Rick Ross is pretty much incapable of going more than 30 seconds with out using the word boss--too bad, because Justice League turn out three monsterous cruisetime tracks toward the end. [June 2008, p.63]

With the Jicks now sharing the spotlight, sees Malkmus's familiar tangled lyricism and meandering tendencies offset by some tremendous group performances. [Mar 2008, p.57]

The closing 'Honey' leaves all the issues behind and drips with the kind of sultry retro-funk that proves New Amerykah to have been well worth any amount of waiting. [May 2008, p.70]

Their focused, cleverly crafted pop fiffs are impressive, for a time.... But by the fifth track, things start to go wrong. [Mar 2008, p.48]

These themes of anguish are not so much bleak as moving, for he always finds a way to inject his wry observations into the mix. [Feb 2008, p.54]

This album eclipses their previous output and hits a consistent note of righteous force. [Jan 2008, p.69]

The best cuts come courtesy of Chi-town's Soundtrakk, whose Native Tongues love knows no bound, while newcomers Chris & Drop provide notably solid beatwork for 'Gold Watch.' [Apr 2008, p.71]

While perhaps not the triumphant return that many fans have hoped for, the murky and dystopic excursions of 8 Diagrams are uncompromising, visionary and unique. [Mar 2008, p.62]

Parades succeeds in avoiding the most perilous pitfalls of simulated whimsy and fey affected vocals to achieve something gloriously endearing. [Nov 2007, p.53]

Effective, perhaps, as background music for adverts or TV vignettes... The second CD, Heim, is better. [Dec 2007, p.65]

Burial has transcended his dubstep origins, belonging to a Gothic tradition that takes in Massive Attack and even 4AD at their most grandiosely despondent. [Jan 2008, p.53]

15 tracks of raspingly dry boilerplate hiphop, whose moods and references are pretty much (all) the Americans ones you'd expect. [Nov 2007, p.51]

An excellent showcase of their different approaches. [Oct 2007, p.55]

Preparations is a tediously uneven listen that drags on despite its 31 minutes running time. [Oct 2007, p. 63]

There is still a sense here of a group magisterially marking time, shying away this time round from any grand, rhetorical, countercultural purpose. [Dec 2007, p.63]

Widow City is endlessly enjoyable, yielding new detail every time you slip through its song mazes. [Oct 2007, p.59]

A superb album, in which Wyatt gathers all of his strengths, with the personal and the political, the aesthetic and the ethical are brought together as only he can. [Nov 2007, p.64]

Harvey's new strategy has been successful although White Chalk might be something of a curio, it's certainly her most haunting work. [Oct 2007, p.60]

Only after wading through the swamp to the final three tracks do we get anything approaching sincerity, albeit of a cloying kind. [Oct 2007, p.55]

Boss, Magik Markers' most straightforward set of rock songs, is still rife with a liberating freedom. [Oct 2007, p.62]

Forget about the backstory, though, and it's clear that h remains a truly innovative MC, and Ultimate Victory is stronger than its predecessor for one reason. [Nov 2007, p.70]

Trees Outside The Academy is a relaxed, organic record that charms without really trying, and perhaps the closest Moore will ever come to the lost Moby Grape album. [Sep 2007, p.57]

Although the hard-hearted and selfconsciously cool may dismiss them as the avant folk scene's answer to Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, that's no reason to deny one's self the joyous singalong harmonies of 'Don't Be Afraid, You're Already Dead." [Oct 2007, p.71]

The nine songs her give a reason for detractors to raise their voices and for devotees to hope for something a little more evolved. [Sep. 2007, p.49]

It's an extraordinary and compelling celebration of a hardcore punk classic. [Oct 2007, p.71]

The [guest] musicians have the good sense to know when to let Chesnutt's dry-leaf vocals and muted acoustic guitar carry the songs, and when to swell up and bring heightened Gothic intensity to the feelings of melancholy and dread. [Oct 2007, p.55]

Sometimes Liars sounds like a group whose previous sonic journeying has inspired a fresh look at the familiar. All too often, however, it's as though, having stepped outside the confines of conventional song, they can never believe in it enough to return. [Sep 2007, p.56]