The whole of Impossible Spaces holds together as a strong listen, but in many ways it's the individual moments that stand out above all else.

The warm, fuzzy melodies take hold almost instantly.

It's a testament to the always entertaining, sometimes enlightening Murs that the album hangs together thanks to his words.

An even rougher, uglier, and just plain heavier Hull.

A playful, thoughtful, catchy-as-hell pop record.

Wolfroy... is all about lonesome beauty, and the idiosyncratic wordplay that has become Oldham's forte.

Beauty Queen Sister showcases the Indigo Girls in top traditional form; their audience will no doubt delight in this, especially because the songs are expertly crafted and, as usual, intimate and honest to the point of discomfort.

A well-balanced marriage of all of Phonte's musical inclinations.

The sound is standard-issue pop-punk in the Green Day/Blink-182 manner, with an echo of Jimmy Eat World in the contrasting vocals.

Machine Head is still a force in modern heavy metal.

Despite a heavy focus on repetition and a stripped-down sound, Neverendless is seldom predictable, showing the talents of a group who know that sometimes less is more.

It's certainly not pretty but it's a distinctive first record that, in a bizarre way, appears to live up to his rather unusual claims.

An uncharacteristically stripped-back, lo-fi production which perfectly suits the unsettling plot line of the Eastern Europe-based thriller.

Four Tet's entry in the Fabriclive series plays things surprisingly straight, largely limiting his selections to a narrow stripe of electronic dance music, and for the most part linking them together in a reasonably smooth, utilitarian fashion.

The only problem with Freaking Out is that it's so short!

Clash Battle Guilt Pride digs deeper with each listen, especially thanks to a maturity that gives Stadt's sandpapered lyrics more emotional pull, makes the songs more memorable, and ultimately, begs just one more listen.

The lead track and "In the Middle (I Met You There)" are two of Dear's sharper avant-pop songs....The back half, "Street Song" and "Around a Fountain," are elusive sketch-like tracks with slightly unsettling ambience.

Concrete is modern and polished, yet makes no attempt to disguise the influence of the Texas country tradition in its heartfelt performances.

Even if it is not as original or wildly thrashin' as the first album, Post-Mortem is still a decent follow-up, especially considering that Black Tide are still only in their teens.

Muppets.... freshens up the franchise for the newish millennium, and Generation Z listeners will enjoy hearing current artists in this different context, but other listeners may be left reaching for their classic Muppets fare.

A highly addictive, lightly experimental mix of blue-eyed soul and psych-inflected indie-electronic pop.

Eight cuts from the bookish indie rockers, including early favorites.

Functions more as a sign of what's to come, setting Greyson up for a better album somewhere further down the road.

There's a great and more conventional singer/songwriter album waiting to get out here, but The Lateness of the Hour appears to be more concerned with creating a bold statement of intent than in showcasing Clare's undeniable talents.

Be prepared for an experience somewhere between a star-studded soundtrack and a DJ-helmed mixtape.

While the album certainly delivers on the darkness, it manages to keep from being too suffocating thanks to the band's bombastic power metal.

He has a true knack for rhyming about the dangers of the West Coast.

Rival Sons are a power trio plus singer in the traditional style, who might have made this album after listening to the first Led Zeppelin LP over and over for a day or two... Anyone who likes [60's hard rock] should ... check them out.

Fans looking for a middle ground between Jamey Jasta's output with melodic hardcore outfit Hatebreed and sludgy metalcore group Kingdom of Sorrow will find a great deal to love about the workhorse frontman's solo debut.

Famous First Words was always going to struggle to live up to the band's bold promises, but it's still a shock at how a Brit-pop scene renowned for its color can be responsible for something so utterly drab.

Seven Rainbows only really does justice to [Gold's] undeniable talents when it abandons its Woodstock-aping ambitions.

The album is scattershot to its last breath, but the thrill of watching this hood star threaten to supernova is a real high.

