Throughout, there's little doubting Malkmus's charisma as a performer...

Things We Lost in the Fire finds Low enamoured with harmonies, drawing from such disparate sources as Swans, the Beatles, Wire, and Simon & Garfunkel.

They do a good job of mixing humor and fun with their politics...

Rainer Maria have never been more skillful in their playing or stronger in their singing than on the slickly recorded A Better Version of Me -- which some may see as a problem.

Little Sparrow proves that 1999's The Grass Is Green was no fleeting burst of inspiration; Parton hasn't been so consistently exciting since the '70s.

The Bay Area punk-rockers mix early Ramones with '80s metal.

Spending much of its time suspended in hollowed-out tones smudged only by desolate beats, Aaltopiiri is probably Pan sonic's most intense listening experience.

The songs on Mama's Gun slip from one to the next effortlessly, coming together as a set of sedate, buttery-smooth grooves.

Once you fall for "Yellow," the rest of the album will kick in, and fast.

Singer/writer/producer Jason Lytle has a little bit of Neil Young in his voice and Radiohead in his production style.

Their debut album flits between uneasy ambient pieces, pop songs buried in layers and loops, and crunchy takes on the IDM sound.

This is one of the best albums of 2000.

Mostly downbeat, the album feels, at times, as if it were created beneath a black cloud.

This is gloriously trashy glam-rock with an updated cybernetic edge.

Green Day have created a great punk-meets-rock album.

A slow-burn knockout.

Unwinds slowly, slipping between ghosted noise-and-field-recording passages and the sustained explosions of big, bombastic caterwaul that have become Godspeed's signature sound.

The music roars along, occasionally slowing to build tension, then letting loose with a corrosive guitar assault.

A shimmering set of utterly gorgeous songs.

Elastica throw out crackling melodies with little regard for the listener.

The grooves are righteous and the vibe is right.

One-upping their previous masterwork, 1997's The Dandy Warhols Come Down, Thirteen Tales... will trip you out, especially when listened to on headphones in the post-midnight hours.