It's amazing that, however slowly, the Ex is still exploring fresh terrain. [#50, p.87]

Sure, Pocket Radio is quirky... but that's what pop is about in the 21st century. [#50, p.94]

Their dizzy, easygoing drone-pop has been replaced with faceless consistency, a sonic chutzpah that cries out "modern rock." This in itself doesn't mean Take Back... is a flop -- far from it. [#49, p.71]

She once again raises the bar for her personal best... [#50, p.85]

With the release of Old Ramon, Kozelek shows he's capable of sustained inspiration.... It's Kozelek's most successful LP: consistent, heartbreakingly sad and filled with gems that will linger in his fans' psyches. [#49, p.85]

A total triumph. [#50, p.82]

This California band seems to be one of those rare times when the major labels get it right. [#50, p.80]

One of the band's best.... While 1999's Ric Ocasek-produced Do The Collapse was criticized by some for its thick, pop-radio gloss, Isolation Drills shows more restraint, reconciling Pollard's idiosyncrasies with the track-to-track consistency great rock albums demand. [#49, p.75]

The Facts of Life is a more polished affair, casting vocalist Sarah Nixey's wispy hush into a pool of plucked strings and orchestral flourish -- duly poisoned by some blippy Air trippiness. [#49, p.68]

Some artists stimulate your brain, others tickle your senses. Matmos does both. [#50, p.101]

The guitars are gorgeously recorded, the vocals are gently understated and the occasional keyboards are carefully mixed into the background with a simple, earnest warmth. [#49, p.79]

Some of the lyrics are so biting they practically melt through the speakers... [#50, p.90]

Let's face it: Group Sounds is shit. But it's pure shit, which makes all the difference.... Everything is overdiven and mixed to within a decibel of ear-shattering heaviosity. It isn't just monstrous, it's gleefully, unapologetically monstrous. [#49, p.88]

The pure-pop masterpiece everyone knew McCaughey had in him. [#49, p.84]

While in his mind, Momus might indeed be a giant, to those of us growing weary of his increasingly tedious shtick, he just might be a weenie. [#50, p.99]

Cydonia is a welcome return to the sensual, dubby, progressive trance that marked its best early work... [#50, p.102]

Continues to mine the same sparkling vein of crushed-velvet pop/punk Spoon has perfected as its stock in trade. [#49, p.91]

Labradford continues to make music so quiet and haunting that, like falling leaves, creaking floorboards or the gentle flapping of bird wings, it seems to exist on its own terms... [#50, p.97]

Tortoise makes like Herbie Hancock wandering through the '80s, all lost at the jazz-fusion supermarket. [#49, p.95]

A flawless display. By turning former earache classics like "If You Want Blood" and "Love At First Feel" into beautiful acoustic ballads, much of The Moon sounds like his previous hits... [#49, p.86]

Simplicity never sounded so sinister. [#49, p.78]

Low is the heaviest band in rock. [#48, p.100]

Dog is Black's safest record in years.... As such, however, the album is a bore. Rollicking American rock and pedal-stell ballads don't suit Black, and the resulting arrangements are both unsurprising and uninspired. [#48, p.78]

They've tempered the cheerleader quality of their vocals, and the breakneck pace has slowed down just enough for you to discover that, somewhere along the line, they learned to play and sing. [#48, p.85]

Just when the Los Angeles-based trio's fourth album threatens to dissolve into another sleeping-beauty effort you might enjoy as a nightcap, something happens... [#48, p.74]

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

Pelo pumps up the beat and subtly shifts the band's sound from the lounge to the club. [#48, p.75]

Musically, the quartet is borderline worthless. [#48, p.84]