When the songs are powerful enough, it all works gorgeously. But elsewhere, songs as Ordinary Life or Nigel & Fiona drift towards diluted boho chic. [Nov 2001, p.122]

DJ Babu looks to the old school for his mix of melody and beats, giving the whole project a fluid and classy feel with more than a nod to their heroes, Run DMC. [#184, p.130]

Even at their most acerbic or delicately downplayed extremes, Incubus are compelling. [#184, p.137]

With regular producer Swizz Beatz virtually absent here, this fourth album is definitely mixed. [Dec 2001, p.121]

The glacial tones and chimes that the Velvet Underground modelled on Sunday Morning are invoked once too often. But, beyond this, Sandoval's sedated, spellbound voice remains a remarkable presence. [Nov 2001]

Charming, if slight.

There is so little personality or variety that when Lornaderek turns out to be a 30-second birthday ansaphone message from his mum and dad, it is not a gimmick but a touching highlight.

Golden State is, inevitably, rather good.

The likes of the gnarled, rough-edged Rollin' & Tumblin' serve as vital pieces of living history from the last of a generation. [Dec 2001, p.120]

Home Burns lacks the dreamy charm of its predecessor, favouring a more knowing, prog rock ramble. [Nov 2001]

Some arena-pleasing riffs, a couple of polished acoustic numers and everyone goes home happy. [Apr 2002, p.114]

While Cuttin' Heads hardly stretches him, Mellencamp dresses up his old tricks beautifully. [Mar 2002, p.125]

Where recent albums have felt more like protracted jam sessions -- impressive, if not actually exciting -- this has renewed sparkle, raiding indie-pop territory with harmonies, hand-claps and even the odd acoustic guitar.

New Order have made better records than this, but not many with such an emotional charge and the expansive noise to carry it off.... Get Ready is the sound of a great band breaking free of their past before your ears. Who’d have thought it?

Feminist Sweepstakes is a clever, catchy Day-Glo riot that anyone can join. [#184, p.140]

Unlike, say, fellow old-time Americana acolytes Mercury Rev, Beachwood Sparks lack sufficient melodic brio and steadfastly refuse to make any concessions to 21st century life. [Nov 2001, p.116]

Lilac6 is as effortlessly subtle and debonair as 1999's reformation album.

It makes the case for some long-forgotten virtues: fast songs, staccato chords, songs about trysts in squalid apartments. You know, the good stuff.

Arguably his best record in 20 years.

Full of beautiful pop songs, The Photo Album is just that--a collection of vignettes. [Mar 2002, p.118]

Hebden has a rare ability to make his delicate instrumentals engaging and unpretentious.

Molina and cohorts turn their limited resources into an exercise in compelling minimalism. [#184, p.144]

Go Forth is addictively oblique stuff, veering joyously between budget Gary Numan, scene elder statesmen Fugazi and the Pixies in their surf-rock period. Shredding instinct and convention along the way, Harrington has forged something compellingly original here. [Nov 2001]

Sharp, seductive music from a band at their peak. [Oct 2001, p.119]

The prepetually gruff Rule, a second division DMX or Redman, and producer Irv Gotti leave no cliche unturned. [Dec 2001, p.124]

Lacking the strangely compelling shambolic glory of his first solo album Unfinished Monkey Business and the crisper soul-warrior posing of second solo set Golden Greats, this album isn't going to fulfill Brown's hopes of bettering The Stone Roses' debut.

A simple, often stark record reminiscent of her eponymous 1985 debut.

What at first, certainly compared to its startling predecessor, feels like a retreat from modern music’s radical frontline (nasty jazz, electronica, noise) gradually unfolds to offer equally interesting new ways of hearing.

By absorbing some of the best bits of The Beach Boys, Super Furry Animals and, at times, Dexy's Midnight Runners, Gorky's Zygotic Mynci have made the perfect album for a breezy, summer afternoon.

Change Is Coming is piled high with Beastie trademarks.

The only life in these monochrome songs comes from some feedback on Lazy Rain and squalling jazz horns on Revanchism. [Oct 2001, p.130]

It is only when she tries something a little different that Macy comes unstuck.

