A trip worth taking. [Jun 2005, p.116]

Her voice is a thing of wonder. [Apr 2005, p.123]

Like R.E.M. when they were good, [The National's] superficially simple songs have a real depth and resonance. [May 2005, p.114]

The beautiful lap steel and accordion arrangement of Beneath The Rose, majestic duet I Still Remember and lilting waltz Stand In My Way only make the roaring violence of On My Way more startling. [Sep 2004, p.126]

They remain spirit-crushingly average. [May 2005, p.114]

Subtle, suggestive songs. [May 2005, p.117]

Sadly, Open Season's one-pace '80s guitar rock lags a bit behind the narrative. [May 2005, p.110]

Three albums in the air of quirky, mad-scientific investigation is now a constant. [May 2005, p.121]

These 13 songs do the simple things, but do them wonderfully well. [May 2005, p.106]

Successfully bring[s] new features to familiar territory. [Jul 2005, p.115]

Heralds a move from mine-shaft fug to West Coast freeway haze. [Jun 2005, p.120]

Chic but charmless. [Jun 2005, p.111]

Not for the unquesting. [Mar 2005, p.101]

An absorbing, exuberant flourish of outwardly incompatible genres. [Apr 2005, p.122]

Brave and ambitious. [Jul 2005, p.122]

The production lacks the loose-fit liveliness and lightness of touch which was The Dust Brothers' trademark back in the mid-'90s. [Apr 2005, p.114]

Stereophonics have never sounded so brooding, mysterious and -- dammit -- sexy. [Apr 2005, p.122]

If The Killers hadn't got there first with Hot Fuss, The Bravery's debut would have been revolutionary. Instead it is merely a brilliant pop record. [Apr 2005, p.115]

He may not have Mos [Def's] lyrical depth, but his vocal style is assured and refreshingly direct. [Apr 2005, p.121]

He's still in lovely voice... and he deploys it on a selection of material that revels in past glories while showcasing his current triumphs. [May 2005, p.104]

M.I.A.'s style mag-cool pop-rap doesn't have the substance to carry the dark subtext of the title. [May 2005, p.107]

An album of great craft, emotion and warmth. [Apr 2005, p.125]

An arty, confident and exhilarating debut. It's everything pop music should be. [Mar 2005, p.94]

It delivers considerable entertainment value. [Apr 2005, p.122]

When it works... he is as heroically spirit-raising and stomach-tighteningly emotional as he was on Play.... Yet, when Moby plods, it's as if the world is burning with boredom. [Apr 2005, p.121]

Like LCD [Soundsystem], Out Hud spice up electronic grooves with lithe basslines and post-punk guitars, albeit with less finesse. [Apr 2005, p.123]

Subtle contributions from left-field electronic artists like The Books and Broadcast add variety, but at 21 tracks, it's still a marathon. [Apr 2005, p.126]

Precise, tough, tuneful, ambitious and sexy as hell. [Apr 2005, p.112]

Sweet, subtle and quietly insidious. [May 2005, p.111]

As tame as it is conventional. [Apr 2005, p.124]

Musically, it sucks. [Feb 2005, p.98]

There are enough thrilling moments on Black Dialogue to justify the collaboration. [Apr 2005, p.123]

It's a truly haunting record populated by ghosts. [May 2005, p.116]

A real leap forward. [Apr 2005, p.126]

When it all gels, you can forgive the occasional bout of navel-gazing self-indulgence. [Jun 2005, p.120]

These stripped-down efforts offer an insight into the singer's writing methods, but not much else. [Feb 2005, p.102]

The robots were more fun. [Apr 2005, p.118]

Employment is an album that demands furious scrawls of red pen in the margins. [Apr 2005, p.120]

With a too-clean production job and some filler... Origin (Phase 1) falls short of the categoric statement of greatness needed to install the group in the major league. [Nov 2004, p.122]

Lies somewhere between Kate Bush and a deranged Divine Comedy. [Apr 2005, p.124]

Conjures a magical, cut'n'paste dimension where genteel lounge sways to disembodied voices, clicks and bleeps. [Apr 2005, p.126]

It doesn't always work. But overall, The Evens is an engaging debut. [May 2005, p.121]

Ash have turned in a bullish and cocksure fifth studio album to delight the faithful. [Jun 2004, p.95]

Such are the highs, the weaker material suffers by comparison. [Sep 2004, p.111]

Full of melancholy instrumentals rich in strings and percussive weirdness. [Mar 2005, p.104]

Recalls the riffola of Bleach-era Nirvana, complete with sludgy Led Zeppelin-esque guitars. [May 2005, p.110]

An even more spare-sounding album. [Mar 2005, p.100]

An album of some considerable beauty. [Sep 2005, p.118]

Despite some evidence of talent, though, it's mostly just musical gatecrashing. [Apr 2005, p.123]

