Bootlegs may not be essential Sondre Lerche, but it's a thrilling document of his live set and a reminder that he's not just a brilliant songwriter, but a rocker too.

While the duo might still be learning how to balance all the things they can do well into a cohesive whole, ERAAS' whispers and shadows offer a different and welcome take on dark sounds.

Dept. of Disappearance shows that far from vanishing, Lytle is making a claim to be one of the more interesting and consistent singer/songwriters around; willing to take sonic chances, but always delivering music that's as much about feel as it is about meaning.

A promising debut and one more considered, nuanced, and realized than most bands achieve deep into their tenures.

Fortunately, adding more shape to their songs doesn't pin down their sounds too much.

It is a compelling, engaging, and emotionally powerful set of songs from a strikingly talented singer and songwriter, and this is her most intimate and affecting work to date.

Johnson doesn't attempt to draw attention to himself, but instead, presents a series of excellent performances of Cochran's songs with himself as an anchor.

Months after scores of music fans went bananas over an opportunistic resuscitation of a deceased peer's studio scraps, Brandy, a superior vocalist ignored or disregarded by many of those same people, released one of her best albums.

Unknown Rooms is spare, gorgeous, and haunting, offering surprises for her established fans and likely winning her new ones in the process.

Scorpion isn't an album for the good times, but its portrayal of dark days is gorgeous.

Rogers' guttural growls sound more menacing than ever, and what the album lacks in originality it makes up for with feverishly inventive riffs and melodies, making The Parallax II: Future Sequence the band's most inspired release since Alaska.

While Payback's status as a concept album makes it a rarity in the hip-hop world, even rarer for that realm is an album that's more focused on a continued narrative than creating a breakout single, making the album something that's to be experienced in its entirety.

It's that line between accessible and alienating that MellowHype have so brilliantly walked, making Numbers an engaging album from some of Odd Future's best and brightest.

Even though Information Retrieved is an excellent album, it won't do a whole lot to win over anyone who has already decided that Pinback isn't for them. For everyone else, the album delivers plenty of the gloomy/sunny/plaintive/happy pop that has made them one of the more instantly recognizable bands in the indie landscape.

Though having an entertaining show backing it up will make Dethalbum III an easy purchase for fans of the program, it's an album good enough to stand all on its own.

At 15 tracks, it's a bit too full for newcomers to take in one go, but by mixing the strongest bits of their early days (song structure, smoky attitude) and their later years (technically gifted musicians who form a tight, but swinging band) the Herbaliser return to greatness and no fan should sit this one out.

She's constructed something so precise its success seems preordained, but underneath it all, Taylor is still twitchy, which makes Red not just catchy but compelling.

cal Business is an afternoon barfly telling his problems to anyone willing to listen and stump up for a drink, and fortunately for listeners, this drunk has a lyric book that they'll want to spend some time with.

Everything Touching is far more direct, less convoluted, often shamelessly anthemic.

While it may be a shade less inspired than The Tao of the Dead, this is a solid, rugged album that underscores ...And You Will Know Us by the Trail of Dead's position as trailblazers and torchbearers when it comes to mixing passion and politics.

On their fifth album, One Wing, the Chariot avoid the pitfalls that have caught up many a band, striking just the right balance between technique and raw fury to create a sound that is both emotionally and intellectually satisfying.

If Let It Come Down was Iha's sun-dappled West Coast folk-rock break from the creative turmoil and personal squabbles of the Pumpkins, then Look to the Sky is his more austere, if no less captivating, look back from the sun and toward the dark moon of his alt-rock '90s past.

Local H are not only still making great music, but have released their bravest, most provocative, and most ambitious album to date, and Hallelujah! I'm a Bum is a powerful look into a side of America that will be uncomfortably familiar to nearly everyone who hears it.

Blak and Blu's production (by Rob Cavallo and Mike Elizondo in collaboration with Clark) is too polished and processed for its own good, but if this album isn't likely to change your life, it will make an hour of it a lot more interesting, and there's no arguing that Gary Clark, Jr. is a talent strong enough to match his record company's hype.

Free Dimensional lives up to its name by serving up lots of sparkling pop with depth as well as heart and brains.

Remy's greatest gift has always been her unique ability to dismantle and reassemble the pop form in a single song, and Gem is the most vivid document of that gift yet.

Macklemore's a mix of all of the above with some distinctive qualities, and with Lewis putting that kaleidoscope style underneath, The Heist winds up a rich combination of fresh and familiar.

K'NAAN's a rock-solid songwriter with a charismatic delivery that rains down sparks of cool guy and clever.

While Sugarland's alien rawness is missed occasionally, Sunshine reveals a Talk Normal that is a little more immediate and a lot more assured.

Stringfellow's fourth solo outing is as riveting as it is willfully schizophrenic, incorporating elements of progressive art rock, country, soul, R&B, and straight-up Posies-inspired jangle pop without a care in the world, resulting in his most daring studio offering to date.

