Just as messy as the Mescaleros' first two stabs at relevance. [Jan 2004, p.102]

Unfortunately, many of the underdeveloped rockers and plaintive ballads here are dance-floor-clearing duds. [Nov 2003, p.111]

Mercer staggers from self-doubt to self-righteousness with each song, concealing razor blades inside his caramel-apple anthems. [Dec 2003, p.133]

Fang's edge is a bit more mosh-by-numbers than Hole's. [Dec 2003, p.129]

Healy's wounded sneer makes you long for his misty croon. [Dec 2003, p.128]

They clearly prize improvisation and spontaneity; the songs always sound like they were written this morning, refined over lunch, and recorded in time for happy hour. [Jan 2004, p.103]

Blueprint reminds us that retro hip-hop is always better when it remembers laughter. [Dec 2003, p.128]

He cross-fades scratch solos and oddball sound bites like he's trying to win a DJ battle and top the Down Beat poll at the same time. [Jan 2004, p.100]

The swollen, baroque-pop arrangements... may ruffle the band's more delicate followers. But the songs are always smart, and it's the music-librarian's humor that helps keep things from slipping into the maudlin. [Nov 2003, p.109]

It's a set of torch songs to do Nico proud--some folkie, some neo-soul, all darker than your closet at midnight. [Oct 2003, p.113]

If this album had been released five years ago, it would've been a blast. Today, it's the same new same old. [Nov 2003, p.117]

[Death Cab] have never made the truly great album that their best songs promised. Until now. [Nov 2003, p.112]

It's such a confident display that you barely notice the English-as-a-second-language lyrics. [Nov 2003, p.117]

The arrangements are so ponderous, the vowel-masticating vocal languor so excessive, you almost wish he'd go whole hog and cover "Ave Maria." [Nov 2003, p.117]

Atmosphere's least frantic, most playful album. [Nov 2003, p.114]

Peaches seems to be having much more fun with her sleazy subject matter. [Nov 2003, p.116]

Singer/songwriter Shawn Christensen's yelping Oingo-Boingo-ish voice gets grating fast. [Nov 2003, p.117]

A prog-rock field trip that will give Diary fans something (else) to cry about. [Dec 2003, p.128]

For the juke-joint blues of “Jimmy Mathis” and the breezy mountain song “Comin Round,” he takes old-school-as-the-hills song forms and gussies them up for the club.

When the hooks fall off, his lone-gunman purging becomes more tiring than cathartic. [Dec 2003, p.128]

On the more stripped-down songs, though, Conley's keen intuition pokes through. [Jan 2004, p.102]

If the idea of an indie-rock Captain & Tennille appeals, there's a berth for you on their love boat. [Nov 2003, p.114]

Like Grandaddy, they know the future isn't glitch-free, but they're gonna throw a good party anyway. [Oct 2003, p.113]

A relaxed, even graceful affair. [Dec 2003, p.123]

It's more cerebral than aggressive.... A derivative effort that makes Keenan sound less talented than he actually is. [Oct 2003, p.105]

Sadly, Mayer's idea of a good time involves hiring jazz musicians to make himself sound like '80s James Taylor. [Dec 2003, p.128]

The radio-friendly album Liz Phair should have made. [Oct 2003, p.113]

Quasi sound feistier than they have in years. [Nov 2003, p.114]

This time, the band lug the still-smoking amps from their lightning-strike live show into the studio and let the noise chase the midnite vultures away.

Amazing Grace is at peak moments an amazingly graceful representation of MC5/Stooges skid marks on a psychedelic superhighway. [Oct 2003, p.112]

The Wolf works best as a concept album about never surrendering the night when you got your first real six-string at the five-and-dime and were tryin' to break free. [Oct 2003, p.108]

Pretty Girls believe in anthems, which would be irritating if they didn't make you believe, too. [Oct 2003, p.107]

It's not gallows humor, just the most natural thing in the world. [Oct 2003, p.113]

As with Watermelon, Chicken, the album drags; still, it's a compelling ride. [Oct 2003, p.110]

After one truly cool tune, their feeble musicianship becomes a problem. [Oct 2003, p.113]

After ten years, Rancid's still-rock-solid kinship is evident in their lock-step chemistry. [Oct 2003, p.108]

It’s like a vacation slide show in which vivid memories turn hazy.

The album feels unfocused, and this time, Alien Ant Farm don't have a novelty hit up their sleeve. [Sep 2003, p.111]

The deadpan humor that animated the band's early werk is missing. [Nov 2003, p.117]

Hazy, almost-there stadium anthems that don't quite fill the stadium. [Sep 2003, p.115]

The Kings are probably sick of the "redneck Stones" tag already, but the signs are all there. [Aug 2003, p.111]

For a 28-year-old, Carrabba remains remarkably fluent in the language of teen heartbreak. [Sep 2003, p.107]

Funky like Fred Schneider and Barney Fife killin' it at karaoke. [Sep 2003, p.115]

Juicing fragile melodies with weeping George Harrison guitar, frontman Luke Steele is pretty even-keeled for a spaced-out pop maestro. [Nov 2003, p.117]

Simultaneously joyous and joyless, all downloaded beats, downhearted lyrics and down-the-hatch daring. [Aug 2003, p.113]

As a current-events commentator, Gray's got better beats than The New York Times and funnier lyrics than Fox News.

