Somewhere between the Plimsouls and The La's, this should keep your top down throughout the summer. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.109]

Annie explodes with a white-hot teen spirit that shames 99% of what passes for pop in America today. [Jun 2005, p.76]

The harmonies resonate and the melodies hook into your skull. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.109]

This [is] all the Kraftwerk you need, if you didn't need all the Kraftwerk ever made. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.106]

Stripped down, home cooked goodness. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.109]

She's made some excellent and creative dancefloor techno here, but like so much great techno of the past, it fails to gel into a definitive album. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.99]

Ecstatic may not be the warm follow-up some people were expecting, but it's an equally fascinating, engaging album. [Jun 2005, p.78]

Not just music, but a state of mind. [Jun 2005, p.81]

For every gloomy 4AD inspired "Hail Xnanax," there's the poppy metronic Kraftwerk pulse of "Zugaga." [Jun 2005, p.77]

Brilliant.... This album sounds like Albarn and Danger Mouse are an inspired team. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.101]

Beck (Sea Change) and Coldplay (Parachutes) already made the exponentially better versions of this album. [Jun 2005, p.76]

The songs heave with shockingly real energy. [May 2005, p.85]

Basically, it's earnest, well-crafted indie with synths. [May 2005, p.86]

No boredom here. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.108]

Kindness sounds like the work of someone given one month to live, as Snaith lays down dozens of musical ideas into an album that will constantly keep you guessing what's next. [May 2005, p.84]

Haughty Melodic should find Doughty a new legion of listeners while sating his faithful followers. [Jul/Aug 2005, p.101]

Quasimoto is Madlib at his most creative and compelling. [May 2005, p.83]

Pierce has broken down another barrier between elusive genius and sheer pleasure. [Jun 2005, p.79]

You love your iPod, so you'll like this album, at least the Bowie-esque parts. [May 2005, p.92]

They still manage to inject their manic bursts of beats with gentle, even sweet melodies immersed deep in the cacophony. [May 2005, p.84]

Terse bass and faux-African rhythms that recall [the Talking Heads]. [May 2005, p.93]

They posses a talent for identifying the raw, emotive aspects of sound and speech in random statements and simple chord progressions. [Apr 2005, p.101]

Terrific tunes. [Apr 2005, p.102]

Solid... the album definitely hits its marks. [Apr 2005, p.102]

Dystopia pop at its most intriguing. [May 2005, p.93]

Is similarly turn of the last century electronic, but in a darker and less slice and diced way. [May 2005, p.92]

Beck at his best. [Apr 2005, p.100]

They definitely know their way around the early Duran catalog, not forgetting the requisite stops at New Order and the Psychedelic Furs. [Apr 2005, p.101]

With an awe-inspiring imagination in tow, Edan drops his own distinct magical mystery tour. [Apr 2005, p.101]

Sigel spills enough raw emotion on these top-shelf beats to make Ghostface Killa shed a tear. [Jun 2005, p.85]

The highlight of this album is Blueprint's pensive, jazzy landscape of strangled horns and muddy synths. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.94]

M.I.A.'s singsong cadence is both child-like and streetwise, perfectly mirroring the smiley-faced menace of the electro-informed palpitations behind her. [Mar 2005, p.113]

Silent Alarm doesn't just maintain Bloc Party's post-dance-punk appeal, it blows the fucking lid off. [Apr 2005, p.100]

This is XTC times Elvis Costello plus the finest moments from the Americana greats and then some. [Apr 2005, p.108]

The frustrating saving grace is a bonus disc of fluid, pain-killing Brian Eno pastiche. [Jun 2005, p.75]

Every song is a keeper. [Apr 2005, p.103]

Prefuse 73 has defiantly asserted himself as one of the most important artists of his generation, ignoring boundaries and creating a landscape that recognizes hip-hop's original "anything goes" ethos. [Apr 2005, p.99]

Combined, you have the best blotter soundtrack ever. [Jun 2005, p.78]

The Chicks sound as though they're running out of gas. [Mar 2005, p.118]

Black Dialogue has finally captured the Perceptionists' on-stage charisma and fraternity. [Apr 2005, p.103]

Mini-symphonies of machine hum and orchestral swoop. [Apr 2005, p.109]

A wonderful, fascinating record. [May 2005, p.85]

An enjoyable switchback ride through instrumental post-rock riff-making and full-on angst-ridden rocking out. [May 2005, p.87]

Putnam's longing voice and rusty guitar strum easily envisions a rustic dwelling, yet their studio strengths reveal a Pink Floyd fetish. [Jun 2005, p.85]

It's hard to explain the mindless metal riffing that weighs down this completely disappointing album. [May 2005, p.84]

They have a clever way with words and pleasantly surprising musical depth. [May 2005, p.92]

It drifts like trade winds, which is good for followers and merely intriguing to the casual listener. [May 2005, p.84]

[A] big, bold, rock-for-the-dance-floor romp. [Jun 2005, p.84]