Unfortunately, Kowalczyk's conceited couplets belong to the dark ages. [Nov 2001, p.124]

An intriguing listen...

Though not without merit, the reliance on other people's melodies (and words on the Caroline Says-pilfering Distortions) can become trying after a while.

It's hard to listen to this deeply disappointing record for long without wanting to revisit Vertigo instead.

This is little short of a treat: a rambunctious dance through the more sepia-tinted corners of US musical history. [Oct 2001, p.122]

In truth, there are unexpected delights at every turn here, not least in the realisation that Mercury Rev may only just be hitting their collective stride. [Sep 2001, p.115]

This time, there's a bankable chorus or barbed sentiment for every mirror-ball moment, not just on the singles. [Sep 2001, p.112]

Sure, it sails close to novelty record territory but Folds demonstrates exceptional skill in marrying wryly observational lyrics to upbeat piano-driven craziness.

An effortless melding of Stones and Family Stone, Curtis Mayfield and computers, all topped off with Tim Burgess's fetching new falsetto.... With every track a winner, Wonderland is a truly thing of wonder.

The Convincer slots in smoothly behind 1998's Dig My Mood. [Oct 2001, p.126]

As feral and ferocious an album as they've made in years. [Oct 2001, p.130]

Glitter continues her slump from gifted to grievous via gratuitous power ballads, dismal disco/R&B and criminal covers of '80s classics. [Oct 2001, p.117]

Matches Slipknot for manic intensity while employing a freeform approach to songcraft which invites comparison to the lunatic-fringe rock of the late '60s. [Sep 2001, p.122]

In stark contrast to their finest work (1993's "brown" album, 1999's The Middle Of Nowhere), the magic moments never add up to an epic, morphing whole.

Not only do Kannberg’s vocals sound more robust than previously, but the whole record has considerably more colour in its cheeks than Malkmus’s own recent solo effort.

Their best yet. [Sep 2001, p.120]

A record that occupies the exact mid-point between the ghetto sass of her Puff Daddy-produced debut and 1999's poised, soulful Mary. [Oct 2001, p.117]

Eerie, exotic and utterly enchanting. [Mar 2002, p.116]

Vespertine quietly proves that cutting-edge production and human contact aren't mutually exclusive. [Sep 2001, p.109]

Slipknot make one hell of a racket, an abrasive amalgam of death metal blastbeats and bestial grunting. [Oct 2001, p.130]

This is music that exerts as much effortless cool as young pups The Strokes. [Oct 2001, p.118]

Seal The Deal opens with a rollicking piano intro that's longer than the rest of the song, guitars are abandoned in favour of exhilarating keyboard riffs, and the background use of birdsong and bagpipes is commonplace in Quasi's world. And it's a better place for it.

Despite its spacious and minimal approach, the album is -- in typical Anderson style -- a demanding piece of work. [Sep 2001, p.106]

In an age when marketing departments rule, Scott has fashioned an album of epic intent that gamely goes its own way.

New Favorite is pretty much the usual, if still wonderful, music from Krauss and Union Station. [Sep 2001, p.110]

A much more focused and funky set than Embrya. [Oct 2001, p.127]

Not quite the step forward he needed. [Sep 2001, p.122]

They retained their best ideas for themselves though, since their debut album is striking escape from mere genre. [Review of UK version]

Crow Sit On Blood Tree is a bizarre, schizophrenic, and determinedly unmelodic record that lurches drunkenly from the cascading fury of Burn It Down to the acoustic I'm Goin' Away, in which he sounds like an acid casualty from the original Woodstock.

A bit relentless at times, but Chemical Brothers fans should give it a spin.

An album that's as entrancing as it is modestly proportioned. [June 2002, p.121]

It's gloriously dark and downbeat stuff. [Nov 2001, p.130]

Even when it isn't actually good, this is quality froth. [Sep 2001, p.114]

When it works, it works brilliantly. [Dec 2001, p.120]

This return to blitzkrieg riffing is closer to nu-metal than old Stooges. [Aug 2001, p.136]

It's audacious, sure, but it neither makes sense nor sounds good. [#180, p.102]

A fair bit of filler... [Sep 2001, p.106]

It's a stride towards true excellence. Although likely to remain a cult item, The Beta Band are now easier to embrace than ever, less pastoral and more direc, courtesy of a clear, sharp, intensely rhythmic new sound... [#180, p.97]

A harrowing, clearly autobiographical dissection of a decaying relationship. [Sep 2001, p.109]

The settings are spacious, the rhythms stately and Stuart Staples croons woozily about how it's all gone horribly wrong.

