You're Driving Me Crazy is as energetic as any live show. Of the three successive recordings done in this way, this one stands head and shoulders above for its inspired performances and choices of material.

Just as the group's first two albums fit into the shoegaze revival category without coming close to playing by the rules, Miserable Miracles demonstrates Pinkshinyultrablast's truly unique approach to making pop music, which is equally as exciting and refreshing.

At its core, Attention Attention is a fun, engaging ride, maintaining Shinedown's power while making subtle bids to attract a wider audience.

At 13 tracks, Let's Make Love drags just a little, especially in its first quarter, but as a whole, it's a welcome comeback from an enduringly creative act.

Their sonic restlessness never falls off track into musical excess, but instead allows keen articulation of the plethora of identities found in non-Anglo culture, and denotes the places they intersect. Besides, you can dance your ass off while absorbing its coded messages. Bravo.

While a bit mercurial in nature, by its overall impression, How Many Times Have You Driven By is a grooving, otherworldly standout that establishes Vu as one to watch.

it's a record that reflects how James always swing for the fences. As such, the album can be a little exhausting for those who aren't true believers--there is plenty going on in the songs and productions but no direct way inside--but can prove to be fascinating for the dedicated sort who choose immersion over skimming.

Like contemporaries AFI and Rise Against, age and experience have smoothed out the band's delivery (Skiba's stint with blink-182 could also be a contributing factor), resulting in less danger and gloom. However, Cursed is ultimately an enjoyable ride, packed with rousing anthems.

Steeped in the lurching, groove-laden thrash attack of the band's late-'90s/early-2000s heyday, Ritual evokes the savagery of Cavalera's tenure with Sepultura, eschewing some of the more overt world music predilections that have come to define Soulfly over the years with something leaner and more uncompromising.

Those who expected Blow. to be McCaslin's return to jazz will likely be disappointed. That said, those who enjoy adventurous rock--indie, prog, and otherwise--will likely find the album to be greatly enjoyable and perhaps even revelatory.

The first album from the rebooted Test Dept. is an update of their '80s aesthetic, with metallic percussion, dramatic samples, and aggressive, political lyrics all forming the basis of the group's sound.

Fans of Veronica Falls can still lament that the band is gone for good, but Patience is a fine substitute that delivers the same great songs and deep feelings only in a different package.

To Each His Own goes down plenty easy, due in large part to the effortless soft rock arrangements--warm electric piano, weepy pedal steel, lush harmonies--but all of those breezy pop vibes would feel rote were it not for Pulido's affable presence and keen ear for melody.

Instead of drowning in dense reflections, these songs see Cohen carefully, patiently sorting them out, and creating another stellar work of art in the process.

While Love + Light feels a lot rougher than Avery's first two solo albums, and initially takes a few more listens to fully appreciate, it's just as inspired and creative.

Mature and consistently satisfying, Limbo is a statement-making highlight in the rapper's discography.

Musically dense and emotionally candid, the risks Cults take on Host make it a grower that embellishes on their strengths with flair.

The stylistic shifts can be jarring, but Taylor sells the hell out it, and in doing so manages to bring some fun into the often-dour Slipknot universe.

Bonamassa has plenty of opportunity to show his facility with synthesizing different classic guitarists -- there's a bit of Rory Gallagher and Peter Green to offset his Claptonisms -- but the best moment on Royal Tea is "A Conversation with Alice," a chiming bit of soul-pop where he channels the best moments of Steve Marriott.

The duo end up complementing each other brilliantly, as their ideas flow spontaneously yet are executed with precision, resulting in a genuinely free-spirited, joyous work.

Faster may piss off blues purists, but that's their problem. Fish uses the genre aptly in these well-crafted songs; she extends their reach to dance with sophisticated modern pop that in turn gleefully meets her brand of unruly rockin' blues.

The unexpected touches, such as Glasper's own drunk-funk drums on "Shine" and the Theo Parrish-like beatdown house gait of "Everybody Love" (featuring Musiq Soulchild and Posdnous), are as welcome as the familiar ones.

