Some folks are going to be antsy for the Chemical Brothers to move along to the Next Big Thing in electronic music, and Come With Us, while highly successful on its own terms, isn't it.

Probably Cracker's best album since 1993's Kerosene Hat.

This is the stuff of classic sad-bastard pop music, but the arrangements elevate this to a different, more interesting level.

While The Anniversary may not have set out specifically to jump ship from emo, they have traded in the chaotic compositions and off-kilter vocals for a more straightforward rock sound.

Point might actually be a perfect album, but that doesn't mean that I'm going to end up loving it. Nothing sticks out; nothing disturbs the ear or the mind or the heart; nothing is objectionable. The flow might actually be TOO impressive, and the circular structure admits of no human fallibility.

So it may not be Cocteau Twins II, but it nevertheless is still another top-notch entry in the sound that they created almost two decades ago.

Here's my big problem with Age of the Sun: the ending.

Brett Gurewitz's return seems to have rejuvenated the band musically.

As surefooted a return to form as could be.

Sure, Starsailor may be part of bloated hype-fest, but it's important to remember that sometimes things get hyped because they deserve it.

Refusing to settle into one definition, No Doubt is vibrant and full of life here, even if the heights it reaches for aren't always achieved.

As good as Holmes' original material is, however, what's most impressive about the Ocean's Eleven soundtrack is the way in which Holmes uses it to weave together the hodge-podge of cool sounds he's culled from other artists.

De La Soul returns to classic form relishing their status as one of hip-hop's longest running acts and flaunting their roles as hip-hop's cerebral older brothers.

A tougher, funkier, and downright rocking album.... M!ssundaztood deserves to be the pop album of the year.

These eight tracks positively bristle with energy and exuberance.

It is with this album, This Way that Jewel finally comes into her own.

A charming, witty pastiche of mashed up samples, beats, bangs, and bobs.... Truly a breakthrough in the world of dance music.

The mix is such that the saccharine ("You Are My Life" and "Heaven Can Wait") is outweighed by the brilliant ("Whatever Happens" and "The Lost Children"), creating a record that is quite relevant while at the same time being experimental and fresh.

One of the best buys you'll ever make.

The album's electrifying, hypnotic songs are hard to shake.

Get past that intentional AM-radio blur and you hear a rich album full of texture and subtlety.... Thing is, as good as this is, it could be better.

This wry examination of life and love and growing older might be some of his best work yet.

The Photo Album should help expand Death Cab for Cutie's already burgeoning fanbase, but it isn't the record that will put them on the cover of independent rock magazines.

Pound for pound, the songs of Pause are far more interesting and multi-layered than most of your general ambient music available on the shelves today.... A mesmerizing work.

A sense of humor is definitely required, as is an appreciation for everything rockin'.

How I Long to Feel That Summer in My Heart further underscores how brilliantly anomalous and unfashionably brilliant GZM are.

Part Radiohead, part Velvet Underground, Internal Wrangler is the bizarre, formless album that Thom Yorke wishes he could make.

"Love and Theft" sees Dylan roaring back from Highway 61 at full bore, reminding us -- as he did on Blonde on Blonde, The Basement Tapes, and Blood on the Tracks -- that, like him or not, there isn't anybody else who can do his job.

Also worth noting is the vulnerability at work that's never surfaced before -- Donahue's voice takes on the pinched, high sound of Neil Young's on more than few songs, and it perfectly suits the sense of enchantment inherent in the album as a whole.

Mink Car will please just about all but the most picky of They Might Be Giants fans. Diverse, off-beat, strange, fun, and decidedly wonderful, it proves that TMBG haven't really lost anything over the years...

While The Blueprint falls short of his debut's brilliance, it is easily the best Jay Z recording since that release.

Slayer do what they do with impassioned authority, which is what makes an album full of vileness so compelling.

Fugu might not be the most original band here but, aesthetically, they are extremely pleasing.... An enjoyable pop album.

Has a playful, at times otherworldly style which brings to mind children's fairy tales.

The best album of Björk's career

While nothing on Getaway matches the power of early Clean classics like "Tally Ho!" or "Point That Thing Somewhere Else", certain songs recapture some of the old magic.

Fans who craved the melancholy love stuff may find something essential lacking as a result. But those who love the music will come away as satisfied as ever: here is the deep distortion fuzz punctuated by jangling pop and keyboard, and Coomes' high, unaffected vocals soar over the rest without any kind of effects crutch.

