This is a seminar in how to age gracefully and still rock like demons. [Mar 2004, p.106]

Air's most song-oriented effort yet. [Feb 2004, p.92]

Patton's latest fantasy-headache is a one-song, 55-minute conceptual misfire that careens from acid-casualty chamber music to high-velocity cartoon metal. [Feb 2004, p.82]

A nuanced masterpiece. [Feb 2004, p.88]

James Walsh does have a beautiful voice, but unfortunately, it's not enough to illuminate Starsailor from the shadow of British bands like Travis and Coldplay. [Feb 2004, p.90]

Stereolab continue to elevate breezy retro pop to luxurious new heights of spac-age swank and bilingual bliss. [Mar 2004, p.94]

A frenetic, opaque masterpiece that ranks in the upper echelons of post-rock primacy. [Apr 2004, p.96]

The recording quality is awful, but the glee with which these legends dust off forgotten gems like "Never Been In A Riot" easily makes up for it. [Feb 2004, p.76]

[Dalley] repeatedly dilutes Leave Your Name with empty atmospheric exercises in barely-there vocals and shimmery keys. [Feb 2004, p.80]

Inventive and highly improvised. [Feb 2004, p.88]

Cellar Door is clearly the work of a musical mastermind who has never met an instrument he didn't like--or a song he couldn't ruin with it. [Mar 2004, p.96]

Like vintage B&S, this Glasgow group's sound ranges from full-blown orchestration to tunes on which a lot of musicians make very little noise. [Mar 2004, p.94]

As full of empty bluster as its title. [Mar 2004, p.110]

Phantom Planet are shooting for something a bit less sunny here than their last outing. [Mar 2004, p.106]

Granted, the Offspring have always dabbled in lyrical goofiness, but on Splinter, this approach seeps into the music as well. [Jan 2004, p.93]

Atlas may lack the overall inventiveness of Kinky's self-titled debut, but the album still finds the Mexican electro-funk rockers in fine form. [Feb 2004, p.88]

These eight songs are as strangely catchy as they are desperate. [Feb 2004, p.92]

Hit or miss. [Dec 2003, p.154]

A refreshing slice of acoustic rock from an indie icon. [Nov 2003, p.114]

The jarring stylistic shifts sometimes make listening to RNR feel more like scanning the radio dial than listening to a CD. [Jan 2004, p.106]

Hazardous and hostile. [Dec 2003, p.152]

Seamless and sparkling. [Jan 2004, p.98]

Denali sound more comfortable in their skin. [Dec 2003, p.140]

Better than its predecessor. [Dec 2003, p.150]

Amazing. [Jan 2004, p.108]

Even Westerberg knows that he can do better. [Jan 2004, p.108]

Moody music that avoids settling on any one sound for more than half a song. [Feb 2004, p.78]

The Stills succeed where other time-travelers fail by emphasizing substance over style. [Jan 2004, p.108]

Muddy, swamp rockabilly. [Jan 2004, p.108]

Mescaleros Martin Slattery and Scott Shields have yielded a remarkably cohesive set of songs with arrangements that Strummer would have approved of. [Dec 2003, p.135]

[They] satisfy largely by serving up more of what made their debut so good. [Dec 2003, p.142]

[Travis have] set aside the drifting atmospherics iin favor of complex arrangements. [Dec 2003, p.154]

The rare sort of album that convinces you original music still exists. [Jan 2004, p.110]

Perhaps the strangest and most successful finale ever. [Nov 2003, p.116]

Rachel's create classical music for people who listen to bands like Boards Of Canada. [Nov 2003, p.100]

Succeeds only as an inessential novelty. [Jan 2004, p.98]

There's little sign of life here, only gently unassuming arpeggios and blanketing softness. [Jan 2004, p.98]

Koala contours his cuddly cuts for the ADD set. [Nov 2003, p.118]

Deliciously out of touch, Ladybug Transistor are sly, simpering and irresistible. [Nov 2003, p.99]

Jet storm the new rock pack with the diverse appeal and catchy compositions. [Nov 2003, p.112]

It's Death Cab's slowest and most mature recording, and over time, hidden bits of magic reveal themselves brilliantly. [Nov 2003, p.98]

You'd be hard pressed to find a more confessional album released this year. [Dec 2003, p.142]

Equally adept with paradiddles and software plugins, these digital-age surrealists have birthed a musical hybrid all their own. [Nov 2003, p.100]

LFO executes these retro moves with flamboyance and subtlety, so we can forgive Bell his derivativeness. [Nov 2003, p.118]

Though it has a couple great cuts that are in the running for Britpop song of the year, With The Tides lacks definition, making South more a group in the midst of a movement than one defining it. [Oct 2003, p.138]

Seven's Travels ultimately nods to the mainstream as much as to the underground. [Nov 2003, p.116]

Unfortunately, the tinny stutters and retro keyboards... drag when they're not amped up on desire. [Dec 2003, p.158]

An album as dense and uncompromising as his native New York. [Nov 2003, p.116]

Forgettable to anybody with a soul. [Jan 2004, p.103]

The results are understated, heartbreaking and quietly intoxicating. [Oct 2003, p.124]

The band update a tired synth-pop sound with purring guitars and just enough punked-out drum and vocal flourishes to give texture to what might otherwise have become new-wave wallpaper. [Nov 2003, p.114]

Yes, it sounds like Yes, and, no, I don't mean that in a good way. [Nov 2003, p.99]

Chris Conley's metaphorical lyrics remain earnest enough, but because of studio trickery, his vocals sound annoyingly nasal. [Oct 2003, p.120]

