Ample evidence that Murphy is far more than a dance-club wiseguy who's too clever by half. [Apr 2005, p.128]

A pair of seemingly dated numbers aside, Disconnection Notice makes for a solid and surprisingly cohesive listen. [Mar 2005, p.118]

If he isn't a sage yet, he does sound like a future star. [Feb 2005, p.94]

Burn The Maps' muted vibe demands that you turn down the lights, fire up the candles and listen hard. [Mar 2005, p.132]

Coxon's solo career has long suffered from the Bob Pollard syndrome of self-indulgent quantity over quality--a setback that, unfortunately, also plagues much of Happiness In Magazines. [Mar 2005, p.132]

The least pretentious--and most accessible--thing AYWKUBTTOD have ever released. That's probably because it sounds a lot like your record collection. [Feb 2005, p.92]

As singer-songwriters go, Barlow's not worthy to make a Starbucks run for Conor Oberst, Jim White, Joseph Arthur or Chris Carrabba. [Mar 2005, p.122]

Riskier but not totally out of character; it's the more holistic right brain to Wide Awake's rational left brain. [Feb 2005, p.81]

A raw portrait of a 20-something disenchanted with his city, his country and his life. [Feb 2005, p.81]

The Chemical Brothers seem adrift and directionless. [Mar 2005, p.138]

Longtime fans will be comforted by Nightbird, even if it comes off like the fluff Giorgio Moroder might've rejected after a coke bender. [Mar 2005, p.138]

A whole that's less than the sum of its parts, a bittersweet pill that's best taken in small doses. [Feb 2005, p.88]

Although M83's ambitions are often great, there is a problem here: Before The Dawn often drags its feet. [Mar 2005, p.138]

Hone[s] his twangy, hip-hop Americana to pitchfork sharpness. [Jan 2005, p.114]

The only thing missing is Gibbard's unique voice--well, that, and the solid songwriting that made the Postal Service's Give Up a classic, rather than just a pleasant listen. [Mar 2005, p.122]

Most of Valende's songs have that creepy nursery-rhyme thing that people who read too much Lewis Carroll would call "whimsy." [Mar 2005, p.132]

Although memorable hooks are few and far between... there's no denying the album's ferocity. [Mar 2005, p.132]

A series of sparse ruminations on barren landscapes and cosmic coincidence that comprises weird sound effects, acoustic finger-picking, tape loops and spectral vocal incantations. [Apr 2005, p.118]

You'll probably get annoyed after about 30 seconds. [May 2005, p.138]

A document of one amazing night of music. [Mar 2005, p.124]

Think the Postal Service, but with more instrumentation and experimentation. [Feb 2005, p.94]

The Nirvana box set isn't the Holy Grail. The Nirvana box set isn't even Incesticide. [Jan 2005, p.105]

It's proof the evil genius remains a damned fine chef. [Feb 2005, p.94]

Makes you scratch your head as much as nod it. [Dec 2004, p.162]

The whole thing is over before you know it packing a punch as sweet and warm as a shot of whiskey. [Jan 2005, p.108]

Our quality of life would instantly improve if this disc didn't exist. [Feb 2005, p.94]

Give[s] Skyward In Triumph and Earth 2 a run for the title of Best Album By A Duo, ever. [Jan 2005, p.113]

Album, boring. [Dec 2004, p.150]

Two masterpieces. [Dec 2004, p.158]

We're skipping past Gold Medal's soggy, pub-folk title track toward an otherwise flawless album of glossy, commercial punk. [Dec 2004, p.142]

Stop pretending that Morrissey is still relevant, that the Libertines are actually good and that you understand Radiohead. The Futureheads will give you everything you need, if you just let them. [Dec 2004, p.144]

Some excessive ballads aside, Simple Plan's second disc all but perfects the one before it. [Dec 2004, p.141]

Arguably the best record of Leo's career. [Feb 2005, p.84]

A beautiful example of what "heart-on-sleeve" music should be. [Nov 2004, p.148]

A career-arching centerpiece. [Nov 2004, p.154]

A marked improvement over their eponymous debut, North sounds like Muse and the Stone Roses on steroids. [Jan 2005, p.113]

Every track on Basement is a highlight. [Nov 2004, p.150]

Fuse[s] the best parts of '60s rock and '90s rock without sounding dated (see Oasis) or contrived (paging Franz Ferdinand). [Jan 2005, p.113]

It's moody as hell, with an aching, nameless despair and all the intimacy of a crack-up. [Jan 2005, p.108]

With Crimes, the Bloods have built the sturdiest bridge between the hardcore underground and indie-rock elitists. [Nov 2004, p.144]

If Ian Curtis had stuck around for Zoloft and Hot Hot Heat, Joy Division's Closer might've sounded a lot like this album. [Dec 2004, p.158]

The songs last twice as long as they should. [Dec 2004, p.152]

American Music Club are as morose as ever. [Dec 2004, p.150]

Sounds like the updated fourth side of Built To Spill's Perfect From Now On. [Nov 2004, p.142]

Unfortunately, the band overcompensate for all the testosterone with modern-rock romps like "Some Say" and with bland ballads like "Slipping Away." [Dec 2004, p.142]

