This is indie pop at its absolute finest, Gold-Bears telling their own story of resentment and an always slippery grip on love with the same melancholic charm as some of the many unheard legends of the C-86 scene or the mixtape champions of the American underground.

Youth and the group walk the line between grandiose and epic throughout, never falling on the wrong side even once.

Sunbathing Animal may not be the shock to the system that Light Up Gold was; it may not be quite the sensation. It is the work of bandmembers in total control of their sound, doing exactly what they should on a second album.

While his songs may individually fall into any of these genres, he is first and foremost a songwriter. Thankfully, that is what he does, and he does it as well as anyone in recent memory.

Overall, Movements lives up to its name perfectly, moving listeners to get on the dancefloor, moving them to feel something real, and moving We Have Band right up to the top echelon of modern dance-rock acts.

Ultimately, on Towards, We Were Evergreen have moved slightly left of the indie pop center and achieved something quite interesting and enjoyable.

Even at its bleakest, Fortuna reveals more colors and emotions at the band's disposal than Antipodes did, and its unsettled songs become oddly comforting and endearing with repeated listening.

Underneath the amplification, the songs are still there and still sturdy, but the buzz of stomp boxes hides that craft while also suggesting the songs run much longer than they do (most of the songs barely tap out over three minutes).

Between the fine ensemble playing, the excellent songwriting, and the subtle but superb studio technique, Tightrope is a high-water mark for Chatham County Line, which is no small statement given the strength of their work to date.

Runaway's Diary is the rarest kind of concept record: one that wears the seriousness of its topics like a light jacket, and whose inventive musical savvy counters the restlessness of the soul at its subject's core.

Winter and Benge often seem to be living out their fantasy of being Cabaret Voltaire members as the bloops, the bubbles, and the time-rips are all familiar devices, but so be it, and more please, and another listen for this one as well.

This set might not be as insularly perfect as the Secret Sisters' first album, but it's ultimately just as impressive, if not more so, breaking the duo out of that "honky tonk made of fine glass" feel that could have easily trapped them creatively and artistically.

Those eight songs are noisy psychedelic pop at its best, however, on par with anything else treading a similar path.

If you're just looking for some furiously raw background music, Trash Talk will do just fine, but if you're hoping that the songs will hit as hard as the band does, No Peace is a real letdown.

While Lee Bains III & the Glory Fires may be a great rock & roll band, they haven't quite cracked the code on making a great album, at least in terms of audio, and Dereconstructed manages to be impressive, encouraging, and frustrating at the same time.

This is an understated and promising first step from an unpredictable and distinctive talent.

It hammers the anger home in most tunes, and that's exactly what he feels young people around the world are projecting. He's telling them they're not only heard, but that he feels it too.

The album is endlessly engaging, offering a look inside the band's collective head as a carefree playground of sounds where dour string sections melt into watery piano loops, driving electronic drum samples, and spirals of angelic vocals without missing a beat.

Sure, there's artifice and humor here, but there's also heart, and this blend of emotions is what makes A Letter Home one of Neil Young's quintessential, endearingly odd records.

A U R O R A is dark, dreadful, and dramatic; it is also a masterpiece.

Gustaph and Rouge Mary also prove to be ideal foils for Butler, who still makes his songs tight, powerful, and optimally shaped.

Do It Again is a much happier reunion of collaborators with perfectly matched strengths.

While still immersed in songs of emotional ravagement and betrayal, the confidence of her performances and spectrum of sounds represented here suggest a complete graduation from troubled, uncertain roots into a place where she can deliver her songs with a powerful, borderless command.

Even at its most wounded and immediate, the cavernous "Riverbed" and the spooky yet oddly comforting "Passions," there is a rich vein of humanity that remains tapped into.

Carey unfortunately doesn't feel nostalgic for the succinctness of her early albums, but this shows that she's still capable of delivering 40 minutes of strong, supremely voiced R&B when she's up for it.

Plenty of other modern acts have gone for the gold with this type of powerhouse, '80s-inspired electro-pop, but Kibby's material feels more memorable and has the weight to back up the heavy production.

