The White Stripes – Elephant

“Jack White makes picking ‘Album Of The Year’ stupidly simple – for the third time in three years, he and his fake sister have unleashed the best record on earth.” (#1 Album of The Year)– Spin Magazine

“Elephant is where Jack White becomes a star – a modern-day Clockward Orange droog with a guitar. But it’s also where he transforms himself into a one-man repository of American music at its most un-tamed and poetic….They remind us how volatile, unpredictable, raggedly beautiful, and exuberantly alive the music used to, can, and should be.” (#1 Album of The Year)- David Browne in Entertainment Weekly

Belle And Sebastian – Dear Catastrophe Waitress

“[Dear Catastrophe Waitress is] the best album the band has ever made, and one of the best pop records you’ll hear this year.” - New York Observer

“On Dear Catastrophe Waitress, the band filters everything from new wave to ‘70s soul through its unique perspective to deliver its best album in years.” - Billboard

“…the pop salvation of the summer, fall and winter.” – Paper Magazine

The Concretes – The Concretes

"On their self titled debut, Swedish dream-pop collective The Concretes deliver a wonderfully peculiar work that sounds immediately familiar and unlike anything else on the rock landscape today." - Billboard

“Cool as bright-white wall of sound, with organs, trumpets, harps and blondes who worship the Supremes in all their evening-gloved glory…a snow globe of an album that’s sparkling, brilliant and only held back by gravity.” (5 Stars) - Alternative Press

“The Swedish octet The Concretes are exquisitely anti-rock and pro-pop, brand new and unique…More like a weird family than a conventional pop-group, their sound is full but somehow minimal, melancholic, warm, and conspiratorial.” — Flaunt Magazine

Tilly And The Wall – Wild Like Children

“Remember those high-school nights spent riding around in your best friend’s car, looking for a party or a gig or just some place to hang out and get drunk? When it felt like youth would last forever, and every emotion was particularly profound because it was so new? Omaha quintet Tilly and the Wall do — and they capture it, perfectly, on their exuberant debut.” — Nylon Magazine

“…Wild Like Children [is] one of the year’s most exciting debut albums.” — Time Out New York

“It will make tap-dancing fools of us all.” — Magnet Magazine

Super Furry Animals – Lovekraft

"The Welsh quintet have achieved greatness before, but Love Kraft is their greatest album". - Filter Magazine

Orange Juice – The Glasgow School

“This set, containing Orange Juice’s four delightful Postcard singles and an album’s worth of demos, reaffirms (Edwyn) Collins’ brazen precocity in the age of PiL and Joy Division: his combined vocal and songwriting passions for Al Green and Noel Coward; the jolts of Chic in the tangled-Byrds guitars of “Simply Thrilled Honey” and “Poor Old Soul”….the sound of a bright young scene being born right in front of you.” – David Fricke in Rolling Stone

“The band’s hooray-for-fey, anti-rockist manifesto translated into terrific pop music pitched at the intersection of Chic’s funky guitars and the Velvet Underground’s bristling guitars, while frontman Edwyn Collins was suave lounge lizard, snake-hipped soulboy and lovelorn bookworm all at once…in today’s climate, they could scarcely more relevant.” – Blender Magazine

Kaiser Chiefs - Employment

“Old-school British-rock fans used to wear buttons proclaiming GOD SAVE THE KINKS. Now those buttons will have to read GOD SAVE THE KAISER CHIEFS…the Kaiser Chiefs make you want to sing along with practically every song by the second chorus. They predict a riot? They already are one.” — Rolling Stone

“Say the name out loud, right now: Kaiser Chiefs. Say it now, because everyone will be saying it later…this band is the best new music-maker of the year.” - The New York Post

“…dizzying synth swirls and gleefully biting lyrics…will have you pogoing around the room…raucous fun.”- People Magazine

Teenage Fanclub – Man-Made

“Man-Made shakes the quartet out of stasis with a crisp, contemporary slant on its dependable pop classicism. Eerie and lovely, this is the sound of a band that’s managed to mature with dark dignity”. – Rolling Stone

“This is the liveliest disc the band has put out since Bandwagonesque in 1991.” - Paste Magazine

“While Teenage Fanclub’s new CD “Man-Made” is its most understated and stylistically loose record, it’s also one of its most quietly memorable and rewarding.” - Chicago Tribune

The Black Keys – Rubber Factory

"Direct, consistent, powerful, and loud, the record is one of the best rock release of the year." - The New Yorker

“Only two strong, they make brawny, brutal noise…For sludge, Dan Auerbach’s fat, rocketing riffs are rivaled only by his Delta-dipped drawl, while Carney injects crude stomps with zip and pep.” - Blender Magazine

“The Keys have bested not only themselves but just about everyone else this year.” – Entertainment Weekly

The White Stripes – Get Behind Me Satan

“Thrilling…It’s an album so strong and so unexpected that it may change the way people hear all its predecessors. And that’s just a start. Listen long enough, and this album might change the way you hear lots of other bands, too.” — Kelefa Sanneh in The New York Times

