The grimy, blues-black nuggets [PJ Harvey] pounds into armor for Faithfull are song-for-song stronger than Harvey's own 2004 album, Uh Huh Her.... But Cave's songs are a little too pitch-perfect. [Jan 2005, p.96]

Instead of updating psych garage folk, they allow its corpus to fester in skronky breakdowns, churning feedback, and... a wicked spirit-medium session. [Jan 2006, p.91]

He does have a sharp facility for steely Bakersfield guitar licks and cinematic countrypolitan strings and clever honkytonk wordplay and so many other elements that defined country in the ‘60s and early ‘70s. But he never feels out of time on $10 Cowboy.

These Brits deconstruct bombast via bombastic guitar riffs. [Jun 2005, p.108]

It's a busy, dazzling record, though more detours--like "Storm Returns," a dreamy guitar-and-beats collage--would help aerate things. [Aug 2003, p.118]

At War is gnarlier and a bit less tuneful than the group's previous two CDs. But the arrangements, and Dave Fridmann's signature blend of clarity and overmodulation, remain intricately weird. [Apr 2006, p.89]

Trail of Dead temper their thrash with welcome doses of art rock. [Jun 2003, p.109]

A better record than Come Away--less piano bar, more honkey-tonk. [Apr 2004, p.93]

[He] still knows how to make palpitating street anthems. [May 2006, p.91]

Unerringly lovely, but best when the drums heat up. [Feb 2006, p.87]

It's a testament to both Cee-Lo's vision and the producers' artistic sympathy that the collaborations maintain a coherent, vintage R&B vibe. [Mar 2004, p.91]

He’s not shaking those defining qualities on Light Verse. Instead, that distinctive voice is a foundation for towering songs, an album that grows and blooms with epic crescendos (“Yellow Jacket”), slow-burn earworm hooks (“Anyone’s Game”), and tongue-in-cheek, Shakespearean clown wisdom (“Nobody’s perfect or as dumb as their luck”).

Imagine Joni Mitchell if she'd made Miles after Mingus. [Feb 2005, p.92]

The swollen, baroque-pop arrangements... may ruffle the band's more delicate followers. But the songs are always smart, and it's the music-librarian's humor that helps keep things from slipping into the maudlin. [Nov 2003, p.109]

More prosaic and profane than many of his labelmates. [May 2004, p.108]

As a current-events commentator, Gray's got better beats than The New York Times and funnier lyrics than Fox News.

Though [Meloy] rarely cracks a smile, he finds creativity in defeat. [Apr 2005, p.101]

It's a techno album, straight up. [Aug 2005, p.98]

Fang's edge is a bit more mosh-by-numbers than Hole's. [Dec 2003, p.129]

The bleaty rhythms and abrasive guitars start to pile up willy-nilly, and some of the more techno sections sound like kids going bazonkers in a toy store. [Oct 2004, p.109]

Both these records chronicle the physical and mental graffiti of figuring out how to emerge from some very large shadows, including his own, with nerve and power. [Jul 2005, p.96]

As dark and sweet as baking chocolate and as ambitious as the Mars rover. [Apr 2004, p.94]

[Vocalist Beth Ditto's] temper-tantrum vocals turn tired indie-rock poses into two-minute biblical epics. [Jun 2003, p.105]

[Eitzel's] best album of closing-time kvetch since 1993's Mercury. [Dec 2004, p.124]

Twisted, quirky pop gems. [Feb 2006, p.86]

He's got an excellent ear, a savvy way with hooks, and an untrained voice that knows its limitations. [Mar 2005, p.88]

Gruff stuff... A few rockers lighten the load, but not by much. [Sep 2004, p.120]

Supercharged, furious, hopeful. [Jun 2004, p.107]