A real treat. [Jul 2005, p.92]

The confidence and unforced vigour of Face The Truth suggest Malkmus is happier on the margins of alt.rock than in its spotlight. [Jun 2005, p.112]

The record's feel, like West's College Dropout, offers a rich jukebox of gospel-tinged R&B flavours over which Common scatters his gems. [Aug 2005, p.97]

Accomplished but seldom inspired. [Aug 2005, p.106]

Mercury Rev's power is undiminished. While never resorting to crude hooks, they build melodies to peaks of graceful intensity. [Album of the Month, Jan 2005, p.114]

Confirms System Of A Down as one of the most innovative bands in modern rock. [Jun 2005, p.110]

Magic Time ultimately reveals itself to be the sort of strangely mixed bag that will be all too familiar to those who've hung on with patient, fervent belief through the '90s and beyond. [Jun 2005, p.114]

Tourist begins earnestly... and continues through 11 torpid ballads, drained of all their earlier quirks, seemingly laboratory-designed for those who find Keane too edgy. [Feb 2005, p.83]

Solid rather than eventful. [Nov 2005, p.111]

Amounts to a consolidation rather than a progression. [Jun 2005, p.97]

As a mature statement by someone who's done it all, but still retains a desire to create something new and fresh, Mighty Rearranger is a record of considerable depth, admirable adventure and surprising passion. [May 2005, p.110]

A highly original band in its prime. [Jun 2005, p.107]

The guitars still kick, but charm is thin on the ground. [Jul 2005, p.89]

Whereas The Thrills' second album fizzled commercially because of an increasingly arch knowingness which many found alienating, Hal--perfectionists, eschewing irony--keep the envelope taut, the air fresh. [May 2005, p.106]

The intensity builds relentlessly. [Jun 2005, p.102]

Certainly worth investigation. [Jun 2005, p.102]

A return to form, if not a career-redefining masterpiece. [Jul 2005, p.107]

It's only the Can-meets-Canned-Heat avant-boogie of "Bees" and "Barnowl" that escape a sense of academic contrivance. [May 2005, p.95]

The band sounds re-energised by an idea of the city, the marketplace, pop ambition. [May 2005, p.102]

Songs unfold as complex relationships, with attendant euphoria, doubt and internal demons. [May 2005, p.112]

It's hard to shake the feeling that this return to decay-drenched digital rock is the sound of Reznor playing to the gallery. [Jun 2005, p.97]

Bridges high- and low-brow without ever being anything less than exhilarating. [Jul 2005, p.99]

The territory--dark skies, open roads and femme fatales--gives a gothic edge to even the most tender sentiment. [Aug 2005, p.98]

Although less immediately catchy, Celebration Castle... soon warms up. [Jul 2005, p.94]

That it works at all is thanks to a dense, cartoonish production that sees dusty breaks. found sounds and snippets of conversation tossed together like the contents of an upturned toy box. [Jul 2005, p.96]

If nothing here is quite touched by the hand of God, then maybe it's all the more engagingly human. [Apr 2005, p.104]

Intermittently funny and never depressing, this confirms him among America's greats. [May 2005, p.108]

The sweet '70s AM harmonies sometimes sugar the pill too much, but there's no mistaking its artfully bitter taste. [Jun 2005, p.110]

While [Tom Joad] was often more like reading a book than listening to a record, this time Springsteen has struck a more natural balance between words and music. [Jun 2005, p.100]

The further [Darnielle] drifts from his lo-fi allegiances and into lush studio environments, the more autobiography intersects with the dramatic storytelling which has always been the Californian's forte. [Jun 2005, p.98]

These are great, clever, slovenly rock songs. [May 2005, p.95]

It's disappointing that nothing else on the record even enters the same solar system [as "1 Thing"]. [Aug 2005, p.92]

THe good stuff is terrific. [Mar 2005, p.104]

Unlike their many imitators, Autechre's music refuses to relax, ensuring them a longer radioactive half-life. [May 2005, p.106]

It's plenty funky, just less in-your-face and with a disco polish. [May 2005, p.103]

The likes of "22 Days" and "Devil In Me" exist in a world where only John Lee Hooker and The Stooges have ever made records.

Tries hard to add a few hues absent from Matchbox 20's colourless rock. [Jul 2005, p.90]

The lyrical balance of wit and poignancy is still here... plus stronger melodies than we've heard from him in some time. [May 2005, p.96]

Confirms Momus as a laptop Tom Lehrer. [Jun 2005, p.102]

Though straining at times under its rhapsodic pretensions, at its best it's an ambitious symphonic spree. [Oct 2005, p.100]

Much of it signifies nothing. [May 2005, p.96]

For all this sonic broad-mindedness, the Twins' ideas are piled on a lightweight core, and good luck making sense of the lyrics. [Jul 2005, p.104]

Packed with brilliant, bohemian songs that combine affecting lyrical honesty, beguiling melodies and a voice that has a touch of Alanis Morissette. [May 2005, p.96]

It's their first masterpiece. [Album of the Month, May 2005, p.94]

An ambitious but striking debut. [Sep 2004, p.108]

Isn't always successful. [Jun 2005, p.113]

Although it's a shame to see eccentrics reining in idiosyncratic impulses,... they've honed their hubris. [May 2005, p.98]

