love balances the books. [#67, p.87]

Assured and assertive, Night Time, My Time plays like the darker, dirtier counterpart to fellow category-co-founders Haim. [No. 105, p.54]

Heaven Adores You accomplishes its purpose: It reminds us of the evolution of a favorite artist and gives us the gift of new music, even if what it does best is send us back to the original albums to say yes to them all over again. [No. 129, p.51]

The jaunty-yet-subtle tunes sneak up on you slowly, so you don't notice O'Rourke's corrosively misanthropic lyrics until they're inextricably lodged in your head. [#53, p.86]

IX strips down the layers and offers walls of noise, but cushions the blow with moody interludes. [No. 116, p.53]

You may smirk, but you're more likely to sing along to Some Things Never Stay The Same than to crack up at its extra-layering and gratuitous cymbal flourishes. [No. 105, p.55]

Harrowing electronic soundscapes set the scene like a Cronenberg film with sputtering, stuttering drum machines, droning organs, witchy background coos and Stewart vocals. [No. 106, p.61]

Transformation is richly and lushly inherent in everything Hegarty makes his own. [No. 116, p.53]

Anachronism never sounded so good. [#53, p.72]

This five-LP/four-CD set collects all of its albums and a ton of extras, and paints romantic picture of a band that possibly could only have existed when it did. [No. 116, p.53]

New Seasons is a reverb-drenched, genre-hopping gem, the culmination of a 10-year, eight-album journey that promises to bear even more riches farther down the road.

Goldfrapp is the rare dance art-pop band that bleeds artistic integrity without looking back to the '80s for inspiration. [#71, p.98]

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]

No, the London band is never going to be called innovative, but the gusto with which it approaches those naked influences of Dinosaur Jr, Pavement and Sonic Youth--and the craftsmanship with which it does so--cracks through our cynical shells. [No. 129, p.61]

This loosening of the reins, ironically, has yielded her most intimate and cohesive album. [#67, p.92]

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]

The 13-track Parallel Play is a decidedly less ambitious effort, but it’s no less brilliant in its execution.

Better still is hearing Byrne's mincing yelp and Veloso's flickering vocals as one entity as it winds its way weirdly through the calm breezes of Talking Heads' "Heaven" as well as a small bunch of flowery nu-brazilian classics and cuts penned by both composers. [#86, p.59]

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

A taut, 40-minute affair with no filler. [#71, p.110]

Quilt doesn’t merely revisit retro glories on Plaza; it infuses them with contemporary indie-rock energy and melodic dissonance to create an edgy and engaging hybrid. [No. 129, p.59]

We All Want The Sam Thing is the best of his three solo albums because it lets the music serves the stories. [No. 141, p.55]