Should I Remain Here At Sea? and Taste stand as proof that "Mastermind, Islands" should be Thorburn's lead credit. [No. 131, p.57]

A record that still manages to seamlessly blend doom, ambient, noise and post-rock. [No. 135, p.61]

It's not until the third or fourth [listen] that you hear how smart it is. How organic. How rich in nutrients. How thoroughly these conservatory grads are digesting their jazz/pop/soul influences and squeezing them into something unforgettable. [No. 128, p.58]

Wolfroy goes to Town is a meditative and sparse collection, and much of it continues the same train thought at work in the "There is no God" b/w "God is Love" single. [#82, p. 52]

Jackson sounds as vital as ever in front of her live band, and has crafted a definitive album in a storied career. [#92, p.54]

Depression Chery has four masterful set pieces, staggered to hit as odd-numbered tracks, each deepening the pervasive sense of rediscovered romance. [No. 124, p.51]

The Sadies can still sound like the best rock 'n' roll band in the world, but here. for all their brilliance, they miss that steadying hand. [No. 103, p.60]

An enticing record emerges, boasting intricate instrumental latticework with the smoldering focus of slow jams. [No. 108, p.57]

What's interesting to note is, with instrumentation technology improvement, Evelyn appears content to capture analogue warmth. [No. 111, p.57]

A thrumming, tribal first half gives way to a haunting, ethereal second. [No. 113, p.59]

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]

Wennerstom's voice marvelously leapfrogs between piercing highs and baritone lows, and bassist Jesse Ebaugh carries "Late in the Night" like a subdued, sober and shirted Mel Schacher, though Arrow's languid pace may turn off those who like their rock a bit more rocking. [No. 85, p.55]

Elements of krautrock and psychedelia add color, buoyancy and narrative detail to the rippling dub-pop streams Dunis' disembodied voice drifts over like smoke. [No.89, p.58]

Debbie Downer, perhaps, but Austra sure knows how to make misery sound like a good time. [No.99, p.52]

A series of genre-bending compositions written with New York chamber-music ensemble yMusic that puts [Worden's] full vocal range of on display... a really powerful synergy. [#82, p.59]

Marissa Nadler’s sixth studio record finds the Boston-based singer creating beautiful, sweeping songs that feel as ethereal as the last dream before dawn. [No. 131, p.59]

Rest easy, the group that makes you wish you’d gone to film school so you could’ve built a movie around its expansive instrumentals--works that seem to come rumbling from the molten core of the earth itself--hasn’t changed much from the glory days of early albums such as 1997’s "Young Team."

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

After the actors have their poignantly emotional say, it's Bowie's own tremolo-rich, baritone voice and the noir-art-industrial-jazz band he employed on Blackstar that top off Lazarus stage-songs. [No. 137, p.53]

There's something comforting about hearing this stripped-down version of Iron & Wine again. [No. 118, p.54]

Blind Spot sounds like the band hasn't missed a step since 1998. [No. 131, p.59]

Further proof that Fidlar's headliner-destroying stint as the Pixies' opening act was no fluke. [No. 124, p.55]

Considering the improvisational skill, malleability and performing traditions of the sprawling group, this is just another solid recording on a long, strange evolutionary trip. [No. 101, p.60]

They take genre conventions and flip them inside out. [No. 96, p.57]

Too much of A River, though, doesn't give you enough music to love it. [#68, p.110]

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.

There's precious little invention at work on Attack And Release, and the stench of authenticity hangs heavy. [Summer 2008, p.98]

Sounds far richer than the one-off project that it is. [#74, p.97]