Alienating and cathartic at once, Island Family ends on the collage-like tech satire "Remote Control" for a shared cabin fever experience.

Adding to an already impressive list of achievements, HAAi's first full-length is a stunner.

Down Tools shows Mush can smooth down their surfaces a bit and still sound challenging and subversively witty, and as long as they do, they'll be worth hearing.

Art Moore's ten meticulously sculpted tracks balance sadness and hope, softening the blow of Vick's lyrical gut-punches with glistening sonics and gentle musical counterpoint.

Direction of the Heart is an album by a band that still has something to prove. They deliver big. Without forsaking their core sound, they offer listeners energized, anthemic, poignant, electro-charged rock & roll.

Fields sings everything with the expected high level of conviction, covering nearly the gamut of blue-collar soul subjects with devotion and heartache at the fore. His performances elevate the material when it's merely functional.

Less serious-feeling moments like "Zombie World" and "This Isn't Funny" call back to the juvenile spirit of early Half Japanese, but the majority of Jump into Love finds Fair and his band communicating messages of joy and promise with strangely heavy tunes that don't quite sonically match their optimistic sentiments.

As the creator and master of his own distinctive palette, he delivers another nuanced and well-crafted album.

Club Romantech flows like a well-curated DJ set, and by imagining the club night of their dreams, Icona Pop prove they've still got EDM-pop down to an art.

Alex Izenberg & the Exiles is an album for late nights, back porches, and lonely weekends, and another intriguing entry in the growing catalog of a distinctive music personality.

The editing and sequencing on Downstate are more a part of the listening experience here than on the previous album, with quick transitions, trippy fades, and unexpected pitch changes all adding weirdness to an already warped set of jams.

It's an engaging sound adjustment for the band that's unlikely to leave many fans of their label debut behind.

While the Morrissey comparisons are inevitable this time around, Brigitte Calls Me Baby put their own soaring, lovesick twist on influences here, resulting in a dramatic sound all their own.

An album that begins as a one-woman cabaret show discussing humanity's past and future and remains the work of a singular voice, one that recognizes that silence is just as vital as music.

Elastic Days is another example of the strength and confidence he's gained from turning down the volume.

This is the least polished and crafted recording of Rickie Lee Jones' career, and it stands alone in her catalog. It's a ragged kid in ripped blue jeans singing her heart out to you without drama or falsity. How can it be anything less than a masterpiece?

Drifters/Love Is the Devil spans nearly every sound in Dirty Beaches' musical spectrum to make another strongly evocative album in Hungtai's body of work.

It's an incredible feat for an artist to make something so enormous and unfolding without losing himself in the process, but McGuire has done just that, and as a result has turned in his most detailed and soul-searching work.

Every track on this album is excellent in its own way.

It's Goldfrapp's most sophisticated work to date, and one of their most consistently satisfying albums.

Easily his most accessible material, there's still a lot of uncomfortable emotional and sonic wreckage to sift through. Peeling back the layers of grime and giving listeners a chance to sift through it for themselves makes I Have to Feed Larry's Hawk feel like a debut from this already storied songwriter.

As disorienting as Future Teenage Cave Artists gets, it packs a potent emotional wallop.

A manifesto that only Deerhoof could create, Actually, You Can is a perfect example of how they achieve what seems like the impossible time and time again -- and with its heroic doses of fun and optimism, it reminds listeners that actually, they can too.

Tribute To remains reverent despite those unique touches, however, and Jim James (or Yim Yames, or whatever he's calling himself nowadays) sounds fairly fantastic throughout.

For Holy Fuck, Latin is a monumental step forward. By trimming back the choppy art-house disjointedness and quirky Casio tones, the band has successfully evolved their sound into something much more provocative, heavy duty, and rewarding.

On the whole a solid set of songs, the album's influences play out consistently across a wistfully romantic atmosphere that should appeal to both lovers and the lonelyhearted.