Darker, glitchier and garage-punkier... a gamble that doesn't always strike gold. [Jan 2005, p.114]

Offers yet more fun funk/blues-rock mashups for unpretentious gatherings of all sorts. [Nov 2004, p.156]

Undercut by passion and urgency. [Jan 2005, p.113]

Songs like "16.12" are so captivating, you'll barely notice they're over 10 minutes long. [Dec 2004, p.162]

A record of bittersweet delights that resonates with the brain and the heart. [Nov 2004, p.149]

A satisfying and surprisingly profane comeback. [Jan 2005, p.114]

If you're confused and bewildered by Power, you're probably not alone. [Dec 2004, p.146]

Good Charlotte have obviously put a lot of effort and imagination into Chronicles, and if it comes off as slightly awkward in parts, well, isn't that part of growing up? [Nov 2004, p.135]

He seems hell-bent on sabotaging his amiable, acoustic-guitar-based songs with the sort of distortion and static that drive most engineers up the soundproofed wall. [Jan 2005, p.114]

Like Merzbow jamming with a broken dishwasher through a short-wave radio. [Nov 2004, p.146]

Contributions from Chuck D... and Dan The Automator... elicit[s] enough blips on the heart monitor to keep the album from flatlining. [Dec 2004, p.158]

Sweet and insubstantial. [Nov 2004, p.140]

A rewarding art-pop risk. [Dec 2004, p.148]

Clogging their previously supple grooves with banal guitar bluster and noxious singing, VHS Or Beta don't set the Night On Fire; they just dampen your spirits. [Oct 2004, p.148]

Even if Oxeneers doesn't move you, it'll surely floor you. [Dec 2004, p.157]

Amount[s] to little more than a facsimile of their forefathers. [Nov 2004, p.149]

Eight near-impeccable tracks. [Nov 2004, p.140]

One shudders to think how wack the rejects are. [Nov 2004, p.156]

Man, this thing sucks. [Oct 2004, p.146]

It's the urgency of [Dizzee's] brash Brit patois that dares you not to decipher it. [Jan 2005, p.114]

Strikingly beautiful pop songs. [Nov 2004, p.142]

Another strong outing. [Oct 2004, p.148]

Often feels like the soundtrack for a party that's running short on ideas. [Oct 2004, p.132]

Takes a step back to the crossroads of the accessible and the head-scratchable. [Oct 2004, p.148]

The lyrics on Folker make the tripe in Westerberg's early solo material... read like T.S. Eliot. [Oct 2004, p.144]

There's a bit more quiet time on this effort. [Nov 2004, p.149]

The Libertines just don't live up to the hype. [Jan 2005, p.113]

Gone is the rock'n'roll grit reminiscent of '70s Detroit rock, and in its place is a stylishly tailored sound more akin to '60s California pop. [Sep 2004, p.136]

Sounds like every other disc Matador has released by them. [Oct 2004, p.134]

Sounds like a holding-its-own companion piece to Quicksand's 1995 swan song Manic Compression. [Nov 2004, p.142]

The results are as thrilling as ever. [Oct 2004, p.140]

Overall, the Beeps still seem like a work in progress. [Nov 2004, p.140]

Either the worst or the best thing I've heard all year. [Dec 2004, p.152]

All the broad-shouldered indie pop and big city folk we've come to expect, but so meticulously refined and consistently pleasing that its crossover ploys seem forgivable. [Sep 2004, p.124]

The ladies aren't ready to carry an album by themselves. [Oct 2004, p.146]

Like most good thematic albums, or films or books, for that matter, it's hard to put the pieces together on Album Of The Year, and just when you think you've got the narrative unraveled, you'll rediscover another lost passage or double entendre. [Sep 2004, p.122]

It's a deathfest of sound and fury, quietly melancholy and fiercely apocalyptic. But it's a tale that grows wearier with every listen. [Sep 2004, p.122]

On some songs... the cutting-and-pasting fails to produce anything new, but a handful of others blend their textures beautifully. [Sep 2004, p.122]

Unbelievably catchy hipster synth-rock. [Sep 2004, p.136]

Stripped-down and understated. [Sep 2004, p.136]

A decidedly hit-or-miss affair. [Nov 2004, p.148]

All [their] cleverness works better than ever before. [Oct 2004, p.142]

Disastrous. [Oct 2004, p.144]

Weak. [Sep 2004, p.140]

It's the album most bands wish they could make. [Aug 2004, p.101]

It is the best parts of a bar brawl, a naked Twister party and a street race in one cumulative package. [Sep 2004, p.117]

Succeeds not solely as a studio recording, but as a reminder of how powerful the band's live show is. [Aug 2004, p.118]

Think Doug Martsch fronting the Shins and playing the sweetest Carl Newman jams ever. [Sep 2004, p.124]

If you've been moved by Sparta before... you're going to have the same reaction once the roiling "Guns Of Memorial Park" opens this album. [Jul 2004, p.127]

They make OMD sound like Joy Division. [Aug 2004, p.124]

A novel idea that falls flat due to poor execution. [Dec 2004, p.162]

A snow globe of an album that's sparkling, brilliant and only held back by gravity. [Aug 2004, p.106]

It's all very simple, organic and, best of all, easy on the ears. [Oct 2004, p.140]