Special Affections is both special and affectionate, highly infectious and recommended.

The decision to vary the speaking participants helps distinguish each piece, and gives the album just the hint of variety it needs.

SBTRKT's downtempo, mellow nature means it's a dance album that's unlikely to ever be played in a club, but showing James Blake that sparse, minimal dubstep and well-crafted pop melodies aren't mutually exclusive, it's a daring debut which lives up to the masked man's "next big thing" label.

There's no denying that, a half-decade late or not, SebastiAn has delivered.

The result is easily her best record yet: a soundtrack equally comforting during a lazy weekend afternoon or a hard Monday morning.

On his third album, John Maus continues his pursuit of immediacy-in-action mixed with a certain calm, developing a further tension that infuses both his music and words.

You could single out any song on the album for praise or inclusion on a killer summer mixtape and you wouldn't go wrong... this album is one of the sleeper picks for best-of 2011.

Happily, the partnership succeeds more often than not.

An extended pilgrimage to New Orleans allowed the longtime friends to hone the 11 songs that make up Through Low Light and Trees into something truly magical, and while the album is clearly the product of the green fields and misty mountains of their homeland, it's obvious that the time spent in the Big Easy had a profound effect on them.

Random Axe the album barely crosses the 40-minute mark and it doesn't bother pleasing the crowd, but it rewards its core audience with a freestyle feel and an uncompromising allegiance to true hip-hop.

Whether your primary interest is in the comedy or the music, this is a solidly enjoyable album.

Lord of the Birdcage is strong and diverse enough to stand out among Pollard's solo efforts, and proves once again this man's talents shine brightest when he finds new ways to challenge himself.

While his technical acumen remains uncontested, the addition of blistering bluegrass singer/guitarist Michael Daves and notorious engineering luddite White into the mix has helped to temper Thile's signature refinements into something raw and primal.

Sagara shows the Norwegian to be an equally effective mood painter without his trusty beats, and in some respects, his accomplishment here is his most adept and impressive yet.

Regardless of where they end up next, the Horrors have already traveled much further than most listeners would have imagined.

For anyone who was left out in the cold after Def Jux closed their doors Ox 2010: A Street Odyssey is the album you've been looking for.

It's the band's most impressive outing to date, and easily one of the best metal albums of 2011.

Casablanca Nights should serve as an inspiration to producers everywhere as an example of how to do an "And Friends" record the right way. For the rest of us, it's a thrilling blast of heartbreak beats and sweet club emotion.

You should know from Hernandez's track record that there will be plenty of hooky melodies and songs that will be stuck like glue in your head and on your lips, and he certainly doesn't let you down here.

While Last Summer has enough ties to her work with the Fiery Furnaces to please fans, it gives Friedberger the time in the spotlight she deserves.

The original mixtape is worth checking for the Sweatshirt bits alone, but this version does a better job of putting the spotlight on Mellowhype, the Odd Future crew's secret weapon.

The kinetic, mini-funk monster "Swimsuits" with Mayer Hawthorne puts it over the top, making the long wait forgivable and the album highly recommendable.

Vol. 2 shows the full breadth of the group's sound, from the ballads to the rockers to the various gems in between.

Whether this is a one-off or a bridge to something more substantial, it's satisfying in the present and will likely increase in stature as years pass.

In the Mountain in the Cloud is also the band's most cohesive album, suffering from none of the unevenness that crept into some of their earlier work.

Heavy on atmosphere and hooks alike, Pleasure comes one bounding step closer in the eternal quest to marry refined song craft and ungovernable noise.

The group puts some twists on its sound, and Yukimi Nagano's lyrical thorns, typically concealed by her subtle approach -- are sharper than ever.

They execute it all with a fullness of sound and compelling melodic content that pulls the listener in, almost as surely as any first-rate opera.

On Again and Again, Brilliant Colors aren't doing anything radically different than their contemporaries with similar influences and a similar sound, but they do what they do with conviction and just enough weirdness to give them a leg up on the competition.

The bottom line is that some of the immediacy of her rockabilly jazz is lost once she goes for romance and seduction, but Mayhem is still a fresh, invigorating record that is worth picking up, no matter what your musical convictions are; it's that good.

Our Blood, with its tattered, frayed grace, reflects Buckner's compellingly listenable, weary yet stubborn poetic journey, for answers to questions -- both past and and present, elliptical and enormous --that lie just beyond his grasp.

If Neon does anything, it proves that Young can manage this delicate balance all the while seeming like it's no trouble at all.

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.

Although very eclectic taste is required to appreciate in full, this is clearly Rowland's brightest, most confident album yet.

