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]