It's a little creepy hearing such adolescent voices hooked to Miami booty bass. [Aug 2003, p.116]

Traffics full-time in the kind of raw, godless punk rock that's relegated to a handful of cuts on Queens' albums. [Sep 2003, p.112]

There's more muscle in their moping this time around. [Apr 2003, p.107]

This is a record that creates tension from the cryptic and release from the inexplicable. [Jul 2003, p.105]

Guru is as bluntly eloquent as ever. [Sep 2003, p.115]

[BEP] pick up where the Fugees left off. [Aug 2003, p.119]

Boasts road-toughened guitars and a welcome accusatory edge. [Aug 2003, p.116]

Boilerplate MOR.... But what Liz Phair delivers is authenticity. [Jul 2003, p.107]

For about 17 minutes, the duo's third album comes terrifyingly close to brilliance. [Aug 2003, p.114]

A little rockier, a little slower, and a little less transporting. [Jul 2003, p.110]

The Trickster's best record in years. [Aug 2003, p.119]

Their songs excavate new depths of frivolity. [Aug 2003, p.119]

Both intoxicating and deliciously unmemorable. [Oct 2003, p.113]

Sound wimpy? Well, if you could write a song half as good as "Close The Door," we guarantee that your girlfriend would like you twice as much. [Sep 2003, p.115]

A raging, ragged Behind The Music--15 coal-black odes to the casualties that art leaves behind and that life can't avoid. [Aug 2003, p.111]

A fresh, literate blast of nuanced screamers and mid-tempo heart purging. [Aug 2003, p.119]

The lyrics explore suburban everyguyism, but the choruses explode like fireworks over a church picnic. [Jul 2003, p.109]

A warm and deeply engaging snapshot of fractured relationships and existential dread. [Aug 2003, p.116]

It feels more like a band playingto a multitude of strengths than the formal wrestling of Kid A. [Jul 2003, p.103]

This is the album Metallica lifers have been waiting for: an inspired return to the complex savagery of old. [Jul 2003, p.109]

His single, "Cannonball," will be there for you after your next breakup. [Nov 2003, p.117]

Heartfelt guitar rock capable of punching you in the gut and patting you on the back. [Aug 2003, p.114]

The self-deprecation still rings hollow, but the hooks never do. [Jul 2003, p.110]

This is the kind of bedroom folk pop E's done prettier--and weirder--before. [Jul 2003, p.111]

Optimistic, ambient indie rock that floats between the bubble bath and the deep blue sea. [Sep 2003, p.115]

Northern State's skills and we-can-do-this exuberance transcend what otherwise might be shtick. [Aug 2003, p.116]

A pretty accurate representation of the New York rock renaissance. [Jul 2003, p.110]

At times, it's as if he's looking over Rivers Cuomo's shoulder during a chem exam. [Jul 2003, p.110]

Mix[es] xylophones, spaghetti-Western trumpets, and quirky trick guitars to sweeping effect. [Jun 2003, p.109]

Often lives up to its title, but they ought to find a kind way to break it off with the horn section. [Jul 2003, p.110]

This is less an 11-song album than a single long-form mope. [Jul 2003, p.105]

Shows a weakness for arena-rock voguing and Dawson's Creek-dipping melancholia. [Jun 2003, p.108]

Their best by a mile. [Jun 2003, p.100]

The harpoons that Paul hurls at the industry's blubber have lost their edge. [June 2003, p.105]

[Vocalist Beth Ditto's] temper-tantrum vocals turn tired indie-rock poses into two-minute biblical epics. [Jun 2003, p.105]

Rounds is a more varied trip, with a darker vibe suggesting the influence of Hebden's labelmate Dan Snaith of Manitoba. [Aug 2003, p.118]

It's a busy, dazzling record, though more detours--like "Storm Returns," a dreamy guitar-and-beats collage--would help aerate things. [Aug 2003, p.118]

Goldfrapp downplay the "cinematic" strings in favor of buzzing live-wire synths. [May 2003, p.116]

He's got many peaceful, breezy songs about peaceful, easy feelings but lacks the hooks to hang 'em on. [Jun 2003, p.109]

The album shuffles and grooves like Fela Kuti sloshed on gin and tonics. [June 2003, p.100]

Always charmingly dour and deathlessly romantic. [Jul 2003, p.110]

Frank folk-rock songs that are too sketchy to be great but too good to write off. [May 2003, p.116]

A suite of faux-folkie electro that fuses the introspection of Ray of Light with Music's fast-food dance licks. [Jun 2003, p.99]

The Heat pay homage to punky Midwest weirdos from Devo to Brainiac over grimy fuzz bass. [May 2003, p.116]

Mark Olson's harmonies are missed, but Gary Louris' shaky/sweet vocals suit the album's rueful vibe. [May 2003, p.116]

Hipster-mocking songs like "Turn Your Back" aren't as funny as the scene they want to outsmart. [May 2003, p.116]

Summer Sun sometimes sounds like a band treading water at low tide, but obsessively exploring the contours of a moment is what Yo La have been about from day one. [Jul 2003, p.109]

While Essence was lyrically spare, World marks Williams' return to the painful sensuality of the specific. [May 2003, p.109]

The production is muddy, the sentiments vague. [June 2003, p.105]

Varied and vulnerable. [Jun 2003, p.109]

Trail of Dead temper their thrash with welcome doses of art rock. [Jun 2003, p.109]

This is not garage rock; this is art rock. And that's a compliment. [May 2003, p.107]