Breezy in its boldness (12 tracks, under 50 minutes), this is a heavily considered album from the only reasonable rap star around.

In the end, like her hero Loretta Lynn, she's the good girl who done got complex. [Dec 2004, p.123]

Her pop hits remain enjoyable, but what makes Feist’s albums hold up is the unexpected. Pleasure perhaps asks more of the listener than her first two records did, but really, the best pleasures do.

American Slang sticks to the template Fallon's been hammering away at since the band's beginning; its stories star the same kind of characters and its garage-punk sound still sparkles with flashes of Motown and R&B.

It's Dynamite's choice of subject matter that distinguishes her from other R&B divas-in-waiting. [May 2003, p.110]

Strikes the perfect balance between the pop-savvy shuffle of Lyle Lovett and the lush loveliness of '80s Englishmen Prefab Sprout. [Mar 2002, p.134]

These beats and bass lines make for the hardest body music he's ever produced. [Feb 2002, p.111]

A Kleenex-grabbing, chain-smoking, staring-out-the-window, in-bed-for-days breakup record. [Jun 2004, p.106]

She doubles the weird factor. [Feb 2004, p.104]

A short, precise album which is equal parts inventive and masterful.

The Danish duo condense pop's last 45 years into the pure, simple essence of an early Jackson 5 single. [Sep 2007, p.132]

While he’s tugging at strings that have been otherwise picked up by the stable of Berlin’s PAN (M.E.S.H., Helm, and Visionist) or his Tri Angle labelmates past and present (Arca and Lotic), his extreme repetition of these familiar sounds pushes them euphoric.

The band recorded in a real New York City studio, with a real producer, Chris Coady (Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Beach House). And the songs are even better.

Romance is zippier and tighter than previous beer cries. [Mar 2006, p.95]

Le Noise, produced by Daniel Lanois and recorded solo with a reverb-swathed electric guitar, is all about doubt and desperation, and Young is never better than when he's unsure of himself.

For all its obvious wit and fizzy energy, Tones of Town ultimately feels self-congratulatory and a bit cold-hearted. [Feb 2007, p.83]

Bottomless Pit is a rowdy and hypnotic 40-minute suite of alienation and controlled anger.

Their most fascinating record to date, and possibly their best as well.

Tinariwen's fifth album takes off on an acoustic path following the open-
ing track's otherworldy 
appearance by Wilco guitarist Nels Cline.

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]

His sophomore outing sports a looser feel tha his '60s obsessed debut "Tower of Love," adding slightly funkier grooves and hints of electronica to the mix--though the layered, cascading vocals still srecall Brian Wilson at his nuttiest. [May 2008, p.106]

When they ease back on the overdriven electronic intensity, Street Horrsing works tribal, tracelike wonders. [Apr 2008, p.98]

We need to find a way to smoke this.

Forty years down the line, Maiden has proven that they’re still the best metal band in the world; we never had any doubt, but The Book of Souls is one hell of a reminder.

Like a Postal Service for hippies living off the grid. [May 2004, p.108]

Don't worry--eight albums into their reign, Slayer still sound like Slayer. [Sep 2001, p.158]

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