You in Reverse... rejects the pithy pop of their 1999 breakthrough, Keep It Like a Secret, for spacey, stretchy tracks that emphasize their unique, virtuosic musicianship.

Danger Mouse sets a consistent tone that wryly chafes against Albarn's paranoia. [Jun 2005, p.105]

The Lyre Of Orpheus is effectively Abattoir spillover: more mellow, less grand in conception, but--somehow--more pretentious in execution. [Dec 2004, p.118]

Nix the emo sea-chantey stuff and these two CDs... would be pretty excellent. [Mar 2006, p.95]

There are flashes of Yankee's shimmer on Ghost, but the album is more elusive, more disjointed. [Jul 2004, p.103]

If there's a method to this madness, you definitely won't find it here. [Nov 2005, p.101]

As usual, his willingness to please gives the disc its fast-food kick. [Oct 2004, p.113]

The record could use more songs like "David," where her bratty valedictorian wit is balanced with a sense of real emotional stakes. [Apr 2004, p.93]

A collection of enigmatic indie-rock tunes. [Nov 2004, p.119]

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

All that stands between this young English foursome and Perry Farrell-ian Valhalla is a lack of a truly rippin' axman. [Dec 2004, p.124]

His agile attack still lacks Jigga's precision, 50's swagger, or Kanye's cocky confessionalism. [Jan 2006, p.92]

Here, he just wrecks shit... occasionally stopping for moments of necessary reflection. [Sep 2005, p.109]

This stuff may be lo-fi, but in Anderson's case, the hissy fits. [Jul 2004, p.112]

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

If this reunion... isn't a revelation, it still has its thrills. [Aug 2005, p.103]

Over the course of 24 tracks, we get taut grooves set on Al Green cruise control, lots of havin'-fun-in-the-studio byplay, and the occasional spritz of rude fuzz-box gutiar to give all the gold-leaf detailing some shape. [combined review of both discs; Mar 2004, p.97]

It's his most varied record, but it also sounds for the first time like he's tryinig to make a "Beck album." [Apr 2005, p.97]

An album sanded with sad humor and a return to old loves. [Mar 2004, p.96]

Doesn't sound as raw as they probably wanted it to. [Oct 2004, p.120]

Calexico have abandoned much of the jazzy, mariachi-infused Americana pulses that characterized their former sound.

Like an art film that ignores narrative, there are moments on Get Behind Me Satan when the motion seems stationary. [Jun 2005, p.101]

For fans expecting Dirty Three to pick up safely where they left off in 2012, Love Changes Everything will likely shock. Rather than slide back into comfortable routine, the trio have distilled their past 12 years of sonic travels into something exciting and new.

The record plays with sonic extremes throughout, but VW stay comfortably in the preppy yet philosophical space they dominate—with the usual voice of God omnipresent in the chaos that is this record’s alpha and omega.

Inches compiles them all, from the high-voltage shriekathon "Blackouts on Thursday" to "Hold on to Your Genre," where a churning bass line meets shimmery guitar worthy of a new-wave Edge. [Jun 2004, p.108]

The songs remain the same: clear-eyed musings on breakups-as-existential-crises. [Dec 2004, p.124]

The tunes are sub-Weez, but the vibe is right. [Mar 2004, p.96]

A deliriously twerked, end-of-days house party. [Jul 2005, p.104]