“…an explosive hybrid or under-the-radar Americana, scraggly hip-hugger rock and 21st-century innovation.” - Lorraine Ali in Newsweek

“If you happen to be a rock band, and you don’t happen to be either of the White Stripes, it so sucks to be you right now.” – Rob Sheffield in Rolling Stone

The Faint – Wet From Birth

"...richly imagined, well-written and arresting...killer drumming and cliche-free arrangements...you get the sense that they're balancing 141,000 different things in their heads - and emerging with emotional music all their own." — Rolling Stone

“…the Faint’s new Wet From Birth suggest they own time travel: blinking through London in the early ‘80s, skipping the decades between, and venturing whammy-pedal-first into future postmodern fame…They are sex without complications, a dirty drug.” - The Village Voice

“…couched in a sound that’s decidedly 2019, in a Blade Runner sort of way – like going back to the future. We love this record.” — BlackBook Magazine

The Kills – No Wow

“The Kills are an edgy rock duo from London who make music so sexy and unsettling it can make you sweat on a cold night…In a period when so many acclaimed bands have had trouble living up to the promise of debut or breakthrough albums, the Kills improve upon their promising 2002 debut in almost every way in their second CD.” - Robert Hilburn in The Los Angeles

“Together, they caress and torture their guitars for a sound that’s bleak, minimal and makes no distinction between sexual excitement, anger and despair…Give it some volume and the music’s spidery insinuation will pull you in.” – Rolling Stone

Bloc Party – Silent Alarm

“What separates Bloc Party from too many other post-punk revivalists is that their music holds a spirit of urgency that's matched by a gift for scrambling their sources. The band conjures frenzy with neat strategies that keep unleashing surprises: steady drumbeats that sporadically burst into a gallop and guitar parts that juggle blunt chords, glassy high notes, fierce scrabbling tremolos and sudden jabs. And just when the music threatens to become pure propulsion, a melody line appears.” — The New York Times

Giant Drag – Hearts And Unicorns

“Annie Hardy as the seeming love child of Kurt Cobain and PJ Harvey…the record is bursting with enough growling riffs and lyrical invective to have critics hailing the advent of a new grunge movement – with Giant Drag at its core” – Spin Magazine

“The perfect balance of dreamy and creamy, peachy and fuzzy.” (4 Stars) – Blender Magazine

“A melodically moody match made in musical heaven…a lush collection of gorgeously grungy rock anthems and moody melodic soundscapes.” – Interview Magazine

Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning

“Bright Eyes’ new acoustic album is the most absorbing singer-songwriter collection since Bob Dylan’s ‘Time Out of Mind’ eight years ago — and it is, in some ways, an answer to that landmark work…It’s uncomfortable and maybe even unfair to make so many comparisons to rock’s most celebrated songwriter. At the same time, Dylan’s music set a standard of excellence that remains a challenge to every songwriter who picks up a guitar. No one in years has come as close to answering that challenge as this other angelic-looking young man from the Midwest. 4 stars.”— Robert Hilburn in the Los Angeles Times

“I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning is a masterpiece of country-flavored heartland angst, plowing the musical ground between The Freewheelin’ Bob Dylan and the Cure’s Seventeen Seconds…these are the most intense [songs] he’s ever written, one instant classic after another.” — Rolling Stone

“A confessional singer with a disarming voice, Oberst has crafted an acoustic country-folk masterpiece with indie-rock audaciousness. He’s an insightful and incisive lyricist who writes his observations with grace, candor and equal measures of youthful urgency and old-soul empathy…The bright future of Bright Eyes is underway.” — USA Today

Arctic Monkeys – Whatever People Say I Am, That’s What I’m Not

“It’s easy to see why the band drew a national following…It seems less like something recorded in a studio than an instant crystallization of an intensely experienced life. It’s that immediate, and though the Yorkshire accent is thick, the action will ring true most everywhere in the modern world. ” - Los Angeles Times

“…a stunning debut. Frenetic funk chops and riotous garage ram-a-lama lay the soundtrack for the most literate, lacerating, and witty tales of small-town life since—well, a while….Whatever People Say I am is 21rst century pop at its most vital and visceral.” –BlackBook

“The album is every bit as good as its cheerleaders claim.” – Blender Magazine

“You probably won’t hear a better CD all year long.” –Kelefa Sanneh in the New York Times

M.Ward – Post-War

“Matt Ward is one eccentric troubadour worth your lunch money…his fifth album shows a true familiarity with the clear-eyed mortality and dusty tunefulness of classic roots music…it all sounds familiar but strange, and beautiful enough to suck you in.” –Rolling Stone

“With Ward’s hushed, moody vocals, acoustic-guitar-driven atmospherics and a mysterious allure…this disc sneaks up on you and catches hold….Post-War is the kind of album you meditate on through the night while the rest of the world is asleep.” – People Magazine

