This mood of rocking-chair wistfulness becomes soporific, and there are times when, frankly, the mind, unjabbed by the sort of stimulus that was once Byrne & Eno's stock in trade, begins to wander. [Oct 2008, p.54]

His maniacal energy is infectious. [Nov 2008, p.77]

Hebden is clearly striving for dancefloor impact--but Reid's drumming is so untethered and, frankly, messy, that it sucks the explosions out of whatever bombs Hebden's trying to drop. [Dec 2008, p.60]

The elegantly bruised production is so captivating that I'm left longing for Ripatti to once again sink the vocals intot he subliminal and the sublime, as he did on "Vocalcity." [Nov 2008, p.66]

This 21st century Berlin sounds more muscular and dangerous, but not without a certain delicacy either. [Nov 2008, p.68]

It all makes for an album which is strangely boring; the baroque detailing becomes an inaudiable blur. [Dec 2008, p.65]

This is one of the best garage pop sides sine The Chills' own "Brave Words." [Dec 2008, p.70]

Once you make the adjustment and accept these songs for what they are, ther are moments of loveliness. But for the most part, one can onlyy wonder what attracted Russell to indulge in this sort of stuff given his more renowned output. [Nov 2008, p.68]

There's Me And There's You, it turns out, a perfectly logical oddity. [Nov 2008, p.62]

Car Alarm strips away the exotic and the curious. [Nov 2008, p.70]

It all sounds wonderful, sparkling and glistening. Yet it doesn't make a dent that one might expect. [Oct 2008, p.56]

If the crackling electronic chaff of previous efforts seems less dominant this time around, it most likely because the group have learned to skillfully incorporate it into their increasingly accomplished and accessible songcraft. [Nov 2008, p.74]

Just as David Tibet uses English folk to create his own apocalyptic mythos, so Wood takes the bare bones of Americana and makes something personal and timeless. [Oct 2008, p.58]

There's little in the way of structural reinvention, but then Oldham has never really been a sonics man, and the success of this album rests on one's appreciation of his songwriting alone. [Oct 2008, p.52]

Pioulard's work is a remarkably effortless cohabitation between bedroom electronics and wistful songwriting. [Dec 2008, p.64]

The group's debut for Thurston Moore's imprint witnesses the coagulation of the four-piece into something more identifiable as an honest-to-badness rock group. [Nov 2008, p.68]

Nomad is well-name--but what's most striking is not its diversity, but its coherence. [Dec 2008, p.73]

Offend Maggie is the sound of a group mind at work, deep in spontaneous collective play--but a kind of play taken very very seriously. As it should be. [Dec 2008, p.58]

It's a rich mix, and though parts of this album consists of pumped-up club anthems, plus the notorious, raw, 'Club Action,' from thier debut "Yo EP," there is enough grit in the polish to keep it interesting. [Oct 2008, p.66]

With none of the barking dogs found on "Son," Un Dia generally limits itself to guitars, synths, voice and percussion, a more intimate, insular palette of sounds that is sometimes too subdued to really egage. [Oct 2008, p.60]

It could all, of course, be unbearably mannered, but the duo's constant striving for layered perfection, contrasted with the very human qualities of the vocals, keep it grounded in some sort of feeling. [Sep 2008, p.61]

The result is surprisingly seamless and the producer rarely puts a foot wrong. [Nov 2008, p.79]

With more emphasis on achieving that elusive breakout moment than its predecessor and infinitely less grit, here Sway shows little of the infectious individuality he used to bring to less commercial work. [Oct 2008, p.72]

This is a magical and bafflingly arresting album. [Sep 2008, p.53]

Though you'd be justified in hanging this writer for conflating person and persona, you're asked to contemplate the uneasy positivity that chacterizes Paper Trail's three mot popular songs. [Dec 2008, p.74]

A usually sharp MC, Murs sounds conflicted throughout, a little too anxious to be loved by everyone. [Dec 2008, p.74]

For every track that delivers the expected, another does something quite extraordinary. [Oct 2008, p.72]

There's not much variety over these nine tracks, but to hell with variety when you sound this good. [Dec 2008, p.56]