The resulting album comes across, for the most part, as a peaceful, relaxing--if extremely weird--trip through a newfound musical slipstream. [Holiday 2009, p. 98]

It's exactly the record that everyone hoped Spoon would make. [#15, p.98]

It's cosmic Americana as once charted by Mercury Rev in the druggier days of yerself Is Steam and Boces. [#17, p.101]

Even when they’re forging new ground (which is often) or mixing it up with any of the aforementioned conversation points, they still manage to sound exactly like themselves.

The results are compact, near-pop micro-anthems. [#17, p.93]

While Cronin’s musical expertise belies his age, the existential struggles about which he sings--fear of the world, distrust of love, lack of self-confidence--do not.

Visceral and immediate, if this album doesn’t make you feel something, at least we know it did to Ms. Case.

Within the 11 tracks that make up her third full-length, Olsen’s strong and matchless voice pierces through fuzzed out guitars and massive organ riffs, allowing us to burrow into her mind.

Tarot Sport's tunes don't really explode so much as they unfurl into synthetic washes of digital soundtracking that undulate with electricity before elvolving into narcotic beat castles. [Holiday 2009, p.99]

With his grandest album to date, mark the return of Iron & Wine’s Sam Beam a triumphant one, packed with romantic tales of small towns, countrysides and the expansive sea.

They’ve moved beyond that convenient pigeonhole from when that Blue CD-R first made the rounds, but they’re, well, a much more modern affair now.

Possesses a rare beauty and a singluar honesty. [#9, p.111]

In a world that increasingly rewards short attention spans and encourages distractions, Callahan’s music is well worth taking the time to patiently absorb.

No matter how you look at it, tales of love and loss sound better when there’s a voice like Fields guiding you along.

The new songs are some of the best they've ever recorded, and just finishing this collection is a big testament to their staying power. [#10, p.89]

Mission deliciously accomplished, sir.

Cheers to Torche for proving a heavy-rock band can be optimistic and sincere-without sacrificing any of the edge.

"Autumnal" is the word everybody wants to use to describe this record, but that's wrong.... Out of Season has much mor eto do with winter than it does with anything so tame as the fall. [#8, p.106]

What will catch one's attention are the patterns Axel Willner creates within each song that push the record forward.

On The Odds, MacKaye and Farina-on baritone guitar and a minimal trap kit, respectively---don't challenge their by-now established conventions, but wreak incredible havoc within them.

On Ugly, the Jersey trio strikes an expert balance between grandiose metal riffage and brain-searing.

Superchunk continues fishing for perfection--and, as always, the band brings the hooks.

Hospice accomplishes volumes by the addition of drumer Michael Lerner and multi-instrumentlist Darby Cicci, creating an expansively profound album addressing life's most transitory and fragile states. [Summer 2009, p.94]

Familiar yet thrilling, Blunderbuss is a masterful introduction to a man we've known all along.

If this record doesn't break in a major way, it will not only be a shock, it will be a damn shame. [#17, p.99]

Steven Ellison (aka Flying Lotus) manages to ensnare 18 night visions on his latest psych-bass masterwork, Until the Quiet Comes.

A mainline noise-punk onslaught that roundly refused to cease and desist.

With its techno-shock, hardcore buzz and jive-stepping live funk, Hot Sauce Committee Part Two is the strongest work the Beasties have put out in over a decade and comes close to replicating the dizzy highs of 1994's Ill Communication.