Should please sophisticated pop connoisseurs. [Nov 2001, p.85]

Scattershot and immediate, with every track sounding as if it came off the top of his head. [Oct 2001, p.99]

The absence of Paul Leary's drug-fried guitar is unconscionable. [Nov 2001, p.78]

A lovely, delicate album marred only by a curious vocal idiosyncrasy... Linkous performs several of these songs in a near whisper... [Oct 2001, p.100]

Includes everything from Brighten The Corners-sounding pop blasts to comforting acoustic gems to dark rockers. [Nov 2001, p.91]

A refreshing journey back to the plugged-in analog sound of early 'Lab albums. [Oct 2001, p.100]

Vespertine isn't immediately accessible, but after repeat listens, a smoldering heart of emotion and a true pop sensibility reveal themselves. [Oct 2001, p.77]

Things reach such a fever pitch on this album that you can't help but laugh at times. [Sep 2001, p.75]

Redolent of the sound of Spiritualized's Pure Phase. [Nov 2001, p.94]

Another solid reunion... [Oct 2001, p.80]

It's the succinct pop of a punkier Squeeze or a sloppier, edgier Beatles that makes Sword a treasure. [Sep 2001, p.94]

If the wordplay occasionally misses the mark, the music (which includes calypso, funk, '40s jazz, and chamber pop) invariably carries the day. [Aug 2001, p.76]

Bubblegum electronica with enough experimentation to keep things interesting. [Oct 2001, p.86]

A meticulous, flashy electronic-rock opus that doesn't come close to meeting its rock-star aspirations. [Sep 2001, p.76]

Comfort Eagle is infinitely smarter, smarmier and catchier than Weezer's Green Album. [Oct 2001, p.79]

Other old rockers sound old. Iggy sounds brutal, harsher than last time, louder than ever, a pummeling self-production pocked with magnificent metal dumbness... [Sep 2001, p.88]

Farrell's silvery adenoidal baritone scissors through bass-heavy raggamuffin beats, dreamy swells of keyboard-fueled atmosphere and ticklish breakbeats -- and the slapdash aesthetic somehow coheres. [Aug 2001, p.79]

Hot Shots II recalls the repetitive excellence of 1998's The Three E.P.'s, with still more chant-like repetition and scarcely a change... [Aug 2001, p.76]

Geller's keyboard-fueled squiggles and quirky effects are effervescent but never cloying, thanks to the seriousness in Dykes' aloof, melancholy voice. [Oct 2001, p.84]

The 13 tracks here are improbably edgeless, all love-me-do/love-me-don't plaints that evaporate on impact. [Sep 2001, p.91]

With Ancient Melodies, Built To Spill are concentrating more on developing a single idea rather than worrying about the patchworking of the past. This fails to play to Built To Spill's strength: their firm handle on alt-guitar dynamics. [Aug 2001, p.78]

This is as meandering and shoegazing as Sub Pop indie folk gets. [Sep 2001, p.92]

Occasional missteps keep X.O. Experience from being a bottle of the top-drawer stuff, though it'll still leave you with a good buzz. [Aug 2001, p.91]

Lacking the hyperbole of, say, Chemical Brothers or the musicality of more band-like fare like Crystal Method, he finds a middle ground of giving-and-taking frequencies between his twos and fours, as if mixing it live. [Sep 2001, p.104]

But while the swanky compositions on Love can fade into the background like velvet-shrouded ambience, this same passion also makes these songs mesmerizing, allowing them to remain in the gently muted spotlight just as easily. [Aug 2001, p.104]

The only twang on the record is the sound of strings breaking as Jack attacks his guitar. [Sep 2001, p.104]

A feel-good collection of (mostly) poppy songcraft. [Aug 2001, p.103]

Eschewing the DJ-friendly club format they perfected on 1999's Remedy, the Jaxx are now writing R&B-flavored pop songs... But their success is hit-and-miss... [Jul 2001, p.60]

Go Plastic fuses the insanely intricate beat programming of Feed Me Weird Things and Daddy with the abstruse experimentation of 1998's Music is Rotted One Note. It's the best of both worlds. [Aug 2001, p.98]

Boasts a sort of steady, creeping beauty, like a slower, groggier Failure without the loud arena bombast. [Nov 2001, p.97]

Whereas the Beckster tends to wriggle cheekily along to his funk, and Badly Drawn Boy does his own thing in spite of it, Gorillaz don't give a rat's ass about acting funky; they just are. [July 2001, p.68]

The Invisible Band has more layers, more moods than ever before, and more tunes as well. [July 2001, p.88]