“Ward’s fifth album cuts through the cobwebs without losing the warmth….Ward’s talents have never been more persuasively showcased.” (Grade: A) – Entertainment Weekly

Cold War Kids – Robbers & Cowards

"A sound so original and timeless you wonder how it sprang from the LosAngeles suburbs and not the dark, rich loam of the bayou" – The Los Angeles Times

"One of the most enjoyable listens of 2006" – People Magazine

“Over cave-stomp drums and post-punk guitars, the Los Angeles band channels the dark gothic spirit of the Deep South” (4 Stars) – Rolling Stone

Dinosaur Jr – Beyond

“..the eleven new songs (including the knockout opener) sound just like classic Dino, with Mascis’ blistering Neil Young-ish solos bolstered by Barlow and Murph’s heavy accompaniment.” – Rolling Stone

“…a triumph of melodic post-rock, with Barlow crushing out wave after wave of overdriven bass that seems to literally bleed with emotion.” –Bass Guitar Magazine

“But for all the ubiquity of Dinosaur then and now, I can’t think of one band but Dinosaur Jr able to do what they do.” – Pitchfork Media

“Their lyrics set them apart, with verses that can stand alongside those by Stephen Sondheim, Nas, and Dylan Thomas…The Monkeys grew up on hip-hop and while they’re not rap-rockers, they know how playful poetics and regional flavor can be more pleasurable than mass-market lingua franca. …It’s the sort of wisdom, and emotion, of which rock poet laureates are made.” – Entertainment Weekly

“The new songs are more melodic and even more meticulous than before. Arctic Monkeys have almost ruled out standard punk strumming. Instead they have zeroed in on the counterpoint of the two guitars, neatly separated on the left and right channels and clawing fiercely at each other. The songs take pride in that bitter clarity.” – Jon Pareles in The New York Times

Bright Eyes - Cassadaga

“After the arty folk of "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" and the electronic pop of "Digital Ash in a Digital Urn," its twin albums from 2005, this mix of rollicking soulfulness and textured experimentation is a natural and notable advance for Bright Eyes and adds a welcome urgency to Oberst's vision.” (4 Stars) – Richard Cromelin in the Los Angeles Times

“Weaving from romantic sagas to doomsday prophecies, Oberst delivers his most mature and connected work to date. His sharply written heartland vignettes are set to graceful melodies and swaddled in lush orchestration and layers of breezy acoustic instrumentation…prospects for the music’s creator look bright indeed.” – Edna Gunderson in USA Today

Rilo Kiley – Under The Blacklight

“It’s an intraband breakup album, a public reading of private diaries in the tradion of Fleetwood Mac’s Rumours. It’s also a perils-of-L.A postcard, like the Eagles’ Hotel California or GunsN’Roses’ Appetite for Destruction….incessantly catchy and well-made.” (4 ½ Stars) – Blender Magazine

“Under the Blacklight is the sonically richest Rilo Kiley record yet.” –Ann Powers in the Los Angeles Times

“Brimming with an intimate lyricism and stellar musicianship, the album is full of illuminating moments, from the eclectic musical history implied throughout to the sensual musical vocabulary that guides the way.” – Flaunt Magazine

Raconteurs – Consolers Of The Lonely

..evokes the thrill of playing hooky on a Friday afternoon.” - Entertainment Weekly

The Raconteurs are singing, more often than not, about desperate characters. But that desperation only makes the crunch of the music more euphoric.” – Jon Pareles in the New York Times

Kills – Midnight Boom

"Boom’s nicotine sting – and the pair’s push-me-pull-you chemistry – is still ridiculously sexy”- Entertainment Weekly

"The albums final two tracks- the slink Velvets with a beatbox “What New York Used To Be” and the bewitching Mazzy Stones country-blues balled “Goodnight Bad Morning”- demonstrate that true artisans don’t necessarily need more tools in their box to make magic. Whether cutting a dance track or cutting a diamond, the great ones jut need enough time to carve deep enough to let the light come streaming from dark heart of the rock.”- Paste Magazine

& Him – Volume One

“a disarming set of simple pop songs drawn from a variety of ‘60’s and ‘70’s styles, a perfectly charming record for the onset of spring” – Time Out New York

"With actress-turned-indie rockerZooey Deschanel at the helm and multi-instrumentalist M. Ward right behind her, She & Him bring a deft touch to timeless soul-pop songs." - Los Angeles Times

“blasts the ‘actors attempting music’ stigma to happy smithereens” – Entertainment Weekly

"Together they pose as a great lost Seventies AM-gold couple." Rolling Stone

“sounds closer to Phil Spector’s ‘Wall of Sound’ than anything produced in the digital era – with girl group melodies and 60’s optimism dripping from every track” – New York Post

The Killers - Day & Age

“The brightest new hope of rock radio…” – The New York Times

“…a respectably vivacious dance-rock album…every track inflates steadily to echoing heights...the Killers deliver quite a spectacle.” (3.5 stars) – Spin

