Even if it takes a little more effort than expected to fall under the spell he's casting, Abandoned Apartments' finest moments make it one of Jay's best blends of dreamy surrealism and crisp-edged pop in some time.

If this initial step into adulthood is any indicator of future work, it will be a pleasure to follow their progress. If not, at least we have this excellent album to look back on fondly.

Sun Structures is an impressive debut that would be legendary now if it had been released in 1967; in 2014 it's merely the best psych pop around.

The Royal Sessions is enjoyable: it sounds like Rodgers is having a good time, so it's easy to have a good time too.

REV is the Reverend Horton Heat's strongest rock & roll album since 2000's Spend a Night in the Box, simply because it shows the Reverend and company to their best advantage: they do this stuff better than anyone, and they don't have to apologize for playing to their strengths when they can still wail like this.

It's a must for any Bloomfield fan, and hopefully will open the gates to a renewed appreciation for this brilliant, manic, and groundbreaking guitarist.

It's the Haden Triplets and their untouched yet effortless harmonies, the kind that can only be derived via the preternatural harmonic instinct shared by siblings, that provide all of the chills (the good, non-flu kind).

Vast, clamorous, and curiously beautiful, Cheatahs recalls a time and place that isn't necessarily 2014, but does so with such skill and élan you'd be a fool not to meander through time and space with these sounds.

The different textures and timbres at work on Emmaar reveal Tinariwen's evolution; one derived from the need to grow musically, as well as respond to adversity with creativity.

It is a seamless blend of Finn's longstanding popcraft and latter-day adventure, and it satisfies on both counts.

Working in long phases of slow development, Death After Life manages to pull energy from the darker corners of several splintered fields of techno to craft a strange and menacing hybrid that reaches dizzying places of both ugliness and resolution on almost every track.

Neither a denial nor a rehash of Persson's past, Animal Heart is a welcome reflection of her changing life and art.

To say that the album sounds like Hatori and Honda picked up right where they left off downplays its specialness, but there's no denying it sounds like Cibo Matto had never stopped playing together.

Exciting and moving, the songs on True Love Kills the Fairy Tale would work just as well stripped-down and spare as they do in the intricately produced electro-pop forms presented here.

The Lights from the Chemical Plant is an inspired, mercurial record, by an artist who cares deeply for tradition, but refuses to be bound by it.

It's hard to argue against the use of the 2009 remasters, as this is the best the Beatles have ever sounded. And not only does this sound good, it looks good, so it's a handsome way to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Beatlemania, although anybody who owns the 2009 boxes in addition to the 2004 and 2006 sets may find it hard to justify another purchase.

The album seamlessly strolls from soaring numbers like "Lights Out" into a more stripped-down second half before ending with the gorgeous and inspired "Windows."

Rushing by with a distinct sense of economy in less than 40 minutes and heavy on counterpoint between Pollard's robust fantasy rock and Sprout's careful sentimentality, Motivational Jumpsuit is easily the most satisfying full-length of GbV's reunited, overproductive 2010s phase.

As her most satisfying, artful, and accessible album yet, St. Vincent earns its title.

Present Tense isn't as flawless as Smother; it's slightly top-loaded, and occasionally the spare instrumentation borders on monotonous. Still, it's a compelling album that shows Wild Beasts can build on their breakthrough in satisfying and challenging ways.

Mary's revelatory, palpable desire and seemingly newfound strength permeate all of The Brink, leaving you with an impression of the Jezabels as a band that's (in spirit) one part singer/songwriter, one part stadium rock god, and, ultimately, all woman.

Kin (<-->) proves that the Unity Band is the next evolution of what Metheny -- and Lyle Mays--began with PMG. Musically, this unit's musicality derives as much from feel and freedom as it does sophisticated form and function.

It's anyone's guess where Loveless will go from here, but she's already made an album that's genuinely dazzling, and Somewhere Else sounds like a real contender for best album of 2014.

Word has it that Roberts wrote these songs, not solely in his Montreal basement studio, but primarily in a sun-soaked house on a hill in Andalusia, Spain. True or not, it's certainly a warm, brightly hopeful album.

With Past Life, Lost in the Trees have risen to the occasion and crafted a record that's no less haunted, but decidedly more open to interpretation.

It's too easy to call Blame Confusion a solid first album; nevertheless, it's still a consistently entertaining and impressive debut.

Despite the album's daunting length, Harte rewards listeners with some of his most affecting and expressive music yet.

The way they join the organic and the electronic, the cerebral and the emotional on Close to the Glass makes it the most thoroughly rewarding and enjoyable album of the Notwist's career to date.

The album is one full of highlights, with a sad beauty surrounding it that makes these songs immediately deeper, more connective, and more exciting than anything Death Vessel has brought us before.

Slough Feg have always been the heavy metal equivalent of Guided By Voices (minus the supernatural prolificity), and Digital Resistance does little to tarnish that reputation, as it plays as fast and loose with the genre as it does venerate it.

While fans will appreciate a self-aware look behind the curtain, there's enough raw energy and emotion here to hook in plenty of newcomers.

Blue Film is an often unforgettable introduction.