Their sonic ingenuity enhances even the most basic garage-rock templates. [Sep 2001, p.122]

Their most overblown record since 1989's Gold Mother. [Aug 2001, p.130]

At a time when Fatboy Slim has gone chill-out, Orbital have gone noodly, and Underworld, nd Prodigy seem to have just gone somewhere else, Basement Jaxx are, happily, on hand with another brilliantly messy blueprint for UK dance music - and dance music that you can actually dance to, at that.

Tom Jenkinson shares Aphex Twin's mischievous way with a beat but lacks his respect for melody. [Aug 2001, p.141]

Only one track, Call Me, offers second listenability with its funky shuffle drums, Neil Young guitar raunch and doomster attitude... Otherwise, Freel's appeal depends on his ear for interesting noises. [Aug 2001, p.141]

A couple of the songs are grunge by rote, but the art-rock sensibility gleaned from Weiland's old David Bowie albums is evident in the whispered Hell It's Late. [Oct 2001, p.130]

He is undoubtedly a star, but Sisqo will have to work harder than this if he wants his audience to continue loving him as much as he so clearly loves himself. [Sep 2001, p.117]

It's very difficult to see the tough-talking Devils Night as anything other than a slightly tweaked re-run of The Marshall Mathers LP. [#180, p.100]

As radio-friendly as Radiohead are not. [Sep 2001, p.120]

Yet when they stop arsing around for the sake of it, Blink-182 write some very good pop songs. [Aug 2001, p.124]

While the wheel remains un-reinvented, The Invisible Band finds its mark with unerring accuracy.

Sounding rusty before even seeing daylight, Deep Down & Dirty is as enticing as those other averagely pleasant 1992 albums currently taking up valuable drawer-space in the back room.

Just think how much more she could do with that glorious voice. [#180, p.112]

It's full of clever rhymes and couplets, overflowing with wit and evocative charm, all set to the kind of arrangements that Harry Nilsson always dreamed of. [Aug 2001, p.142]

Her aching sincerity’s another major plus; that she can get away with Caged Bird’s Stevie Wonder-isms and Fallin’s near plagiarism of James Brown’s It’s A Man’s World speaks volumes.

Enjoyable, but a gold star or two short of his 1997 masterpiece, Other Songs.

Either Yorke’s lyrics are better this time, or the comparative voluptuousness of the vocal performances make it easier to tune in, or we’ve finally grasped what he’s been getting at since abandoning OK Computer’s more straightforward man-vs-society musings.

For the most part, Beyond Good & Evil roots itself between Metallica, nu-metal and the slightly psychedelic ambience of '85's Love: the band's pre-metal apex. [Aug 2001, p.124]

Apart from the slow-burning, spine-tingling opener Electronic Performers, though, the duo seem reluctant to exploit their remarkable gift for melody, and tunes are too often mangled or left to fizzle out.

This album - musically more extravagant, lyrically just as searching - takes its place at the shoulder of 1994's Stones In The Road as her best yet.

Stealing the riff from Sweet Jane wholesale as the basis of a song would seem to speak of a band who aren't exactly pushing the envelope or alive to the possibility of change. [Aug 2001, p.128]

It's the tender slow rollers that really clinch this supreme collection. [#180, p.97]

There are too many skits, but there's still more than enough fun to go round. [#180, p.108]

Sadly, there's also a depressing quantity of mush and devotion, totally at odds with his grinding best. [Sep 2001, p.122]

Over three albums Echobelly seemed confused as to whether to flog the pixie-esque appeal of singer Sonya Aurora Madan and seek the big money, go for the political jugular or just to pretend to be daft old hippies. Judging by People Are Expensive, the trio still haven't wholly resolved the dilemma...

This album should seduce fans of Red House Painters or American Music Club. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.130]