Upon first listen, it seems easy to say that you've heard this before -- but if you take the time to let it sink in, it is obviously not the same band or sound as Belle and Sebastian.

If Boy In Da Corner marks the beginning of distinctly British hip-hop, the genre's standards are already impressively high.

Rarely has rampant misogyny and self-hype sounded as fantastic as this.

This is a disc that springs to life under closer inspection but also serves quite capably as background music -- the kind that draws in casual listeners and gets them asking questions.

Dangerous Magical Noise is rock and roll at its pure, shaggy best. If you're tired of that, you're tired of life.

Ghosts of the Great Highway easily ranks among the very best of Kozelek's dense discography, and it seems fair to suggest that it will become the measuring stick against which any future non-Red House Painters material is compared.

In spite of its apparent split personality, Skull Ring is a righteously bombastic affair, and easily the best Iggy record since Brick by Brick.

As beautiful as much of the album is, it all starts to blend together after a while.

The Instinct is a showcase for an amazing voice and a band that knows how to build around it.... One of the best albums of 2003.

There's a little something for everybody hidden within this mysterious box.

Today Is the Day! is much better than most between-albums rehashes.

I can't imagine a single Westerberg fan being displeased with Dead Man Shake.

Wherever I Am, I Am What's Missing remains grounded in electronic composition, but the subtle distinctions between spacy trip-hop epics (see "Diamonds and Stones) and booty-shaking dance-floor numbers help to keep the band's dynamic fresh, even after ten years.

An album of didactic power and limitless ambition.

The Stills have always shown promise, but Logic Will Break Your Heart ascends far beyond anyone's wildest expectations.

Even taking into account his work with the Replacements, this is the album on which every song is truly worth hearing.

Although much of the album sounds amateurish, and sometimes painfully so, the Unicorns regularly remind us that it's all shtick.

You say you don't give a shit about lyrics? That's good; most of Echoes' lyrics aren't worth giving a shit about.

The Shins' second effort sparkles with a clarity that was not always evident on their debut and energizes with a spark and an enthusiasm that previously seemed forced.

By forsaking professionals for amateurs, the Plan has narrowed the scope of their artistic vision; for every stunning reworking, like Deadverse's "Automatic", there's a stinker like ASCDI's predictably bland mix of "Time Bomb" or Cynyc's blasé beat-slapping "Following Through".

Despite its handful of flaws, Systems/Layers is rife with ideas, and delivers its message, however encoded, with elegance and ingenuity.

This spruced-up EP is devoid of the rampant stylistic deviations that have ruled their later work, instead trading upon simple acoustic song structures and soulful vocal leads that recall the strummy days of I Hope Your Heart is not Brittle.

It seamlessly combines the choicest bits and bobbles of other acts into an overwhelming patchwork of sound and fury, but in the process, the band occasionally loses sight of their own identity.

8,000,000 Stories is not a perfect album, but it's an all-around crowd pleaser that doesn't stoop to the lowest common denominator.

Anyone searching for a wholly absorbing listening experience should look (and listen) elsewhere.

Murdoch, finally free to take charge of his band, has done so in spades, and the result is a confident, assured affair...that, to many listeners, will seem utterly out of character.

The Ladybug Transistor's relative lack of instrumental bravado suggests renewed confidence; the group doesn't make an obvious attempt to hook us with atmosphere or instrumental stunts, because the album already has enough going on to keep us listening.

Call it the exclamation point on Gibbard's stratospheric year.