Ultimately, Carpenter feels like she's writing from her own relatable experience on Man's Best Friend and while her tongue remains firmly planted in her cheek, the album has plenty of pop bite.

Descendents are playing punk rock for the same reasons they always did--they want to, and they need to--and the fact they can mature while sounding thoroughly like themselves makes Hypercaffium Spazzinate a welcome late-era addition to their catalog.

Sloan have solved their problem by giving each member room to roam, and they're winding up with records that are rich emotionally and musically, illustrating that it is possible for a classicist guitar pop band like Sloan to grow with each passing year.

A couple dramatic moments don't quite take full flight, and a handful of tracks are tepid and unmemorable, but OnMyRadio is mostly another set of sturdily constructed laid-back R&B.

While Ignore the Ignorant isn't perfect--Gary and Ryan Jarman's guileless vocals don't always jell with their slick surroundings--it is unquestionably some of the Cribs' most accomplished and diverse music.

This more polished and tuneful exercise in modern-day folk-rock is effective and engaging music that speaks from the heart and soul.

For a band that was once so self-assured and able to utilize its talents so compellingly, the album is regrettably haphazard.

Nimol's vocals are as beguiling as ever, Ethan Holtzman's Farfisa organ still swirls, Zac Holtzman's guitars still chime and chunk, and Paul Dreux Smith's drums clang happily along.

From a purely instrumental standpoint, this album is the equal of the Beastie Boys' Paul's Boutique, but without the recognizable hooks--every sound here is ultra-obscure and the more entertaining for it.

Fine song structure and an overall album flow that's nearly perfect are things Bonobo regulars might expect at this point, but his discography hasn’t offered up a rainy day soundtrack so fitting until this one, so hope the weatherman has bad news and plan on staying in.

If you're in the market for an album that will summon the dark atmospheres, Death Song certainly delivers the goods, and it demonstrates that the Black Angels slowly but surely improve each time they go into the studio.

A consistently winning album, Primal Heart finds Kimbra hitting the sweet spot between imagination and accessibility--if her nods to the mainstream get more ears pointed her way, so much the better.

The original lyrics tend to be powerful enough to fit in with the extensive quotations, whether Mhysa is referencing a black spiritual, Lucille Clifton, or Janet Jackson.

If Not Winter is the work of an artist who thinks and dreams big, and it secures Wisp's place as one of the acts defining the sound of shoegaze in the 2020s.

Star Line is vibrant and energetic, with his signature blend of mellow, friendly hip-hop, gospel, neo-soul, and jazz gracing the instrumentals and his voice as high-spirited and charismatic as ever.

Though it's distressing to hear yet another artist hop about the retro-stylized British soul-pop bandwagon, rapper-turned-singer Ben Drew nonetheless comes up with an impressive and fairly unique album that transcends the usual comparisons to Amy Winehouse vocally and Mark Ronson musically.

At times, Temper's focus means it doesn't have quite as much sweetly mysterious atmosphere as Pioulard's earlier work, but when the final track, 'Hesperus,' evaporates like waking from a dream, it's proof that there are plenty of moments to get lost in here.

Some of the songs are restrained and bare to the point of being plain and easy to disregard, but they succeed in accentuating La Havas' thoughtful and often sharp words.

There's a haunted, kaleidoscopic quality to No Rule Sandy that has the feeling of listening to an old phone message from a loved one you might have forgotten, or watching grainy home movies -- familiar, yet new.

"It's fine if we are by our side," Genders sings, which, despite the triteness of the statement, provides a nice ending to the record, lighter and breezier, balancing the concern with enjoyment, and making Good Arrows a very complete album indeed.

It may not be flashy but it's sturdy and expertly honed, reflecting Finn's craftsmanship on a song-by-song basis but holding together better as an album than any Finn project in recent memory.

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.

Oddisee is a pro at boiling a whirlwind of thoughts and emotions down to concise, relatable songs, and To What End contains some of his most deeply personal work to date.