“All killer, no filler…a fresh and immediate arena-rock triumph…The sound isn’t just bigger, it’s transnational, yielding the kind of radiant, whip-smart rock album you seldom hear in this day and age.” – USA Today

Lykke Li - Youth Novels

“Lykke Li (is) a charming, globe-trotting hippie kid whose Abba-rific debut shows how dance pop and quirky indie invention can co-exist happily.” – Rolling Stone

“The genre-hopping firecracker combines organic instrumentation with her unique voice and a distinctly danceable sensibility, to mesmerizing effect.” – Paste Magazine

“An amalgam of prim electronic pop, chilly new wave and melodic folk, it is musically assured.” - New York Times

Depeche Mode - Sounds of the Universe

“Dave Gahan's voice is as captivating as ever and Martin Gore's songwriting is still in full form..it serves as foolproof evidence that Depeche Mode has no plans for retirement.” -Filter Magazine

“Sounds of the Universe is Depeche Mode’s most tune-packed and sonically adventurous album for over a decade.” -Mojo Magazine

“Sounds of the Universe is the band’s 12th album and arguably one of its best, reminiscent of the group’s “Violator” heyday of catchy dance beats with a hint of darkness.” - Billboard Magazine

“…a crisply produced, lushly layered dreamscape” -USA Today

“…a graceful evolution.” - Entertainment Weekly

Grizzly Bear - Veckatimest

“Complex vocal harmonies of a Baroque choir ….irresistibly sweet pop melodies…gloriously eccentric.” - New York Magazine

“The fog has lifted and now we can see an entire city, not just a house.” -The New Yorker

“It is compositionally and sonically airtight…. truly remarkable” Pitchfork

“Suffused with gorgeous choral harmonies ….a lush mix of ornate art rock and swooning pop hooks” – Rolling Stone

“ Finally, the promise of full-blown pop grandeur arrives…Veckatimest is a triumph, a meticulous production of psychedelic organs and guitars and the kind of vocal harmonies that will haunt you for days.” – GQ

K’NAAN - Troubadour

“2009 Artist To Watch” - The Los Angeles Times

“3 1/2 Stars” - Blender Magazine

“’Troubadour’ is an album that displays raw emotion coupled with genre-bending song composition…If you’ve been looking for a breath of fresh air look to “Troubadour.” - The Source

“The convergence of neo-soul and adult hip-hop while exhibiting the rapper’s fiercely humanistic intelligence” - The New Yorker

“A fusion of traditional African folk music and socially conscious, street hardened-hip hop… K’NAAN is set to invigorate a scene burned out on braggadocio and posturing.” - Spin Magazine

Simian Mobile Disco – Attack Decay Sustain Release

“…Simian Mobile Disco pumps out straightforward dance-floor propulsion. But the charm is in how well Simian Mobile Disco understands textures, tunes and pop hooks…Simian Mobile Disco sets up steady beats only to send analog sounds ricocheting, spattering and twittering in between.” – New York Times

“…electro-pop with slogan-ready chanting…” – Rolling Stone

“…a breath of fresh air, with some music magazines – upon hearing debut album Attack Decay Sustain Release – declaring Simian Mobile Disco to be the saviours of dance music.” – Fader

“Attack Decay Sustain Release grabs dance music’s percussive backbone and transplants it into rock ‘n’ roll’s sinuous body.” – Paste

Lenny Kravitz – It Is Time For A Love Revolution

“This is the best album Lenny Kravitz has ever made” – Rolling Stone Magazine

"*** 1/2 stars" - Spin Magazine

"...rarely has this classic-rock disciple delivered his message with more passion and hook-heavy punch." *** 1/2 stars - People Magazine

The Duke Spirit - Neptune

“Moss has a voice that recalls the brooding banshee wail of Grace Slick…occasionally breaks out a blues harp and blows a Dylan-esque solo – shakes a tambourine while simultaneously nailing Axel Rose’s serpentine swivel.” –Rolling Stone

“Liela Moss brings sultry power to every surface the band scratches.”- SPIN

“a feral yet glam guitar-blitzed stomper.” – USA Today

“The driving force is singer Liela Moss, a woman born to put her foot up on a monitor and shake her platinum blond hair back and forth. In the same sonic league as PJ Harvey or the Heartless Bastards’ Erika Wennerstrom, Moss stays in a whiskeyed lower range, conjuring and commanding.” – The New Yorker

The Last Shadow Puppets – The Age Of The Understatement

“My Mistakes Were Meant For You slinks like a lost Bond theme.” – Blender

“Their debut pays homage to the moody symphonic sound of early David Bowie, Lee Hazlewood and other stars of the late 60s and early 70s…While reverb-swathed acoustic guitars churn in minor keys against a backdrop of drooping strings, Turner croons midnight-of-the-soul confessions.” – Rolling Stone

“(The Age Of The Understatement) boasts galloping rhythms and vibrato guitars that are indebted to the work of spaghetti-Western soundtrack maestro Ennio Morricone and lovely orchestrations that call to mind pop-melodrama king Scott Walker…an auspicious work.” – Entertainment Weekly

