This new bag of tricks is implemented with due subtlety that bolsters the charming simplicity qualities, while filling the tracks out and, cautiously, adding some curves.

A sprawling tour de force... It overwhelms you with its brawny rhythms, its artful arrangements and foggy atmosphere, and its thrilling instrumentation.

This is proof that Campbell made the right decision in leaving Belle And Sebastian.

So much of Illinois feels magical, however, in much the same way as a large State Fair: there is commotion and wonder as the population is continually enchanted by progress, but to unknown purpose.

As well as being their most accessible, The Campfire Headphase emerges as the most solid Boards of Canada album to date.

Though he may not have the experience in years, he more than makes up for it in the way he crafts his songs.

Black Dialogue: a hip-hop classic? Maybe not, but pretty damn close.

Heart Like a River takes you on a journey, and does not leave until every sight is seen and pathway is walked.

Hart’s multiple layers of sound keep his unadventurous song structures from becoming trite; though Our Thickness is pure verse-chorus-verse-chorus fare with no flashy bridges or codas, it will still take months to dive into every piece of instrumentation.

While there has clearly been a degree of evolution... none of Eluvium's previous effects are lost with his new offering; the music still winds its way through your mind, but at the same time it moves the soul as well.

Every song here, on both discs, is interesting and amazingly well-crafted.

A genre-bowing indie masterpiece as gorgeous as anything released since Sigur Rós’ ( ).

The Great Destroyer is a masterpiece of emotional tumult.

Drowaton is as close to an orchestral pop masterpiece as you’re going to get.

Anyone intrigued by Doom should adore this album.

Lambert promises on the album's stellar title track, and if that isn't a warning to all of Nashville, from a woman who has compiled one of the year's finest releases, it should be.

Is Is will especially appeal to fans who found "Show Your Bones" a little soft. On the other hand, this release should appeal to any and all Yeah Yeah Yeahs aficionados.

Triumphant, bitter, despondent, but never false or insincere, The Last Romance is one of the early great listens of 2006.

Clap Your Hands Say Yeah gets my pick for summertime album of the year.

The first must-listen record of the year.

It's fun and light, and even though for all I know he could be singing about the destruction of mankind, it is bursting with joy and happiness.

I'm prepared to defend this as hip hop's frontrunner for best album of 2007 thus far.

I Created Disco is not only the title of Harris' full-length debut, it's also the title of a track on the album that threatens to depose Justice from their perch on high.

It's strange second-hand pop, deconstructed and represented as something entirely new, augmented by a range of melodies and affectations. Good for him and good for the world for the opportunity to be exposed to his music-pop music in its purest form, pop informed by pop.

Listening to The Weakerthans makes me feel young and happy and hopeful.

The bar has been raised for 2005.

Few bands have managed to blend so many divergent sounds and styles together to make such an interesting, great-sounding, and cohesive [key word] record as Evangelicals have with The Evening Descends.

There's something captivating about the project, and you will find yourself returning to the album over and over again.