This husband-and-wife team have made the same album for the third time. [Nov 2003, p.100]

Goofy out-of-time tunes. [Oct 2003, p.136]

Once again, A Perfect Circle have quietly produced a masterpiece that challenges the very nature of testosterone-fueled angst. [Nov 2003, p.110]

Repetitious choruses and monotonous, middling tempos make the songs blur together. [Oct 2003, p.126]

An intriguing debut. [Nov 2003, p.108]

Answers an interesting question: What if, after The Bends, Radiohead had discovered pedal steel instead of Pro Tools? [Oct 2003, p.138]

If Enon were magicians, their crowd-gasping finale would be sawing in half the expectations of what a nu-New york band should sound like. [Oct 2003, p.122]

Pierce's organic approach on Grace makes the album feel exquisitely intimate, personable and warm. [Oct 2003, p.138]

A thrilling listen. [Dec 2003, p.140]

A melodic masterpiece of regret. [Oct 2003, p.122]

It's virtually impossible to listen to Show Me Your Tears from start to finish; but individually, each song is a dark, delightful peek at Black in the throes of therapy. [Nov 2003, p.108]

Compared to hearing 2001's instantly gratifying I Get Wet, listening to The Wolf is like getting mindblowing sex on a first date, only to have that person get a job at the Vatican the next day. [Oct 2003, p.136]

At once daring and danceable, The New Romance is the best Talking Heads record Bikini Kill never made. [Oct 2003, p.120]

Take Them On... repeats the San Francisco trio's bombast, peppered with slower tunes styled after Jesus And Mary Chain's dewy psychedelia, the Verve's noise-drenched moments and even Ride's droning perfection. [Oct 2003, p.134]

Deftly balancing country, classical and cabaret, the National are darkly dramatic and deliciously doomed. [Oct 2003, p.124]

A miasma of retro cool. [Sep 2003, p.116]

Nobody creates teeth-rottingly sweet indie rock better than Denver's Dressy Bessy. [Sep 2003, p.102]

Bazooka!!!'s distillation of rock history roars with irresistible energy and zest, making the album an unabashed delight. [Oct 2003, p.138]

Indestructible is the document of a band retaining their energy and refining their vision to be honest to themselves and their fans, while spitting venom in the eyes of their detractors. [Oct 2003, p.115]

Relentless rhythms and boisterous basslines propel the disc's quick-paced tunes to their catahrtic capital-letter choruses. [Aug 2003, p.104]

Sounds like a teenage Faith No More at their first practice. [Sep 2003, p.116]

Mostly stuck in a low gear. [Dec 2003, p.156]

The songs are getting samey. [Sep 2003, p.102]

Tells the story of musicians creating something brilliant and new with the well-worn pieces of their punk-indie-hardcore legacy. [Oct 2003, p.124]

A bewitching fusion of orchestral prettiness and exploratory electronics. [Aug 2003, p.108]

Nauseatingly upbeat. [Oct 2003, p.138]

Rarely have they sounded more comfortable with themselves. [Oct 2003, p.116]

The only thing glossier than the production on these high-school hallway-gossip tracks is the shimmery snottiness that permeates [their] lyrics. [Aug 2003, p.106]

Better than anyone could have predicted. [Sep 2003, p.112]

The Furries' songs have alwyas been strong enough to succeed without shock treatment, and these antics' absence means the addictive melodies of these classic, mostly straightforward pop and glam jams will just hit your bloodstream even quicker. [Sep 2003, p.104]

Head shows Eve 6 tweaking and perfecting their sound to become even more consistent and solid. [Aug 2003, p.104]

Pole's organic, vibrant music suggests he's busted out of his creative doldrums with gusto. [Aug 2003, p.110]

They're so busy crafting the perfect pop song... that they've made a uniformly dull album. [Sep 2003, p.102]

Loaded with lilting melodies, powerfully introspective lyrics, swelling harmonies and an orchestral quality whose timelessness transcends trends. [Jul 2003, p.121]

All you can do with oaklandazulasylum is dive in and hang on to the moments of true beauty, the shards of shattered folk songs, synth-pop and multitracked harmonies that litter--or decorate--why?'s mindscape. [Sep 2003, p.118]

Like all great albums, De-Loused in the Comatorium takes multiple listens to absorb, and, even then, you're probably not going to have a clue to what Bixler's raving about. [Jul 2003, p.107]

Better partiers than preachers, these Peas have found their pod. [Sep 2003, p.118]

[A] slickly produced holding pattern. [Jul 2003, p.122]

Mind-melting Indian-flavored strings... wispy vocal guest turns... and snarling, droning guitar riffs drench Rising in a pleasing psychedelic haze. [Jul 2003, p.124]

Narcotic, hypnotic and quietly cerebral, it's more satisfying and less elusive. [Jul 2003, p.112]

Tricky without edges and paranoia is freakin' dull. [Sep 2003, p.118]

Powerful drum beats user along the sometimes-Jack White, sometimes-Mick Jones vocals, while the guitar croons expressively throughout these low-key, lo-fi songs. [Aug 2003, p.96]

A sonically cinematic experience that will leave the listener feeling at once elated and emotionally drained. [Aug 2003, p.94]

While not as captivating as 2001's brilliant The Ghost Of Fashion, Soft Spot is yet another winning effort from this vastly underappreciated quartet. [Jul 2003, p.120]

Sadly, much of Welcome Interstate Managers is bogged down by forgettable midtempo slush. [Aug 2003, p.104]