The few standout tracks are in the beginning, making the rest of the album sound like a monotonous waste of your time. [May 2007, p.94]

Any notions of the dreaded sophomore slump disappear seconds into their new album It’s a Bit Complicated.

Every song on the 52-minute masterpiece builds and bridges until everything self-destructs and the only thing left to do is dance. [May 2007, p.92]

An undeniably good record. [May 2007, p.95]

Emphasizes stripped down drums & bass. [Apr 2007, p.102]

Their arrangements are tidy as ever and the disc's energized pop sounds like it came together on the stage rather than the studio. [May 2007, p.97]

Its tracks work together to form a cohesive, incredibly personal whole. [May 2007, p.91]

Everything Last Winter loses itself slightly in the oversaturated field of worthy emulators, the record could find its place soundtracking the ABC drama you call a life.

His best full-length. [May 2007, p.98]

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]

Beyond doesn't break any new ground, but... it's as refreshing as anything you're likely to hear all year. [May 2007, p.93]

An atmospheric and sophisticated album from a promising songwriter. [May 2007, p.93]

It's a delicate album that's simultaneously sophisticated and warm. [Apr 2007, p.106]

The boys have yet to prove their worth with the tender, mellow bits... and one can't help but wonder how strong Favourite Worst Nightmare would have been as simply a full-throttle, adrenal-tapped EP. [May 2007, p.92]

More light = more fun. [Mar 2007, p.101]

Sensuous goes so far beyond the borders of radio-friendly melody that it's hard to recognize the Cornelius of bygone days. [May 2007, p.93]

At 40-plus minutes, Dumb Luck gets out just when the getting is good. [May 2007, p.93]

The adventure slightly disappoints. [Apr 2007, p.108]

An album more raw than an infected, 10-day-old open head wound. [Apr 2007, p.102]

At once apocalyptic and born again. [May 2007, p.96]

It's a beautiful collection of songs, cinematic and powerful, never pushy. [Apr 2007, p.100]

CocoRosie has this fantastic ability to infuse humanity into their drum machines, and the warming result carries The Adventures to marvelous heights. [Apr 2007, p.102]

If his first album, Shadows on the Sun--one of 2003's best hip-hop releases--was meant to introduce Ali to his would-be fanbase, The Undisputed Truth--which sees Ali's life taking a total 180--seals the damn deal. [Mar 2007, p.97]

Instead of hip-hop, Betke now appears inspired by the hypnotic riddims of Krautrock and the New York art-dance scene of the 1970s. [May 2007, p.97]

If you're in need of hype, and think Oasis are too old and lame anyway, and the Arctic Monkeys are just kind boring, maybe you need... the Klaxons. [Apr 2007, p.106]

On Yours Truly, Angry Mob, Kaiser Chiefs grow up, dig in and get utterly serious, albeit in a pogo-hopping, decadent British way. [Apr 2007, p.105]

Unfortunately, it's the production that doesn't meet the previous standard set. [Apr 2007, p.101]

The vocals are where Murphy has developed the most, trading in his Mark E. Smith yelp for various crooning styles. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.75]

Dependable? Yes. Beautiful? Definitely, yes. [Apr 2007, p.107]

Adult. is cathartic cabaret for the sketched out. [Apr 2007, p.101]

There was a lot going on, but it's not until now... that El-P's music could actually be called full. So full that even silence weighs a ton. [Mar 2007, p.95]

This quirky little record shouldn't lose any old fans and may just gain her a few new ones. [Apr 2007, p.108]

The problem is that all this pop-happy acoustic strumming lacks the awkward warble of Bright Eyes or the destructive heartbreak of Elliott Smith's music. [Mar 2007, p.101]

Tongues is a shorter, tighter set of songs that retains the pair's reckless spirit of improvisation and experimentation. [Apr 2007, p.104]

An album this undeniably imaginative, consistent and immersive comes as a wonderful surprise and proof that maybe music isn't as lost as it seems. [Apr 2007, p.107]

A must-have for true J Dilla fans. [Apr 2007, p.104]

You'd have to hate life not to eat this long-awaited, sugar-coated anthology up. [Mar 2007, p.98]

Back to Black is overflowing with the '60s Supremes warmth that has been fully absent from the "standards" of today's R&B. [Apr 2007, p.108]

Not exactly ironic hipster or fashionably cool... the end result, ironically, is damn cool. [Apr 2007, p.104]

[The band has] gotten down to the more important work of constructing airtight grooves with just enough weirding-out to show their legion of followers that it takes more than a drummer with good 16th-note skills to rock this party right. [Mar 2007, p.96]

A big, heaping spoonful of bland. [Mar 2007, p.96]

The results... rarely match up with the legend. [Apr 2007, p.107]

Sometimes the '70s feel gets feeling hella silly. [Mar 2007, p.96]

A fierce vision quest of psychedelic riffs 'n' roll that manages to sound like hard rock, shoegazer and new rave all within the same song, yet never feeling forced or false. [Mar 2007, p.98]

[Security] delivers a treasure trove of eclectic beats, energetic sounds, political musings and agreeable voices that come together in a perfect musical statement. [Mar 2007, p.96]

More of the breezy, lo-fi indie pop that aligns Mark in the Elephant Six canon of pretty-pretty flights of fancy. [Mar 2007, p.101]

Every song ends like a firework finale and fragile chords explain more about the human condition than words ever could. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.78]

Atlantis will rock your body--if you open your mind. [Jan 2007, p.79]

