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

Ambitious, grand, emotional and complex, it’s a record that demands the band be seen in a new light.

Some of the most engaging music of his career. [Aug 2005, p.172]

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

City is a rare thing: a disc that reconciles a band's need for discovery with the familiar characteristics that define them. [Jun 2006, p.171]

A heartbreakingly brilliant album that unravels itself slowly if you just stop and listen. [Jul 2004, p.132]

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

He used his left brain--logic--to access his right brain--emotion--to create what might not be the best Weezer album, but most definitely is the perfect Weezer album, at least right now.

As is the case whenever [Kurt] Wagner's velvet croon wraps itself around a night that ends so late it's already morning... there really isn't a critic in the world who can touch him. [combined review of both discs; Mar 2003, p.94]

Infectiously noisy. [May 2006, p.166]

Despite the oddball showpieces, the Furnaces have refocused the lens on their homemade-pop kaleidoscope, and the result is a unversally resonant album that's not just more joyful than it's companion; it's also more essential. [Jul 2006, p.192]

There’s something special about the lyrical content that proves relatable yet poignant and beautiful all at the same time, resonating with listeners through the band’s unique ability to take basic, everyday ideas and turn them into an imaginative work of art.

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]

Lost In The Sound Of Separation is truly 2008's first perfect record. [Sep 2008, p.145]

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]

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

Shimmeringly beautiful and richly unpredictable. [Mar 2003, p.92]

The Black Parade is MCR's whole raison d'etre rolled up into one mega-decibel calling card. [Nov 2006, p.179]

It seems that when you mix superstar indie-ites, everything is increased exponentially. [Dec 2006, p.190]

Hearing Blood Mountain in its entirety is like awaking from a coma to discover you have working ears. [Oct 2006, p.206]

This is a test

Has as much to do with Ray Davies as it does with hip hop and garage. [Jul 2004, p.148]

It's the beautifully austere, grown-up pop album we've been waiting years for Mac McCaughan to record. [Jun 2003, p.97]

This journey to Nocturama's not to be missed. [March 2003, p.88]

[Sheff's] uncompromisingly literate songs provide unusually rewarding payoffs. [May 2005, p.124]

This is a sensational place to get acquainted with the immortal wonder of drones. [Aug 2005, p.178]

While Mogwai once seemed too ambitious for their own good, Mr. Beast perfectly distills the essence of the band's raison d'etre. [Apr 2006, p.214]

The result is aural perfection. [Feb 2003, p.68]

The music on Selmasongs brings Bjork's penchant for haunting melodies, cinematic imagery and ambient percussion fully to bear.... Though composed for a film, the music is 100-percent Bjork and may well be her best work yet. [12/2000, p.91]

The real pleasure here is hearing what Jack White can do when he's away from the confines of the White Stripes. [Jul 2006, p.202]

It is as exciting and enthralling a listen as anything Thrice have ever created. [Oct 2011, p.105]

Avatar is further proof that Comets On Fire are one of the most relevant bands of this decade. [Sep 2006, p.214]

An album that's for neither hardcore hip-hop fans nor punk rockers, but for everyone. [Nov 2005, p.224]

There hasn't been a song-oriented psychedelic album that's had this sort of life-affirming, full-bodied roar since Mercury Rev's 1993 classic, Boces. [June 2003, p.110]

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

As exhausting as it is brilliant. [Dec 2005, p.202]

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]

It's hard not to proclaim it as the best album of Enter Shikari's already impressive career. Yes, it's that good. [Feb 2015, p.89]

Depending on your worldview, Art Brut are either the most whimsical folks in Britrock or the most sardonic bastards you've ever worshiped via air guitar. [Jul 2006, p.186]

The songs are mature but not boring; nicely layered but not overproduced; well executed but not sterile. [May 2006, p.164]

Motion City Soundtrack have made the best album of their career and easily one of the best albums of 2010 or any other year. [Feb 2010, p.91]

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

Only time will accord the Bloods with the same kind of reverence given to such old-school avatars as Gang Of Four, Wire and Public Image Ltd. Wait and see. [Nov 2006, p.194]

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

Vapor Transmissions is a hymnal for brave new citizens who have adopted The Matrix as a religion while using artifice as deception for their sinister subtexts. [#146, p.81]

This should be in everyone's stereo this spring, as it may go down in the history books as the Pet Sounds for the aggressive-rock world. [Apr 2003, p.82]

The quintet's Molotov mixture of suburb surrealism and sonic extremity is the perfect scrub for everything you've been subjected to in culture and daily life. [Apr 2003, p.73]

An appreciation for the heart, humor and no-bullshit directness of the very best hip hop is all that's required. [May 2004, p.108]

