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94. The Libertines - Up The Bracket
October 14, 2002
Critic Score
85
6 reviews
Eventually every song will kick in from a slightly different angle, including faux folk and cracked ballad.
92. Bon Iver - For Emma, Forever Ago
July 8, 2007
Critic Score
84
20 reviews
For Emma, Forever Ago never turns into a pity party, because Vernon has a light touch, with zero interest in narrative or confessional lyrics.
89. Radiohead - Hail To The Thief
June 10, 2003
Critic Score
82
12 reviews
Despite the anger and bitterness, Hail to the Thief is more musically inviting than Radiohead's last two outings. The album's fourteen tracks ... are more tuneful and song-focused than 2000's Kid A or 2001's Amnesiac.
82. Queens of the Stone Age - Rated R
June 6, 2000
Critic Score
83
7 reviews
It's a strange, category-evading rock record, a mystery disc of gravity and low humor, of punk aggression and love-bead contentment; when you try to nail down the band's personality, it won't stay still.
78. Sufjan Stevens - Illinois
July 5, 2005
Critic Score
92
20 reviews
For a musician like Stevens, going too far and trying too hard is the point, the way to get beyond where a more austere songwriter could get with a more naturalistic pose. So the most pleasurable music here is the most ambitious.
77. Yo La Tengo - And Then Nothing Turned Itself Inside-Out
February 22, 2000
Critic Score
85
6 reviews
75. Arcade Fire - Neon Bible
March 6, 2007
Critic Score
85
23 reviews
On Neon Bible, the reverb is so big and black that the beat becomes boom andthe orchestral garnish, arranged by Chassagne and Final Fantasy's Owen Pallett, gets pressed to the margins.
72. Franz Ferdinand - Franz Ferdinand
March 9, 2004
Critic Score
84
13 reviews
The inevitable U.K.-press hype is justified: Franz Ferdinand's debut draws from beloved Brit pop and post-punk bands without the usual plagiarism. Favoring sweaty, uncertain rhythms over cold, processed beats, the album remains true to the band's original goal.
71. Bright Eyes - Lifted or The Story Is in the Soil, Keep Your Ear to the Ground
August 13, 2002
Critic Score
83
9 reviews
70. Sleater-Kinney - The Woods
May 24, 2005
Critic Score
87
12 reviews
More than any previous Sleater-Kinney record, The Woods reflects the classic-rock undercurrent that runs through the punk heroines' live shows.
63. Kanye West - 808s & Heartbreak
November 24, 2008
Critic Score
74
28 reviews
Many of his best songs have focused on his ambivalence about materialism, but on 808s & Heartbreak, the theme has hardened into schtick.
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7mo
Again, no Modest Mouse - but you're putting Bob Dylan in one of the top-10 spots. What a joke. Maybe move Dylan over to make room for a more contemporary act. No Moon and Antarctica - no Good News for People Who Love Bad News. Ridiculous.