He's a modern-day Southern boy, raised on radio pop played in big box stores and playing the back porch on a Sunday afternoon, and those two strands come together beguilingly on this second album.

Together, these two Unplugged Sessions--which, in this incarnation, include 11 performances not featured on either broadcast--make for a bit of a treat for hardcore R.E.M. fans, a document when the group was near the peak of their powers.

The result is an album of brilliantly charged and catchy songcraft. Even coming out of crushing pain, Changing Light is an impeccable statement of love and regret.

Forget the World plays more like a collection of 12"s than a well-tempered album.

As an artist of uncommon ability, he has learned from its hallowed lineage and storied past that in order for it to evolve, it cannot be reined in; it must be free to roam in order to create its future. His visionary work on this album opens the gate wide on that frontier.

If indeed they are carrying the torch for the classic Canterbury sound, they're doing it smartly and on their own unique terms, with another impressive stop on their road of discovery.

Groovy things still happen when Mr. Scruff downsizes, so write "less samples, more music" on the back of this one and reach for it often.

Volume X isn't quite as consistent as Trans Am's finest work, but it's still a lot of fun and will have fans anticipating what's to come between this album and Volume XX.

It may have taken four albums to get there, but Smoke Fairies have assumed control of the ship.

Shade Themes from Kairos is striking in that it not only hosts a variety of tones and colors based on dynamics, textures, and yes, the illusory stretching of time, but it reflects a true collaboration by principals who are actually investigating what the possibilities of the latter might sound like were it actually possible.

Moving gracefully between stretched-out and melancholic space rock sprawl and frothing explosions of psych rock power, Bo Ningen display complete control of their seemingly unhinged muse, creating an always colorful album that travels a spectrum of sounds based on other planets as well as the depths of the band's collective nervous system.

Aldred is in top form here, and with Elliot's help he's unearthed a music box filled with undeniable loveliness, but the songs are as fleeting as they are lustrous; museum pieces without placards.

Holland not only delivers her most intuitively crafted and realized collection to date, but she expands the boundaries and possibilities for American roots music in the process.

The result is a relaxed, conversational album with stronger songs than some of the band's earlier efforts, looking over concepts of aging gracefully without succumbing to the clichés that often come along with such trains of thought.

Without reinventing the wheel too much, Newcombe delivers another slice of his breed of highly evolved rock & roll genius with this album, further polishing his ever dangerous songwriting skills and offering a vivid spectrum of production, stylistic distractions, and psychedelic black holes for the listener to get swallowed up by.

Wild Crush is the point where Archie Bronson Outfit move from being a good band to becoming a truly great band.

Given its all-encompassing title, it's fitting that ∞ (Infinity) is one of Tiersen's most ambitious albums, but its grand scale only magnifies his music's heartfelt beauty.

It's to their credit that Plaid aren't preoccupied with being cutting-edge on Reachy Prints. Instead, they bring the playful, brainy spirit of their best work over the years into the 21st century with lively results.

It crash-lands, abruptly ending an album that, depending on the amount of time spent with it, will seem either fragmentary and hollow or fathoms deep--either a trifle or among the group's most remarkable work.

Oberst remains an eccentric--he's not one for obvious hooks, or even insistent melodies--but of all his albums, Upside-Down Mountain feels open-hearted, measured, and bright, the kind of record that opens up a new chapter in a career and possibly wins over new listeners.

If your heart is shattered and you want to slide into self-pity, turn here. If you are feeling free and want to woo a new love, turn here. If you want to just enjoy every soft, supple turn a rock band could do, turn here. Coldplay are here for comfort, as Ghost Stories proves time and time again.

Ishibashi follows suit with the meaty "Carry on Phenomenon," a lyrically impenetrable, impossibly catchy blast of ELO worship that, like all of the songs on the tightly packed rainbow canon that is Lighght, skillfully applies a dizzying array of bells and whistles to what is essentially a simple, relatable, and reliable pop melody.

Anyone who enjoys their pop with extra wry and some sobering awareness should love What Have We Become?, but it's the Beautiful South faithful who will rightfully gush over the release, as these antiheroes have lost none of their touch or fatalistic flair.