At 32 minutes, Alone in the Universe is remarkably devoid of excess--notably, it's just five minutes longer than his breezy 2012 covers album Long Wave--but it doesn't feel shrugged off, nor does it feel especially attached to its time.

This is a beautiful, expertly paced release that logically fits in with both artists' Editions Mego discographies, both as solo artists and with Fenn O'Berg.

As with their last album, the prominence of the violin continues to diminish, but what the strings lack in ubiquity they make up for in impact, making an impression when they appear rather than just fading into the background. This kind of refinement of their sound paints a picture of an older and wiser Yellowcard whose members are confident enough in their abilities that they can step away from the gimmick that initially set them apart from the pack and let their songwriting do the talking.

Great news is The Documentary 2 sounds effortless and winds up awesome because of it.

With such a tight, urgent sound, Songs for Singles is an EP that'll give Torche fans enough new music to whet their appetites, but it's definitely going to leave them hungry for more.

Although Uzi's post-breakup pain rears its head throughout the entirety of the album, many of the tracks are too fun to get too bogged down in emotions.

At less than 32 minutes, Back Being Blue doesn't last long enough to wear out its welcome, but it could run twice as long and still be a treat; it's an easygoing but richly satisfying release from an artist who shares her talents all too rarely.

Overall, this is one of Ronson's best works--a complete pop album.

Hotter singles make their debut a better buy, but for a group pegged as a one-hit wonder early on, SremmLife 2 dispels that myth with style.

His enigmatic lyrics, pastoral West coast melodies, and blissfully androgynous voice rule the roost here.

Easily the singer's most stylistically wide-ranging album, it is also one of his brightest, poppiest, and most fun.

The band sounded just fine before, quite properly psychedelic and dream state-y; on Freaks of Nurture they have made all the right moves to jump themselves out of the pack and up near the front of the line of their fellow time-traveling freaks.

It's a promising debut that should appeal particularly to fans of its electro-pop-minded contributors.

It seems that no matter what he adds or subtracts, Jesu's recordings, have a defined feel that is, though lyrically and texturally beautiful, somewhat two-dimensional. That said, Ascension remains a deeply satisfying recording.

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

It may be nothing all that new, but whether it's a nostalgia trip or a first-time discovery of just how well noise and melody can blend together, Kudos is vital listening for indie rock fans in 2011.

Even in their best moments, every move feels overly calculated and wraps up so nicely that even what are intended as unpredictable turns are pretty predictable.

While he still peppers his rock anthems with flourishes from an adept jazz-informed horn section, Electric Slave is his most primitive album to date.

While the creative process might be something that's constantly changing for Lott and Son Lux, the one thing that's remained consistent is the level of quality, making Lanterns an album that easily lives up to, and even exceeds, any expectations fans would have for the project.

Conquistador marks another fine chapter in this intrepid frontiersman's musical journey.

Musically, Mellencamp seems to have been listening closely to the first five Bob Dylan albums, paying more attention to the first of them, the largely traditional, folk-blues-styled Bob Dylan, than the last, the folk-rock "Bringing It All Back Home."

The thing about this album is, it shows the power of craft across the board: he's become a vivid, imaginative producer and now he's writing songs to match.

it's potent proof that the Strokes can still surprise. Full of passion, commitment, and creativity, The New Abnormal marks the first time in a while that the Strokes have made truly exciting music.

Their new sound might scare off some of the psych lovers who dug their debut, but for anyone looking for some weird heavy rock noise, Golem fits the bill.

The band's brash and passionate attitude is clearly defined and witnessed in the music of this indie release, keeping the best of indie post-rock alive and kicking.

The Eminem Show is essentially a holding pattern, but it's a glorious one -- one that proves Eminem is the gold standard in pop music in 2002, delivering stylish, catchy, dense, funny, political music that rarely panders.

Bittersweet songs like "Grey Clouds" and "What I Lose" are more subdued than prior work, but ultimately The Inevitable Past is a solid addition to the discography of an indie rock fixture.