While Cynic's songwriting here is far from simple, their ability to create cohesion between the many elements at work in their music is a boon to the listener, providing the opportunity to enjoy the depth and complexity of the music without needing to spend an excessive amount of time trying to make heads or tails of it.

You Should Be So Lucky is distinguished by that casual professionalism, and the album is so comfortable, so easy to enjoy that it can take a few listens to realize how deeply Tench's original songs sink in--it's not just that ballads like "Today I Took Your Picture Down" start to resonate, but the pop hooks on "Veronica Said" and the title track seem stronger and cannier -- and how soulful this whole affair is.

With a sound that tends to drift between the discordant jangle of the Pixies and the powerful sonic gut-punch of the Melvins, the trio weave together a dense tapestry of moody noise rock that seems to constantly shift and change directions.

If greater success follows them, treading that line between creativity and audience demand will become harder to do, but for now, Milagres have succeeded in making a unique and ultimately appealing record.

Bluebird reveals Landes' healing process in emotionally raw, delicately crafted songs.

Atkins has come a long way since her debut and without the distractions of a major label or a major break-up, she seems to be in the driver's seat and completely in control of her destiny, delivering her most artistic and confident album to date.

Doubled Exposure, recorded by Jason Meagher at Black Dirt Studios in upstate New York, has a rich, full, warm, and still live-sounding and edgy wash of grit all over it, and it is Speer's most accessible album yet, if accessible means one can't help being kind of fascinated by it.

With third full-length Atlas, Real Estate grow even further into the sound they've been spinning for themselves, mellowing more while they become more nuanced in both playing and production.

The album is a well-written love letter to yesterday's rock & roll. Though this means the album's sound isn't nearly as revelatory as the sonic assaults of their earlier work, the Men continue to prove that, above all, they're a band that know what they're doing, even if they don't know what they're doing next.

Eagulls' density and intensity sometimes border on exhausting, but the album is an undeniably bracing beginning.

As has always been the case, Transatlantic excel at making a four-piece sound like a marauding horde.

It's fun, frivolous, and low on excess.

Without mellowing too deeply or becoming so serious that the songs aren't fun to listen to anymore, +/- turn in a fantastically studio-crafted album that communicates greater depth and more sophistication than any of their other work.

Ten albums and 18 years on from their first show, the Drive-By Truckers are still capable of mixing things up and showing off new sides of their skill set, and that's certainly the case with English Oceans, which shows them making wise use of all their talents--not just Mike Cooley.

The album is a bit more raw than previous, so expect more fan favorites than hit singles. Otherwise, this is business as usual, and business is absolutely gangbusters.

Her uncommon, even singular approach to singing, recording, and writing, remains fully in evidence here.

Looking at Major Lazer's previous releases, the whole Rasta zombie-hunter concept is applied the least to this one, but it's not missed, either. Apocalypse Soon is too fast and mean to be bogged down by any comic book extras, and besides, the music is weird enough and wild enough on its own.

We Are Scientists make writing infectious, utterly listenable pop songs, over and over again, seem easy.

Ten tight songs and out, and the album feels like a mystery itself, but artists who nail that stoic sense of wonder, like Isaak and Orbison, don't come around often. Waterhouse is certainly of their ilk.

A beautiful and often brave-sounding album, Joyland shows how much can be gained by letting go.

Confessional and insular, Love Letters is the work of a band willing to take pop success on their own terms and reveal a different--but just as appealing--side of their artistry in the process.

Much like our ever expanding universe, Yellow Ostrich's Cosmos is an infinitely listenable album that holds up to repeated scrutiny.

The Take Off and Landing of Everything is better still [than 2011's Build a Rocket Boys!], demonstrating that the band knows how to seize the spoils of success.

Forget about shoegaze or metal or noise rock or any other genre; this is stark, dramatic music that comes from pain and has been crafted into high art that will move and inspire listeners lucky enough to hear it.

While the album's brightness may take some getting used to, listeners who love her music for how well she expresses feelings that are universal yet hard to articulate will appreciate how vividly The Classic captures joy and what it takes to get it.

Melancholy has always been Wareham's default musical disposition, here he delivers his sadness with a coy, charming half-smile.

In spite of the extremely high expectations, he has managed a pretty neat debut that will please fans who have been waiting since his early singles.

Fans hoping that Evans will return to country music will be disappointed, but Slow Me Down is something that is rare in 2014: an unapologetic, big-scale adult pop album, constructed with grace and care.

Glow is all inspired aces and a can't-miss release for funkateers or nu-disco fans.

It's a fine outing from a versatile band that knows what they do best, and man, they can rock.

These tracks are so striking that the album feels a bit top-loaded, but Abandoned City is still another fine example of Hauschka's combination of inspired musicianship and almost palpable emotion.

Perfect Pussy choose to shroud the clarity of their words in thick sheets of noise makes for a fascinating, if frustrating contrast; the only way to fully absorb their music is to put in the time with repeated listening and reading the lyrics. Fortunately, that's not a problem with an album as thought-provoking as Say Yes to Love.