Lithium Burn's relative straightforwardness makes it easy to enjoy these songs for what they are--and stands as a testament to the growth that comes out of compromise and sacrifice.

While Young Widows might not be as loud as they used to be, it's possible that the band's sound is as heavy, or heavier, than it has ever been, making Easy Pain the band's moodiest and most engaging work to date.

It was obviously inspired by the live recordings of Lynyrd Skynyrd, and it blisters. Despite the single misstep, Live Rain is a worthy stopgap between studio recordings.

Toth's gift for songwriting gives emotional resonance to the album's softly lit, somewhat dazed ambience, and the result is one of the more interesting chapters of Wooden Wand's always twisting oeuvre.

Dark Arc is a mixed bag.

It's both club- and cafe-ready, artsy, cool, and elusive enough to woo the Williamsburg contingency, yet soulful and lightly sweetened with warm Southern honey.

While Shortwave Nights might not be for everyone, Hiss Tracts have made an album of experimental music that feels like it was made to engage rather than alienate, casting aside inscrutability to create something surprisingly fragile and soulful.

Perhaps there are no permanent additions to her canon here, but the remarkable thing is how satisfying an album this is: it sounds good and the songs are sturdy, proof that Parton is far from resting on her laurels.

All of it comes together for an album that's deep, attractive, and well-executed, but it's also incredibly wise.

This album easily captures Guided by Voices doing what they've always done and always will do--ride their seemingly endless font of catchy tunes and crunchy riffs into infinity, and though this is no career-defining masterpiece, as a make-busy project for five guys stuck in a snowstorm, it's pretty great.

Tuning out the conceptual aspect is close to impossible, but there are some moments--as in the hypnotic "Shanghai Freeway"--that can be enjoyed on a purely musical level.

It's a careful and moody album, but fortunately, Dare has the grace to pull off his sonic and lyrical meanderings without devolving too deeply into self-conscious philosophizing or experimentation for its own sake, showing that he has both content and mystique to spare.

The folk singer/songwriter side of Mulvey is the one that is shown for most of the record, while his extensive influences flit in and out of each song, leaving their mark in the percussion, melody, and arrangement, but never taking center stage in his impressive repertoire.

This is easily some of McMahon's prettiest and most accessible music, and it's also some of his finest. In its own simple, graceful way, Love adds more depth to the rest of Amen Dunes' work.

Perhaps this isn't provocative but it's not meant to be: it's designed to be handsome, satisfying lifestyle rock, and it is.

One iffy joke don't stop no show, so take White Women as fun, frivolous, and floor-filling stuff where that slick '80s flair is gloriously bolstered by that modern dancefloor punch.

While Whitechapel's capacity for hatred and discontent is nothing new (especially in the world of death metal/deathcore), the relentlessness of the album's execution is impressive.

Ultima II Massage is a uniquely Black Moth and Tobacco experience to be sure, and anyone who's been exposed to their odd and wonderful world in the past will find this album to be among the best things to come out of it.

There's a consistency to the EP that can get lost when a band is trying to work their way toward a longer running time, so although fans might not be getting a big a dose of new Down material as they might crave, they're certainly reaping the benefits of quality over quantity.

Hour of the Dawn is great garage pop, some of the best being made in 2014, and is the best La Sera album yet.

Without the energy and the sonic thrills, they are just another pop band making music that's little more than a momentarily pleasant diversion.

Dave (of De La Soul) co-wrote "Mirror," as well as one of the other darker highlights, "Killing Me," a slowly swaying kiss-off in which Nagano seethes, "I'll take my rocket ship and get the hell outta this/Nothin' that I'm gon' miss." That song, along with the satisfying closer "Let Go," was co-produced by Robin Hannibal (Quadron, Rhye). Subtract those contributions and this would still be the group's most accomplished work.

his has long been Amos' calling card, this shimmering space between comfort and pain, but Unrepentant Geraldines trumps its predecessors by accentuating its polarity; it either seduces with its sweetness or it provokes with its pain, and either extreme is compelling.

