So while Walls generally finds An Horse treading water, enjoyably enough for the most part, it also suggests that they've arrived at a slight impasse as to how to proceed from here; how to balance artistic development and expansion with the youthful urgency and directness that has marked their best moments, at least so far.

With plenty of hiss and maxed levels, Live Forever is hardly perfect when it comes to sound quality, and the laid-back show doesn't stand up against Marley's live masterpiece Babylon by Bus, but fans who want their reggae party a little less "punky" will find this a great, chilled alternative.

Tindersticks' fans will simply have to own this package as it offers an equal but different dimension of their pop persona.

It's a mix that works like a charm and if they can find it, fans of scruffy, dirty, and not very nice rock & roll will take to Xray Eyeballs like squirrels to a birdfeeder.

Born with Stripes, is a quietly enjoyable listen, something where emotions get expressed with often restrained energy--but, crucially, never lacking that core energy to start with.

This self-titled offering is monster; a masterpiece of tough, psychedelic soul.

Despite this lingering scent of stale nicotine, alcohol, and leather, The Taking does make a brute impression, McKagan's Loaded playing with a vitality that almost compensates for how they fetishize the past.

A tribute to the late P-Funk guitarist Garry Shider and an appearance from Bootsy's older brother Catfish Collins -- who died before the album saw release -- add poignancy to this rich and funky success.

ATE doesn't shy away from their debts to the Killers and the Strokes, they brandish their influences so brazenly the echoes reverberate upon themselves and turn into something not quite their own but not quite recycled: it's insistent mood pop designed for its moment, getting enough momentum from its bounce and melody to be something of a pleasure.

Ultimately, a full album based around relaxed, Rhodes-based ballads is probably too bland for thrill-seekers, but Start & Complete is the type of one-off that might be of considerable interest to fans.

No Help Coming is an improvement over Golightly's previous work with the Brokeoffs, but this music still doesn't capture this gifted artist at her best.

What doesn't make a direct hit on the hips and heart is, at the least, well constructed.

At the age of 64, Emmylou Harris has made an album as fresh and distinctive as any in her catalog, and Hard Bargain is a reminder that her evolution into a songwriter is one of the most pleasant surprises in a career that's produced rewarding music for nearly 40 years.

He pushes the notion further on the brilliantly melodic, ennui-ridden baroque pop ballad "Anti-D," in which Blur's "karaoke songs" from "The Universal" have been replaced by the Wombats' own songs, which are better than "citalopram" and "to be prescribed as freely as any decongestants." The song, like the rest This Modern Glitch, makes the case for the Wombats as both rock stars and fools in their own pop star sitcom.

I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive's lone downer is Burnett's unnecessarily heavy-handed production. That said, Earle's vocals front and center in a brilliant song cycle transcend it.

Dancer Equired! should be required listening for any band looking to grow its brand in new ways without losing its core audience--and also for those who like their pop dirty, sweet, and fairly audible.

While this may not make it the most immediately exciting album of Explosions in the Sky's career, it easily stands to be one of their most rewarding.

Just two-and-a-half hours and 34 tracks (including two hidden bonuses at the end of the third disc) of solid rhyming and beatmaking, most of them excellent, some of them brilliant, a handful of them merely good. That's quite a batting average.

It's pretty much what you'd expect, which makes it both essential for Of Montreal devotees and nothing all that special.

With this hybrid sound in their arsenal, Silverstein don't need to worry about reinventing the wheel, but rather are able to think about refining the very good wheel they've been selling for over a decade. While this approach probably isn't going to make new fans out of anyone who just doesn't get what the band is going for, it certainly makes Rescue an easy sell for the initiated.

It's not an especially coherent album, nor a very revealing one, offering surprisingly little insight into Thao & Mirah's relationship either as musical or romantic partners. But it does sound like they're having fun, and that counts for a good deal.

This album should be heard as such in a single sitting, where its labyrinthine beauty can be fully experienced and integrated. This is "acid rock" at its best.

Talahomi Way's details can speak louder than its actual songs, but this isn't a criticism: here, O'Hagan and crew use those details to make an album that is equally pastoral and meticulous, and listening to it is like visiting a perfectly arranged topiary garden.

