Brain Pulse Music is the most traditional album Batoh has recorded, as well as the most radical and fascinating.

This combination of fluidity and structure makes Frying On This Rock an absorbing, headphone-centric listen that only demands that the listener turn up the volume and hand over control.

Ultimately, Mia Pharaoh is so full of catchy, disco-on-the-cheap numbers that it sometimes sounds a bit like a vintage Eurovision Contest compilation--and that should be taken as a huge compliment.

While the title may reflect a a certain ponderousness, these 11 tunes are anything but.

Women & Work is the sound of a mature, confident band, fully embracing their hometown's musical legacy, and wrapping it inside their own sound, making each both larger and deeper.

It's obvious he's grown and matured as both a songwriter and a producer, and this is the finest moment in his catalog thus far.

Despite the title, Self-Taught Learner was anything but the work of an amateur, and here Trullie is clearly the queen of her post-punk castle.

Ultimately The Promise doesn't point toward the future, but it does deliver fulfillment abundantly, from the place things really are, showcasing a confident, relevant, singer and songwriter.

[Goatwhore delivers] another album of relentless and refined blackened death metal that speaks volumes about the band's level of craftsmanship.

By reining in the freedom that made Clovis People, Vol. 3 such a puzzling wonder, Taylor manages to up the ante musically and lyrically on Contraband.

It all adds up to a beautifully redemptive album, one of Bibb's best.

Recruiting a variety of guests and fellow travelers, including Eyvind Kang and Crys Cole, Oren Ambarchi continues in his vein of excellent solo releases on Touch with 2012's An Audience of One.

The more beneficial mix of songwriting and production collaborators, including Jack Splash, No ID, Rico Love, and Salaam Remi, helps make The MF Life superior to the debut in every way.

The Hunger Games: Songs from District 12 and Beyond would be an impressive collection even if it weren't associated with one of 2012's most anticipated films, but the care put into the soundtrack makes it an experience that much richer for fans of the books, the movie, and any of the artists here.

In almost every way, Sees the Light is an impressive leap forward for Goodman that shows she's more than ready to make La Sera her full-time musical outlet.

Meshuggah have easily proven to listeners time and time again that they know their way around their instruments better than most, so even though Koloss isn't the band's most daring or experimental work to date, it's definitely worth any metal fan's time.

The results should satisfy any post-industrial shaman with warm, slowly developing, and often cavernous synth soundscapes providing the welcoming base.

Like strangers arguing in public or a weary couple who went out to dinner just to break up loudly in the restaurant, Acousmatic Sorcery offers a similar, sometimes unbearably honest look into a very personal world.

Their richest and most varied album to date.

It's a marvelous portrayal of being forlorn, no matter in what state.

This is the perfect type of album for people who think dubstep is too singular and great proof that there are still possibilities for expansion in the genre.

An album that gives lie to the phrase "they don't make 'em like that anymore."

Ultimately, Busting Visions is a sprawling yet thoughtfully constructed album full of backwoods, sandals, and sunburn rock with enough slippery electric guitar work, backing vocals, chiming bells, plinky pianos, and various freaky percussion bits to qualify as a kind of modern-day hippie noodle-rock opus.

Christian Mistress' second formal release--and first full album, if one counts Agony & Opium as an EP--finds the Olympia quintet in even stronger form than before, the group's eager embrace of early-'80s metal energy and singing coming together with a bang once again.

With Sentenced to Life, Black Breath have crafted a no-nonsense slab of modern hardcore that draws from a diverse set of rules, but yields to none of them.

It's a swaggering, sexy, shake-your-ass, greasy, deep roots record.

No matter which era or what record you prefer, as an album, Locked Down stands with Rebennack's best.

Rant goes far beyond any glee club or barbershop perceptions with its reverence and creativity; while it may not change the mind of anyone who thinks a capella pop music is inherently hokey, it's still one of the Futureheads' most exciting albums.

Folila is great music. Period.

If you think that the "rock" part of "indie rock" has been dying a slow death, look to Screaming Females as your lighthouse during these dark, guitar-less times and rejoice as you air shred along with all that Ugly has to offer.

On In Between they ditch any SY trappings and go full shoegaze, removing much of the energy and dialing the tempos down to mid. It works really well, allowing the band to create a mood of wistful, well-produced melancholy that builds and builds until the album ends in a swirl of barely expressed emotion and guitar clatter.

While De Vermis Mysteriis is probably not the group's finest hour (2002's Surrounded by Thieves still bears that distinction), it is nonetheless a very fine hour indeed.