They are of interest as a curiosity, especially for pub rock fanatics, but Harlan County illustrates why Jim Ford never became a cult artist in his own right.

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.

If a new artist released an album as strong and well-crafted as Roses at the End of Time as their debut, they'd likely be hailed as a major new force on the contemporary singer/songwriter scene; just because it's the work of a seasoned veteran doesn't mean it's too late for Gilkyson to be celebrated as a talent deserving of a larger and wider recognition.

Though it is one long cut, Night Gallery is free of noodling or self indulgence; it proves that acid jam is alive and well in the hands of the right musicians.

The 33 cuts on this sprawling collection offer so many fine and unusual moments, Red Hot + Rio 2 is every bit as unique and groundbreaking, puzzling and dazzling, as its predecessor; only more so.

Despite the recycling, it's one of his most inventive and potent albums to date, full of aggression, euphoria, and hope--alongside the rage, indignation and bitterness--and powered by idealism, pride, honor, and some of his strongest jams yet.

With keyboard and drum machine-led swirls, higher-pitched and echoed vocals, and an embrace for what could be called art-pop-not-rock, Moonface's Organ Music is very much in the right place for 2011.

Its versatility is quite dazzling, making it one of the best records in the Romweber catalog.

Longtime fans will be pleased, and folks who only know Newman from his film scores will be startled at the depth of the man's body of work, even on a collection with a couple of (relative) ringers.

The essence of the music might be simple but the band squeezes remarkable emotions from it. The new world order of psychedelia is here.

Queen of the Minor Key is a reminder that this music at its best speaks to the wayward impulses of the human heart, and Eilen Jewell embodies that quiet, insistent voice as well as anyone making music in the 21st century.

If the band were merely backtracking from the more arranged and fleshed-out sound Cartwright gave them, this record could be seen as a retreat. Instead, it sounds like they needed to go back to Watson to root out demons and get back to basics; instead, it sounds like a charge.

The Mosaic Project is not recommended to jazz purists, but for those who like their jazz laced with big doses of R&B, there is much to savor on this risk-taking album.

Song after song whips by, wedding equal doses of neo-thrash aggression and accessibility, represented by frontman Matt Heafy's alternating clean and gruff vocals as well as his and fellow guitarist Corey Beaulieu's jagged staccato riffs and tight-knit harmonies.

Dir en Grey are a band in their own genre at this point, and Dum Spiro Spero is the farthest-reaching testament to establish that as fact more than opinion.

An album that is fashionably slick, altogether tragic, and deceptively beautiful.

Condon spends much of Rip Tide writing in first person, and it lends an air of much needed intimacy to the always gorgeous, yet historically elusive Beirut sound.

Felice is bedeviled by an unspecified sadness and longing, and that only adds to the resonance of well-constructed songs that will appeal to triple-A radio in the U.S., now that his band finally has gotten a purchase on its homeground.

With West, WS plays post-history psychedelia; it is as necessary -- and freaky -- as anything from the eras that influenced it.

Musically, the results are a brighter, tighter, yet more elaborate version of the man's best work, with tracks like "Security" and "Merry Go Round" sounding both flashy and meaty at once.

All in all, a noteworthy release that reveals more layers the longer you listen.

From the performances, to the songwriting, to the production, Still Living is the group's strongest, most multi-dimensional album.

Throughout the album the sense is of rough experimentation, a kind of direct curiosity in the collision of sampled loops, echoed vocals, bursting bass, and random moments. Stallone's echoed vocals, however much a stylistic commonality in some corners, act as further random hooks, a slightly stupefied but never incoherent series of reactions.

Bittersweet and incredibly catchy, Endless Now is the kind of album that just gets better with repeated listening.

World Wide Rebel Songs, is, without question, a welcome call to arms.

Their sound is dustier, more evocative of the landscape they wander; Tassili is as desolate--and as timeless--as the desert itself.

This is a band album, and a solid one at that.

In the Grace of Your Love is the band's most powerful and vital album thus far.

Despite only taking a couple of years to put out a second album, Lenses Alien also feels like an altogether more grown-up record.

Dre's short, spoken bits end up the only speed bumps during all these twists and turns, and when you're complaining about interludes instead of the overall attitude of a Game album, you've got an obsession-free, almost relatable success that sacrifices none of the man's fire or skill.

Wild Flag isn't just an exciting debut and one of 2011's most dynamic rock records, it proves that a group is truly super when the personalities involved work together and have fun.

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

Highly recommended to fans of smart jazz that remembers to entertain.

While Smith fans no doubt have everything contained here -- of the 18 tracks collected , each album is represented -- this disc serves as an excellent introduction to Smith's ever evolving, non-compromising art which combines high-stakes poetry with rock & roll.

