Each of her previous three records has its charms... The Green World is no exception. [Oct. 2000, p.182]

Exciter is basically a vehicle for Martin Gore's increasingly formulaic songs... [June 2001, p.155]

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

He sounds too lecherously happy to reach the emotional depth of his best work, but for lessons in proto-Brit-rock, he remains a top authority. [June 2008, p.119]

More often than not, X's hooks, tunes and Minogue's bubblegum-perfect hum achieve candy-coated ecstasy. [Mar 2008, p.106]

Getting away from his brother really does seem to make Liam happy.

A Place to Bury Strangers is one of those bands like Clinic; they've never made a bad album even if normal listeners have decided they only need one or two of them. Transfixiation might not be one of those two, but the abnormals have more fun.

It's reliably beautiful, if staid. [Dec 2007, p.124]

This horribly named duo's towering pop songs are buried so deep in reverberating juju that it's sometimes hard to follow them.

The quintet conjures the Mars Volta doing Zeppelin karaoke over two-bit Mr. Bungle. [Feb 2007, p.84]

Despair rules on this Liverpool threesome's crackling debut, wrapping loneliness in spiffy power pop.

The handclap stomp of "Miss You" explodes at just the right moment, while the house-music piano of "How Deep Is Your Love?" proves the boys' club credentials remain intact.

Kiss Land plays like a more considered, better-mastered continuation of Echoes of Silence, not anything dramatically different.

The results are fairly stunning. [Nov 2007, p.125]

Odds are Konk's been-there, done-that sentiments will inspire a Kula Shaker-sized blip. [May 2008, p.100]

It's only when Pterodactyl embrace their underlying pop core and ratchet up the jangle--see the breezy "The Break" or the '60s sunburst "Searchers"--that Spills Out makes an effective splash.

"African Velvet"? "Eat My Beat"? Gauche titling aside, Jean-Benoit Dunckel and Nicolas Godin offer no shake-ups on Love 2. Instead, more than a decade into their career, the duo have nearly perfected their wistfully melodic synth- and vocoder-driven easy-listening jams.

A blatant stab for radio... [Aug 2001, p.134]

On Voyage to India, Arie is just another girl on the neosoul train. [Jan 2003, p.98]

His remix of Azzido Da Bass's "Dooms Night" was the big hit, but really, it could have been any of these unpretentious but hardly brain-dead tracks. [1/2001, p.119]

Glow tries so hard to keep the mood pneumatic that it starts to feel over-stuffed, even at just 55 minutes long.

He's more grounded... and his evasive, abstract beats underpin his vocals less randomly. [Dec 2004, p.124]

Her confidently unsteady voice has a refreshing energy, serving as a cohesive, quivering throughline for her intentionally nomadic debut, The Fool.

The album flounders during their attempts at arty funk. [Jan 2007, p.92]

Defying logic, the famously productive Robert Pollard is getting even more prolific with age.

This new EP with his New Romantic band finds even more ways to surprise.

Rice seeks 24/7 momentousness here. [Jan 2007, p.92]

Maybe the entire album is a meme itself, a grand existential joke critiquing the all-conquering rise of Internet culture by parodying its overwhelming randomness. Whatever it is, though, it's a bad rap record.