Timbaland and Reid evoke the Michael Jackson we all love and miss, finding songs that are worthy and giving them arrangements that are simultaneously nostalgic and modern. It's a difficult trick to pull off but they largely succeed, so XSCAPE is a worthy and memorable coda to Jackson's career.

Songs stretch out longer here than they have on any previous Black Keys LP, but this doesn't feel indulgent due to the precision of the production; things may seem to drift but every bit of fuzz and echo is in its right place.

Without drastically cleaning up their act, the album turns in a subtler, more thoughtful take on some of the same contradictory themes of enthusiasm and bitterness that made their debut so enjoyable.

Along with the pseudo-bossa nova rhythms of "Naturally" and rolling melodic synth pop of "Heartless," the album takes gradual steps forward and shakes out to be one of Savage's more consistent collections.

Shine On, as a whole, has a similar trajectory; it starts from simple, sad emotions, then builds out into an embrace of love and life.

Michael Gira is a man unafraid to follow his muse wherever it may take him, and To Be Kind is another example of his singular vision writ large without compromise.

It's the kind of music that will always be polarizing, as some fans buy into it with fervor and zeal while other cringe from the first chord.

A few of Liam Finn's fans may be a bit puzzled by the more outré experiments on The Nihilist, but he's still writing great tunes and bringing them to life in an exciting way, and that--as much as the musical shape-shifting on these sessions--is what makes this album worthwhile.

While every bit as spare as some of his previous work, the slow-motion spaciousness of the album feels more rewarding and lasting, ultimately feeling like a guided journey through one soul's season of heavy times and beautiful resolution.

Life Among the Savages isn't the easiest Papercuts album to love, but over repeated listens the mood the restrained sound creates and the subtle emotion the songs convey are more than enough to win over anyone who decides to stick with it.

The moments of pop are catchy and engaging, but far more compelling are the songs that dig deeper into tense dynamics and protracted storytelling.

This is music ripped from one man's heart and soul, and if it sometimes makes you uncomfortable, that means Wovenhand have done their job well.

Lane's songs and delivery are strong throughout All or Nothin'; they're more polished and crafted than those on Walk of Shame.

While Creative Adult's short-fuse energy made their brooding earlier EP releases exciting, they've managed the difficult task of keeping that fire alive throughout what ends up being a lengthy and considered album, burning with a dark fire for the full duration of the 12 songs presented here.

Throughout it all, the album's sounds are so transporting that they carry the less accessible moments and make Breathing Statues an entrancing second effort.

Although this by no means makes the album unpleasant to listen to, it's more likely to have you reaching for some of the classic albums of decades past than giving it a second spin.

Artificial Sweeteners may not be their most instantly impressive album, 2008's Lightbulbs still has that honor, but it does sound great on first listen and continues to sink in deeper with each subsequent spin.

If their future recordings follow the template they built here, bis may just be on their way to truly becoming the great band they always seemed right on the verge of becoming.

She sounds every bit the wounded princess, unwilling to let anyone help her pick up the pieces as she delivers these lovely, sad songs from behind a shroud of her own making.

Growth and groundation are skillfully balanced on Southsiders, this is arguably the most deep and different album in the band's discography.

While some of these cuts are forgettable, his inventive engagement with Latin pop here is not only successful, but satisfying.

Natalie Merchant is not a progression so much as a deepening and, as such, it offers a quiet comfort for anyone who has ever loved her music.

Brightly Painted One sounds more like a loving tribute to a simpler, slower time and once decanted, the songs begin to take on a personality of their own.

Luminous proves the Horrors still have a sense of adventure; they sound comfortable, but not too comfortable to try new things.

Allen does indeed rally at unexpected moments--"Insincerely Yours" slides along to a yacht-soul groove, "Life for Me" cleverly twists Vampire Weekend's Graceland obsessions, and although the target of an Internet troll is beneath her, the barbs on "URL Badman" are at least sharpened--but these songs only put the rest of Sheezus in dreary relief.

It's an oddly nourishing album that's as big a step forward for tUnE-yArDs as W H O K I L L was from Bird-Brains.