Nearly 30 years into their career, this is one of their hardest and heaviest albums. For younger death-metal bands, the message is clear: "Wait 'til your father gets home." [Apr 2017, p.82]

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

There's a constant sense of forward motion to Menos El Oso that suits the whole metaphor of growing up and growing out. [Oct 2005, p.156]

A great album, crammed with hooks and harmonies, goofball lyrics and the left-of-center melodic twists any indie-rawk geek would fly or die for. [Jul 2004, p.148]

Riff-roaring and exuberant, this album funnels the sprawling noise of the band's previous discs into one direct aural javelin aimed for your brain. [Jan 2005, p.112]

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

His honky-tonk piano ballads are a little less haunted and more memorable. [June 2003, p.104]

Another instrumental masterpiece. [Jun 2006, p.192]

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]

Everything's emotional whole is greater than the sum of its individual musical parts. [Aug 2005, p.176]

Keep You certainly reaches for a hefty, developed sense of self beyond the grounding the band's held in contemporary punk, hardcore and emo some years now, but in doing so, it actually strikes the absolute perfect balance, enfolding the listener in honest and cathartic glory while enhancing its edges with just the right effects pedals and auxiliary instruments.

With Nothing, Manchester Orchestra have created what will ineveitably be regarded as one of the landmark releases of 2009, and more noticeable they've exceeded the hype that's surrounded them for nearly three years. [May 2009, p.109]

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]

[Jurado] may be our generation's Neil Young. [Apr 2003, p.78]

We're all closer to comprehending, thanks to this absolutely brilliant piece of modern musical art. [Sep 2011, p.116]

[A] divine disc. [Apr 2006, p.207]

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

An enthralling emotional powerhouse propped up by fantastic post-punk that rips your head off and then gently sews it back in place. [Apr 2003, p.74]

Fans both old and new can crank this record 'til their ears bleed as Sepultura take a victory lap around the temple of the metal gods. [Feb 2017, p.82]

Experienced, acclaimed groups rarely make albums as bold and confrontational as Stankonia, because they have too much to lose. OutKast don't care.... The Atlanta duo coalesced the political and societal challenges of hip hop's past into what is one of the genre's most artistically unortodox releases so far. [12/2000, p.108]

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

Fascinating as it is, Matmos' complex creative process would be for naught if it didn't generate music you want to hear more than once. [Jul 2006, p.208]

An astonishing collection... that should leave Case's peers eating a cloud of Nashville dust. [Apr 2006, p.204]

It's ridiculously ambitious--and consistently surprising. [Aug 2005, p.164]

Yes, the journey is often challenging, but that's what makes it unforgettable. [Dec 2006, p.190]

Beautifully melodic, quietly clever and painfully smart. [Jul 2004, p.136]

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

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

On Hearts, riffs exist in cutting words and soulful guitar lines, not glittery axe solos; and every intricately timed punch to the throat is mastery. [Feb 2003, p.64]

Giraffe hums with the kind of lush, emotive pop New Order were making circa Power, Corruption and Lies. [Mar 2003, p.94]

As good as anything out there. [Nov 2005, p.220]

It's the best post-retro, pre-futurist, avant-antiquarian psychedelia of 2005. [Nov 2005, p.226]

Accessible enough for people who learn about new music from [NPR] and sonically interesting enough to appeal to hardcore electroheads. [May 2004, p.110]

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]

The disc may be too weird for people who like their music categorically cut and dried, but adventurous listeners will want to bang Liars' Drum often. [May 2006, p.178]

Both exhilaratingly rocking and gorgeously pensive. [Nov 2005, p.210]

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]

The best Def Leppard album "Mutt" Lange never wrote. [Feb 2006, p.126]

Even if you can't fully grasp the disc's existential subject matter, Happy Hollow is still a pleasure on the ears. [Sep 2006, p.207]

Pussy Cats reveals facets of the Walkmen's personality that their originals haven't explored. [Dec 2006, p.189]

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

These guys sound like they don't even understand why punks and classic rockers drink at separate bars. [Nov 2006, p.198]

The first great rock album of 2004. [May 2004, p.102]

It's a thing of subversive beauty, a striking debut that's self-assured and captivating. [Mar 2004, p.104]

This is the 25-year-old singer-songwriter at his most personal. [Oct 2006, p.208]

For all the offbeat touches... Dawson's wide-eyed hope and wonder are the album's most affecting qualities. [Jun 2006, p.180]

There's something for everyone here. [Jul 2003, p.120]

Each of the dozen tracks on his debut is a fully realized vignette that makes a particular locale startlingly vivid. [Sep 2006, p.230]

Saturday Night Wrist proves yet again that Deftones have a corner on the transcendental-metal market. [Dec 2006, p.192]