A conceptual bacchanal of sweat-drenched lust. [Oct/Nov 2001, p.104]

Eitzel sounds like he's finally emerging from the murk. [Nov 2004, p.128]

This excellent collaboration plays to both halves' strengths. [Nov 2005, p.137]

They've toughened up considerably. [#12, p.154]

[Adebimpe's] singing is consistently riveting, and the oddball mix gives it room to flourish. [Apr 2004, p.138]

Whether cranked up high or turned down low, this music has a scrappy majesty. [Jun 2006, p.136]

Conjuring doubts and tenderness, Forster's writing has never been surer. [May 2008, p.76]

Strange and compelling. [Sep 2005, p.132]

Exceptional, exemplary grown-up rock. [#4, p.120]

Swells with grace and intrigue. [May 2005, p.116]

A mesmerizing history lesson. [Aug 2005, p.114]

The album works as an ambient whole, its fog-bank synths, yearning vocal slivers and stoic basslines filling the room with melancholy.

Sentimental post-country tunes knock against acute lyrics about rent, overbearing parents and other aspects of the pre-midlife crisis, as rock-out moments keep grimness at bay. [#11, p.140]

Whatever style the Roots take on their eighth album, whether it’s 21st century Sly Stone ("Baby"), flute-inflected freak-folk ("Living in a New World") or epic black rock ("Game Theory"), they do better than anyone else in pop.

At times, i turns dangerously slow and arty.... But for the first time, [Merritt's] lethargic croak also emits a few degrees of human warmth. [May 2004, p.124]

The music is cheery even when the feelings are miserable; it's like rainy-day Smiths driven by pianos instead of guitars. [Mar 2005, p.140]

Oberst always projects a spiritual generosity unknown to most footloose troubadours who can’t commit.

[Kaiser Chiefs] are smug, preening and shallow, and so eager to entertain that they nearly piss themselves with pizzazz and energy. [Apr 2005, p.119]

A DJ is only as good as his taste, and Girl Talk is immaculate. [Sept 2008, p.78]

GGD’s career has been a gradual climb out of primordial noise muck and toward beats, and album four is their most propulsive.

With the groundbreaking stab at emo self-analysis, Cursive deserve at least a boost out of the emo ghetto. [Apr 2003, p.122]

Unlke many underground MCs, [Levine] doesn't use a $10 word if it'll compromise the beat. [May 2004, p.118]

Glorious, distorted drill-press guitar riffs. [#13, p.103]

On this produced-in-Paris gem, they beef up chilly synth-pop tunes with elegantly distorted guitar, German-industrial drum loops and plenty of goth gloom.

If you're this good, it's not hype. [#8, p.126]

Happily, this structure is as mercifully loose as Penn's melodies are tight. [Aug 2005, p.113]

The handclaps will make you happy, but it's DFA's prog moves and knowing, if self-deprecating, nods that make this music for the head as well as the hips. [Jun 2006, p.147]

Ambulance Ltd have good ears and an even better imagination: They run their influences through a filter of solid gold. [Apr 2004, p.126]