Far and away Deftones' most daring and impassioned work to date.

Darnielle's signature frantic strum is all but absent, replaced by languid tempos and quiet full-band arrangements. [Sep 2006, p.108]

It's his so-twee-it-hurts delivery that'll make you feel you're at a roadside bingo hall in rural Scandinavia, waiting for someone to holler, "B8!" [Nov 2007,p.121]

This is some serious whimsy. [Feb 2008, p.92]

Lee's take on the feminine id is like the music itself: smooth on the outside, savage within.

On their second album, this Aussie duo's buzzy guitar pop is more hyper and gripping than ever, as she breathlessly spews dramatic tales that have the immediacy of crazed Twitter posts.

R.I.P. rewards background play just as much as concentrated listening, if not more so.

Each song is immaculately crafted and sequenced, yet with this many ballads, they blur: a play continually in its eleventh hour.

This is the birth of Will Butler, solo artist, whose career seems just as woozily unpredictable and captivating as that of his "day job."

The ex–Drive-By Truckers guitarist shares his former band's lyrical penchant for the dark end of the street.

LaVere sounds like a gifted kidnap victim--scared, angry, resourceful. You just know she's going to set herself free.

Rarely has whimsical weirdness been done with such finesse.

Represents a major upgrade in Dashboard's sound. [Jul 2006, p.83]

By balancing on the tightrope between meme and icon, between relatable and aspirational, Ephorize emerges sounding remarkably human.

Time to Go Home breaks new personal and political ground for contemporary goth-influenced music as Chastity Belt trades cliche nihilism for proactively feminist post-punk.

This strange, fascinating EP dramatizes the desperate fumbling for order amid chaos.

Even though it’s a brisk seven songs, it lingers as the best pieces of writing tend to do.

The new tracks feel particularly crisp and cohesive, easily her most captivating and keenly focused record yet.

The emotional arcs are just as fresh and just as gripping [as Barter 6], but here they’re confined to songs, and sometimes to single verses.

[His] most consistently entertaining album since 1999's 69 Love Songs. [Dec 2006, p.96]

Made sounds dirtier (i.e., more Southern) than its polished predecessor, though it still relies on a bevy of soul samples. The best is the Hall & Oates bite on 'Never.'

That sense of newfound freedom and exaltation surges through Potential, a rich matrix of the Range’s knack for digging up strangers’ stories and assimilating breakbeat, grime, U.K. garage, and late ’90s R&B.

The result is her finest record since "Car Wheels on a Gravel Road," the decade-old masterpiece by which her career will always be judged.

This loud and proud psych-folk trio want some old-fashioned joy on their fifth album -- and they want it now.

What makes this music special is what Smith does with all that stylized sparseness, transforming it into something alive and dynamic instead of merely sleepy.

This one is lithe and liquid, shy of a masterwork but still a fucking great record, top to bottom.

Graves' earnest lyrics are purposely mixed far beneath the caustic instrumentals here, but when a few words do surface, we're treated to thoughtful (if only partial) confessions.

Ivy Tripp cements that Crutchfield is better able to hone in on her fears and articulate emotional realities.