Swanlights is seemingly effortless - the mark of a master at work.

Expect to see this album on 2006 Top 10 lists. [Oct 2006, p.118]

Clocking in at 21 tracks, Felt 3 has room for just about everything: a bunch of skits, battle-rap anthems, story-telling (dark and lighthearted alike), and, somehow, the energy of a young Rosie Perez is maintained throughout.

Beyond doesn't break any new ground, but... it's as refreshing as anything you're likely to hear all year. [May 2007, p.93]

While Molina's songwriting varies little from album to album, her songs are so strong that this is not necessarily a weak point. [May 2006, p.88]

This'll retain its heat only until everyone's heard it. [Apr 2004, p.88]

The band recalibrates toward rock structures but doesn't ditch the textures and sound experimentation of the recent past, resulting in songs with sonic depth and focus. [Sep/Oct 2007, p.129]

Electronic pop rarely sounds this beautiful and human. [Sep 2006, p.136]

Prefuse 73 lent a huge hand as far as the production on the EP and (not surprisingly) they are on to something with this music stuff.

Murs is both hard and intelligent. [May 2006, p.88]

In The Mode is at its most invigorating when it eschews the now tired-sounding rare groove and cool-jazz format of 'New Forms' for a sound that combines more bounce-friendly radio sounds with a hint of menace. [#79, p.136]

Majestic, glorious and not like much else you've ever heard before.... A strong contender for Album of the Year. [Mar 2004, p.107]

Ghost Colours sounds like Depeche Mode on Lorazepam--dramatic, well enunciated and full of arpeggiated synthy goodness.

A complex, avant-garde amalgamation of styles for only the most adventurous ears. [Aug 2002, p.116]

The Campfire Headphase is enough of a genre bender to finally introduce this music to a well-deserved new audience. [Dec 2005, p.94]

Rounding out the record with the 15+ minute 'Sequenced,' we're dropped back into the slow catatonia exhibited earlier on--and while this is a perfectly nice place to visit for a quarter of an hour, it may leave you yearning for The Field's previous world of sublime

Exploding Head is a movement deftly capturing atmospheric exuberance.

Submersive, almost submissive. [Jul/Aug 2006, p.118]

The harmonies resonate and the melodies hook into your skull. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.109]

Apparently channeling Stereolab, Dilated Peoples and the ghost of Esquivel, Cut Chemist finds that everything is fair game if you are witty and skilled enough to connect the dots. [Jun 2006, p.108]

HEALTH will still be written off as noise, but for fans, it sounds like the quartet tapped into its groove.

Stainless Style is impressive for so many reasons--'Raquel,' dedicated to Miss Welch; hearing crunk meld with Italo Disco; a Yo Majesty cameo--but it's the utter lack of irony that steals the show.

Unequivocally recommended for the open-minded among us. [Apr 2006, p.86]

The best thing about the second Yeah Yeah Yeahs album is the fact that it defies expectations, yet seems like the perfectly logical next step for such an adventurous band. [Apr 2006, p.81]

Splendid. [Jun 2006, p.111]

The only complaint I have is that this disc clocked in just under 39 minutes, while it definitely wouldn't be bogged down by another 41 minutes of tracks like these. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.78]

An atmospheric and sophisticated album from a promising songwriter. [May 2007, p.93]

Much as it is refreshing to find a spotlight being shone on the psyche of a headstrong young woman, This Week suffers from a frustrating consistency of musical tone. [Sep 2004, p.113]

Not to be taken lightly, dramatic tone and lyrical silliness obscure a sinister impulse throbbing within the album, spitting delightfully mysterious candy machines baubles onto your eager palm. [Nov/Dec 2008, p.87]

It's all clean, instrumental, cold techno. A sparse start builds and warms up to colder, bigger tracks. Along with the Egyptixx record, Fever might be the electronic underdog of the year.

There's More To Life Than This contains no weak tracks, only a few slightly bland moments.

A high-spirited whoosh of urgent dance pop and groovy psychedelic bop. [Sep 2003, p.102]

With this charismatic effort, Sandman has proven to be the audio equivalent of creeper weed.

Truelove’s Gutter is a winner for his fans.

A band/sound that could easily have been a flash in the synth-pop revival pan has actually proven itself worthy of revisit , over and over again.

Although the majority of the album is not that memorable, it is pretty damn warm and infectious.

Displays gorgeous layering amid catchy pop, mysterious Spanish acoustic guitar, and self-effacing lyrics. [Mar 2006, p.118]

It's just all so blissed-out and soothing you won't know what to do with yourself. [Dec 2002, p.92]

Surprising and fresh. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.103]

AC still celebrates soaking up esoterica, but this album is the group's jauntiest, least emulsified. [Sep 2007, p.128]

There is something uniquely authentic about Mason's music. [Mar 2006, p.114]

If Pilot Talk was the daylight that showcased Curren$y's talent to the world, part 2 is that evening's afterparty.

The album clocks in at nearly an hour but not one second is used in vain since Spirit’s campfire harmonies and leftfield spurts of drum cymbals go into vortexes that makes time stand still altogether.

As scattered as ever, Nouns covers a gamut of abstraction and occasionally even runs into a wall of melody.

Despite running a bit long, this is clearly one of the year's better releases.

The music pulses with a shimmering, spine-tingling blend of moodiness and vitality. [Sep 2002, p.102]

With every track clocking in at about seven minutes, Convivial may fulfill not only the needs of the insatiable dancefloor, but the wants of those looking for relief of daily life's mundanities.

Love Is Not Pop is many things; a comeback of sorts, a refreshing hybrid of exquisite production and emotional intimacy--but most immediately, it stands as an essential mood piece for these crisp air days, light fading early into dark.

