Even though love and religion may be his False Priest, Barnes can't escape their torrid ties, and despite the struggle being a lost cause, there is much cause to rejoice on of Montreal's tenth album.

[A] powerful statement. [Oct 2004, p.101]

With entertaining lyrics and even better themes, yU draws the listeners to his adventure that is The Earn.

Deerhoof reveal new shades of interest that beckon future transformations. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.78]

At Mount Zoomer will get hipsters dancing around once again, but I think the respect and hype is most definitely due to Wolf Parade this time.

From the Cradle to the Rave has a high cool factor, almost too cool; perfect for any semi-ironic hipster party.

Contra is cohesive and concise; it may have the effervescence of California, but it is over in a New York minute.

With Similes, he has re-grounded himself using surprisingly un-ambient means: plaintive vocal turns, steady human percussion, traditional and discernible instrumentation

Banks leads his dark orchestra with aplomb on Interpol's most cohesive effort since Turn On The Bright Lights.

Perhaps unintentional by the authors of the music, BMSR triumph in crafting a nuanced and aesthetically superb effort. Their music is wholesome and sounds delicious enough to eat, what a treat!

As strong as volume one, Hebden and Reid's finale to their improvised sessions is worthy of an encore. [Jul/Aug 2006, p.124]

Fish Outta Water is a very strong project.

Darnielle displays a newfound glimmer of strength adorning his melancholic tales. [Oct 2006, p.122]

Freedom rock at its most liberating. [Jul/Aug 2006, p.116]

The stance on Essence is less confrontational than its precursor, more a life-affirming offering to elemental forces. [#79, p.128]

This isn't the neo-hippie folk of Devendra Banhart, but something far more sinister. [Dec 2005, p.96]

The album is a more straightforward, breezier Sparklehorse, and effortlessly replayable. [Oct 2006, p.130]

Not to be taken lightly, dramatic tone and lyrical silliness obscure a sinister impulse throbbing within the album, spitting delightfully mysterious candy machines baubles onto your eager palm. [Nov/Dec 2008, p.87]

Take the jokes for what they are and discover that Felix's style-shifting is refreshing at album length. It may even make He Was Kings the finest full-length effort he's ever created.

This album pays less attention to the club lights and feels more clubbed over the head emotionally. [Sep 2006, p.136]

Sure, a couple of songs may seem to end a bit abruptly, but most of the opportunities you want them to take--they take.

It rocks, sometimes wallows and wanders off, but still comes back to a lo-fi sound that's contagious and consistent. [Sep 2006, p.136]

Grieves still knows how to make catchy, emotive indie rap with the best of them.

At times it can feel like the Flaming Lips locked in a log cabin with a bottle of morphine. [Sep 2005, p.119]

This record is a beautiful testimony to passionate and heartfelt emotion with Warden’s dynamic voice being the seductive centerpiece.

Beast Moans has the sound of self-produced rough cuts, mastered so treble-heavy and synth-garbled that it'll never actually feel like a finished record. Which is exactly the appeal. [Nov 2006, p.139]

Was it a signature-sound effort, or a further exploration of their film score work on "Breaking and Entering" or Danny Boyle’s 2007 sci-fi film "Sunshine?" These two worlds collide beautifully.

Still more for headphones than headspins, but offering plenty for the heads. [#104, p.96]

As scattered as ever, Nouns covers a gamut of abstraction and occasionally even runs into a wall of melody.

Producer Stephen Hilton's light-handed touches mesh well with the mood of the brooding Briton, but the hints at electronica keep things lively enough throughout.