As Animator fades out, however, all that's left is a lingering feeling equal parts hushed and disquieting. The Luyas' ability to cultivate a mood so thick with this album is a huge accomplishment, and the strangely beautiful world they've created in these songs is one worth revisiting over and over.

Mark Sasso's expressive lead vocals convey the anguish and desperation of the characters they sing about while the instrumental work of Stephen Pitkin on drums and percussion, and Casey Laforet's inventive contributions on lead guitar, bass pedals, and keyboards provide subtle, cinematic coloring to the tunes.

The Sean "Diddy" Combs connection adds a little too much gloss to the grime, hanging Lace Up somewhere between the underground intensity that it seems born from and the commercial overexposure that MGK seems bound for.

Phillip Taylor, Matt Scott, and Josh Swinney fuse together blood-pumping indie rock with an unwitting gift for power pop to craft a tight, fun-packed debut that never misses the mark.

The man behind the Gangsta Grillz mixtapes and the man literally behind T.I. and his Grand Hustle crew continues to do the improbable on his 2012 release Quality Street Music.

While its melancholic and understated nature may not make much of an impression on first listen, it soon reveals itself to be a record of beauty which only confirms her undeniable class.

Their music is always exciting, soulful, and expertly played; they never fall prey to world fusion clichés.

Nothing here indicates they won't continue to rank among progressive music's leading explorers, well beyond those temporal musical fashions discussed earlier.

While it is a meditation on Christmas, it makes no attempt to manipulate the listener's feelings. Instead, with its sheer musical quality, and the depth of tenderness and empathy in Thorn's voice, it highlights the season's complexities in the face of everyday life.

Even though Long Slow Dance sounds one coat of studio gloss away from a Mitch Easter production, the strength of the songs and performance mean the band is still working as well as ever, maybe even better, and Long Slow Dance stands as their most satisfying album to date.

Maybe there's a touch more swagger than solutions on the set, but Minneapolis' secret weapon really should have saved the title of his previous set, Never Better, for this one.

While the fury he displayed on Total Decay is sometimes missed, by the time "sdnE tI" brings the album full circle (or is that full zero?), it reveals Zeros as some of the Soft Moon's most fully realized and satisfying music.

This is Christmas music that can be enjoyed by those who otherwise loathe it.

Unlike White Trash with Money, there is no unifying sound or theme here: it's just a satisfying set of strong songs.

It might take some time for older fans to adjust--its punk energy aims for the calves more frequently than the neck--but Sorry to Bother You contains some of the Coup's most vehement and focused output.

The band cultivates a rich collection of emotionally complex instrumental soul, with precise musicianship meeting inspired production and a deeply studied obsession with the often sampled and less often acknowledged obscure geniuses of soul music.

This uneasy listening provides a masterful backdrop for Anderson's film and also makes for fascinating listening in its own right, while once again separating Greenwood from more predictable composers.

By Your Side is a charming debut from a producer with an instantly appealing sound.

The bottom line here is that for all of their tweaks and changes, The Sword are still a band all about massive riffs and epic lyrics, and while other bands might be more structurally complex or aggressive, few can offer the instant cosmic journey that dropping the needle on Apocryphon can.

Civil Disobedience for Losers is easily one of the best pieces of Melvins-worship to come out in a while.

Some moments aren't the best--his duet with Jack Goldstein, "My Girl," stumbles a bit at the start--but such killers as "Fell 4 U" with Glasser and "Fathering/Mothering" with Anne Lise Frokedal showcase both his ear for vocal counterparts and his immediate, beautiful arrangements.

The album's depth and openness to straying away from typical devices of the genre make Atlas one of the more engaging and thought-provoking metalcore releases amid a sea of the interchangeable riffs and howls of other bands.

Palpable big beat electrifies Call Me Sylvia, but Low Cut Connie aren't only about sound--they're crack songwriters, bashing out big hooks and riffs in songs that are sharp, clever, and funny without succumbing to cutesiness.

Smalhans is, like its predecessors, ultimately its own complete, unified statement; one that is, in its deceptively humble way, as ambitious and assured as anything he's done.

Price's material-starved fans are craving his words more than beats, so don't call it a comeback but a wicked, wordy return.

Evoken gave themselves half a decade in which to stockpile this much quality material for Atra Mors--just one of many reasons why what could have been a truly funereal occasion (no pun intended) may instead signal a new lease on life for the group.

Though none of this will be particularly useful to anyone who isn't already familiar with the band (and if you're one of those people, run out and buy Oceanic and Panopticon right now), but for the initiated, Temporal makes for an essential and illuminating listen.

Deer Creek Canyon is a work of modest genius that, like falling in love, manages to be simple and richly complex at the same time.

This is a surprisingly strong reunion, one that puts the band back on the track they abandoned long ago.

It finds Morgenstern honing her popcraft and scaling back her artier impulses to yield her most concise, song-oriented and--relatively speaking--immediate work to date.

Another fine example of how versatile this band actually is.

The combination of his [Mac McNeilly] careful, aggressive-when-needed playing and the core duo's performances makes this four-song collection a wonderful surprise.