It's had to imagine how long Ha Ha Tonka can continue to grow on each album, considering how good they've become, but if you're looking for music that's smart, ambitious, literate, and fun at the same time, Death of a Decade could well be your introduction to your new favorite band.

Across the album, there is not much advancement production-wise, yet there is just enough contrast that it does not make like Treddin' on More Thin Ice.

Lundgren and crew may have lost some of the buzz they initially had when the band first started, but they've gained grace and emotional strength in return. That's a pretty good trade, and for the fans who have stuck with them, it makes Forever Today their most satisfying record to date.

Last is not the sort of music you'll want to play at a party on a Friday night, but if you're looking for the proper accompaniment as you ponder life's twists and turns on a rainy Sunday afternoon, the Unthanks will give you all the deeply shaded wisdom you could use.

She tosses jazz, folk, R&B, hip-hop and whatever else strikes her fancy into fascinating collisions that are as melodic as they are abrasive, and as globally minded as they are distinctly urban.

There is nothing in the fiery spirit of "Low End," but there are some dynamic moments where songs like "Pushing Out" or "Looking Out" crescendo almost to a majestic rock-out. However, most of the album is more in a mellow Americana/alt-rock style that favors bluegrass instruments, and lush orchestration.

Everything sounds gorgeous, from Little Scream's hazy warble to the two minutes of rainfall, audible rush-hour traffic, and wind chimes that end the album. This is an absolute beast of a debut.

Mazes is all about songwriting growth, lyric melody, more elaborate textures, and accessible riffs. They underscore Moon Duo's heavy stuff and offer something refreshingly different in the process.

Utilizing a pit band that includes percussion, melodica, pump organ, bassoon, cello, glockenspiel, tuba, and sousaphone, Regifted Light is largely instrumental, allowing listeners the pleasure of hearing Dee's artfully constructed melodies and arrangements, as well as her truly impressive ivory work, without the arguable distraction of her divisive, thespian-bred voice.

It's hard to know where to start in praising her: she has a voice as clear and carefully modulated as that of a young Alison Krauss; her songs are rooted in tradition but full of sly and subtle complications that will take any careful listener by delighted surprise, and her mandolin playing is a thrilling combination of sparkling precision and jazzy abandon.

Even when Young Widows' scorn escalates and the mood becomes more frenetic, In and Out of Youth and Lightness always feels detached. Maybe that's what makes it so unnerving, and so good.

Whether or not these songs are ever played next to the latest dance music sensation at a club, Salon des Amateurs is a bold, accomplished work that ranks among Hauschka's most exciting albums.

Rockpango is the most satisfying recording that Los Lonely Boys have come up with yet. It confirms the notion that the Garza brothers know exactly what they want and how to get it, with a sound that is inviting, infectious, and inventive.

Overall, this is a generous, beautifully packaged retrospective of one of the 2000s' premier synth pop acts.

Meanwhile, David Bottrill's dynamic production (his credits include King Crimson and Dream Theater) is perfectly suited, and only enhances the band's ever-intensifying talents.

If the show doesn't quite manage to be memorable, it is certainly engaging, a worthwhile 38 minutes even if it doesn't quite have much more than a historic hook to warrant repeated plays.

The Snowblink singer has a captivating appeal that is hers alone. And when you combine that with a gift for poetic lyrics full of such evocative phrases as "I'll put a bullhorn to the mouth of your ghost" ("Heckling the Afterglow"), you've got something substantial on your hands.

Bass Drum of Death have put together a proto-punk album for the digital age where you could swear you heard the tape hissing out of your blown laptop speakers.

Fake History is an album that really cements Letlive's place in the vanguard of the current crop of modern post-hardcore, making for an album that will not only please longtime fans, but could also pique the interest of some of the genre's disenfranchised old guard.

These relatively dry songs lack the edge of the album's first half.

All the pieces fit together perfectly for Brown Recluse on Evening Tapestry, and it's a pleasure from beginning to end.

Though it's distressing to hear yet another artist hop about the retro-stylized British soul-pop bandwagon, rapper-turned-singer Ben Drew nonetheless comes up with an impressive and fairly unique album that transcends the usual comparisons to Amy Winehouse vocally and Mark Ronson musically.

Even if the producer's layered constructions cover the spectrum genre-wise, the overall feel of Some Cold Rock Stuf is classically J-Rocc and generally Stones Throw, coming with that right combination of lazy, purposeful, clever, odd, and organic.