Elsewhere is exactly what you thought it'd be: a daring piece of work from two artists not afraid to take chances that pay off. [May 2006, p.81]

Jay Kay sounds more vital and energized than he has in a few albums. [Sep 2005, p.108]

Pure pop strangeness, thankfully, getting even stranger. [Mar 2006, p.113]

Still clenching its beloved Americana, BRMC spits a familiar noise that has transformed from a mountain of stifling volume into a dense layering of sophisticated references. [May 2007, p.93]

Comes as an especially welcome jolt after their last wishy-washy effort. [Mar 2005, p.110]

Roni really hits home near the end, the last seven tracks making the album purchase (and the wait) more than worth it. [Dec 2004, p.110]

It's that very punk rock-gone-underground-dance spirit that separates Swayzak's latest from the more rudimentary electro-art pack. [Oct 2002, p.98]

A welcome back. [Mar 2006, p.123]

This long player is an ecstatic thrill ride through a world of comic minutia to tide FOTC's cult fan base over until their second season resumes after HBO's typical year and a half gap. [May/June 2008, p.92]

With positive vibes along the lines of fellow Brits The Kinks, Konk flows cohesively and is easy and pleasant to listen to all the way through (which is very hard to say for most full-lengths in this era of hit singles).

M.I.A.'s singsong cadence is both child-like and streetwise, perfectly mirroring the smiley-faced menace of the electro-informed palpitations behind her. [Mar 2005, p.113]

Despite the scattered feel of the album, its individual components are undeniably solid and easy to listen to.

Immolate Yourself picks up exactly where they left off, with a sound much more mature and textured--coming complete with its owned imagined world--fully equipped with freeform dynamism of a celestial and delicate styling.

Hip-hop, soul, reggae and other influences are skillfully interwoven into a consistently strong whole.... An engaging, intelligent album. [#82, p.146]

King as album title is ambitious and King as album finds T.I. firm-footed in his role as such. [May 2006, p.95]

Though it's a letdown to revisit [the five EP cuts] in place of new material, "Those Were the Days," "My England" and "Love Me or Hate Me" make up for it largely. [Oct 2006, p.115]

Modest protest songs, lack of money and painful love is the platform on Good Things. He deals with hardship in an uplifting manner and with smart lyrics.

Imagine Four Tet with a band instead of a laptop and you're getting close. [Jan 2004, p.78]

Simon Green stands with a select group of musicians who have been consistent in both quantity/quality output of this type of introspective music. Bonobo's Black Sands is an album that should not be missed and is undoubtedly one of the most superior releases of this year.

There is something uniquely authentic about Mason's music. [Mar 2006, p.114]

As emo-tastic as Threes is, it merely sizzles in ways their debut singed. [Oct 2006, p.128]

Each track on Seventh Tree is a picture that stands alone, but in its entirety the record works as a landscape decorated with guitars and pianos spread over hills of upbeat drums as strings and woodwinds line the sky in the background.

The production is fantastic, De La go in with the lyrics and Flosstradamus tied everything together perfectly though.

Like much of the dark electronic pop that's come before WhoMadeWho's latest, the drive behind the music is the key to success.

Whereas past Wu albums have been scorned for their filler, Meth, Ghost and Rae leave plenty on the chopping block this time around, only allowing the best of the best to make the cut on Wu-Massacre.

The Shining stands as a combination of Dilla's best sides. [Jul/Aug 2006, p.130]

The Brothers reach unmistakable heights of blood pressure... but also deliver slow, melodic goodies. [Oct 2006, p.118]

British Sea Power have shown their competence and achieved another level of musical integrity--the album, perhaps best enjoyed when paired with the film, nonetheless holds its ground as a standalone product, expanding the mise-en-scène of the film enormously and contributing to the documentary (if perhaps problematic) legacy of Robert Flaherty’s work.

Experienced as a whole, Condors is a multi-course meal that features some familiar dishes and some foreign with ingredients that require a bit of acclimation-but they're all delicious.

Experiencing multitudes of brief bangers is a rare treat. [Mar 2006, p.113]

Both a return to form and a major step forward. [Dec 2005, p.94]

Albarn claims this album is a letter to the London of today, but it's impossible not [to] get swept into the grandfatherly smell that permeates every number. [Dec 2006, p.127]

This live album may provide an aperitif for those who've never seen the band perform. [May/June 2008, p.93]

Black thrives on his own, finding strength in lyrical risk-taking that ultimately makes the Milk name ring thicker and sweeter than ever before. [Nov/Dec 2008, p.84]

9th [Wonder]'s impassioned beatwork's sole shortcoming is there's not enough of it, as this album runs less than 40 minutes. [Apr 2004, p.83]

They still manage to inject their manic bursts of beats with gentle, even sweet melodies immersed deep in the cacophony. [May 2005, p.84]

All the same basic elements--classic synth leads, intricately pulsing rhythms and pop vocal stylings--are back again for It's All True, but for this album the screen is completely gone, and Junior Boys are as front and center as they've ever been.

