Thought-provoking and masterful, God's Son finds Nas finally realizing his full potential as an MC.

Brilliance shines throughout. [11 Mar 2006]

Being sampled by Lemon Jelly on this astonishing new album is nothing less than an honor.

There are some truly fascinating marriages of old and new happening.... One of the best albums you'll hear this year.

Although 2002 is still young, consider Under Rug Swept one of the year's best.

The sound is bigger, the playing better, the lyrics sharper and the spirituality more compelling than anything the act has done in many years.

The trio has fine-tuned its sound, making it more complex and compelling. [14 Jan 2006]

"Electric Blue Watermelon" consistently demonstrates that they have arrived at a place where their special feel for hill country blues and their Southern rock sensibilities are in sync. [10 Sep 2005]

It's no wonder that visionary artists like Brian Eno and Tricky have welcomed the act with open arms. "Good Looking Blues" finds the group combining the best elements of its past... with bluesy horns, Jamaican beats, hip-hop drum loops, and avant-jazzy excursions.

A delicious, genre-defying sound

She is simply magnificent.

You'll be hard-pressed to find a more adventurous and rewarding release this year.

Trail of Dead has made the album of its career.

It's only a matter of time before [this album] replaces Ray Lamontagne's "Trouble" as the best album Van Morrison never made.

For all of its forays into bluesy rock and glittery glam, though, "Real" draws heavily from New Wave's danceable side.

Not only does this album hum with the magic that endowed the pair's past hits ("Let's Stay Together"), it shows that talent isn't the sole realm of the young.

TSAC have spun their most lush and intricately produced long-player yet.... "Oui" wisely bumps the electronics to secondary status, giving the album a much more unified, live band feel missing from "The Fawn".... One of this year's most enjoyable albums.

This stellar, adventurous album just may be the best thing they've attempted since 1989's "The Mekons Rock'n'Roll."

This is pop music like nothing before it, or since.

Overall, "Fishscale" is strong, with archetypal beats creating the definitive Ghost. [1 Apr 2006]

Another extraordinary Decemberists album.

This time there's less gimmickry, more sympathy for the words and melodies. Harris... has crafted 11 profound, graceful poems that rank with the best songs she's ever recorded.

Thanks to the stellar backup band, E's husky voice and sad stories become all the more desperately lovely. [25 Feb 2006]

With such a variety of moods and sounds, "S.T.R.E.E.T. D.A.D." turns out to be the rarest of albums: able to make you think but more interested in making you dance.

Because the disc's energetic blend of electronics, robotics, and riffage is so vivacious, it hardly matters that the shadows of Radio 4's predecessors loom large over "Gotham."

A crowning achievement.

There hasn't been this entertaining or hard-rocking an Aerosmith album since who-knows-when.

If it's true that music of this nature doesn't get anymore heartfelt, it also rarely gets more infectious.

Like many great albums, "Original Pirate Material" wasn't meant to be adored in an instant, so don't let your first impressions fool you. This cat's the real deal.

One of the year's best.

There isn't a dud among this project's 11 tracks, each of which sounds custom-made for radio.

The Black Keys play the kind of raw, sensual blues-rock that makes you want to hide your girlfriend and warn your mom.

A subtle masterpiece...

Swirling, throbbing and altogether great. [19 Nov 2005]

The most ambitious and most fully realized album of his career.

"Son" is yet another triumph for Molina, who continues to distinguish herself as one of the most innovative electronic artists today.

Finds her pushing her already considerable talents to new heights.

Musically and lyrically the album is thoughtful and mature.

A remarkable debut by a band full of raw energy. [25 Feb 2006]

From note one, the listener is hermetically sealed into Chosen Darkness' unique musical universe where overdriven bass leads, pinpoint guitar lines and ominous synths hit with maximum impact.

Seamless without being monotonous, "Buzzcocks" is punk rock for grownups, teenagers, and everyone in between, without pandering or becoming a caricature of itself.

Perfectly imperfect and totally fearless, this may well be McGraw's crowning achievement in a career already studded with success.

Flecked at every turn with Kozelek's unique interpretive bent, "Tiny Cities" is a triumph.

Smith's vision is as rapturous as ever, and it receives its most focused, impassioned treatment here.

Fresh and imaginative, "Anything" is one intoxicating recording.

That smile will have a difficult time leaving your face.

His most inspired effort in years.

"Geogaddi" finds the Scottish duo ever adept at pushing the boundaries of electronic music without abandoning the hypnotically pacific nature of their sound.

A bold leap forward. [8 Oct 2005]

Rock music this substantive is increasingly rare, but "Plans" delivers beyond expectations.

There's an overall retro feel to the production that will no doubt delight minions, but those same faithful are old enough to appreciate meaning behind the melodies.

A disc of graceful beauty.

Deliciously decadent, Take It to the Limit has even more melodic power than its predecessor, delivering tons of guilty pleasures that sound fresh and familiar and strangely exciting.

On their third full-length, Heartless Bastards honor the penetrating howl of leader Erika Wennerstrom, who sounds like Robert Plant's less-shrill American sister, by including several acoustic tunes that underscore her vocal versatility.

Todd Snider relates his hilariously heartbreaking hard-luck tales with a deadpan sing-speak delivery while superproducer Don Was gives the scrappy bar-band arrangements a glimmer of studio-pro warmth.

