Filled with the sort of unprofessional, unpretty noodling this genre has been begging for. [Feb 2003, p.68]

Unrewardingly dark. [March 2003, p.90]

One bedroom is vaguely European, warmly mechanical and just off-kilter enough to be consistently interesting. [Feb 2003, p.74]

With Lovebox, they do another about-face, dirtying up and slowing down their song-structured house tracks into a grimy soul/funk/house/hip-hop amalgam. [March 2003, p.94]

Mount Eerie would be a gorgeous record even if the vision behind it didn't fall somewhere between Biblical allegory and Greek myth, but the drama makes it all the more stunning. [Feb 2003, p.70]

Even the psychedelic overreach shows a most uncommon artist at work. [Feb 2003, p.64]

Sadly, the electro-plated Evil Heat is neither evil nor particularly molten. [Jan 2003, p.99]

The tracks on Steal come off as much more assured and comfortable than those on Toxicity. [Jan 2003, p.81]

To conveniently label it elecroclash would be a disservice to Out Hud's myriad dynamic contours. [Jan 2003, p.96]

FC Kahuna tracks revel in the duo's simple blurbs of sound and less-is-more sonics. [Jan 2003, p.91]

A little too close to the mainstream for comfort. [Jan 2003, p.91]

Bad news for fans of either party who'd expected the union to generate something revolutionary. [Dec 2002, p.85]

In mood, style and tone, Riot Act sounds like every other Pearl Jam record, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. [Dec 2002, p.89]

Wholly ambitious and mostly successful. [Feb 2003, p.72]

If there's a fault with Ikara Colt, it's that they can't rock steadily for more than a few measures without getting self-conscious about it. [Jan 2003, p.94]

He tweaks frequencies and shades his queasy bass lines like the Neptunes on a diet of Red Bull and espresso beans. [Jan 2003, p.100]

Unlike most of his contemporaries, singer-songwriter Gough is willing to explore all sorts of styles while allowing himself to be as playful or serious as he wants. [Dec 2002, p.74]

Some of the most evocative music of this century. [Dec 2002, p.97]

A soulful kitsch-pop pastiche reminiscent of everything from Roxy Music to the Beatles. [Jan 2003, p.100]

Despite its relative palatability, compared with their earlier work, this is a hard album to like--and that's what makes it good. [Jan 2003, p.102]

Loud Like Nature contains all the traits that make Add N To (X) so captivating: blood, brains and lots of loin friction. [Dec 2002, p.77]

The new album's themes show that Amos is energized with stories to tell once again - making Scarlet's Walk at once ambitious and also one of her most moving collections yet. [Nov 2002]

A great party record, pop-metal to a splendid degree. [Jan 2003, p.84]

While Original Pirate Material isn't as good as the U.K. press hyperbole would have us believe, it does prove that sentiment and sincerity are more interesting than slickness and skills. [Dec 2002, p.96]

When these Norwegians try to make more conventional haunted soul-diva stuff, it sounds rote by comparison.... But when they follow their own muses, they come up with genius tracks like "Remind Me." [Dec 2002, p.96]

A raging slab of beats and sick samples accruing at a rate that may well cause motion sickness. [Dec 2002, p.86]

A way more direct, danceable and fun album. [Jan 2003, p.104]

Splendid ramshackle pop corniness. [Dec 2002, p.81]

Mascis... provides the most compelling case yet to worship at the altar of his slacker guitar genius. [Jan 2003, p.92]

When they're on, they're really fucking on. [Dec 2002, p.94]

Oddly, they sound more now in 2002 than they ever have. [Dec 2002, p.96]

Underworld are dancefloor outsiders humble enough to leave the 12-inch stuff to the kids, but good enough to be the Yes of dance rock without turning into Jethro Tull. [Oct 2002, p.82]

The tone grows shrill by album's end, but occasional bursts of accessible production help alleviate that shortcoming. [Oct 2002, p.84]

A righteous wallop of club-crawling, rave-slumming fun. [Oct 2002, p.83]

Nothing Hill works best when Adamson keeps his mouth shut and focuses on crafting moody instrumentals. [Oct 2002, p.76]

The CD's air of politeness pushes this pleasant pop music into the background. [Oct 2002, p.92]

A blissed-out menagerie of subtly morphing beats and elegant melodies within a dub framework. [Oct 2002, p.88]

Between The Senses follows in the hallowed Brit-rock tradition of trembling vocals, chiming midtempo guitars and delicate lyrical sensibilities. [Oct 2002, p.80]

A patchwork quilt of wispy Britpop ballads soaring majestically in an effort to overcome their own blandness. [Oct 2002, p.78]

His most winsomely loveless lyrics yet. [Oct 2002, p.92]

Only one or two tracks capture that combination of venom, wit and old-time Northwest angst that made Mudhoney one of the grunge movement's standouts. [Oct 2002, p.88]

Easily ranks among their best. [Oct 2002, p.83]

This album's fucking great, like a sharp stick in the eye. [Sep 2002, p.81]

Despite being almost numbingly consistent at times, it's his most self-indulgent Catholics album, and it could easily become a favorite of Black's long-time fans. [Oct 2002, p.77]

It feels like the afterthought it most likely was. [Oct 2002, p.77]

There's no absence of strong material here, although the sequencing feels awkward. [Oct 2002, p.94]

Trinity is almost perversely uninvolving on first listen. [Sep 2002, p.90]

While the band's by-the-book emo and fondness for '90s Radiohead may not break new ground, they've still made a hell of a record whose familiarity makes it feel like an old favorite upon first listen. [Oct 2002, p.95]

While the musicianship is first-rate, the middling tempos and docile, homogenous instrumentation quickly grow boring. [Oct 2002, p.94]