But under the ill-fitting vocals, Deep Down & Dirty has some dubby, dark tracks that work if only because they don't try so hard to be "Connected" sequels. [Jul 2001, p.85]

Although ever so slightly more modern in feel than his critically adored 1998 self-titled debut, Poses is still built upon Wainwright's mastery of highly composed, early-20th-century popular-song styles. [July 2001, p.86]

More often than not, Amnesiac finds a balance between twiddling and transcendence. [Jul 2001, p.79]

Double Figure forms a mysterious narrative filled with enough breaks and builds to keep the most jaded beathead more than satisfied. [Aug 2001, p.96]

The good news is that in their quest not to make fly-away pop, Air have unearthed a bizarre and dark sense of humor that allows them to subvert and celebrate their new gloomier chops. [Jul 2001, p.59]

While the album is rooted in chiming and growling guitar licks, the dense layers of each song are revealed only through multiple listens. [Jul 2001, p.66]

It's ultimately Costa's expressive, bluesy vocals that set her apart from other singers and make Something such a promising debut. [Jul 2001, p.63]

An album of mature pop that's more good-humored than its moping, acoustic-over-electronic arrangements let on. [Aug 2001, p.86]

Anyone who saw his performances last summer will immediately recognize the invigorated sound here, somewhere between Merzbow and metal, between liquid and solid. [Aug 2001, p.95]

In comparison with many imitators, Tanaka does what he does well... [Aug 2001, p.88]

There's no trace of the zany sass that made the Go-Go's an institution to begin with. [Jul 2001, p.68]

What makes this disc so intriguing is its embracing of the latest electronic substrata within the context of chief songwriter Martin Gore's well-crafted pop tunes. [#155, p.67]

The subject matter may be a bit heavy, but the beats keep it bouncing along. [Jul 2001, p.73]

Confield not only documents the future of IDM; it also cements Autechre's name in the pantheon of sonic visionaries. [Jul 2001, p.63]

With the exception of a few tracks, Reveal is a remarkably cohesive album of intense beauty and heady wisdom that inspires with its passionate strength. [Jul 2001, p.79]

Lateralus could have been released four years ago, for all the sonic progression that's contained (or not contained) within its 79 minutes. [Jul 2001, p.57]

A surprisingly substantial collection of lyric-heavy, humbly grandiose barroom-rock storytelling... [Jul 2001, p.63]

A perfectly pleasant background score for pasta-making, garden work, and other stuff 40-something yuppies waste their time on. Which makes it my definition of hell, actually. [Jul 2001, p.60]

To Rococo Rot don't need more bounce in their already metronomic step, so I-Sound shows the group on this collaboration how to add a bit of swagger. [#155, p.86]

Charging rock songs and austere balladry make this album resonate more than the morass of bad music currently plaguing us. [#155, p.80]

This is the best Foetus record in about 12 years. [Aug 2001, p.88]

In one word: lackluster. In two words: dead boring. [Aug 2001, p.90]

The subtle electronic touches give Mogwai's production a suitably enigmatic dimension. [#155, p.78]

Bardo Pond have become equally adept at making hearts and heads ache. [#155, p.68]

A precious orch-pop labyrinth that unfolds with sudden melodic left turns and zany shifts in dynamics and instrumentation. [Aug 2001, p.94]

Does it work? It depends on your idea of "flow": If you don't mind sandwiching the Trent Reznorish "Introduce" and the Squarepusher-on-crank mess of "First : Break" between the opulent epics that comprise the middle and the end of the album, Idiology comes off as an inspired collection of irreverent hackery and emotional depth. [Jul 2001, p.79]

If 1987-era U2 is your bag, you'll dig it. [Jul 2001, p.74]

It's still hard to believe that a punk band formed more than 20 years ago are capable of releasing a new album that's both vital and worthy of the promise of their early material.... With Dizzy Spells, the quintet may have topped it all. [#155, p.83]

This batch of cobbled-together love songs and lullabies makes for instantly likable pop regardless of its source material. [#155, p.77]

The Sneak Attack proves this pioneer and innovator's run is far from over. [Aug 2001, p.90]

This is Unwound's Kid A, in that they've turned their back on the rock in favor of something more atmospheric, but even more significantly, they've tossed out all the old recipes and made the future unpredictable. Problem is, they've fixed something that wasn't broken. [Jul 2001, p.85]

Like Creeper's previous albums, Take Back The Universe is a delicate piece of criss-crossing jangles and loose-limbed riffs, but the shimmery sprawl never coalesces into anything concrete. [#154, p.73]

