Thursday simply sound like a superior version of themselves.

A deeply thoughtful and obviously personal album.

Equally thoughtful and energetic, Capture/Release shows that the Rakes have a smart, sharp voice that ultimately sets them apart from the rest of their scene.

Secret Machines now sound uncannily like a fusion of U2 and INXS.

Most listeners won't care to follow this particular rabbit down the hole because of the bracing cynicism, paranoia, misanthropy, and betrayal they'll hear at every turn on this record.

Not only does We Shall Overcome feel different than Bruce's work; it also feels different than Seeger's music.... It's a rambunctious, freewheeling, positively joyous record unlike any other in Springsteen's admittedly rich catalog.

The album's press sheet draws comparisons to Prince's Dirty Mind and Too Short, and while that's not inaccurate, the references could just as easily be Digital Underground, Paris, Above the Law, E-40, late-'70s Parliament/Funkadelic, any previous Coup album, or just about any other funk-steeped rap album that has come from the West Coast.

Unlike its predecessor, there isn't much to dig into here; what you hear upon that first listen is exactly what you get.

The two couldn't be more at odds vocally, but Knopfler's laconic drawl is like an easy chair for Harris' fluid pipes.

Drowaton pulses with ideas and energy, and there doesn't seem to be a musical style beyond the Mints' grasp.

Even if Louder Now brings the mosh-pit fun ready to be embraced by new and old fans alike, an attempt to push themselves further would be more than welcomed.

Typically cryptic and loaded with tasty guitar, Songs and Other Things is an excellent return for Tom Verlaine.

Around is a bit spotty but when it works, it really works well.

Though some Elf Power fans may be satisfied with the few songs that are reminiscent of the band's previous records ("The World Is Waiting," "23rd Dream") and the abstract, occasionally prog-like references to masters and kings, others may be disappointed, or at least confused, by the focus on experimenting with dark, Middle Eastern-inspired drones mixed with Western pop/folk sensibilities.

Zeroes and Ones is probably the album that best showcases all sides of Eleventh Dream Day, and might just be their best album yet.

The Analord series... proved that James was still capable of brilliance -- not just scattered brilliance, but consistently excellent and occasionally stupendous work.

A mature, thoughtful comeback.

They sound more confident than ever, igniting their cabaret-rock with more crazed inventiveness and you-are-there immediacy.

If it isn't as ambitious as the three releases that preceded it, it still confirms that the Drive-By Truckers are still what they were before making this record: the best hard rock band in America today.

The Black Magic Show is a decent move forward for Elefant. A little more sincerity and a little less swagger might have been nice though.

Anyone who enjoyed having their brains and ears rearranged by Blueberry Boat and Rehearsing My Choir should find Bitter Tea enjoyable, but at this point, it seems like the most challenging thing the Fiery Furnaces could do is trust their pop instincts a little more often.

The songwriting is strong enough and the arrangements appealing enough that We the Vehicles has a quiet pop charm all its own.

The affection that Sweet, Hoffs and company display for this music is the reason to hear this record: they're having such a good time playing their favorite songs, it's hard not to smile along as well.

If you haven't discovered Stereophonics' live show yet, Live from Dakota is a good place to start.

This is one of those records that will leave listeners still scratching their heads and smiling (at the same time) after repeat listens for years to come.

Rye rips it up on this disc, recalling equal parts vintage AC/DC and Led Zeppelin, with a little KISS thrown in to keep things playful.

Smart, inventive, and exciting guitar pop.

Though there are no great surprises on You in Reverse, it is one of Built to Spill's strongest efforts, and anyone who has followed their career knows that this is high praise indeed.

Ultimately, this album ends up being a more naturalistic take on Calexico's sound; just because it's less stylized doesn't mean it's less interesting -- it just takes a little more time for Garden Ruin's power to reveal itself.

Its gloriously, thoroughly trashy fun makes it a guilt-free fling.

There aren't many post-punk influenced bands around that sound as original and as removed from their influences as Pretty Girls Make Graves. There also aren't many that could write an album jammed with so many memorable songs.

While he retains his literate tongue and expressive voice, there is far less humor on Animal Years than on his previous two outings.