This is one dense and tight set, barely over half-an-hour in length, and it's definitely in contention for Muldrow's most focused, funkiest, and (somewhat ironically) personal release to date.

It's clear that the gore-obsessed band shows no signs of slowing down.

Regardless of how his bandmates might feel, those who like their indie pop filled with soft light and tender beauty will fall in love with this album quite easily.

It's just a flat-out good-time rock & roll record and that's all that really matters.

This is collaboration in its purest and and most elegant form.

It's a great pop record with plenty of guts and a sense of reality that is so often missing from records that sound this fun.

Much more than a stop-gap substitute that will be forgotten by the time the next Hot Chip full-length comes along; Yesterday stands on its own terms as one of the finest dance/electro-pop records of the year.

The quartet knows the difference between a hook and lick, and applies that knowledge liberally on this extremely likable set of clever summery pop songs.

Contradictions are nothing new for Jack White but he's never been as emotionally direct as he is here, nor has he been as musically evasive, and that dichotomy makes Blunderbuss a record that only seems richer with increased exposure.

A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down, which is the great trick behind this persuasive album, offering a serious argument with plenty of hot buttered soul.

Mraz pushes himself into new territory, creating music that's perilously close to sounding seductive.

The Marble Downs is a cult classic in the making, and if Oldham's involvement helps more people discover Trembling Bells' eclectic brilliance, so much the better.

Levine's muted vocals bring an understated drama to the proceedings, making these tales of heartbreak and disappointment so aching and raw that they're almost hard to listen to. There are no happy endings here, but every emotional nuance rings true.

What's enjoyable about Yuksek is that he still conveys a kind of dreamy winsomeness that, at many times subtly, contrasts against the out-and-out exuberance of a song.

This album is one of his most classicist, not classical, pop records and in that sense, Out of the Game is definitely a winner.

Island Fire wends its way through a variety of approaches, all of which have her own stamp on them first and foremost.

As it stands, Allo Darlin' are as serious as it gets, and despite the lightness and sweetness, they are sophisticated pop music at its finest.

This is music that speaks of the heart, the soul, and the mind; her messages are articulate and well-crafted, and this ranks with her best work of the past decade.

This is the kind of album that can fully define her sound, but is still multifaceted and well crafted enough to be exciting.

Hair represents the best possible outcome of the collaborative record.

The Money Store is an important record that's also compelling, loaded with kinetic blows against the empire and fully stuffed with that attractive maverick spirit.

The lack of physical force (though there is plenty of fire) is more than compensated for, in the thought-provoking concept and complexity with a resonant yet unconventional lyricism.

Life Somewhere Else makes its beautiful way across 67 minutes, an album content to take its own sweet time to reach its destination, happily exploring the nooks and crannies along the way.

It's the closest the band has come yet to something genuinely uplifting and irony-free -- no small feat for these tongue-in-cheek provocateurs, but This Machine suggests that the Dandy Warhols are actually improving with age, which is an even bigger accomplishment.

Without jettisoning the basic stylistic minimalism and scarcity of artistic means which makes footwork such a thrillingly raw, blunt, and immediate form, Traxman manages to subtly expand and redefine the possibilities of the genre.

Rock and Roll Night Club is a confusing record, but not a mess. On the contrary, it's so deeply calculated that the intentions and possible motivations of its songs are likely to be lost on most.

They sound better and more focused than ever.

Even if A Collection is by the numbers, they are great numbers and rounded out by some intriguing collaborations (with Brian Eno, High Contrast, and such) along with powerful live cuts.

It is his most ambitious and focused work, and combines not only instruments and musical traditions, but cultural sonances and histories as well.

Ultimately, there is a musical sophistication and higher maturity level to the Wanted's sound than you might expect.

Not a reinvention so much as an enjoyable detour, Radlands is a set of aural postcards from the Lone Star State that demonstrates just how much good a working vacation can do.

On their Rounder debut, the band continue to challenge their fans with 11 new tunes that show off their growing playing and songwriting skills.

Nootropics is so mired in restraint it will fail to grab many ears on the first go-round. However, once listeners get their heads around the sound, it's a definite on-repeat player.

Fear Fun's deft mix of folly and grandeur strikes a nice balance between the over the top hippie shenanigans of Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros and the vapid, calculated debauchery of Lana Del Ray.

It's Talbot's most intimate collection of songs yet; even if The Western Lands was more overtly ambitious, this may be the best gateway into Gravenhurst's world--and it was well worth the wait.