There are certain instances when Francis' politics overreach, like on the annoying "Dance Monkey,” but for the most part, “A Healthy Distrust” is this artist's most impressive album yet.

Despite embracing the styles of decades past (specifically, the piano-driven pop of [Elton] John and the Bee Gees' disco-riffic ditties), the Sisters still manage to sound unique.

The cerebral lyrics take center stage, as it were, while the band rocks out much harder than it did on 2005's melancholy "Black Sheep Boy."

I-Empire is a sweeping conceptual piece with a message as big as its sound and just a bit more enigmatic.

In lesser hands this collection of country classics might have been badly mishandled, but in the willing arms of traditionalist extraordinaire Patty Loveless and producer/husband Emory Gordy Jr., the past is brought to new life.

On the 14-track "Mama's Gun," Badu mixes a little rock, some jazz, and a whole lot of soul.

Anyone who found the alien sonic landscapes of "Kid A" a bit overwhelming will feel much more at home with these nine less fussy but primarily electronica-dominated compositions.

Such tracks as 'Critical Acclaim,' 'Almost Easy' and 'Lost' keep the crank factor high--but as part of a bolder, broader and more engaging soundscape.

Accelerate may not stun on impact like some R.E.M. records, but it's still habit-forming.

Consumed in a busy lounge or with a pair of headphones, this set is a safe bet for any listener.

Spider might not make you forget "Welcome to My Nightmare," but it's nevertheless a cheerfully twisted yarn delivered with a full-on dose of guitar rockers, the requisite ballad, a soaring anthem, a bit of Beck-flavored groovery, some sly humor and nods to Cooper's glam rock past.

Though accenting the vulnerability her vocals naturally possess, she manages world-weary honesty and summoned strength rather than contrived sentimentality.

The miracle of Aterciopelados is that it backs up its message songs with beautiful, infectious music. The Colombian duo's latest, Rio, is no exception

A splendid set.

This is an album overflowing with passion and tension.

In the end, the group proves that its unflinching lyrics and memorable melodies are well suited for songs about warring lovers and war itself.

It may take a while to sink in, but "Magic Potion" enhances its effects with every listen.

Those who are up for the challenge will find much to admire.

It's this mix of the loud and the trippy that Black Mountain specializes in, and In the Future sees the band striving for epic proportions.

Denver-based Devotchka delivers another batch of aching, spacious and histrionic tunes on A Mad and Faithful Telling.

With Rick Rubin polishing the group's garage rock approach into a sharper aural attack, T(I)NC dishes out such heady anthems.

A feisty set of primarily thrash-hop covers of socially and politically charged hip-hop, pop, rock, and punk jams.

There's no getting around the overall thematic pall, but Lennox surrounds every message with such beauty that one remains convinced that it's all going to be OK.

Asking for Flowers is filled with literate and provocative lyricism, vivid characters and cinematically engaging scenarios.

More than 40 years into their career, the Stones sound raw and dangerously alive.

Apollo Sunshine's third album is a delightful head-scratcher that explores old and new elements of psychedelia alike, from string sections, melting organs and echoey vocals to gritty, traveling guitar lines and lyrics about love and reincarnation.

Garage rock at its finest, messiest and most welcomingly insignificant.

Singer/songwriter Inara George and producer Greg Kurstin know how to craft a pop song. On their second album as the Bird and the Bee, George (the bird) and Kurstin (the bee) continue to juxtapose tongue-in-cheek lyrics with sugary vocals and quirky electronic effects.

Easily the icon's strongest, most satisfying effort since her '78 classic "Easter," "Gung Ho" is, by turns, wistfully poetic and sharply observational.

Costello proves that all the balladry hasn't dulled his ability to rock.

Henry's superb Civilians succeeds not only as a melodic collection of poignant short stories, but also as a potent picture book of America gone wrong.

Key to the magic is the delicious harmony vocals of the unlikely duo, best-displayed on the swaying 'Killing the Blues,' given trad-country depth by steel pedal ace Greg Leisz.

District Line is a fine showcase for the differing sides of ex-Hüsker Dü/Sugar frontman Bob Mould's repertoire.

From "Project Roach," where Nas says that the NAACP's burial of "n*gger" was pointless, to "Untitled," which discusses Louis Farrakhan's role in America, the Queens MC impresses his listener while provoking social and political thought.

Twenty years after her self-titled debut, Tracy Chapman remains true to her musical calling: soul-rich folk melodies around a voice of honesty and nuance that nails ambivalence like no other.

The net result is smart, personal and potent.

Think of bubblegum produced by a garage/grunge band.

[Stone] continues to reinvent soul music, injecting a very classic sound with contemporary sass and verve.

Grohl's furious playing fits perfectly with the wall of rage erected by Joke vocalist Jaz Coleman and fellow founders Geordie Walker on guitar and Youth on bass.

Under Rubin's direction, Dylan's laid-back rasp, often laced with smoky harmonies, gains weight and texture.

His new album is not exactly like the last or the one before that, and is pleasantly surprising in its evolution.

Not known as a songwriter, Adkins has an innate ability to make a song his own, as is the case with the seemingly autobiographical 'Happy to Be Here' and the family-first 'All I Ask for Anymore.'

Not to be outdone by the generation of singers he has influenced, he raises the bar with the 19-track set.