When the Heart Emerges is a breakthrough jazz album that reminds us that in this music, listening closely is of equal importance to speaking out. Akinmusire excels at both.

[An] odd, somewhat bewildering, and perhaps hopefully transitional effort.

A Thousand Heys, is cleaner, easier, and more melody-driven than most releases on, say, In the Red or Dirtnap Records.

The Royal Bangs don't just grab you by the throat and demand your attention, they threaten to rip apart your speakers, drench you in your own dancefloor sweat, and leave you begging for more.

Paradoxical as it may seem, the more structured version of the band that Do Whatever You Want All the Time presents just may be more exciting, and offer more potential, than what Ponytail were doing before.

On the whole, however, the album is a pleasant throwback to earlier styles of pop, country, and jazz.

Radio now splits everything into little niches. That isn't what Charles was about. He saw music as convergence. This fine concert album plays in that same spirit.

Nothing much changed over their time off, and the guitar-driven material on Safeways Here We Come is the same fervent but melodic pop-punky stuff that Chixdiggit! fans have come to expect.

Meyrin Fields may be under 12 minutes long, but it's still a musical goodie bag that sounds like it was as much fun to make as it is to hear.

The crew is still intentionally misogynistic and profane, sounding like caricatures of Eminem or Kid Rock as they rap and sing about gangsta cliches like puffing blunts, drinking Patron, getting booty, and "flossing."

Watt's music is no less ambitious or brave than it was in his youth, and for all the inner rumblings of Hyphenated-Man, the final product reflects an agile and active mind that's not about to stop confronting anyone with the courage to listen.

C'mon, while well short of sunny, is an album devoted to the search for answers amidst the darkness, and it's a powerful, deeply moving work from a truly singular band.

He's merely living in his time and reporting, returning with an album that's vivid, vibrant, and current in a way none of his peers have managed to achieve.

Backed by a solid country-rock band (including two guitarists who claim co-writing credits on more than half the songs), her new sound is perhaps more indebted to Nashville than the West Coast's folk scene, but it sounds its best in the neutral territory between both camps, neither subscribing to nor rebelling against any single genre.

If the band had explored their bluesy leanings more, Light Me Up could have been a small-scale revolution, but even as it stands now, it's still a wicked good record.

Canary is a true find from a band that's quietly created one of the most powerful albums of the year.

Starting with a breezy, uptempo song that's part motorik zone, part kicking it on a relaxed afternoon, Harbors finds All Tiny Creatures in engaging mood throughout, letting the music convey most of whatever message Thomas Wincek and his numerous collaborators and bandmates might have.

Like the two albums before it, Here We Rest shines a light on Jason Isbell's softer side, illuminating the sad-faced country tunes and bluesy ballads that rarely popped up during his time with Drive-By Truckers.

Not many bands can recover from a disastrous album and come back better than ever. Thanks to some hard work and good choices, you can add Vivian Girls to that short list.

In many ways, the album feels like a working holiday for the band; even if it's not as explosive as some of their previous work, it shows that they can age gracefully and try new things at the same time.

Despite Tomboy's significant changes, it feels less like a radical shift than a subtle progression; while it may not be quite as dazzling as Person Pitch, it should still please fans of that album and Lennox's many other outlets.

Folks who were hoping Sing It Loud would be k.d. lang's return to the approach of Absolute Torch & Twang are going to be left wanting again, but if you've been eager to see her clear out a stylistic direction that's her own and make something of it, this album feels like a strong step in a bold, satisfying new direction.

Human Hearts is the kind of end-to-end solid album that most bands strive for, rarely attain, and usually only achieve once in their career, with track after track of immediately addictive, sparklingly produced, and emotionally heartfelt pop.

Whatever the reason, it's a great-sounding record.

What really matters is that nearly ten years after Songs for the Deaf, Josh Homme's influence finally rears its head on a Foo Fighters record, Dave Grohl leading his band of merry marauders -- including Pat Smear, who returns to the fold for the first time since 1997's The Colour and the Shape -- through the fiercest album they've ever made.

Who You Are is a singularly ironic title for a debut that finds Jessie J trying on discarded threads from every British pop starlet of the last half decade.

