Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement are indeed funny, but over the course of an album they're musical enough to withstand repeated plays. [June 2008, p.138]

See You In Magic happily throws in every hoary old cliche in the book. [June 2008, p.149]

The opening first half of their fifth album is hard work, constructed songs high on atmosphere but lacking memorable tunes, easy to admire, difficult to love. Thankfully, they contary buggers save the best til last. [June 2008, p.138]

Halfway through, though, Gonzalez's self-indulgence gets the better of him and you're left with half-baked ideas and little else. [June 2008, p.145]

Konk is the perfect example of the modern indie record: bright, breezy, demanding no great investment from its listeners but enjoyable to jump around to. [May 2008, p.128]

It's a mess, but a glorious one. [Apr 2008, p.107]

His band's 13th album won't bring him the stardom he craves, consisting of amorphous drones in which the creative energy has been reserved for the titles. [May 2008, p.126]

This second installment is immaculate, an artful, emotional tour de force that underlines their "American rock's Radiohead" status. [May 2008, p.130]

This live effort confirms what many suspected of Ditto all along: she makes for a terrifically ballsy rock star. [May 2008, p.134]

He's getting better with age. [Aug 2008, p.140]

The 50-year-old's songwriting blue streak continues on Dig, Lazarus, Dig!!!, a triumphant album that merits all three exclaimation marks. [Apr 2008, p.105]

Even when the spare, fractured arrangements seem a bit aimless, the girlish harmonies keep on charming. [May 2008, p.126]

While there is no denying the heady rush of the band in full flow, predictability creeps in over 45 minutes. [Apr 2008, p.113]

Two years pm, this follow-up wavers between bouts of overblown, Arcade Fire-aping drama and Pavement slacker rock. [May 2008, p.139]

Uniquely weird, as usual. [May 2008, p.130]

With its grunted refrain and tinkling xylophone, this strange group manage to out-weird even Waits himself. [May 2008, p.141]

Until the follow-up to 2006's excellent "The Crane Wife," this makes for an adequate stopgap. [May 2008, p.136]

There's a naivety and nostalgia to his evocation of woozy times on Northern beaches that is uniquely loveable--the perfect music for a summer's day. [May 2008, p.140]

It was a smart move [to enlist Tim,] Goldsworthy's attention to detail forcing the band up a gear. [July 2008, p.101]

The world may have moved on but they haven't, so '80s funk backdrops merge with Sweet pea Atkinson and Sir Harry Bowen's classic soul vocals and some biting surreal lyrics. [May 2008, p.141]

Fray's acute sense of geography, both local and emotional, guides the band's hectically directionless indie rattle down some alluring paths. [May 2008, p.137]

If Kylie's musical ambitions extend further than play-safe good times of X, she's keeping them, like everything else, to herself. [Dec 2007, p.108]

More variety is needed and it's all been done before, but rarely with such a sense of fun. [Apr 2008, p.108]

Last Night is a welcome return to the dancefloor following 2005's patchy rock-dance experiment "Hotel," though it still feels as if Moby is struggling to live down the 10 million-selling "Play." [Apr 2008, p.112]

Danger Mouse's effect is apparent, the sparse guitar-and-drums template fleshed out with organ and banjo. [May 2008, p.126]

Redeemed, revived, irresisitable: it seems R.E.M. were only sleeping after all. [Apr 2008, p.99]

There's not an original thought in the quartet's heads, giving them free reign to gleefully exhume the corpses of Black Sabbath and Kyuss with hulking riffs and bear-like voices. [Apr 2008, p.107]

Their thrillingly angry seventh album is a more furious companion piece to "American Idiot," raging at both social injustice and the self-righteousness of the punk underground. [June 2008, p.138]