This album is an ideal response to claims that electronic music has no soul. [Apr 2005, p.100]

Sweet femme fatale vocals, oceanic synth waves and shoegazing guitar riffs abound on these sprawling sound confections. [Jun 2005, p.85]

Lush, engaging and quirkily accessible. [Apr 2005, p.102]

They throw light on their shadowy melancholia, resulting in positively euphoric tunes. [Mar 2005, p.111]

Finds them recapturing the magic. [May 2005, p.92]

Has more in common with Oasis than anything else. [Mar 2005, p.110]

Finds [Bachmann] in a maudlin mood. [Apr 2005, p.108]

Once the headphones are in place, it becomes apparent that the Frenchman has indeed pulled off another masterful work. [Mar 2005, p.111]

Builds upon the familiar grab bag with the addition of a trippier, more psychedelic vibe and high-profile, pop-minded guest vocalists. [Mar 2005, p.114]

[An] outstanding album. [Mar 2005, p.110]

Blockhead blesses three tracks with sublime beats, proving what a pair they make. [Mar 2005, p.118]

[An] excellent multi-genre plateau. [May 2005, p.84]

It's mostly about a rollicking anti-frat party, where grizzled indie kids take ecstasy and discover the primal appeal of the dance floor. [Mar 2005, p.112]

The distorted pop ambience of Outside Closer could very well make these Brits the Notwist of 2005. [Mar 2005, p.118]

It's hugely ambitious, and yet also perhaps Ladd's most focused record yet. [Mar 2005, p.112]

If you're over 25, then expect to find yourself peering at your old teen angst like some sort of barely remembered dream. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.95]

It's nice that a singer/songwriter can fit comfortably on a label known for abstract techno and heady hip-hop. It's not so great when she sounds like Dido. [Apr 2005, p.109]

Lewd and wonderful. [Apr 2005, p.103]

Clearly he's been listening to much Jeff Buckley... as Strangers throbs with that familiar bluesy bombast. [Mar 2005, p.112]

Coxon finally seems to be coming into his own. [Mar 2005, p.111]

Bright Eyes' foray into the digital domain is among the more interesting experiments of this young year. [Mar 2005, p.109]

Comes as an especially welcome jolt after their last wishy-washy effort. [Mar 2005, p.110]

The tracks... feel more like loose, languid, quiet-loud sketches and fine textures than actual songs. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.96]

While the melding of country with hip-hop might seem dubious, from Buck's perspective, they may as well be symbiotic. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.94]

The perfect soundtrack for a late Sunday night. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.96]

It's clever and interesting, but it's hard to escape the feeling that an opportunity to expand and mutate his sound even more went partially wasted. [Apr 2005, p.104]

Campy, kitschy but always cool. [Mar 2005, p.119]

Post-modern pop hasn't sounded this good since the Postal Service. [Dec 2004, p.110]

As always, Doom steps up and kicks out clever lines with the ease of someone still not bored with their talents. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.93]

An ecelctic mess that will send purists of all stripes screaming bloody murder. You, of course, will love it. [Dec 2004, p.105]

The whole act is a gimmick, for sure, and one that wears itself thin awfully quick. [Nov 2004, p.98]

Roni really hits home near the end, the last seven tracks making the album purchase (and the wait) more than worth it. [Dec 2004, p.110]

Nasty and raw. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.97]

His electro sound [cannot] stand out through the chaff of a million imitators over two decades. [Dec 2004, p.118]

Explores the previously uncharted territory where shouty alt.rock meets a cappella vocals and skinny-tied new-wave melody. [Nov 2004, p.99]

Just rock out to some really good music. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.96]

This time, he's truly on some next shit instrumentally and vocally. [Nov 2004, p.98]

They rant and roil through aggressive blasts of adrenaline and youth... like their nads are on fire. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.94]

He delivers for fans of every persuasion without losing grip on his ghetto past in the least--no easy feat. [Dec 2004, p.112]

A lot of these tracks sound like either near-misses or music made to play when your roomate's pissing you off. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.102]

There is something uniquely authentic about Mason's music. [Mar 2006, p.114]

The big idea of real instruments and real people is a step backwards. [Oct 2004, p.102]

Too bad they bring nothing new to the fold. [Dec 2004, p.118]

Worthy of being considered among the year's finest. [Dec 2004, p.106]

Thankfully, the results are still pure Blues Explosion. [Jan/Feb 2005, p.94]

[Heiruspecs] prove that they are definitely more than just Atmosphere's occasional back-up band. [Oct 2004, p.103]

But wait, you say you're sick of disingenuous irony? Well so are we, which is why Junior Boys is such an astounding relief, boarding on rapturous in their melancholy. [Jul/Aug 2004, p.125]

Much as it is refreshing to find a spotlight being shone on the psyche of a headstrong young woman, This Week suffers from a frustrating consistency of musical tone. [Sep 2004, p.113]

A schizophrenic journey into the mind of a man who clearly embraces myriad genres. [Oct 2004, p.103]