Lost And Safe is a move songwards, and though this promises greater coherence, it's at the expense of some of the group's wayward charm. [May 2005, p.97]

For an international pop act on a major label, this is a daring album. [May 2005, p.109]

The emphasis tends to be on hooks, not heart. [May 2005, p.100]

In some ways, ...Absence is his most diverse record yet, but it's at its brilliant best when spare and uncompromising. [May 2005, p.104]

Hilariously frenetic, perpetually distracted. [Jun 2005, p.116]

Haunting lamentations that owe as much to the Jewish Klezmer and US folk traditions as to Slint. [May 2005, p.110]

Molina's songs achieve the kind of epic, majestic sweep his ambition and talent have long suggested. [Jun 2005, p.104]

She proves... that she's more than a professional widow. [Jul 2005, p.104]

By turns oblique, soulful, scornful yet rarely dissonant. Rather, it's one of their lovelier, more formal offerings. [Mar 2005, p.108]

Horrific it's not, but with its cover of protest song "Portlandtown" and Dubya-inspired lyrics on "Laughter In The Dark", neither is it an innocent pleasure. [Apr 2005, p.105]

Sheff's novelistic lyrics and the dextrous blend of country, folk and nervy indie-rock suggest a band approaching the peak of their powers. [Aug 2005, p.87]

[They're] now on their eighth album and still finding something new under the pun. [Sep 2005, p.112]

A mouth-watering feast of beats and grooves... as welcome as anything he's done. [Apr 2005, p.100]

A masterclass in menace. [Apr 2005, p.97]

This album really is just too good to be true. [Apr 2005, p.114]

Edan's punch and broad vision distinguish him from the rest of the pack. [Jun 2005, p.110]

At best superfluous, at worst that very thing he dreads most. Forgettable. [May 2005, p.113]

Ocean Colour Scene return to remind us that no one loves the mid-'60s beat boom more than they do. [May 2005, p.103]

M.I.A.'s vivid debut already sounds like a booty-shaking milestone to rank alongside The Streets and Dizzee Rascal. [May 2005, p.98]

Impossible not to love. [Apr 2005, p.110]

Silent Alarm's innovation, sense of urgency and sleek production are enough to comfortably elevate Bloc Party above the post-punk rabble. [Mar 2005, p.106]

A solid, by-the-numbers Billy Idol album. And that is both its triumph and its tragedy. [Apr 2005, p.99]

Cuts deeper and sharper than previous Decemberists efforts. [Sep 2005, p.116]

[A] fruitless bid to affect euphoria. [Apr 2005, p.97]

Bright, luscious and languid. [Apr 2005, p.102]

There's a flightiness that lends the album a showreel quality. [Apr 2005, p.97]

Effectively embracing the entire history of the band's sound, the album sprawls over an hour, and has so many peaks and valleys it's practically topographical. [Apr 2005, p.98]

This sounds like the record Vic Chesnutt's been waiting his entire life to make. [Apr 2005, p.112]

A horny fusion of glam-rock boogie, Urge Overkill's egotism and libidinous top-shelf naughtiness, all delivered with the molten fury of The Black Keys. [Nov 2005, p.111]

A sparky and honest mess. [Mar 2005, p.94]

A fascinating document of exactly how far he's travelled. [May 2005, p.117]

A near-faultless record. [Apr 2005, p.97]

There's less emphasis on programmed beats and samples and a greater dependence on live instrumentation. [Apr 2005, p.114]

[Broder's] bodged tracks are the equivalent of Napoleon Dynamite's hybrid animal, the "liger", with beats that kick like a flogged mule. [Jun 2005, p.114]

The pace and register of the record seldom alter: the soundscape is always more baked earth than lush foliage. [May 2005, p.103]

Their drowsy lullabies and minor-key melodies are now so commonplace... that much of it seems unremarkable. [Dec 2005, p.109]

Intriguing, endearing and, given time, surprisingly addictive. [Jun 2005, p.104]

Luckily he's such a gifted performer that, even if you don't know what he's saying, you kind of know what he means. [Feb 2005, p.76]

It has everything you've come to expect from a Daft Punk album--innovation, cracking tunes, a palpable sense of its own absurdity--but this time the whole shebang's cranked up to 11. [Apr 2005, p.99]

A gem. [Apr 2005, p.105]

Majestic, life-affirming and touched by magic. [Nov 2004, p.102]

Mitchell's sophisticated Memphis funk gives Green's voice the fuel to float. [Apr 2005, p.97]

Too often his cluttered samples and constant fidgeting shatter [the] fragile spells. [Apr 2005, p.98]

A set of faintly sad songs so minimal that they're often barely there at all. [May 2005, p.96]

Their energy is extraordinary. [May 2005, p.97]

He can't muster much more than a compose-by-numbers Boards Of Canada kit that's destined for little more than wildlife documentary syndication. [Mar 2005, p.102]

The songs may work better in short, sudden bursts; over 11 tracks, you can feel bludgeoned by the band's blunt force. [Apr 2005, p.112]

To anyone over 16 it's Suicide/Velvets karaoke, a hacky homage to heroes rather than anything with fresh blood on its teeth. [Mar 2005, p.96]

While nothing here quite matches the last album's majestically weary "Elevator Love Letter", Set Yourself On Fire is still quite sublime. [Sep 2005, p.104]

Restrained, but deeply satisfying. [Apr 2005, p.100]