One Direction deliver another immediately catchy mix of dancey pop that maximizes the group's shared lead-vocal approach and peppy, upbeat image.

It's hard to blame her for playing it safe, particularly because she wound up with such a strong pop album, one that reconfirms her gifts as a singer and savviness as a pop star.

While a lot of bands out there have been tinkering with the loud/quiet dynamic for decades now, what makes Deftones so special is their ability to do both at the same time, effectively blending the calm and the storm into a single sound.

The nine songs here represent her most ambitious and daring experiments yet, while retaining the considerately dreamy core that sets her work apart from any number of other soft-spoken spaceheads.

Clearly, all the partying caught up to [Billie Joe Armstrong], but while he was racing recklessly, he cut this terrific little party record.

Artistic progress is as much about subtraction as it is about addition, and on III, Crystal Castles have made room to be sad, angry, pretty, and danceable at the same time.

There is great reward in actually focusing on what "happens" in this quiet landscape, because Lux betrays the implication of vastness and musical adventure just underneath its dulcet tones and restrained palettes.

Grim and exultant at once, this is low-profile hustling on wax at its finest.

Certainly The Mystery of Heaven is a standalone recording and is to be enjoyed on its own.

Oui, Oui isn't living in the past, it's using the past to address the present, which gives some soul to these nifty little songs, and turns this album into another mini latter-day gem from the Nutty Boys.

On these songs, Lopatin and Hecker take the sounds in their intentionally limited palette to places they may never have been expected to go, and the journey is intriguing and frequently lovely.

This is so good that this is how you want to remember them: older, perhaps wiser, and still majestic.

The Odds shows The Evens as more refined and understated than ever. Instead of softening, their jagged angles and obtuse political commentary have just become more involved, and in some ways, more intense.

Their approach is basic and there are moments of yesteryear reflection, but (with the exception of a few too many crunchy guitars) almost everything on this EP fits perfectly in place with a band that nailed the vibe of a simple good time decades prior.

A relatively calm, collected, and breezy set of 21st century folk songs that prefers subtlety over novelty.

The expert elastic roots rock of the Rumour gives his songs depth, making Three Chords Good the rare reunion that simultaneously looks back while living in the present

Albums like these always have to strike a careful balance between mimicking the original and killing the spirit of the original, but it's a balance that The Flip Is Another Honey is able to find quite comfortably.

While this collection obviously isn't the best place for newcomers to cut their teeth, From the Vaults, Vol. 1 is a collection that will give longtime fans a taste of what could have been in some kind of alternate time line, making the album essential listening for Kylesa diehards.

As far as the argument over whether Death Grips are indie rap's great, destructive Dada Art crew or whether they are just the genre's Spinal Tap, the excellent No Love Deep Web suggests they're the sophisticated former.

Signs & Signifiers paints a picture of McPherson as a kind of post-structuralist retro-rocker, living in the moment with one boot in the past and the other boot in the future.

This live CD shows all of her brilliance and promise, her command and vitality, and much of that is shown on the videos as well.

The Whigs have zeroed in on their strengths and wound up with a rich, layered pop album that suggests a long, interesting future.

What's especially nice about his full-length debut, Spiderwebbed, isn't that it's good, but that it's surprisingly great.

If you haven't seen Isbell and the 400 Unit on-stage, Live from Alabama will likely convince you to show up the next time they play in your area, and if you already have, this will remind you why you walked home impressed.

This is an album that can easily be enjoyed for the songs alone, so while you don't necessarily need to sit down with the liner notes (which include an accompanying story written Corey Taylor) to enjoy the album, it does add an extra layer of narrative action that reveals House of Gold & Bones to be an album of surprising depth.

Working Girl's Guitar shows that Rosie Flores is still earning her keep as a musician the old-fashioned way, and she sounds like she's loving every minute of it--and when the music's this good, there no reason she shouldn't.

Everything feels just that much more "on", for lack of a better term, with more focus and individuality.

If conviction and quality are the measure of a songwriter and musician, the songs and performances on Brother Sinner & the Whale are the very measure of both.

It's a wall-to-wall party for the freaks, burnouts, outcasts, and misfits and if you don't get it that's your fault, not hers.

The incense smoke and blacklight posters might be a little too heavy-handed for some listeners, but the more experienced stoner rock connoisseurs will recognize that Golden Void is singing it like they're living it.

In A World Out of Time, ET have given listeners a near perfect balance of precision and exploration that walks the tightrope between organic live playing and focused studio attention.

Cole has yet to release a dud, but this is among her best work--somewhere between The Way It Is and Just Like You in terms of quality.

This is how a hip-hop group reaches middle age: by placing themselves as part of a tradition, never lingering in the past but never desperately riding trends.

Thoroughly enjoyable and high in replay value, this will be most valuable for younger listeners for whom H&LA functioned as a point of entry into house music.

Besides being an impressive melding of unlikely worlds, the five pieces here are transcendently beautiful, and essential listening for a fan of either player or any sound art enthusiast.

Developer feels like the work of a group constantly pulling new rabbits out of hats just as things seem to have peaked, which can only be promising for their future work.