What gives [Strength In Numbers]... the sound of a band landing its proper second stride is the hiss and grind that churns docile compositions into studio-kissed wonders. [Mar 2007, p.97]

The synths and cheese riffs have dawdled so far down the path of meaningless self-abuse that they give all forms of masturbation a bad name. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.81]

Swift is likely to turn some more heads with this one. [Mar 2007, p.101]

A rewarding, intimate listen. [Mar 2007, p.101]

New Magnetic Wonder cloaks itself in a glow of irrelevancy. But beneath, Schneider's gooey power-pop thrives. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.76]

A post-electronica, post-rave production that jettisons genres and cherishes uncut creativity. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.77]

This time the focus is on tight songwriting, sudden chagnes and an edgy velocity that's never too dense. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.79]

None of the pairings are out of place. [Mar 2007, p.99]

CYHSY seem to have set out to make their "important" sophomore record... which is only truly important if you believe that songs gain weight at the hand of bulbous studio wankage (they don't) and that unnecessarily inflated melodrama equals more fun (it doesn't). [Jan/Feb 2007, p.76]

Strap on your seatbelt, 'cause you never been on a ride like this befo.' [Jan/Feb 2006, p.78]

Visitations occasionally suffers from "too much of a good thing" syndrome. [Jan/Feb 2007, p.77]

Deerhoof reveal new shades of interest that beckon future transformations. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.78]

Albarn claims this album is a letter to the London of today, but it's impossible not [to] get swept into the grandfatherly smell that permeates every number. [Dec 2006, p.127]

A wonderfully dance-ridden companion ot the intelli-disco carved out on 2005's The Sunlandic Twins. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.81]

This could be the second half of Menomena's debut. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.81]

The only complaint I have is that this disc clocked in just under 39 minutes, while it definitely wouldn't be bogged down by another 41 minutes of tracks like these. [Jan/Feb 2006, p.78]

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]

An overdue look into one of Scotland's most underrated bands. [Dec 2006, p.116]

She surpasses the level of comparatively hook-heavy songwriting set with The Milk-Eyed Mender by evoking a dramatic weight people will still be talking about years down the line. [Nov 2006, p.137]

The path to orchestral bombast continues on So Divided. [Dec 2006, p.118]

Though it's a letdown to revisit [the five EP cuts] in place of new material, "Those Were the Days," "My England" and "Love Me or Hate Me" make up for it largely. [Oct 2006, p.115]

As emo-tastic as Threes is, it merely sizzles in ways their debut singed. [Oct 2006, p.128]

The record is just as uneven as the original and perhaps that's just the right way to pay homage. [Nov 2006, p.128]

An odd album... this might well have been called Badly Drawn Boy: The Musical. [Oct 2006, p.117]

While Hello Everything is everything you'd expect a Squarepusher LP to be, therein lies the problem: It's exactly everything you'd expect a Squarepusher album to be. [Oct 2006, p.130]

The Brothers reach unmistakable heights of blood pressure... but also deliver slow, melodic goodies. [Oct 2006, p.118]

The studio noodling on Roots & Crowns sounds fittingly organic and effortless. [Oct 2006, p.117]

One of his better releases this year. [Oct 2006, p.122]

Magnificent. [Sep 2006, p.136]

[Contains] scattered but affecting shots of brilliance. [Oct 2006, p.117]

Sam's Town is bloated with verses that helplessly swipe at capturing something, anything, significantly American. [Oct 2006, p.129]

Expect to see this album on 2006 Top 10 lists. [Oct 2006, p.118]

This is an amazing, innovative, storytelling record that takes you on [a] fantastic, fun trip. [Oct 2006, p.118]

Instead of avoiding the comparisons, Sean Lennon succeeds by reveling in the kind of pop that runs through his family's genes. [Oct 2006, p.124]

It's almost like Subtle, as a collective, is afraid of letting loose or having too much fun. [Oct 2006, p.130]

[A] blend of wobbly slide guitar chords and simple, steamy beats. [Nov 2006, p.128]

Fragile in its struture, the album is stunningly precise and hauntingly familiar. [Sep 2006, p.131]

[A] time warp of an album, which takes us back to a future where grunge never happened, glam is god, disco balls sit atop the world and glitter falls from the sky. [Sep 2006, p.129]

The album is a more straightforward, breezier Sparklehorse, and effortlessly replayable. [Oct 2006, p.130]

Haines has... shown glimpses of a broken and beautiful solo artist just waiting to tell her story. This, my friends, is that breakout album in spades. [Oct 2006, p.122]

At the same time you contort, squirm and surge toward the non-music, your spirit somehow gets the message. [Oct 2006, p.132]

Positively electric. [Sep 2006, p.143]

Where Shadow ultimately sutmbles is on the britpop tip. [Oct 2006, p.116]

Suffers slightly from pasteurized cheese. [Oct 2006, p.120]

A sometimes abrupt, hard-to-pin-down voyage with fun surprises and plot twists. [Sep 2006, p.131]

There are... some impressivley fresh ideas lurking between the anthemic bits. [Sep 2006, p.137]

This album has a '60s folk-rock quality that's earnest, sweet and open. [Sep 2006, p.136]

It does all go a bit Sheryl Crow occasionally... but the darker clouds remain. [Oct 2006, p.117]

Give up now, guys, because it rarely gets better than this. [Jun 2006, p.113]

Their best album since... Remedy. [Sep 2006, p.131]