On par with anything in the back catalog. [#69, p.106]

Campily butch. [#69, p.110]

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

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]

A dull collection of dreary drone-rock songs. [#69, p.111]

Sounding like mid-period R.E.M. isn't the noblest of ambitions, but it somehow seems to work. [#69, p.98]

Nearly buries itself in interesting ideas that are ultimately unrewarding. [#69, p.98]

The songs on The Repulsion Box sound like they were banged out in the underlit kitchen of a crumbling Appalachian cabin. [#69, p.108]

Penn's precision in balancing melody, mood and texture throughout nicely counters the often-depressing subject matter. [#69, p.106]

Songs that actually shoot for happy tend to slide into saccharine. [#69, p.96]

The hooks fail to sink in, and Kinski is occasionally too clever for its own good. [#68, p.100]

Royksopp's shift to the fun side is exactly what its music needed. [#68, p.110]

La Foret sounds like what rock might've become if all the British Invasion bands had hailed from postwar Berlin. [#69, p.112]

Suggests some arcane Canuck payment scheme in which lyricists are compensated by the syllable. [#70, p.106]

Overwhelmingly desolate. [#69, p.112]

Pajo comes as close to capturing his mercurial talent and shifting identiy as we're ever likely to hear. [#68, p.106]

Takes The Strangest Things' dark, occasionally scattershot pop and refines it with sharper songwriting and a slicker approach. [#69, p.100]

Guitarist John Hill... generates enough raw power to mask the shortcomings of any old lead vocalist. Fortunately for this Denver foursome, it has one of the most exciting singers around today. [#68, p.91]

A sweet deja vu, it's 1991 over again. [#68, p.111]

[A] return to the simpler production style of 2001 debut The Optimist LP. [#68, p.112]

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

Emphasizes melodic intention in a manner that transcends electronica or the outer reaches of experimental hip hop. [#68, p.92]

Too stylistically diverse, willfully weird and lyrically cryptic to be anything more than an acquired taste. [#68, p.101]

These are the quiet, beautiful songs that made Belle & Sebastian seem so monumental for a short time. [#68, p.88]

Axes comes off as a spikier, more experimental Stereolab or a more adept Raincoats. [#68, p.91]

A quartet of droney sameness [in the second half] essentially grinds Moonlight's funkiest ingredients into a sluggish, repetitive pulp. [#68, p.111]

Bazan's ability to write compelling, catchy tunes remains intact. [#68, p.100]

By its very generic nature, Seadrum/House Of Sun sounds more like background music than anything the Boredoms have ever recorded. [#68, p.87]