Its sweeping cinematic scope and all-instrumental tracks recall the lushness of Orbital in their prime. [Oct 2002, p.86]

This time, the heartfelt stuff sounds more sugary than before, while the hate vibes sound even more caustic. [Sep 2002, p.73]

An album that hangs together surprisingly well. [Oct 2002, p.90]

It's rare for a band to channel the Velvet Underground, Nirvana, Dandy Warhols and the Beatles within the span of 45 minutes and sound unique, but the Vines have crept into that select category with Highly Evolved. [Aug 2002, p.86]

Smartly packaged pop that's as slick as Stereolab, but human enough--thanks to Coyne's earnestness and sincerity--to malfunction in all the right places. [Sep 2002, p.77]

Successfully blends the Detroit and California states of mind, with energetic indie-rock tunes that coo as much as they crow. [Sep 2002, p.96]

The feeling isn't sucked out yet, but the focus is. [Sep 2002, p.92]

A cohesive, 100-percent successful record. [Oct 2002, p.95]

If helium-filled kitsch 'n' synth tunes float your boat, this CD will satisfy. [Sep 2002, p.87]

One-dimensional and full of tired tunes. [Sep 2002, p.81]

Noel Gallagher's songwriting is more derivative than ever. [Aug 2002, p.78]

Alternately pounding and pining, it's "faceless techno" at its very best. [Sep 2002, p.96]

A delightful listen. [Oct 2002, p.79]

These sparse, haunting pieces evoke that bedroom-bound-genius mystique many songwriters futilely try to attain. [Sep 2002, p.84]

Features less avant-garde noodling and more straight-up Youth. [Sep 2002, p.96]

Free All Angels is punchy guitar pop in extremis, sliding so breathlessly from anthemic chorus to soaring hook that it's hard to believe any band could actually want to have this much fun and sound this important. [Aug 2002, p.69]

The band have gelled into Pollard's best yet, and it's their brief forays into prog-rock complexity that make the record stand out within the GBV catalog. [Jul 2002, p.82]

A slick, expertly crafted crossover plea that can't quite push Oakenfold past every other beat-happy producer out there. [Aug 2002, p.88]

Slug and Ant have no aversion to a killer pop hook. [Sep 2002, p.76]

Their darkest, most impenetrable record yet--the aural approximation of staring down a mine shaft at midnight. [Jul 2002, p.75]

It's meticulously arranged and inoffensive, but well-played enough to keep you from falling asleep. [Aug 2002, p.80]

Finelines serves up Everybody Oriented Rock, sure to be a hit with both the critics and the slamdancing fans who ignore them. [Aug 2002, p.72]

This is a dazzling and haunting disc. [Aug 2002, p.74]

It was probably inevitable, but having raised the bar so high for cut-and-paste music, Shadow spends a little too long here looking up at it. [Jul 2002, p.96]

Enon proves once and for all that spooky does not necessarily mean quiet, and being goofy doesn't make you a joke. [July 2002, p.80]

This Steve Albini-engineered masterpiece is destined to establish these 15-year vets as one of underground's strongest songwriting forces. [Aug 2002, p.83]

Loudboxer revisits stark, pounding techno at a moment when the genre's fallen from favor, in the process revitalizing the form. [Aug 2002, p.84]

A laid-back meshing of chilled hip hop, late-night jazz and upscale dancefloor grooves. [Aug 2002, p.84]

Title TK isn't awful, but it's too zoned out to draw you in. [Jun 2002, p.71]

18 makes Play sound like a what-if experiment in techno blues; now Moby sounds like he means it as much as his sampler does. [May 2002, p.77]

Unfortunately, the visceral energy of their early days is lost in their newfound maturity. [Aug 2002, p.71]

Deadsy's mix of electronics, death-metal distortion and lugubrious vocals offers something magnificently alien, yet familiar. [Jun 2002, p.69]

Girls Against Boys are still together making pwerful music that detonates the soundtracks of the new subcultures and corporate marketing campaigns. [Jun 2002, p.75]

Creatures has a medieval majesty.... Yet such pastoral conjuring doesn't mean the band can't rock. [Aug 2002, p.82]

It may take a few spins to fully appreciate French Kicks' nuances, but those who give them time will be greatly rewarded. [Jul 2002, p.81]

Alice is unique within Waits' unique discography, and it may be his most fully realized work. [Jul 2002, p.96]

Blood Money's biggest strength is its lyrics, which are rich with symbolism, and which withstand and reward deep analysis even outside the context of the music. [Jul 2002, p.96]

This, more than any of their releases to date, is an actual album. [Jun 2002, p.90]

Breezy, flashy, and fun, but emotionally bereft as well. [Jul 2002, p.81]

They came, they saw, they rocked viciously. [Jul. 2002, p.82]

Sounds Phishy enough to satisfy the masses and fresh enough to reach those without a predisposition for patchouli and patchwork. [Jun 2002, p.76]

An emotive, evocative, electrifying mystery. [July 2002, p.88]

Packed with earnest but impotent stadium rock. [Jul. 2002, p.82]

A collection of stylistically diverse tunes that is cohesive and refreshing. [Jul 2002, p.76]

Costello clutters many fine compositions with kitchen-sink arrangements and cacophonous production that bring into focus how sorely missed estranged Attractions bassist Bruce Thomas is throughout. [Jun 2002, p.75]

While he's a better songwriter than a singer, Eitzel definitely knows his way around a tune. [Jun 2002, p.82]

Largely standard Luna fare: smooth, loungey, literate alt-pop with quirky yet instantly moving melodies. [Apr 2002, p.79]

A disheveled collection.... Westerberg's muse seems to switch on and off, from inspired to bored. [Jun 2002, p.90]

They've never sounded so confident and comfortable, if maybe a bit tired. [Jun 2002, p.80]