There isn't a tune on No Cities Left, the Dears' gorgeous second album, that's not pitched at a minor state of emergency. [Jan 2005, p.99]

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

This is a low-spark affair. [Nov 2004, p.112]

Totally grimy. [Nov 2004, p.118]

Their jabs cut and the beats burn. [Nov 2004, p.118]

It's hard to know if Madden's complaints seem so tame because the band's music is less zippy, or whether he's just taking the easiest path to the teen masses. [Nov 2004, p.109]

Time and practice have made them a far more straightforward rock band. [Oct 2004, p.120]

Goes for basic sun-dappled guitar pop. [Nov 2004, p.118]

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

[Sinatra's] is a light, ductile weirdness, and nearly all the contributing acolytes here play to it well. [Jan 2005, p.96]

Antics is so much more fun than Turn On The Bright Lights. [Oct 2004, p.107]

While [Quality] cautiously courted the mainstream, he's made mass appeal Job No. 1 of late. [Oct 2004, p.112]

They do it better [than the Postal Service]--catchier songs, chillier production and more sophisticated beats. [Nov 2004, p.118]

She finally showcases a flow as strong as her vitriol. [Sep 2004, p.114]

[The Datsuns] now sound unfit to carry the Donnas' jockstraps. [Oct 2004, p.120]

A moving listen, despite patches of redundancy. [Oct 2004, p.111]

For all its sonic sizzle, Prodigy's fourth album feels frustrated. [Oct 2004, p.113]

At its core, Showtime is a classic sophomore album in the hip-hop sense: puffy with bluster, brimming with indignation. [Nov 2004, p.107]

They've de-funned rebellion and turned it into a task. [Oct 2004, p.109]

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

This is grade-A grade-B pop metal. [Oct 2004, p.120]

A dark, tense record, but one still crackling with life. [Sep 2004, p.114]

It's no mere gimmick. [Oct 2004, p.111]

Scarily single-minded in its depiction of a violent man coming of age. [Oct 2004, p.117]

The sweetest, cleanest grunge ambrosia since Urge Overkill's 1993 major-label bid, Saturation. [Aug 2004, p.105]

Music as spooky--and ultimately as sterile--as the hospital scrubs and surgical masks they wear onstage. [Sep 2004, p.120]

His interpretations seem both timid and presumptuous. [Oct 2004, p.120]

His characters feel like individuals, not archetypes. [Sep 2004, p.114]