The Deep Field finds her alone but not lonely, still searching for something and finding beauty and even happiness, if not answers.

Build a Rocket Boys! knows when to push forward and when to pull back, and its songs find the accessibility in out-of-the-box thinking without alienating either side of Elbow's audience.

On Deep Politics, Grails sound more like themselves than ever, while taking their music to an entirely new level.

This blend of the new and the familiar makes Disguises a refreshing entry in the Aiden catalog, and makes for an album that fans should have no problem losing themselves in.

A concept album that doesn't get weighed down by the story line is a rarity, but it is something that Within Temptation succeed at with The Unforgiving.

Apocalypse is a song cycle that places the usually extremely inward-looking Callahan in the unlikely role of observer and interpreter of various American myths; myths both externally held and culturally self-referential, that inform the interior world of the protagonist.

Mondo Amore may work best as a companion piece to Neptune City--the fast 'n' furious yang to that album's soft, pleasant yin--but it's got more than enough raw emotion to hold its own weight.

Keys to the Kingdom may have been recorded in response to death and birth but it is, more than anything else, a celebration of all that Jim Dickinson held dear in life and music, which are, after all, the same thing.

Capo is scattered and scrappy, which for Jones is a comfortable landscape where oddball, sprawling, day-in-the-life numbers can sit next to stay-on-the-grind tracks, and Black Eyed Peas-parodies with no apologies required.

Ultimately, it feels as much like an exercise in self-justification as it does in personal revelation.

Young's unconventional lyrical inclinations mesh nicely with the warm, organic, mostly acoustic feel of the arrangements, creating a craftily produced but endearingly off-kilter sound with echoes of bands like the Fruit Bats and Lost in the Trees.

Blood Pressures is a darker, slower ride than Midnight Boom, but it shows the Kills can make subtle innovations as well as bold ones, and make them fit their signature sound to boot.

With a varied group of artists ranging from established names (Moby, the Crystal Method, Paul Oakenfold) to up-and-comers (Com Truise, Pretty Lights), the collection offers eclectic tangents on the retro-futuristic musical world Daft Punk created.

Raven in the Grave may not be what you expected going in, but by the time it's through the powerful emotions transmitted through the words, voices, and sound will win you over completely.

Songs like the dreamily punchy pop of "A Walk" and "Different Heart" and the cascading, descending swirl and sonic moan of "Keep Still" don't reinvent wheels but do serve as good general exercises in the field, lovely, tender, and loud.

It's all quietly dazzling, a sinuous fusion of jazz, dub, and techno that pulls from German, African, Jamaican, and Latin forms without the slightest hint of stuffiness.

Since Dan Deacon is a personal friend of Boeldt's, it's no surprise that club music would rub off, but even when the wheels start spinning and electro funk is cross-referenced, the all-too-cute, retro '80s aesthetic is ever present.

A tribute album starring the man of honor himself, who also curated the whole affair, See My Friends is a bit of a curious creature.

Heidecker & Wood have the pop culture fluency and musical skills to pull off this homage in gloriously cheesy detail. Starting from Nowhere may be odd, but it's also very enjoyable, especially for anyone who has a soft spot for soft rock.

If you're looking for some great lo fi fun, WWII delivers, but anyone who wants to hear some top-shelf pop-centric rock & roll really owes it to themselves to give this a listen.

A Dream a While Back is an essential additional document in Higgins' legacy and adds to, not diminishes, Red Hash's legacy.

The Sleepwalking Society is a stunner; a jazz-pop record with brilliant R&B and folk undertones woven throughout.

At times, the extra grit quotient in Chesnutt's songs seems in turn to inspire a tougher approach on the part of the Junkies, but more often, the late songwriter's quirky, agreeably crooked structures are given a fulsome, flowing quality that would probably never even have occurred to Chesnutt as a possibility.

It's true that Tre3s still finds Chikita Violenta seeking a sound completely their own, but they're closer than ever, due in large part to the improved quality of the songwriting and arrangements.

It's a stronger and more satisfying piece of work than most of his other post-millennial albums, and it's the closest thing he managed to a truly effective rock & roll collaboration; it's an impressive finale to a genuinely remarkable career.

All in all, Stay Home is a step up from the Beets' debut, though it's hard not to imagine they're going to have to face the choice of either learning to play or hitting the creative wall some time in the future.