Maybe this isn't a major record, but it's thoroughly likeable record that doesn't lose its charm on repeated plays.

Pay The Devil is at the crossroads of country, blues and soul. In his voice is the authority to bring them together.

A set of tracks that sound akin to an amalgamation of John Frusciante's early solo work and the great Skip Spence.

Close to a full mélange of all the band's various sounds thus far over the years.

One gets the sense that this is an album recorded with white gloves, and the calculation behind the tunes is nearly tangible.

The inclusion of guest vocalists... keeps Etiquette from engaging on the kind of one-on-one basis that made Pocket Symphonies for Lonely Subway Cars and Twinkle Echo such selfish pleasures.

This volume is a success and points the way toward new and compelling -- if still amorphous -- territory between rhythmic and electronic improvisation.

As with past NoW releases, In a Space Outta Sound boasts an emphasis on sound architecture that requires expensive stereo equipment (or bucket loads of narcotics) to fully appreciate.

Though some of the production is a bit too reminiscent of 1990s indie rock, the songs are strong enough and the attitude addictive enough to position Figurines as more than an also-ran.

Doom metal fans will certainly approve of Witch's self-titled debut.

While it is obviously a showcase for Kotche's admirable skills as a drummer, more importantly it reveals his considerable abilities as a composer, too.

The Invisible Deck is often dark and scattered, and doesn't provide the rush of instant gratification that Three Fingers and Purely Evil do, but its growth and promise are more exciting in their own right.

The Believer may be a formula recording, but it still satisfies, for the most part, on the level of what it is: a finely crafted pop/rock album.

Soft Money has a firm foundation, with SP-1200 fetishism being just one small sliver of its appeal.

The outfit's three-axe attack coupled with the distinctive pipes of J.T. Woodruff find Hawthorne Heights able to go where peers like Fall Out Boy just can't.

Even if Precious Memories winds up as something slightly underwhelming, there's no denying that this is precisely the album Jackson wanted to make, one that's consistent in tone and exact in its vision.

OK Cowboy is a full-fledged album, with a satisfying ebb and flow that shows that Arbez's sound has several sides to it.

Leaders of the Free World is a bit more rock & roll than not, with guts and heart, because Elbow have finally embraced their powerful, surrounding space this time out.

If his band had either a stronger musical viewpoint or more kinetic energy, or if their songs didn't play like a heap of riffs, such provincial shortcomings would be transcended by the sheer force of the music. But the music, while good, is not great.

The bottom line on Hello Waveforms is that it may seem dated to terminal hipsters, but for everyone else it is small yet exceptionally well crafted.

[Moffat] exposes a seething rage that was only occasionally revealed on the earlier albums. In the minds of some Arab Strap fans, this is a breakthrough; others, sadly, hear a betrayal.

By pulling back on the "wow" factor and demanding less from the listener, Coldcut have delivered their first album that will be listened to twice as much as it's talked about.

It's proof that while many try to emulate him, there's no substitute for the crankiest, funniest songwriter in pop.

An amalgam of Streethawk: A Seduction's glam rock posturing, This Night's guitar-heavy psychedelia, and Your Blues' apocalyptic wordplay.

While 20/20 might be a shade too unambitious for casual listeners expecting another Expansion Team, DP heads looking to kick back and listen get plenty of pure underground to devour.

Another quirky and eclectic Lilys set.

Most of this stuff is just too damn weird for all but the most experimental music listener.

Highly recommended.

Definitely the sound of a band indie lovers need to check out immediately.

This is a document -- nothing more, nothing less -- and as such it's charming, beautiful, ragged, and honest.

It doesn't rate with the best of Clem Snide, but Bitter Honey is a pleasant diversion and a nice way to fill the space between the group's releases.

Even within the album's murkiness, however, hints of the promise and intermittent brilliance Doherty had in the Libertines can still be heard.

It's much more stripped-down and loose compared to the glossy polish of The Joy of Sing-Sing.

Feels comfortably familiar even as it rages to say something new.

Timeless is a mixed bag, but it's not because of Mendes. His own playing and arranging is utterly elegant.

The Veronicas are sassy and sexy, not trashy, and they show humor and heartbreak here, which helps elevate their debut to the top ranks of 2000s teen pop.

Overall very little distracts from the qualities that have made him the most durable talent in commercial yet traditional R&B music.

A moody, intense, dramatic, and orchestrated second full-length tour de force.

A smooth, delightful whole.

Mullins' most poignant, cohesive, and diverse album.

It's not a radical departure for Belle & Sebastian -- there are several intimate, folky numbers that would comfortably fit on their previous records. But having these tunes surrounded by songs that successfully stretch the group's sound gives The Life Pursuit an unexpected, wholly welcome vitality.

This is Electric Six's strongest work to date, and the fans who have stuck with them through their trials and tribulations won't be disappointed.

As artlessly lovely as a spring day, this is some of her simplest work, and simply some of her best, too.

A promising, satisfying debut.

If this is the relatively bummed-out Minus 5 album, it's still full of great songs played with genuine enthusiasm and imagination.

Every bit as compelling as contemporaneous efforts from likeminded electronic artists Daft Punk, Lemon Jelly, and the Orb.

The Prefuse of past years is replaced by plenty of airy distortion (reminiscent of his work with the Books and his side project, Savath + Savalas), and nods to the hip-hop beatwork of his early Warp records.

It may never fly in the conservatory, but the music of Clogs is sure to make the bar set feel a little more cultured.