That sweet spot between the dancefloor and the moshpit is something that more and more electronic acts seem to be pursuing these days. Freeland shows he's still a vet of that particular tightrope.

The music on this album is inspired and seriously sex-centric, repeatedly connecting politics with physical intimacy. [Apr 2006, p.82]

The cumulative results of his efforts are a masterpiece both dark and striking. Dear is putting forth an open invitation to tour these shadowed places of his imagination, and this is one offer too good to miss.

At Mount Zoomer will get hipsters dancing around once again, but I think the respect and hype is most definitely due to Wolf Parade this time.

Double Night Time unapologetically flaunts its electronic overcoat, and glam it should, given the remarkably clean sounds coming from Geist’s boards.

All the same basic elements--classic synth leads, intricately pulsing rhythms and pop vocal stylings--are back again for It's All True, but for this album the screen is completely gone, and Junior Boys are as front and center as they've ever been.

Koala's comic gestures serve a humble purpose, masking the technical precision that underpins his work. [Nov 2003, p.88]

This impressive album sounds like the work of old souls. [Nov 2002, p.100]

Each track on Seventh Tree is a picture that stands alone, but in its entirety the record works as a landscape decorated with guitars and pianos spread over hills of upbeat drums as strings and woodwinds line the sky in the background.

Soulsavers continue to challenge themselves and are able to produce a great album musically and lyrically. Overall, the album is cohesive and strong on almost every level.

[Heiruspecs] prove that they are definitely more than just Atmosphere's occasional back-up band. [Oct 2004, p.103]

A wonderful, fascinating record. [May 2005, p.85]

A lively collection. [Sep 2006, p.132]

The latter half of Paperwork is a showcase for the lead, at times a tad too comfortable with his unrestrained vocalizations.

An irresistible mix of soul, rock and attitude. [May 2006, p.91]

Hot Chip hasve always guaranteed a certain degree of respect for the listener's intelligence, even on their most fance floor ready album yet. [Jan/Feb 2008, p.102]

Deerhoof reveal new shades of interest that beckon future transformations. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.78]

At the same time you contort, squirm and surge toward the non-music, your spirit somehow gets the message. [Oct 2006, p.132]

Blonde Redhead's most confounding element is also one of their most endearing. With her ethereal, paper-thin voice, [Kazu] Makino often slips frustratingly off-key. [May 2004, p.84]

A Hundred Things also contains quieter moments that work surprisingly well for such a loud record, providing a much-needed respite from the nervous scramble of the rest of the album.

New Magnetic Wonder cloaks itself in a glow of irrelevancy. But beneath, Schneider's gooey power-pop thrives. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.76]

Bleak and beautiful, Family & Friends is an absolute beast.

Shows exactly what a great, reliable pop entity they have become over the past decade. [Apr 2006, p.82]

Beck at his best. [Apr 2005, p.100]

It's less angular than Fear of Fours but just as convincing--tiny music that thinks very, very big. [Jul 2003, p.93]

Instead of just blowing the dust off of relics from his childhood closet, he's embraced the neon ehtos of the era and produced and actual New Wave album that still sounds eerily contemporary. [#90, p.118]

There may be no safer bet than an Amanda Palmer’s bleeding-heart album--her built-in fan base will eat it up the same way they voraciously devoured Tori Amos’ open wound a decade ago--but the Palmer Show is strong enough to sustain much more daring theatrics than what’s given here.

Discerning heads will notice that the stellar rhyme schemes and heartfelt storytelling resonates much louder than the accent.

[An] outstanding album. [Mar 2005, p.110]

[A] remarkable return to form. [Oct 2005, p.75]

Swift is likely to turn some more heads with this one. [Mar 2007, p.101]

At once apocalyptic and born again. [May 2007, p.96]

An impressive album that points to a most promising future. [May 2004, p.84]

The album is a more straightforward, breezier Sparklehorse, and effortlessly replayable. [Oct 2006, p.130]

They have a clever way with words and pleasantly surprising musical depth. [May 2005, p.92]

A perfectly pleasant and unoffending offering. [Mar 2006, p.116]

Somewhere between the Plimsouls and The La's, this should keep your top down throughout the summer. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.109]

Even though the “fast forward button” will be needed here and there, The Stimulus Package is still a solid release that is easily the top hip-hop release so far this year.

While it almost goes without staying that every band’s aspiration is to ingeniously pique the interest of their listeners by reinventing old elements and coupling them with new and creative tones, it seems this record’s goal is not necessarily to go without saying, but say it all in the fewest possible breaths.

There are points during the disc when you wish the rollercoaster would relent, but that is beside the point: Fol Chen are pop experimentalists, deft song-writers and immaculate producers who have a lot to say – so hang on!

One answer, really...bass. Or, lack of bass. Having tested the disc on several systems, I can only determine that someone at Daft Punk central, or Virgin Records decided to master this disc like a pop record, the mids jacked to high heaven while the sub-bass, the stuff that actually makes you move, is completely erased.

If you're over 25, then expect to find yourself peering at your old teen angst like some sort of barely remembered dream. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.95]

An album as colorful as his stage show. [Apr 2006, p.96]

This could be the second half of Menomena's debut. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.81]

The party album of the year has arrived. [Aug 2003, p.87]

So even as Tortoise integrate guitar surrealism and edgier motifs into their palette, they also progress their unique relationship to electronic music and hip-hop. [#82, p.139]

The record falters only when Ace recounts a gangster parable about shady dealings with a certain Fats Belvedere. [Sep 2004, p.116]

Lerche has a pop manual the size of the OED, and he's not the least bit bashful about using it. [Apr 2004, p.86]

Pierce has broken down another barrier between elusive genius and sheer pleasure. [Jun 2005, p.79]