Spiritualized – Songs in A & E

“From the bitterness, it’s said, man learns the sweetness of health. The same can be said of the transformative effect the gorgeous wall of sound known as Spiritualized has on its listeners.” Filter Magazine

“The music reflects a less abrasive Spiritualized - feedback and heavy reverb have been replaced with softer arrangements, highlighting violins and acoustic guitars, ultimately casting Pierce’s voice in an almost angelic-sounding warmth;” Billboard

“…the album is nothing short of inspiring.” Time Out New York

Songs in A&E “is a welcome return and a confident entry in the Spiritualized canon.” Alternative Press

The Faint - Fasciinatiion

“The music…is appropriately futuristic and unsettling – but distinctly infectious.” – Blackbook

“Ten effortless tracks of nightclub-decimating electro-rock.” – CMJ

“…clashing guitar and keyboard hooks hammer home The Faint’s central theme – the chaos of a world in conflict. (3.5 stars) - Spin

Diane Birch - "Bible Belt"

“Amy Winehouse-style retro pop, minus dysfunction… Her welterweight voice is strong and fetching… “Fools” conjures Carole King, “Nothing But A Miracle” echoes Aretha…the melodies stick, and girl’s got taste.” – Rolling Stone

“Move over, Amy, Adele, and Duffy: The British blue-eyed soul brigade gets some serious competition from this Yankee on her debut.” – People Magazine “Critic’s Choice Review”

“…she pays tribute to the classics too—Motown, Delta Blues, old-fashioned pop—without sounding musty, combining the emotional sensibility of Diana Krall with the soulful backbone of Lucinda Williams.” – Vanity Fair

"Mr. Maal's socially conscious songs float in a sensuous bubble of electronica." -The New York Times

"fearless and all-encompassing, fresh yet timeless." -CNN

".surprisingly swift and jamming, a blend of electronic dance pep with West African cool" -The FADER "Groundbreaking, embracing the quirky, post-electronica eclecticism of the new guard, while bringing the spine-tingling voice and rock-solid musicianship that made him a star in the first place" -National Geographic

"...a typical masterstroke. "- Rolling Stone

"My Old, Familiar Friend is an impeccably crafted power-pop gem long on catchy melodies and lovelorn lyrics."- Billboard

".a melodically rich near-classic."- American Songwriter

"Back in the 1970s, Benson would have surely been held in the same esteem as many of those aforementioned AM titans (the Raspberries, Todd Rundgren, Wings). Here in 2009, he's merely the kind of best-kept secret you want to share with anyone who will listen."- Pitchfork

M.Ward – Transistor Radio

“Though he’s traversed wide-ranging musical terrain in his dozen years on the scene—from dusty folk to backwater blues to throaty ballads—the indie sensation M. Ward has managed to forge a sound that is wholly his own: hushed and weathered, unusually sensitive and deeply personal.” - The New Yorker

“Each song feels like the next stop on an FM dial. Ward, a timeless folk-rock troubadour, holds it all together with his peerless musicianship and his wild voice, a Tom Waits rasp without all the gloom and irony.” - Newsweek

“His sparse, whispered lullabies and thumping honky-tonk romps—coupled with an ear for subtle melodies—fill the album with a dusty, sepia-toned nostalgia that would sound right at home crackling out of the speakers in a deserted dustbowl diner.” - Interview Magazine

Love Is All - Nine Times That Same Song

“Love is All is a band that makes rebellious, intoxicating rock music that manages to sound at once like something from 15 years ago that influenced all the Johnny-come-latelys of today, and an equal-opposite reaction to them….they are full of lip-snarling confidence and effortless shrugs, a certain fuckoffitude.” – The Fader

“One of the most exciting discoveries of the year…” – The New York Times

“Olausson’s brash squeal runs rampant over melodic guitars – with the blaring alarm call of the saxophone on nearly every song – to create a hybrid of Madness-era ska-pop, Cyndi Lauper-style balladry and dissonant punk rock.” –Nylon Magazine

Autolux – Future Perfect

“Future Perfect is a work of unimpeachable brilliance, an album that takes its listener hostage and doesn’t release him until each of its 11 demands has been voiced and met.” - LA Weekly

“Future Perfect is easily one off the most fulfilling psych-rock records you’ll hear all year — a wave of soothing minimalism mixing naturally with excessive pomp — and, unlike nearly every other album that’s been met with such stilted accolades, doesn’t come off like a broken promise.” - Alternative Press Magazine

Franz Ferdinand – Franz Ferdinand

“There hasn't been a more immediately disarming rock album all year than this self-titled debt…. The music combines the dance-hungry seduction of Roxy Music and the Pet Shop Boys, while the lyrics deal in such extremes of romantic pathos that they become uplifting and, at times, even sweet.” – Bob Hilburn in the Los Angeles Times

“Not a sweeping artistic statement, not a cultural zeitgeist and not a scene-creating revolution, but a smoking stompbox of tunes guaranteed to light up a Friday night from the first beer to the drunken stumble home…Franz Ferdinand emerges as the first great rock album of 2004.” - Alternative Press Magazine

