Violent, seething and uncompromising. [#67, p.96]

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]

Like everyone from Young Marbles Giants to Stereolab, less is always more with ARS, making every choice more deliberate and powerful. [No. 102, p.52]

Subtle acoustic bass, quiet drums and occasional strings and piano accents support his strummed acoustic guitar, leaving his quiet, expressive singing at center stage. [No. 138, p.61]

The magic is still there. [#53, p.73]

At an hour long, Infiniheart occasionally feels infinite, but moments of perfection make VanGaalen's meanderings seem a necessary part of the whole appealing coincidence. [#69, p.110]

Third Eye Centre is a wonderful addendum to the band's prolific and enchanting catalog. [No. 102, p.53]

Another fine showcase for her savvy and adventurous approach to both song selection and interpretation. [No. 147, p.59]

He sparkles on his own. [No. 93, p.53]

Paternoster invites you to get ugly and rotten with her like it's a call to arms. [No.86, p.57]

Even the twosome's weakest album has undeniable substance in its slow burn. Don't call the Yes Age just yet. [No. 102, p.58]

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]

Musically, Honeybear is more polished effort than Fear Fun, with more production and horns to fill out the songs and an even bigger experimental streak. [No. 117, p.56]

Pere Ubu was changing rapidly, but this is shrewd stuff on which the band built its legend. [No. 130, p.61]

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

It's hard to recall an album so invitingly unfamiliar, so beguilingly hard to parse, so full of "wait, what was that?" moments... since the first Books album. [No.86, p.61]

MCII never quite gets to the point of pastiche, but its fondness for grunge-era distortion and '60s-style harmonies makes it entirely contemporary. [No. 98, p.53]

[The album is] really fun. You don't have to know about 12-tone serialism to appreciate the wonderfully goody innards of this appropriately titled compilation. [No.90, p.59]

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]

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

It's best to take each line as a scene, each song an onslaught of images, but embedded indelibly into your brain by hooks that won't quit. [No. 102, p.53]

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

Any absence of qualitative gain is overcome by quantity: 19 tracks, 10 tracks, 10 players, three LPs and nearly two hours with one of the best start-to-back country/rock records of recent years. [No. 117, p.59]

You can't take your ears off it. [#48, p.86]

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

It's not only the supremely crafted song structures that give this album its classic feel but also the trickery-free production and Russo's slightly grayed tenor. [#64, p.107]

Crazy Itch Radio is catchy overload. [#73, p.86]

Angels just rocks. [Winter 2008, p.108]