Off to Business doesn't break much new ground for Pollard, but what is different is that he's clearly put a great deal more thought and care into this disc than anything he's put out since From a Compound Eye, and the result is an album that sounds like an album rather than the latest bunch of tunes Pollard banged together, and that makes all the difference in the world.

The surfaces of this album may seem less bold than the albums that immediately preceded it, but All I Intended to Be is the work of a consummate artist who is still reaching out to new places even when she points to her creative history.

Filled with bold, entertaining wordplay and plenty of well-executed, left-field ideas, Tha Carter III should be considered as a wild, somewhat difficult child of Weezy's magnum opus in motion, one that allows the listener an exhilarating and unapologetic taste of artistic freedom.

In Rubin's hands, Seeing Things plays like a songwriter playing his newest songs in your living room--a seductive feeling that no Wallflowers record ever captured, which is an excellent reason for Dylan to step out on his own.

The greatest thing Coldplay may have learned from Eno is his work ethic, as they demonstrate a focused concentration throughout this tight album--it's only 47 minutes yet covers more ground than "X&Y" and arguably "A Rush of Blood to the Head"--that turns Viva la Vida into something quietly satisfying.

While "Real Life" was so fully realized that it seemed to have a life of its own, To Survive feels more like songs written by somebody than something that materialized because it had to.

Both youthful and novel--Li was twenty-one upon its release, which may explain both her occasional goofy vocal affectations and the hesitant freshness of her sound--it's hard to pigeonhole but refreshingly easy to enjoy.

Tooth of Crime is a smart, absorbing, and beautifully disquieting collection of songs that could have come from no one else but T Bone Burnett, and it shows that one of America's best songwriters may be working at a very deliberate pace but he still has some remarkable things left to tell us.

The release of the Cool Kids' debut EP still radiated sonic excitement, a blast at once sharp, funny and intimate. Here, after all, is a triumph of absolute aestheticism.

With Don't Do Anything, Sam Phillips has struck out on her own with a work that's among her most challenging to date, and it reveals that she's held on to the gifts that have made her one of the most rewarding singer/songwriters of her generation while adding fresh accents as she follows her muse with commendable courage and clarity.

The sound is fleshed out much more than Joan of Arc has been for some time, and it's an easy album to be affected by — at least for fans of confessional post-rock, Chicago style.

The Dream isn't just produced well but also programmed well, only slowing down after 73 minutes to a gradual halt on the dreamy underwater backbeats of 'Codes' and the beatless closer 'Orbisonia.'

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.

On Med Sud I Eyrum Vid Spilum Endalaust you can really hear the human hearts behind the wall of sound, and while the emotional impact is on a smaller scale, somehow it is even more affecting.

At times, the album's extended jams get a bit wearing, but Ice Cream Spiritual! shows that Ponytail's music is still equal parts challenging, melodic, and fun.

While the first half of the album is more eclectic, the second half is just as groovy although less varied. Unlike bands like The Maccabees, The Kooks and The Wombats, the album holds up all the way through, never repeating the same formula song after song.

It's ideal music for headphones, where the clever production can reveal all of its layers.

Fans of the first two albums might find it difficult to adjust, but Digi Snacks brings that "through the looking glass" feeling and offers a murky world unto itself, one where Wu-Tang Batmans and blaxploitation anime seem entirely possible.

All in all, Forgiven proves that Los Lonely Boys are around for the long haul, making records that separate their sound from their influences, and further establishes their identity as one of America's premier roots bands.

For every tempest like "Lassoo" or "Neptune's Call," there's an unabashedly pretty moment like the almost serene "Wooden Heart" or "Sovereign," either of which would have been completely out of place on Cuts Across the Land — but it's the depth, power, and flair of moves like these that make Neptune the real introduction to the Duke Spirit.

Here, they [Beck and Danger Mouse] deliver enough substance and style to make Modern Guilt an effective dosage of 21st century paranoia.

Partie Traumatic is a very good debut that manages to earn a huge chunk of the hype that was thrown willy-nilly in the band's direction.

Instead of changing their sound to accommodate a wider palette of sounds, they wisely chose to incorporate them into their aesthetic. It's an inspired move that will help them keep their old fans and still allow the duo to progress musically.

Object 47 highlights Wire's pop credentials, but the band hasn't lost its edge.

It may be only their first full-length, but Time:Line is a strong showing from both musicians, and promises what could be a very fruitful partnership.

A couple tracks might sonically resemble inferior versions of years-old tracks that helped make Nas a hip-hop deity and, nearly ten years after Nas was first accused of selling out, he might still sound a little awkward over radio-friendly productions. But the MC has never made an album as engrossing or as necessary as this one.

It not only re-establishes him as a pioneer, but as an engaging personae who isn't hiding behind his sonic palette anymore; his music is all the better for it.

Far from being a throwaway side project, this unique album is as refreshing as a gapper to right center, providing, of course, it's your team up at the plate.