“…the coolest thing to come out of Scotland since Sean Connery.” - People Magazine

The Go! Team- Thunder, Lightening, Strike

“The word ‘exuberant’ has been sitting around, making the best of it, while waiting to attach itself to The Go! Team, a multiracial band of young men and women from England. Every musical genre is harvested for its shining, airborne, and positive qualities: group chants from old-school hip-hop, flutes from children’s music, strummed choruses from sixties pop. It’s moving to hear how openly their debut, Thunder, Lightning, Strike, embraces the bright side of life, though there is just enough clangor to balance out what sounds like a non-stop smile.” — The New Yorker

“…a funky mess as infectious as the flu…this U.S. release is full of exuberant, childlike pastiche pop that is the perfect antidote for anyone sick of self-pitying emo boys and stern hip-hop thugs.” (Grade: A) - Entertainment Weekly

Franz Ferdinand – You Could Have It So Much Better

“Inventive yet accessible, the punk-dipped pop on SO MUCH BETTER bears signs of madcap creative energy and none of the sloppy craftsmanship one might expect from a young band this young and confident. Franz…delivers a superb album that’s witty, muscular, exciting and surprisingly disciplined…” - USA Today

Jenny Lewis – Rabbit Fur Coat

“From the Gospel rhythm and secular doubt of “The Big Guns”…to the blue-eyed soul of “You Are What You Love,” each song has a sense of narrative motion…Lewis knows which moments call for delicacy and which demand emotional belting.”- Time Magazine

“…her voice lustrous as a dime-store diamond, as the avant-gospel duo the Watson Twins testify behind her…Lewis can’t stop rising to the challenge.” (4 Stars) – Ann Powers in Blender Magazine

“Sweet as a writer, supple as a singer.” ( Grade: A)–Robert Christgau in The Village Voice

The Noisettes - What’s The Time Mr Wolf?

“What’s The Time Mr Wolf? (is) a smart, relentlessly exuberant thirty-eight minute demonstration of chutzpah and musicianship, despite the band’s affinity with the fizzy amateur energy of punk… On stage (Shingai) ignores the tendencies of indie rock: slouch, stand still, lean, and hop, if pressed. She leaps, crouches, bands the floor, runs around, and waggles her tongue, if necessary.” – The New Yorker

Stephen Marley – Mind Control

“…patois-dusted hip-hop tracks like the beatbox-driven single “The Traffic Jam” makes this the best Marley album in a generation.” – Entertainment Weekly

The Raconteurs – Broken Boy Soldiers

“Expectations were sky-high, but the Raconteurs exceed them all.” (4 Stars) - Rolling Stone

“The songs are wrapped frequently in striking psychedelic textures that make them a headphone delight. (4 Stars)” - Robert Hilburn in the Los Angeles Times

“One of the most charismatic pop/rock albums this year.” - Newsweek

The Fiery Furnaces – Widow City

“With their hit-and-run fuzztones and songs bathed in anything from fairy-time flute sounds to blaring synths, the Friedbergers come off like bastard children of Frank Zappa.” – New York Post

“Matthew Friedberger’s lyrics remain a bizarre word salad, but sister Eleanor delivers them with a seductiveness that recalls Nico (minus the ice). It’s enough reason to keep listening – and guessing.” – Time Magazine

“Is there a more consistently enjoyable art-rock act in America? Nope.” ( Grade: A)– Entertainment Weekly

Bat For Lashes – Fur And Gold

“Everything she does sounds dreamlike, but there’s nothing vague about her precise voice (those floating notes always land in the right place) or her sharply written pop songs.” -Kelefa Sanneh in New York Times

“Khan packs the record, Fur And Gold, with eerie dreamscapes and earnest fables, all held together by her confident delivery.” – Paste Magazine

Peter Bjorn and John – Writer’s Block

“Writer’s Block is full of elegantly crafted, low-fidelity Swedish pop that articulates those existential corners of love that most American fluff fails to capture.” – Details Magazine

“The album is laced with spacey, distorted guitar fuzz, delicate ‘60s pop melodies, groovy basslines and winsome lyrics that coalesce into a unified group of songs from start to finish. If there’s “Writer’s Block” on this disc, we sure don’t hear it.” – Billboard

“Alternating between breezy Bacharach-inflected Euro-pop and twitchy new wave strains, they cut a jaunty swatch that demonstrated ample evidence of rock history smarts, but no inclination toward creating museum pieces.” – Variety

Mark Ronson – Version

“Regardless of who’s on the mic, Version succeeds thanks to Ronson’s singular vision of smooth ‘60s- and ‘70s-era soul merged with contemporary pop. All in all, it’s a bouncy, people-friendly party starter.” (Grade: A) – Entertainment Weekly