She's meant to be be a superstar and she's never seemed as comfortable with her calling as she does on Blown Away.

Neck of the Woods is an even more infectious and nuanced affair.

An immediately engaging debut, Seasons of My Soul has the potential to repeat the crossover success of Norah Jones' Come Away with Me and Amy Winehouse's Back to Black, its unquestionable authenticity signaling the arrival of an equally timeless and unaffected voice.

Raw but accomplished, tuneful yet noisy, on In the Belly of the Brazen Bull the Cribs are more comfortable with their contradictions than ever.

Drokk: Music Inspired by Mega-City One is a completely satisfying project on its own, but it's also so good that it practically cries out for a film to be made to fit its cues.

By employing hard-rocking, sometimes spacey psychedelia (gloriously) to express the anger he feels as he watches the hard-won gains of history being damaged and destroyed in unsavory ways, Hawley creates an essential listen.

It's not for the faint of heart, but anyone partial to heavy, brooding, uncompromising music will likely be gladly carried away by it.

Aufheben's shining moments are the most daring ones, and are also surprisingly sweet.

Lazer Sword are in full command on Memory, an album that finds them coming into their own as well as exploring new territory.

It's not the band's most immediate music, but the album's challenging mix of heartbroken words and aloof sounds rewards patient and repeated listening.

California death-grinders Cattle Decapitation will never be accused of subtlety, but there are moments on the typically grotesque Monolith of Inhumanity, their seventh long-player, that are unabashedly melodic.

A compelling and rich move toward adulthood from one of the underground's most prolonged and complicated adolescents.

Ufabulum rises out of the muddle of curious decisions on the several albums before it, offering a true-to-form Squarepusher experience more diverse and ornate than almost any before it.

In terms of popularity, the album is not likely to rival Attack Decay Sustain Release. It's not as novel, either, but it's exceptionally crafted.

Even if these songs never grace the charts, they sound like inevitable hits and prove that Lambert is a genuine pop star who has now left American Idol far behind.

Words & Music turns out to be one of the band's most enriching albums, both musically and emotionally.

Their version of soul revival captures the sweat and fire of classic soul music better than almost anyone else in 2012.

Rize of the Fenix does amount to a rousing comeback for Tenacious D: they're back to their old tricks, oblivious to whether the world at large actually cares about their shenanigans.

Revolutionary stuff and absolutely no fluff, R.A.P. Music is outstanding.

All Our Reasons is wonderfully executed, and full of excellent tunes, nice improvisational turns, numerous surprises (many of them subtle), and a warm, lively sense of engagement throughout.

True works as a whole and creates an unbroken mood and feel that is both nocturnal and strangely uplifting.

Even more so than their debut album, Gallery shows just how impressive Craft Spells can be and sets them up as the synth pop revivalists to beat in 2012.

On its face, this album is intended for adventurous listeners who enjoy exploring the classical avant-garde, though deeper investigation may attract others interested in sound sculptures, noise studies, and electronica, who can appreciate the atmospheric colors and shimmering sonorities of these modern masterworks.

The 13 tracks on Caravana Sereia Bloom reveal an artist who is pushing the envelope of MPB, and is taking no prisoners in the process.

[Space Homestead] could almost be a summary of their approach rather than taking their work to the next level, but Space Homestead succeeds precisely because MV & EE have so clearly constructed their particular vision.

Opus Primum [contains] striking passages of ethereal beauty.

Choice of Weapon is the Cult's finest moment in 23 years; it's the true swaggering heir to the period that birthed Electric and Sonic Temple, and proof that contrary to even Astbury's stated belief in 2009 that the album is far from dead.

The Light the Dead See [is] not just an exciting meeting of troubled minds, but a well designed full-length, offering a persuasive rainy day soundtrack that works even when there's not a cloud in the sky.

Cancer4Cure is about hip-hop like Glengarry Glen Ross was about sales, but these great works transcend their industries, offering solace and inspiration to anyone who would prefer a satisfied mind over a Cadillac Eldorado, or in current terms, an Escalade.

A sophisticated, epic, slow burn of an album, The Temper Trap finds the band taking the creative long view, and updating its bombastic guitar rock with a moody, somewhat synth-oriented sound.

On the surface, Valtari may seem like a step back for the band, but instead of just retreading the past, the album is one of their best; a refined display of their musical power with breathtaking dynamics and enough emotion to flood an ocean.