A pioneering work for countless styles connected to electronic, ambient, and third-world music.

Lunatico is a brave and exotic experiment.

This is an addictive record, enveloping in its sound and memorable in its songs.

A series of expertly produced, expertly recorded adult pop tunes.

To Ze's credit, the concept never overshadows the songs which, at their heart, are pop songs.

They are rock songwriters whose lyrics are guitar lines sung, shrieked, and wailed to the accompaniment of a masterful rhythm section. Mono are a rock band -- and a damn fine one -- and they only get better with time.

With Some Echoes, Aloha craft an imaginative amalgam of all of their favorite musical fruit.

The music presented with such care here is lovely, soothing, and seductively beguiling; taken in enough times, it becomes utterly magical.

Wasif tries too hard to make lines interesting and profound, and they end up sounding awkward and a bit forced.

Sound the Alarm is ultimately just another good Saves the Day record.

Green's past albums have all been enjoyable affairs. This one, however, is a masterpiece.

Full of quietly vibrant moments.

The way that Mystics bounces back and forth between its ethereal and zany moments gives it a disjointed, uneven feel that makes the album a shade less satisfying than either Yoshimi or Soft Bulletin.

It's hard not to shake the suspicion that this album is the closest he's ever been to forgettable.

This is the third album in a row where she's thrown a curve ball, confounding expectations by delivering a record that's wilder, stronger, and better than the last.

Meds is as bare and honest as Placebo has ever been.

Vision Valley might be a little predictable, but at least the Vines sound like they're back in control of their lives and music again.

There's a great amount of flash and polish, all wrapped up in a tight package.

Fans of Badly Drawn Boy's Have You Fed the Fish? and Doves' Some Cities should understand Adventures in the Underground Journey to the Stars.

This is a very good album.

Those who missed these gems the first time around would be hard-pressed to find another dance disc in 2006 that rivals the level of quality found here.

A rich, exciting, and emotionally deep sounding album that carries on the freewheeling spirit and sound of the Unicorns as well as that of the Elephant 6 bands of the late '90s.

At this point it seems that Rainer Maria are much more modern rock than emo, but that doesn't mean that Catastrophe Keeps Us Together isn't a good album.

Demons is well worth checking out for those who like a sense of the unexpected in their pop.

Each song is snappy, playful, and stylish, and that's what makes Dancing with Daggers work so well.

The Loon is crafted like a true album; even if all the songs don't quite reach the level of its highlights, it all hangs together well.

Though obviously unconcerned with finding a place in the mainstream, this release just as cool and catchy as anything by Evanescence.

A true alternative potpourri -- quite refreshing in a day and age where more often than not, rock bands stick closely to a single style/approach.

Unfortunately, though, too much of Show Your Bones just isn't that interesting, even if it was born from genuine heartache instead of sass and attitude.

The scenarios he recounts are as detailed and off-the-wall as ever, elaborate screenplays laid out with a vocal style that's ceaselessly fluid and never abrasive.

T.I.'s fourth album isn't the leap forward he's been threatening to make, but it does carry the best set of productions he has been given to work with, and it guarantees that he won't be leaving the singles charts any time soon.

This New Day is an excellent companion to Out of Nothing, with only a slight drop-off in quality.

Alternative rock hasn't seen anything like this since the release of Turn on the Bright Lights. The catch: not only is The Back Room better, it holds promise for even better things in the future.

Not terribly different [from 'Human Conditions'], though certainly more pastoral and perhaps more middle of the road.

A stunning comeback that will alternately horrify, thrill, and satisfy fans of Television Personalities, as well as fans of honest, real, and truly independent indie rock.

Drum's Not Dead is undeniably interesting, but somehow unsatisfying.

Fans of Gelb's have to be excited about this because it's perfect, a career high.

If in Both Sides of the Gun Harper is trying to show his audience what a wide variety of music he can cover, he certainly accomplishes that. But if he's trying to create an album that is really about him, he doesn't quite deliver. Ben Harper is in there, don't worry, but he can be a little hard to find.

Once you reconcile yourself to the idea that Lerche has made a jazz-pop record, the songcraft, laid-back approach and Lerche's sweet vocals might just win you over.