More than a few productions provide the type of slick, West Coast grind that allows Aceyalone to play the Lothario but still sound like he's satirizing the lover-man archetype.

It is a more stripped-down affair compared to Broken Social Scene's more ambitious material.

Donuts just might be the one release that best reflects his personality.

There's nothing really new or earth-shattering about this album, but that's not a prerequisite for great rock & roll.

While Swearing at Motorists are clearly at ease in a variety of musical styles, it's tempting to yearn for fatter hooks, more fleshed-out arrangements, or just a cathartic chorus to sing along with at the top of your lungs -- which was what made the Replacements' similar tribulations ultimately so inviting.

The sound of For Me, It's You, is less strident than that of the band's previous offerings, but it's edgier and digs deeper into older musics and styles.

The album comes out as their most organic since 1998's Good Humor; even the tracks driven by programming are warm in comparison to vast chunks of both Sound of Water and Finisterre.

Generation's toughness rings hollow like a rerun.

For what it is, The Greatest is exceedingly well done, and people who have never heard of Cat Power before could very well love this album immediately. However, it might take a little more work for those who have loved her music from the beginning.

Clearlake got it right this time out. They have has never sounded as triumphant as they do on Amber.

The sunshiny pop of Sun, Sun, Sun is more magical in comparison to Me First. It features some of Sennett's most brilliant work to date, and the band's overall summery sound is much more cohesive here.

It's a moody, atmospheric listen that never gets quite as melancholy as it suggests and holds together better than any Rilo Kiley album to date.

Approach it as a slightly goofy one-off, and you won't be disappointed.

From a Compound Eye winds up standing apart from the pack of Pollard projects even if it doesn't stand that far apart.

For Screening Purposes is worth checking out for those who like their music prickly but with an undercurrent of pop to it, too.

This album is extraordinary. It is brave, difficult, and honest. It is utterly moving and beautiful. Because it so successfully marries all of her strengths as a songwriter, singer, and musician, Black Cadillac may be the crowning achievement of her career thus far.

A mature and workmanlike metal monster-piece.

Lights and Sounds' good songs are very good, and the album ends up being the band's most accomplished work yet.

A deeply satisfying hard rock record.

Film School isn't breathtakingly original, but it is well made.

What prevents the album from being on par with the likes of 21 & Over and Coast II Coast is that the MCs have slowed a little with age.

This is right up there with his best.

Generally good but occasionally uneven.

They are trying very hard to be a specific thing, realize that they can't quite take it all the way, and add the occasional coating of camp in order to look less silly.

Detrola is slightly more subdued than some of His Name Is Alive's previous albums, but it's still a reminder of how much their beautiful, strange, oddly moving music has been missed.

At 27 tracks, the whole affair could do with a sizable trimming, as much of the material tends to sound the same, but as far as collections go, Omnibus is the real deal, and a Decemberists' archivist's wet dream.

Another very interesting and beautiful album.

Morningwood still feels like calculated fluff, even if it's calculated fluff that's mildly fun.

We Are Scientists come off well in being both snide and playful. Finding that balance is what makes With Love and Squalor a solid debut.

The Strokes indulge their every whim, and the results are their weakest album yet.

It's the first time Adams has sounded completely worn out and spent, bereaved of either the craft or hucksterism at the core of his work.

One of her best studio albums.

Though he fits somewhere between R. Kelly and Ginuwine, Foxx has more than enough personality and talent to defend his music against accusations of opportunism.

If rap-metal were ever meant to evolve, See You on the Other Side is the record that does it.

While this makes for an album that's substantially more interesting and cohesive than the gaudy Speak, it doesn't necessarily mean that A Little More Personal (Raw) is a successful record, either.

Not so much a letdown as a comedown, One Way Ticket to Hell...and Back just shows that the giddy highs of Permission to Land aren't so easy to get the second time around.

Other artists may be bigger than Shakira while others may make more fully realized albums, but as of 2005, no other pop artist attempts as much and achieves as much as Shakira, as this often enthralling album proves.

This is endearing -- Hot Chip's sense of humor is as contagious as their knack for reinvention is obvious. But those traits can't make Coming on Strong sound any less unfinished or even tossed off at times.

System of a Down confound and irritate even as they rock.

The Mendoza Line have mined this kind of socio-political territory before, but never with so much fatalistic maturity.

While Amarantine will do nothing to win over the wrongly pegged new age artist's many detractors, longtime fans will find enough moments of serendipitous pleasure to hold them over for another five years.

If you haven't heard Jens Lekman yet, you're missing out on one of the true pop geniuses of the early 2000s.

The band is in top form, sounding every bit as fresh and relevant in 2005 as they did 15-years prior.

A debut that sounds a lot like New York urbanites the Rachel's and the Clogs, but a little more dangerous.

Country, garage rock, American poetic bile, and sheer venomous energy fuel this terrific set that ranks among Oldham's finest moments on record.

While she succeeds rather handsomely on those modest terms, it's more than a little odd to hear Madonna scaling back her ambition and settling for less rather than hungering for more.

Overall Ladd has made a divine album indeed.

Kicking Television is the best sort of live album -- a recording that doesn't merely retread a band's back catalog, but puts their songs in a new perspective.

Pair Akron/Family with Angels of Light and what you get, apologies to the label-sensitive, is Grade A art rock.

There's no pushing of the envelope because there doesn't need to be. Aerial is rooted in Kate Bush's oeuvre, with grace, flair, elegance, and an obsessive, stubborn attention to detail.