The haunting melodies and string arrangements enhance the CD's contemplative mood, bringing us into the artist's reverie about emotional pain and art's dependence on such painful experiences.

It should stand up as one of the most accomplished R&B recordings of this year, but one that is not emblematic of the artistic growth that Embrya suggested.

Fans will not be disappointed.... This collection of marvelously restless yet intelligent searching clocks in at a mere 33 minutes, yet it's got more quality within it than many CDs twice its length.

With Comfort Eagle mainly serving as a variation on the same themes that Cake keeps covering, it's tough to say for sure whether it's a better or worse album than anything else by the band.

A surprisingly refreshing and playful album's worth of electronic dance-pop.

At first listen, the melodies on Long Distance sound too simplistic to sustain an entire song -- and yet they do. The secret is that the melodies and chords are only half the story. The aura the songs create is as important as the songs themselves. Like Stereolab, Ivy is largely about sound; they just hide it better.

Built to Spill's latest album is mellower, dreamier, and more laidback than their previous recordings.... Yet the album is as much of a rock-guitar masterpiece as anything they've done.

Etheridge adds to an already large canon of lovelorn songs a collection of tracks that are worthy of their peers.

This fine, fine album (quite possibly the finest of year) signals that the White Stripes have arrived. Hype or no hype, this is a band of significance...

Fast and furious with moments of melodic intimacy, it is music for the intelligent and adventurous.

Shangri La displays an earnestness and a level of comfort not heard on previous albums. A band that has intentionally held back over the past 12 years is now baring all, or at least enough to get fans pretty damn excited.

A couple of tracks flounder around South of no North but as a whole Gorillaz, should be pretty pleased with what they've been able to achieve, considering the high risk concept involved.

His best album in years.

A distinct and oft-times brilliant debut from an artist who clearly has a fine sense of her creative talents and has struggled to make sure they are represented in the best way

There's more fun here than on Sexsmith's previous release, 1999's Whereabouts, and this is a definite step in the right direction.

This album is admittedly not as powerful as Kid A in many respects-nowhere are there songs as intense and bristling with action and desire as "Idioteque" and "National Anthem"; nowhere is there a song as sublimely beautiful and tragic as "How to Disappear Completely".

This effort from Nikka Costa proves that her ability to fuse rock, folk and soul with attitude will be her legacy.

It's just plain good party music.

As foolish as it seems to say that any music is 100 percent new, I've never heard anything like this before.

While his lyrics are both timely and powerful, the album's power lies as much in the superbly crafted grooves and songs, which are the best Franti has delivered yet.

The rock energy that drove much of their early career has given way to a perfect sense for texture and sound. Reveal is a lush, dreamy pop mood-piece that hovers in the realm of rumination and introspection.

The Optimist LP is a treasure chest of sparkly baubles and rare gems, and from top to bottom it is precious and priceless.

Layering his idiosyncratic songs with elements of classical, jazz, Broadway and Disney movie scores, Barnes elevates Coquelicot Asleep in the Poppies into the pantheon of seminal new pop masterpieces that test our very concepts of what modern pop should sound like.

The new Idiology takes the acoustic experiments of Niun Niggung even further, and it's this combination of electronic and "traditional" music -- melding keyboards and synthesizers with french horns and guitars and trumpets into a seamless whole -- that points the way through the dead-ends of most electronica.

While you will find no pop hooks or easy to use formulas here, The Ex is not blindly searching to create something amazing. Instead they are building on the knowledge they have gained over two decades of being one of the consistently innovative bands that rock music has ever known.

His pop smarts are sharp and bright, but never too flashy.... A very impressive debut.

Unwound plays with a tightness and richness that few bands can touch anymore; they have turned into the metal Minutemen.

13 tracks which magically blend heavenly guitar weavings with penetrating melodies.

Every so often there is a true musical "moment" when an act breaks through that is so complete, so utterly surprising, that as a music critic, I can't help but throw my hands up in the air and leave behind any hope of real criticism as each spin pushes me further into fandom. Lemon Jelly is that act of the moment.

Taken as a whole, Old Ramon is a brilliant mopey stroll through San Francisco's slate gray streets.

From sparse DIY fragments to string-enhanced ballads and well-wrought pop, the material on Isolation Drills is as diverse as it is consistently compelling.