If Widowspeak keep refining their sound and cranking out memorable and quietly impressive songs like they do here, they may end up being pretty special. Even if they don't, though, this album will still be out there to help soothe and thrill you when you have a post-Mazzy itch you need to scratch.

Several cuts are instrumental workouts, unpredictable and flagrantly noodle-y. Others venture into tranquil folk-soul and soft jazz-pop; for all the animated instrumental flexing on display, it's those atmospheric and simpler songs that move the most.

On Tha Carter IV, Wayne's world feels more like a dream than reality, but the loyal subjects of Young Money get a wild ride and the great feeling of flashing those ruby slippers one more time.

Head of the class, leader of the pack good, and you won't hear many rock & roll records better than this in 2011.

She's been in something of a career renaissance ever since the mid-2000s, creating sharp adult pop that's accessible without being commercial, so if fan funding is what's needed to keep her actively recording, this album is a great testament to its potential power.

The lyrics still focus on Walker's own little world--the girls he's known, the drugs he's done, the trouble he got into as an '80s wild child--but Spade feels broader, fuller, more collective than those words suggest.

Full of great lyrics and great playing, Strange Mercy is St. Vincent's most reflective and most audacious album to date, and Clark remains as delicately uncompromising an artist as ever.

With any luck, Pistol Annies is not a one-off for the trio, but rather a regular gig: this is too much pure fun to not repeat.

The title track of this album finds Graveyard at their most rip-roaring, offering a thunderous riff and some stinging guitar soloing. Other tracks throw little stylistic tweaks (background vocals on "Buying Truth [Tack & Förlåt]") into the mix, but the basic formula stays the same.

te its unsettling themes, Nixey's sophomore album is still a warm and charming record which reinstates her position as Britain's most elegant chanteuse.

Wander/Wonder is an exercise in depth, a flowing suite of mermaid's lullabies that turn seductive.

John Doe simply doesn't make bad records, but not all of them are as heartfelt and comfortable as Keeper, and the title is apt--this captures a great singer and songwriter on a hot streak, and you'd have to go back to his 1990 solo debut to hear a John Doe album that's as eclectic, accomplished, and satisfying as this.

This is revolution music; worthy of dancing to, learning from, and singing along with: who says topical music has to be boring?

Alice may be the star but much of the success of Welcome 2 My Nightmare is due to the man behind the curtain, as Ezrin gives this album flair and focus that not only make it an unexpectedly successful sequel but the best Alice Cooper record in decades.

Seeds We Sow is delightfully ragged.

What follows is a lovingly balanced set of rural rockers ("Street Fighting Sun") and dirt road ballads ("Girl in a Coat") that sound about as far from the murky introspection of 2010's Destroyer of the Void as one would expect from a band that continuously tries to reinvent themselves within their own psych-folk/alt-country/indie rock universe, and almost always succeeds.

This focus on approachability over impenetrability makes Dreams Come True not only a welcoming debut, but a fantastic entry point into the more experimental side of electronic music.

Granted, they're not fishing for another viral earworm here, but you'd think they could come up with something better -- for the lead single, no less -- than "Michael Jackson"'s feeble placeholder of a refrain.

If they keep making records as good as Mountaintops, they will have totally earned their gold watch and pension when they call it a day.

Era Extrana's lavish electro-pop proves that Neon Indian can be more than just chillwave.

Ironically, this very looseness not only results in a lively listen, but the polite messiness of Pajama Club winds up as a greater testament to his songwriting skills than the last Crowded House album; as the cliché goes, his throwaways are better than many artist's keepers.

As a record, this The Sea of Memories is easily the most enjoyable collection of songs released under Bush's name.

Ready for Confetti is, without question, Keen's most inspired and focused project in nearly 20 years.

Polished yet heartfelt, Paradise finds Slow Club shoring up their strengths and exploring new territory with equal

While fans might be disappointed that the album doesn't feature "Herb" Alexander, they'll have a hard time being disappointed with Green Naugahyde, an album that will satisfy those in the know while continuing, as Primus always have, to baffle the uninitiated.

Black and White is a refreshingly personal, authentic, and fresh take on a British urban scene that was starting to become slightly stale.

Believers sounds much more like Bondy has simply followed his own muse for a change, and the results reveal his confidence was well founded.

A constantly and unexpectedly thrilling comeback from a resurgent band who have upped their game when it matters the most.

Given what a mixed bag tribute albums usually are, Dedicated is not only a surprise for its consistency, but a shining example of what they can--and should--be.

Kasabian have been a band of post-Brit-pop possibilities from the get go, so bringing in techno, ethnic sounds, and an orchestra is coming home for this impudent crew.