For the Good Times [is] colorful and quietly engaging.

It's a debut with potential, especially if Howler find their own identity as completely as they borrowed others'.

Bombay Bicycle Club's 2011 album A Different Kind of Fix is a melodically compelling work that builds upon the band's eclectic guitar-based indie rock sound.

Let's Go Eat the Factory is hardly a triumph, but it's a step in the right direction for Pollard, as well as confirmation that this group of friendly reprobates still has some good work left in them.

[Songs on her album] do little to tarnish her well-earned reputation as a D.I.Y. force of nature.

While each track on Cyrk brings to mind somebody else (Velvet Underground, "Genesis Hall"-era Fairport Convention, Comus, Spacemen 3), Le Bon somehow manages to make it all feel surprising natural.

While this may not make instant fans out of their haters, This Means War will certainly give them something to consider.

She's the rarest of things in modern country: a singer who can't help but be compelling no matter what she sings.

A compilation of the emo-punk band's favorite tracks, all reworked acoustically.

The mellow is never harshed, and the promise of sunny weekend stoner music from the '80s is maintained the whole way through.

An affecting, dreamlike, decayed din that incorporates voice samples twisted to such an extent that they sound sourced from torture victims and brokenhearted zombies.

On their tenth studio album, In Flames officially complete their transition from Swedish melodic death metal pioneers to unpredictable Swedish progressive pop/rock/neo-classical metal innovators... It's as epic as Scandinavia is cold.

This Is the Computers sounds good enough on the one hand, but on the other, it's a bit of an on-off effort by the band, initially an example of sudden moments almost working more than the songs.

There's a strong sense that Valley aims to reinterpret a kind of never-never land of angelic male singing and electronic-driven arrangements that seems to recombine a variety of impulses from the '80s into a combination that never could have existed until a later moment.... A strikingly good debut effort.

This is Bolton doing what he does best, and doing it so well that anybody who picks this up thinking it's a compilation won't be disappointed with what resides inside.

Despite its pointed title, Culture of Fear is not quite as politically minded as Thievery Corporation's previous studio album.

They are moving on from such early influences as Jimmy Eat World to a more sophisticated, if still forceful sound as they get more playing under their belts.

Far from descending into a pale imitation like, say, a Kingdom Come or late-'80s Whitesnake, however, BCC's offerings rise above and fly true thanks to the unimpeachable pedigree and recognizable musical personalities of all involved here.

Even within the framework of a musical these songs are a murky, turgid mess, too concerned with atmosphere and narrative to reel in a listener and ironically not offering ambience or story enough to suggest that the musical would entertain.

Seapony is one of the best pop bands of 2011.

Sugar Daddy Live finds the sludge metalists powering through an energetic 13 songs nearly 25 years after their formation, and having a ton of fun while doing so.

Knight has a certain hunger to his performance, giving these steely, cluttered soundscapes a semblance of warmth which makes it a far cry better than the cold calculation of The Block.

Although the musicians ... play often furious hard rock, the mix allows a few of singer John Falls' lyrics to be lost.

Make a Scene still provides a couple of gems, but it's hard to shake the feeling that she's now milked the whole dance-pop ice-maiden schtick well and truly dry.

Cave In has always been a multifaceted band, but their stylistic range has never been as thoroughly explored as it is on White Silence.

Anyone up for the crazed power of Teenage Hate should enjoy just about everything on his release.

Amazing as the music consistently is, however, it can't overcome this album's primary liability, which is Martyn's atrocious singing.

Many bands get more sophisticated, or at least tighter, as they become more technically accomplished, thereby losing some of their punk edge. That hasn't happened to Title Fight yet... [They] continue to be fresh, if somewhat semi-professional.

Within the digital production, which is acidic and cavernous, there are hints of the Kills (fuzz blasts, crunchy mechanical drums), Clinic (vacant vocals), and Animal Collective (watery, circular melodies).