The mood is still bossa nova night at the Marxist reading group, but that's not entirely a bad thing. [Apr 2005, p.123]

Not a wholly convincing return. [May 2005, p.110]

It is only after about the fifth listen that the true wonder of Some Cities slowly starts revealing itself. [Mar 2005, p.97]

Insane, extraordinary. [Mar 2005, p.95]

His best work to date because, at last, he actually sounds awake--even if much of the record remains music for dozing in hammocks to. [Apr 2005, p.122]

Impressively reconfirms why she's alt-country's brightest rising star. [May 2005, p.111]

It's real, it's challenging, and at times even funny. [Apr 2005, p.126]

Takes him out of the bedroom and into the bar room and, as a result, it's a much drearier affair. [Apr 2005, p.120]

Alas, they undermine themselves with a weedy production which too often gives proceedings a demo-ish air. [Mar 2005, p.99]

Musically and lyrically, this has the same hazy, starry-eyed feel [as Music Of The Spheres]. [Oct 2004, p.121]

Perseverance with the rougher sound and jerky arrangements will be rewarded. [Dec 2004, p.129]

For every riveting set piece... there are meandering nonentities such as the title track. [Mar 2005, p.98]

Both melancholic and gleeful, down-home yet artful. [Mar 2005, p.104]

As worthless as it's possible for music to be. [Feb 2005, p.100]

A winning collection of giddy, C&W laments. [Jun 2005, p.111]

Here the diverse mix of everything from jazz funk to Pink Floyd seems better realised. [Mar 2005, p.101]

Maybe not as consistent as previous efforts, but when Beam harmonises with his sister Sarah, in particular, Woman King is really a very lovely thing indeed. [Mar 2005, p.104]

Inevitably, though, there's an unevenness to the improvised soundscaping. [Mar 2005, p.101]

Too much of Feathers sounds like extended noodling jams. [May 2005, p.121]

These are great songs, regardless of categorisation. [Mar 2005, p.101]

Impenetrable in the extreme. [Apr 2005, p.118]

The key is that Murphy, unlike his peers and the bands he's produced, is more interested in excellence than cool. [Feb 2005, p.96]

Inevitably, it sounds dated. [Feb 2005, p.102]

A modish conflation of acoustic guitars, violins, subtle electronics and artfully detached vocals, located somewhere near Amnesiac-era Radiohead. [Feb 2005, p.104]

Finds him in fine rhyming form... even if the beats aren't always there to back him up. [Mar 2005, p.104]

Given time and a little effort, [his songs] begin to cast their own rewarding chamber-pop spell. [Mar 2005, p.98]

The intensity of his pain is inescapable in this exhausting explanation of what really becomes of the broken-hearted. [Oct 2004, p.124]

His simple, unadorned songs of longing, belonging and love are so striking that contributions from such distinctive guests... pass almost unnoticed. [Apr 2005, p.118]

Alas, they're not very good. [Feb 2005, p.102]

An album that could finally establish Feeder as major league players. [Feb 2005, p.92]

The best Graham Coxon imaginable. [Jun 2004, p.97]

The worthiest addition yet to her legendary status. [Nov 2004, p.119]

Their most coherent statement yet. [Feb 2005, p.100]

Lack[s] both the energy of Sebadoh and the quirkiness of his Folk Implosion project. [Mar 2005, p.98]

Experimental and confusing... Oberst's voice struggles to hit home through the effects. [Jan 2005, p.129]

The finest alt-country album this side of Gram Parsons. [Jan 2005, p.129]

It's like they've just put all their old sounds together in a slightly different order. [Feb 2005, p.101]

Deliberately sparse and bare. [Mar 2005, p.99]

They just sound bored. [Feb 2005, p.98]

While a generic indie rock sound is flirted with, an amicable relationship deelops between that and their trademark hush. [Mar 2005, p.100]

Jim O'Rourke's solo work comes to mind on tracks like Leaders, but there's more emotional depth here. [Feb 2005, p.102]

For all the wit, layered invention and easy-on-the-ear harmonies Deakin and Franglen bring to '64-'95, there's a corresponding lack of intrigue. [Feb 2005, p.94]

Has the evocative tang of something ancient and the folk-rock idiom of the modern age. [Feb 2005, p.103]

It bobbles along, slowly but gracefully. [Feb 2005, p.100]

It sounds a bit like a female Elliott Smith and certainly more than the sum of its genes. [Aug 2006, p.112]

There's nothing here that challenges the listener. [Mar 2004, p.112]

It's essentially easy listening for uneasy people. [Mar 2005, p.101]

[Stereo Total] have neither the songs nor the art to make their electro-doodlings anything more than an exercise in narcissistic cool. [Apr 2005, p.124]

The songs here bode well. [Jan 2005, p.128]