Bogguss has been quick to say that this is not a tribute album, but of course it is, both to the power and rough-edged beauty of Haggard's songwriting, and to Bogguss' creative and spiritual affinity to singing those songs. It's a match made in Honky Tonk Heaven, actually, although don't expect to hear any of these tracks on contemporary country radio.

Despite its authoritative command of the languages it speaks, it carefully hews a meditative space for the listener at heart level inside the music; it is both inviting and enveloping.

Startling numbers like the block-rockin' then dissolving "Real" crop up throughout the album and make this project even more than a sum of its parts, and with the track list flowing smoothly as attractive guests (Danny Brown, Raekwon, Scarface, Mac Miller, and the list goes diversely and gloriously on) come and go, Piñata winds up excellent overall.

Despite this one skippable moment ["Beautiful"], Kiss Me Once is a glittering, fun, and surprisingly powerful album that's classic Kylie through and through.

The darkness seems more dire and the fun moments feel more exciting and reckless, making All Her Fault a new chapter in a history of successes.

His impressive mastery of sounds is now matched by the quality of the songs, and overall one would be hard-pressed to find a better, more satisfying electronic dance music album in 2014, or anytime.

Happiness Is shows that they've honed their skills, creating a beautifully crafted, well-constructed album that feels like more than merely a collection of songs, but rather an album full of soaring builds and heartbreaking collapses that lends credence to the notion that the best things come to those who wait.

Even if it's not quite as striking an achievement as WIXIW, it's a lot of fun and shows, once again, that Liars are unquestionably themselves no matter how much they push their boundaries.

Darlings comes across as a more focused and decidedly more solo effort than its predecessor.

This new direction is one that suits the band well, and although it may seem like they've put their bar rock days in their rear view mirror, it's seems pretty clear that the band is heading toward a big, arena rock future.

Ibibo Sound Machine is an auspicious debut. The producers molded their rhythms around that beautiful voice with taste, creativity, and integrity, and the band plays the hell out of it all.

The group may be following a blueprint, but they believe they're following their own course, and that conviction is convincing.

Though they took over a decade to follow up their first album, Two still sounds like a band a decade ahead of its time.

The Soul of the Hour confirms that Gallon Drunk are bloodied but unbowed, still raging against the world around them and just as powerful as ever.

The Imagined Savior Is Far Easier to Paint is provocative: its moodiness, myriad musical directions, and 79-minute length may be initially off-putting. What is revealed with repeated listening, however, is that this set's achievement is commensurate with its ambition.

The album reaches its apex on the soaringly beautiful "Flight Song," evoking at once the best elements and most reflective shades of Eno, Aphex Twin, and free jazz saxophonist Marion Brown.

If E Volo Love was his breakout, Piano Ombre should be the record that will truly resonate with fans.

The result is an electronic album that sounds nothing like electronic music, and manages to relate complex, well-crafted moods with a deceptively spare sonic palette.

Bless Off is a single-minded beast of an album that seeks only to inspire the listener to hit the streets and take some risks, making a case for the idea that a life that isn't lived dangerously is a life that's barely lived at all.

As with Until Tomorrow, McFarlane produced the whole thing--an understated yet dazzling second album that is more imaginative than the impressive first.

The lush, colorful songs combine orchestral arrangements, choirs, drums, and a variety of singers in an ambitious multinational pop collaboration.

What underlies the handclaps and radiant melodies on their sophomore album Divisionary are songs that noticeably delve deeper into philosophical and darker themes than the wide-eyed optimism that engulfed their debut, and marks the evolution the band have undergone.

Strangers wavers between the sad and joyous sides of life, but Felice finds something out of the ordinary wherever he looks, and this record confirms this drummer just so happens to be a songwriter and frontman of the first order.

Call it sustainable punk--the kind that doesn't need to burn out or fade away.

Dissed is the kind of record that feels like it came out of nowhere to blow minds, and even though you can trace it clearly when you check out his previous work with the band Ovens or early solo recordings, it trumpets Molina's arrival with 12 short blasts of perfection.

While Hot Dreams is slightly less immediate than Creep on Creepin' On, its potent cocktail of menace, glamour, and vulnerability is nothing less than transporting.

Just Because doesn't break down any walls in its bid for pop/rock superiority, but with voices this pure and earworms this painless it doesn't have to, as the Gruskas have crafted a timeless-sounding collection of songs with contemporary tools, and most importantly, they've done it with finesse.

Cope is more than just the sound of a band getting by; it's the sound of Manchester Orchestra at their best.

This band's disciplined, sensitive unity expresses Adams' fresh, expansive musical vision with elegance and grit, humor and pathos, tenderness and sensuality.

It makes the album a true pleasure to listen to, and Physical World gives Game Preserve a run for its money as Davenport's best stuff yet.

Motion represents something different, with its first three tracks being composed and realized from the ground up in the recording studio, seeing Holtkamp move away from some of the live looping and sample-based composition of previous work.

At 74, he is in assured command of his voice, and better understands the deeper well it resonates from.

Inner Fire is a showcase for the Souljazz Orchestra's depth and experience.

This set is sly, funny, cunning, occasionally evil, and entertaining throughout.