As always, it's a treat to enter Herren's soundworld, but he could've made much more of an impact with the tools on display.

Ryder-Jones deserves to make the leap from imaginary films to the real thing.

Snow Patrol still have the potential to hit the sweet spot between U2's stadium baiting, Coldplay's icy elegance, and Elbow's art school-infused, north country soul.

A strangely attractive racket.

Unfortunately, by tailoring their sound to the stage, they sacrificed some of the beautiful flow and elegant dynamics that made their self-titled effort so effortlessly brilliant.

These original songs may be recently written, but they are steeped in familiar structures, with lyrics full of references to drinking and loose women.

It's an enjoyable look back at one of the main players during an interesting era of American indie rock.

After 25 years, the Mighty Mighty Bosstones remain pretty much the best at what they do, and what they do remains lots and lots of fun.

She manages to sing through her torment on Voyageur, in hope that the journey is ultimately redemptive.

If it isn't as strong as 2009's Something's Wrong/Lost Forever, it shows Biram is too tough and too stubborn to quit telling his tales any time soon, and for folks who like their music rough and real, that's a rare bit of good news.

You'd have to go a long way to find a better indie rock album in 2011.

More to the point, it sounds like a souvenir CD you might pick up at the gift shop of a historic battlefield site.

This straight-faced, more serious version of the band still knows how to crank out some solid songs, but it would seem that, in maturing, Four Year Strong have lost their way.

An enticing listen.

Through these two discs, the band's highs, tragedies, slumps, and comebacks are all evident.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo is a musical labyrinth that is well worth getting lost in for Ross and Reznor fans as well as soundtrack buffs.

Forever is a mood album, heavily sedated and perpetually out of focus, like an R.E.M. dream after cough syrup.

Punk and Poetry, sees them come out fighting with more fervor, more radical spirit, and more anger than ever.

In 2011, the band is still going strong... Several tunes here sound like they could end up on Fairport's next greatest-hits compilation.

In all, Jeniferever couldn't be better designed for soundtrack music to a moody sci-fi drama of the 2010s.

Bloodless Coup gets rocky at points, but there are more than a few scattered gems here.

A genuinely moving -- and beautifully performed -- record from start to finish.

They're one of the most consistent bands in metal, and this is a terrific example of them playing to their strengths.

The album traces a journey through personal hell to salvation, which is not all that different from the story told in other religious music.

It's no turning point in a field populated by dozens of elder space cadets and mood architects, from Massive Attack to Spacek to Sa-Ra. As a flawed first step from a young newcomer, however, it's impressive.

Does fall just short at times of mimicking a brand of saccharine faux-post-big-band jazz that flourished in the '50s and early '60s, but Haden and his team are too masterful to allow their tribute to lose its stylishness.

Often, the individual pieces of this patchwork pop are more captivating than the overall image, yet there's still an undeniable appeal to Urie and Smith's crazed earnest energy.

It's a bit of a surprise that this album sounds like a watered-down diluted Urban Hymns, with all the romantic darkness turned into something cheerfully dippy.

A loud and obnoxious ruckus.

Although the rage gauge occasionally hits the red, the melodies are too sugary and catchy to feel sincerely scathing.

Much of the album is ruminative in a way that leans heavily on Dylan and Costello. Despite these echoes, the album is quite clearly Geldof's creation.

[Woomble] continues his journey into cozy-pipe-and-slippers-middle age on 12 folk-pop tracks which further distance him from his angsty, indie rock beginnings.

Of limited appeal, but appealing nonetheless.

It's not particularly big or, indeed, clever, but it's a return to form that might just stop the rot, even if it's unlikely to reverse their fortunes dramatically.

It's a shame this little team [Dee Dee, producer Gottehrer and Raveonettes' Wagner]couldn't make more records like this.

Wasted in Jackson is the work of a music industry pro who also has a genuine, unaffected natural talent for vintage soul and blues styles.

It's a confident debut, bristling with energy.