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]