“Ronson is totally genuine and his enthusiasm is contagious. This enthusiasm is in every note of Ronson’s wildly unorthodox album, Version, and equally heady and visceral fusion of retro and futuristic beats and bleats featuring a battalion of shit-hot players..” – Paste Magazine

“Sharp arranging skills and suitably angular performances… a stylishly sweaty summer party.” (4 Stars) – Spin Magazine

Interpol – Our Love To Admire

“As with so many classic albums, it’s apparent from Love’s first notes that something transcendent and fiercely magical is about to unfold.” - Alternative Press

“A worthy heir to the New York noir tradition of the Velvet Underground and Television…” - Los Angeles Times

“The consistency of the band’s songs, with their soaring guitars, esoteric lyrics, and brooding atmospheres, have made this band a model of resilience among New York acts to emerge around the turn of the millennium.” - The New York Sun

The White Stripes – Icky Thump

“It’s astonishing how much The White Stripes have achieved….Over the course of six albums they have sidled up to the rock ‘n’ roll mainstream without softening their approach. They still sound as rude and unhinged as ever, especially compared with the emo and alternative bands with whom they share the modern-rock radio airwaves.” –Kelefa Sanneh in The New York Times

“If music has any future as a physical object, The White Stripes are likely the band to hand it to us.” – The Los Angeles Times

“Icky Thump is evidence that the longer the Stripes stay together, the more relevant they become.” – Alternative Press Magazine

Carla Bruni – No Promises

“Bruni turned the poems of Auden, Yeats, Emily Dickinson and Dorothy Parker among others, into songs with graceful melodies and languorously strummed guitar.” - BlackBook

“Bruni shapes the poems into songs with such skill that the words of Dickinson and Dorothy Parker sound modern and personal.”- Harp Magazine

“No Promises is at once peaceful and insightful.”- Flaunt Magazine

"Lightspeed Champion – Falling Off The Lavender Bridge:

“Every string-swept disco flourish or arena-rock guitar break heightens an unflappable poise that bypasses rote R&B melisma for soul-shaking celebration. 9/10” - SPIN “…echoes of girl groups, electro, the Beatles, funk, punk-pop, Motown and anything else that Ms. Shoniwa can top with her sassy quaver.” - New York Times

“The kind of record that could change the life of someone who just picked it up for fun.” --Los Angeles Times

“What fun! A near-perfect synthesis of disco, funk, ‘60s soul, power pop, Phil Spector-ish girl-grop sass and Shirley Bassey bombast. ****” --USA Today

Phoenix - Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix

“…an exuberant rush of guitar pop…sleek and clean…” – Rolling Stone

"...precision-tooled pop that somehow retains a sense of urgency and playfulness - an impressive balancing act consistently slam-dunked by effortlessly ingratiating choruses." - Spin

"With their trademark mix of rock, electronica, and unabashed sentimentalism, their new album…is their most ambitious to date." - Vogue

"Phoenix have finally gotten the hype they deserve...You'd have to be deaf and sober not to like this." - GQ

Sigur Ros - Með suð í eyrum við spilum endalaust

“Sigur Rós’ fifth album is the Icelandic band’s most worldly, varied and…impetuous…The band achieves a new unity in variety here, winding from near-glam romp and fireside-folk warmth to slow-climb grandeur with an attention to the repeated payoff in a sturdy hook and hum-along chorus.” (4 stars) – Rolling Stone

“Old-fashioned psychedelic grandeur…is revived with otherworldly majesty and inexorable crescendos…a typically majestic but uncharacteristically summery album, with jolts of percussive energy and connotations of sunlight and air.” - New York Times

“Sigur Rós has never released goosebumps like this…it’s a thing of singular beauty. The kind of thing that keep you staring, fogging up the windows as your eyes and ears glaze over in wonderment.” – Paste

“Sigur Rós quickened the pace, increased the volume and amplified the joy, all without losing its strange, hallowed beauty.” – New York Daily News

Laura Marling – Alas I Cannot Swim

“Ms. Marling has learned more than tunes from the British ballad tradition. She has also absorbed its absence of self-pity and its determination to chronicle sorrows as clearly as joys, calmly outlasting them all.” Jon Pareles in The New York Times

“Marling’s lyrics and melodies belie her age and have a woeful and fatigued quality, delicately clear-cut in parts and raspy in others.” Nylon

Black Kids – Partie Traumatic

“The Florida fivesome’s oddly appropriate upbeat take on the dramatic – for example, a failing relationship founded on equal parts apathy and obsession in ‘Hot the Heartbrakes’ – is ultimately satisfying as the band speed past the spectators rubbernecking the wreckage left behind.” Filter

“Youngblood’s tunes are so clever it’s easy to overlook the commitment to new wave it took for him to avoid wasting his love of wordplay on folk music.” Blender

“These Flordians still toss out an impressive 10-song party grenade.” Rolling Stone

“Already number one contender for the feel good hit of the summer.” MOJO

“Partie Traumatic is a gloriously original debut chock full of youthful enthusiasm.” The Times

