Gold and Green may be the band's most approachable album, but as with all their releases, it's a charming reminder that experimental music doesn't have to sound like it was hard work to make.

The Door is a beautifully mysterious and deeply satisfying entry in the ECM canon and a very auspicious debut.

As carefully crafted as it is, this is the group's most accessible record yet. And it's a damn fine one at that.

Ask the Dust is one of the more interesting and compelling electro albums of 2012.

This is the worthy sequel to the group's Madlib collaboration In Search of Stoney Jackson, and that's meant as high praise.

Discount the general masses not attuned to UFOmammut's unique but long-established formula, and their dedicated followers shan't have to expend too many of their remaining neurons grasping the full enormity of the band's accomplishment, even though this second sibling falls just short of its elder twin overall.

Fortress is a driving album that not only doesn't feel tired or stale, but is a monster of an album that makes a pretty solid case for being some of Alter Bridge's strongest and most dynamic work to date.

They make everything work, really, and Inventions ends up being one of the better garage psych revival records anyone's likely to hear in 2013.

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.

Pick any track off The Golden Age of Glitter, drop it into the middle of the Dazed and Confused soundtrack, and not only would it fit, you'd probably turn it up. That's a serious compliment for this particular band.

Black Beauty is one of the strongest and most consistent albums of his hard rock period, and if it isn't quite a lost classic, it's the missing link between Vindicator and Love's Reel to Real; it's nearly as good as the former and genuinely superior to the latter.

Subtle, compellingly human, and bittersweet, this is easily Landry's best work.

Ashes & Dust is a worthy and welcome addition to Haynes' catalog.

Winning results on From Far Enough Away Everything Sounds Like the Ocean.

South Broadway Athletic Club seems like a typical Bottle Rockets album on the surface, but dig a bit deeper and you'll find a set of songs as strong and emotionally powerful as anything this band has delivered since 24 Hours a Day.

As personal and inward-gazing as Ryder-Jones' songs are, he imbues them with a weary comfort, inviting listeners along rather than detaching himself, and if making fine albums like West Kirby County Primary is his form of therapy, he's bound for success.

Rain Crow doesn't blaze many new trails for Tony Joe White, but it leaves no doubt that he's still the king of his own swampy sound, and he's not getting older, he's getting deeper.

The Family isn't a grand statement, but an intimate one. Despite the dark threads that run through it and bind it, this collection is as moving as it is harrowing, as tender as it is tenacious. It's an album Arthur had to make, and as such is completely redemptive.

Unseen may not cheer you up, but it will compel and fascinate anyone with an appetite for great songwriting.

Altogether, the album's palette and Jacklin's cracking, pensive delivery land her in a sphere with heavy-hitters such as Sharon Van Etten and Angel Olsen, with a touch of Lucinda Williams, making it a must for fans of thoughtful indie folk.

Though hushed, lush, and intimate psych-folk may not have been anyone's first choice for where Hanson's path might lead next, The Unborn Capitalist from Limbo is beautiful and strange, and proves to be a trip well worth taking.

While Impressions does seem a little weighed down, it's really a document of their struggle, making their second attempt to leave the runway somewhat relatable; inevitably, it's hard not to root for them as they spread their wings independently.

I'm a Harmony isn't the revelation that Parallelograms was, but it's not a letdown, either; this is the work of an artist whose singular creative viewpoint hasn't dimmed with time. She still has a great deal to say, and those who loved her debut will discover she hasn't lost her touch.

It's chock-full of refreshing, sophisticated ideas, all balanced by an empathic, emphatic inclusiveness that engages the listener at both musical and emotional levels.

Outsiders has a strong foundation but sounds effervescent, a combination that frequently results in giddy, intoxicating pop, which is what this album is.

Instead of distracting, Ribbons' tangents add to its masterful feel--at this point in Wilkinson's career, his music is so rich that he can bring any aspect of it to the fore in ways that feel equally natural and surprising.

The very existence of Jazz Fest: The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival indicates how the event has become a cultural institution, influencing countless other regional festivals in the decades since while retaining a unique blend of local institution and tourist destination. Smithsonian Folkways remarkably re-creates that appeal with their box set, offering 50 live tracks recorded at the fest over its 50 years, a collection that illustrates how far beyond jazz the festival has grown.

A paranoid set that's nonetheless cathartic and dependably fun.