Studio wizards [Fred] Deakin and Nick Franglen conjure dreamy electronic vistas that teem with languorous grooves, lush ambience and euphoria-inducing melodies. [#153, p.82]

Though the music on Revelling/Reckoning ranges from brilliant to mediocre, DiFranco's bold, descriptive lyrics (as usual) redeem any shortcomings. [#155, p.75]

Kozelek's unique arrangements and breathtaking melodies set him far above his contemporaries. [#154, p.93]

Occasionally he resembles a Pakistani Bryan Ferry. Is this a good thing? It is if you like Pakistani Bryan Ferrys. [#155, p.70]

There's a defiance to BRMC's carefully crafted mix of brooding vocals and blurred melody that unites disparate musical elements into blasts of noisy cohesion and howling passion. [#155, p.72]

Although a less consistent effort as a whole, Time Bomb is a lot more fun than its predecessor and suggests capacity for songcraft not evident on the band's debut. [#154, p.66]

God Says No is the sound of a band heading toward the charts, full-speed.... This is a disappointing record for longitme fans; maybe new ears will dig it. [#153, p.81]

Interlude continues where 'Water' left off, exuding a pall of melancholy that translates into heartbreaking beauty. [#153, p.85]

Masterfully crafted torch songs, coated with a thin layer of orchestral gloss and trip-hop beats that stand out as unique. [May 2001, p.64]

Green's heightened tunefulness along with the broadened emotional resonance that results should enable this band to relate more to an enlarged fanbase... [#154, p.63]

While A Chance may not move Matmos any closer to either the song or sound distinction, perhaps the fact that their music consistently provokes smiles and dark thought with increasing accessibility warrants our continued, if not increased, attention... [#154, p.76]

Once you get past the roller-disco-house vibe of the first single, "One More Time," your ears and booty will twitch just fine to the booming beats and taffy-stretching grooves. [#153, p. 63]

One of the most bizarre things ever released by Sub Pop. [#154, p.80]

Stag for the most part rocks with biting fierceness and vibrant energy. [#155, p.81]

At times, the disc trades solid shoegazing for a slip into blase modern rock, with songs that beg for broadcast next to STP and Third Eye Blind; ultimately, however, Gwenmars' recasting of the dark British sounds that lent depth to sunny American movies is intense and compelling. [#153, p.75]

A gorgeous and welcome display of growth... [#155, p.68]

Though this is limp-wristed stuff, it's also undeniably beautiful, often recalling Nick Drake and Belle & Sebastian. [#154, p.82]

Understated but never anemic, Sunny Border Blue's tales of love, family and growth succeed largely due to Hersh's masterful acoustic guitar. [#154, p.81]

An admixture of Stax soul, raw-boned punk rock, and California beach-pop that sounds more focused than their previous outing, 1998's R.F.T.C. [#154, p.84]

Suave yet sublimely ridiculous... most of Uh-Oh raises the stakes by escalating nearly every aspect to critical mass. [#153, p.88]

The best songs... are the ones heavily influened by the Posies' Ken Stringfellow and Jon Auer. [#154, p.98]

The crossbreeding makes for a difficult listen, even thought it sharpens the Oscar Wilde-like wit Momus brings to the endeavor. [#155, p.86]

Not a true turkey in the bunch. [#153, p. 83]

The duo's strength is their songwriting skills, which are being honed to a razor's edge here. [#153, p.84]

Five years later, it's easy to be blasé about [Aidan] Moffat's disgruntled first-person narratives. [#154, p.68]

Uninspired goofiness... [#154, p.98]

Seems like a tarted-up version of 1986's Raising Hell.... This is for diehard fans only. [#154, p.87]

Filled with laid-back, intelligent electronica equally suited to dancing and chilling, Production ultimately succeeds through its deft combination of strikingly disparate elements. [#153, p.79]

Spoon deliver everything with a calm, classy Motown-pop feel, but the disc still crackles with punk intensity... [#154, p.97]

A short, quiet, and relatively still bit of genius. [#154, p.82]

Admittedly, this kinder, gentler Half Japanese lack the shambling brilliance of earlier incarnations, but, hey, we all lose a step with age. [#155, p.76]

Standards succeeds by making the most of the intellectual side of Tortoise--their stylistic cross-pollinations, their meta-musical analyses--without ever losing sight of the music's ability to do more than engage the mind. [March 2001, p.94]

With just his voice and an acoustic guitar, he's made these songs his own, and in the process created a most remarkable LP. [#154, p.93]

The disc is as loose, casual and rollicking as a conversation with an old friend.... across these 65 minutes, his manic energy shines through. [#154, p.87]