Cold War Kids – Loyalty to Loyalty

“What makes it all cohere so beautifully is the songwriting, which is as sharp as the sound is blurry; Nathan Willett reels off loopy-literate one-liners like Morrissey on an absinthe bender.” - Entertainment Weekly

“Bluesier, murkier and even more spare than its predecessor, Loyalty to Loyalty is loaded with jagged, swooning rhythms and jabs worthy of Tom Waits.” - Time Out New York

“Once we pull the car into the driveway, we’ll go straight to our rooms, put on this album, and play it at full volume.” - Filter

Jenny Lewis - Acid Tongue

“Lewis is indie rock’s most sharp-elbowed songwriter, a crafter of taut mediations on love, sex and politics that are full of violent emotion and, occasionally, plain old violence.” Rolling Stone

Jenny Lewis “has evolved into a sort of modern-day torch singer – a hip-swaying, soul-tugging chanteuse with a country-gospel heart.” Entertainment Weekly

Jenny “lyrically throws herself on her own sword, telling excruciatingly personal stories about her childhood and love life that make you want to be her shining knight.” GQ

“Acid Tongue is immediately pleasurable, brimming over with hooks and songwriting techniques that announce themselves with openness and surety.” Pitchfork

Franz Ferdinand - Tonight

“With their third album they firmly establish their highly enjoyable resemblance to the Kinks – relentlessly melodic and hook-filled, caustic and romantic, gentlemanly but cruel with a little bit of Kylie Minogue-inspired synth sordidness.” Details

“How did Scottish people have sex before the existence of Franz Ferdinand?” Spin

“Even at just 42 minutes, Tonight is relentless, yet the comedown exquisite.” Spin

“The jagged two-guitar attack and cocksure attitude remain, with flailing leads and sing-along choruses adding a sinister edge to songs that are largely steeped in devil-may-care hedonism and emerging regret.” Under the Radar

Peter Bjorn and John – Living Thing

“This Stockholm trio’s fifth album offers more of what made “Young Folks” (2006) an international hipster anthem; infectious electro-acoustic tunes framing tales of romance and its discontents…Living Thing is a record for beat mavens, with clattery drum-programming propelling songs that nod to Depeche Mode…and South African township jive…” 4 Stars – Rolling Stone

“…while the record is undeniably catchy, it is also refreshingly experimental, incorporating everything from synth pop and doo-wop, to Ghanaian rhythms and homemade percussion.” - Interview Magazine

“This is an album of spontaneous originality and should be appreciated as such.” 4 ½ Stars - Alternative Press

Bat for Lashes – Two Suns

Pounding on pianos, cranking out delicate little click-clack beats and shivering through choruses with an ultraromantic soprano, Khan proves shes a powerhouse. (3.5 stars) – Rolling Stone

“…duality motifs…that overflow with moonstruck sensuality.” – Spin

“Two Suns is a self-contained galaxy…” – Fader

"Natasha Khan returns with the rhythmically complex Two Suns, which signals her daring sonic transition from goth-pop indie darling to high-concept sorceress...Two Suns brims with warm, burbling electronics, delicious psychadelic piano pounding...and indelible melodies..." - BlackBook

“…stunning vocals and obvious talents…Khan is a pleasure as she weaves eerily beautiful tales…– Alternative Press

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

“Alt-rock slayers show they’ve still got it...The band’s original line up hasn’t lost a thunderous step. Avalanching metal riffs and spit-polished solos reach for the sky with a classic-rock charisma the band never went for in its youth.– Rolling Stone

“Farm sounds like old-school Dino – gnarlier, snarlier, and better than it has any business being.” –SPIN

“Farm demonstrates what the trio has always done best – moody, melodic cacophony.” – The New York Times

“ ‘I Want You to Know,’ from forthcoming album Farm, hits the ground thudding, Murph and Lou Barlow filling the tune’s fat bottom with a healthy amount of swing (and, yes, swagger) as Mascis power-chords his blues away…8.0 / Best New Music” – Pitchfork

The Dead Weather - Horehound

"...an excellent album of sex sweat, bourbon breath, gun smoke and guitar sleaze...these are all top-notch songs...what a lovely way to burn." 4 Stars - Rolling Stone

"...when you listen to clattery Horehound tracks like "So Far From Your Weapon" or "Treat Me Like Your Mother"...you imagine a sort of Tennessee Williams, kitchen-knife-wielding scenario, starring an unhinged Nick Cave and PJ Harvey circa "Henry Lee."" – Spin

“The 11 songs on the album…are spare and sexy, with the vocals often distorted or submerged beneath grinding, snaky rhythms.” – The New York Times

"Light has the ability to push musical boundaries, dipping into everything from guitar driven rockers to stripped down acoustic tunes"- Billboard

"Light punches up his earnest ruminations on faith and inspiration with sleek hip-hop beats and shiny pop-rock guitars." -Spin

"Skittering percussion, Middle Eastern strings, layered beat box and bass synth make a hip-hop hotbed for showcasing Matisyahu's strongest material yet." -The Onion