It's more of a proper album than Loose Fur itself was, but having fun making music together still sounds like the main priority on Born Again, which, once again, also makes it a lot of fun for Wilco and O'Rourke fans.

The duo... have actually improved, and the album sports stronger songs, a fuller sound, more emotional weight, and an exuberant soul that spills out of the speakers like milk and cake at a kid's birthday party.

This disc has been rendered with creativity and panache, and it features hooky songwriting so compelling that it's easy to listen to the mere 35 minutes of material (divided into 11 three-minute long, radio-friendly songs) on a continuous loop.

Rouse sounds perfectly at ease, as if he were just playing for fun with no tapes rolling.

Yeah, sometimes Quasi get a little too carried away with themselves and the album seems a bit directionless, but that's only when they move away from the grit and into the prettier, synth-based tunes.

Maybe he's no longer breaking new ground, but his eccentricities are now an attribute, not a curse, which goes a long way in making his trademark blend of funk, pop, soul, and rock sound nearly as dazzling as it did at his popular and creative peak in the '80s.

It gets a little long in the tooth in places and samey-sounding.

A good album that should please fans of any type of hip-hop.

Cannibal Sea is the equal of anything the Ladybug Transistor have released (which is saying a whole lot), and is better than just about any indie pop or rock circa 2006.

It's all done with skill and to great effect, and the album is good for mood-setting background or forefront reflection, or for some combination of the two.

A very detailed, though still utterly bewildering, glimpse into the producer's musical thought process.

At first, the album seems slightly anticlimactic and even perplexing, but upon repeated listens, All at Once shows that Young People remain fascinating.

Although the uniformly sweet pop songs on Kicking the National Habit sound influenced by the likes of the Police, Men at Work, Duran Duran, and the rest of the more commercial side of the early MTV era, the arrangements are more electronic in nature.

More so than on Kamakiriad, or on the tight Everything Must Go, there is a sense of genuine band interplay on this record, which helps give it both consistency and heart -- something appropriate for an album that is Fagen's most personal song cycle since The Nightfly, and quite possibly his best album since then.

Hard-Fi's desire to create something solid enjoyable in the midst of everyday monotony is what makes Stars of CCTV an enjoyable first effort.

Some will be left wondering just what the hell Merritt is up to -- those poor sad kids who hung on every post-rock word of the Magnetic Fields records as if Merritt's abandoned them. And then, of course, there are the rest of you who will be delighted, puzzled, and intrigued by the sheer originality of this recording.

Unlike Dunger's previous albums, which tended to have a specific musical theme, there's a kind of scattered, everywhere at once quality to Here's My Song.

Coxon's ambitions on Love Travels at Illegal Speeds may not be grand -- he has simply made a punky pop album (which is different than punk-pop) -- but his execution is exceptional, which makes this a very appealing album.

Cuts Across the Land is a strong, self-assured debut, even if the Duke Spirit needs to work a little harder to escape the long shadow of their forebears.

As delightfully stylish and immediate as Supernature is, it's still hard to escape the nagging feeling that Goldfrapp could make its ethereal sensuality and pop leanings into something even more compelling.

Though there are hooks galore to be found on Flat-Pack Philosophy, the tempos have eased up a bit so that Diggle's and Shelley's guitar parts have more room to interact with one another.

The set ends on a gentle note in "Where We Start" -- so much so that it may make some scratch their heads and wonder where the cranky, diffident Gilmour has wandered off to, but others will be drawn into this seductive, romantic new place where musical subtlety, spacious textures, and quietly lyrical optimism hold sway.

Just about any of the album's selections would have fit perfectly on a vintage 120 Minutes episode.

Even more than Margerine Eclipse, Fab Four Suture sounds like Stereolab has adapted -- if not fully healed -- from the loss of Mary Hansen.

Under a Billion Suns is one of the hardest and tightest albums this band has ever made.

Immediate without sounding dumbed-down, Mr. Beast shows the band at the peak of their powers.

Ballad of the Broken Seas is a superbly crafted bit of late-night introspection that brings out the best in both Lanegan and Campbell.