[A] full clip of club bangers and radio rockers. [Mar 2004, p.108]

On Yours Truly, Angry Mob, Kaiser Chiefs grow up, dig in and get utterly serious, albeit in a pogo-hopping, decadent British way. [Apr 2007, p.105]

Like attending a bombastic revival of Kraftwerk, Eno and Devo presided over by a Juan Atkins and Derrick May DJ tag team. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.102]

Their second-full length record is an earthy, brazen affair simultaneously speaking to the romantic idealist and weary traveler.

Combined, you have the best blotter soundtrack ever. [Jun 2005, p.78]

Give up now, guys, because it rarely gets better than this. [Jun 2006, p.113]

For the first time since 1995's "Everything Is Wrong," the producer who cashes checks as Richard Melville Hall has made an album that, while not devoid of song craft, doesn't allow the pop elements to overpower the dance floor punch.

They stick to the band's strict formula of melodic, thematic, well written music.

Don’t be expecting any Texas harsh, desert-crusted psychedelia–this is more fields and forest music, lush electronica crafted with some awesome, mutant pop songwriting.

Omni doesn't reach the same dizzying heights that some of their past releases have attained, but it's a solid piece of work. Definitely something to keep blasting in the car for the upcoming summer months.

Clocking in at 21 tracks, Felt 3 has room for just about everything: a bunch of skits, battle-rap anthems, story-telling (dark and lighthearted alike), and, somehow, the energy of a young Rosie Perez is maintained throughout.

Ali's lyrics and Ant's production have more to say in a few bars than most MCs and producers are able to in an entire song.

Adult. is cathartic cabaret for the sketched out. [Apr 2007, p.101]

Exploding Head is a movement deftly capturing atmospheric exuberance.

Laptop pop that shimmers, shakes and twists like the precocious child of Aphex Twin, Spiritualized and the Beatles. [Aug 2003, p.89]

In a perfect world, Fly Or Die would become a classic-rock staple right next to Can't Buy A Thrill and Heaven Tonight. [May 2004, p.87]

An enjoyable switchback ride through instrumental post-rock riff-making and full-on angst-ridden rocking out. [May 2005, p.87]

It rocks--hard. [Apr 2006, p.90]

At the end of the day Maximum Balloon is not a great departure from the TV on the Radio sound. And it's hard to say that's a bad thing.

A wonderful, fascinating record. [May 2005, p.85]

A sublime success. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.103]

Beyond doesn't break any new ground, but... it's as refreshing as anything you're likely to hear all year. [May 2007, p.93]

The party album of the year has arrived. [Aug 2003, p.87]

Ringleader is Moz at his tormented best. [Apr 2006, p.88]

This is a well-rounded album that is as artistically rich as it is sonically pleasing. The Sounds are going to be around for awhile.

Akin to classic Detroit techno in the way it delves deeper into the machines and technology to find the humanity at their core.... In 2002, Underworld has outpaced the competition and released the electronic album to beat. [Sep 2002, p.99]

Armed with the most awesomely peculiar voice in American music, Waits understands the necessity of reinvention to keep the wheels turning after decades and decades of recording. The approach pays dividends on Bad As Me.

There was a lot going on, but it's not until now... that El-P's music could actually be called full. So full that even silence weighs a ton. [Mar 2007, p.95]

Stories is that rarest of rap LPs: trend-resistant and, therefore, timeless. [Dec 2003, p.87]

Using familiarity to its advantage, this duo is smart to refine its palette, making even the most migraine-inducing compositions seem like comforting lullabies.

Just rock out to some really good music. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.96]