I don't think this collection has quite the edge of Repairs, yet there are enough sepia portraits of romantic angst, enough evocations of exposed sensitivity, sufficient signs that this mistress of the melancholy will once again win the hearts of earlier subscribers to her work.

The Impossible Thrill underscores Alpha's knack for lush, floating textures whose less beat-oriented groove emphasizes the "trip" component of so-called trip-hop.

Like Pulp and Blur, Black Box Recorder has mastered a pop culture aesthetic inextricably linked to the post-war decline, one that turns complaining about how dreadful everything is into a supremely ironic, comic art form.

All in all, one can only hope this is just a teaser of more to come from the Posies, in whatever incarnation they appear in next. If it's the end, then it's a fair swansong, something unconventional and not quite perfect.

For those who only know Amy Ray as an Indigo Girl, or as a socially active label owner will find this record a snarling, beautiful surprise.

They also have a swell way with a tune, constructing deceptively simple melodies that lodge themselves effortlessly into your head. That's no small thing and the "gentleness" and understated quality tends to make the musical achievement seem less than obvious.

Momus's brittle voice and roguish humor is an acquired taste, but for the smarty-pants listeners who gobble up high-concept art pieces, Folktronic is a "fake folk" masterpiece.

The record closes with "Salvation", an epic comedown, courtesy of a massive vocal by Siron, R&C's liveshow frontwoman.... Such an abrupt end is testament to Sleepwalking's unrelenting desire for boldness and ability to execute such grand designs.

Unlike his two previous albums, Sheik has handed lyrical duties to playwright Steven Sater, and has chosen to expand on his abilities as a musician. The combination is a flawless one, with Sheik's subdued and thoughtful music complimenting Sater's reflective words.

A new pop classic...

At 36 minutes, Girls Can Tell packs more hooks than most bands fit into their entire discography... This is truly one of the most intense pop records since This Year's Model.

Ultimately, Standards is Tortoise's Fragile or Hot Rats -- the sort of successful artwork that tells you a band's concept is peaking.

While none of the funny parts are quite as funny as some of his best recorded pieces (especially those on the two-disc collections The Boxed Life and Think Tank), and none of the more serious tales are as moving as his best work (like on the video Talking From the Box), it's still an entertaining collection filled with interesting tales and humorous, timely quips.

Things finds Low's measured atmospherics and gentle melodies further enhanced by layers of instrumentation -- for instance, cello, violin, piano, mellotron and trumpet. Moreover, it finds the band's melancholy and affecting textures coalescing even more into traditional song structures.

Their music sets a certain midnight mood like no one else's. Live is both a perfect distillation of that mood and a great reminder of the wondrous songs they've released over the last decade or so.

Blues Dream is one of those rare instrumental records that neither bores or infuriates.

This is an arresting album that doesn't let go of your attention.

Little Sparrow contains some of the most beautiful and affecting music Parton has ever made...

White Hot Peach proves that they cannot be dismissed as mere one-hit wonders. Primitive Radio Gods have created one of those rare recordings that is not only great, but is nearly essential.

Alice in Chains - Live should have been a double disc set. There were far too many great songs sacrificed in narrowing it down to just one disc.

The New Pornographers have made such a great album, tuneful, overdosed with hooks, that all the past sins of our Northern neighbors are forgiven. Well, maybe not Rush, but close.

A definite work of art, destined to remain in heavy rotation for some time to come.

Unlike other, similar music, it stands up to close scrutiny and repeat listening. Pelo can be used as background music and it can be appreciated as high-concept progressive rock.

Pure is Gary Numan's richest, most powerful and most aggressive work in years.

As uncomfortable as it is beautiful, Haunted's intense personal nature is both disturbing and compelling. It is less an album than an experience.

R.L.'s voice has never been so well recorded. The dark, deep, weathered, grain stands its ground alongside the greatest living roots legends: John Lee Hooker and Johnny Cash.

Unreasonable Behaviour is far from an easy listen. While Garnier is usually highly accessible, here he deviates in favor of a record much more tempestuous, menacing and genre-pushing -- all of which, though foreboding, is wholly more gratifying.

The album's only weakness is its awful track sequence. At times it can be uncomfortable to listen to. The songs don't seem to fit together in the order they have been laid out for the listener.

Silence Is Sexy retains that beauty, and redoubles the degree to which it compels. The chaos has been reigned in, channeled and focused, losing none of its fervor, but perhaps gaining power in its linearity.

This is the kind of beautiful album that Reed knows he can make in his sleep yet seldom does.