Another Splash of Colour is a perfect jumping-off point that covers most of the important players--sadly, no Dukes of Stratosphear tracks were available--and does a great job capturing and defining an almost forgotten scene with the care it deserves.

The minimalism of Dodie's songs gracefully juxtaposes their sophistication, helping to illuminate the many revelatory pop moments that can be heard throughout Build a Problem.

If you're willing to get on board with Ezra Furman and the beautifully messy world that he celebrates here, Perpetual Motion People is a ride worth taking.

For serious listeners not content with the original vinyl and/or CD pressings, this excellent and thorough package is essential.

Throughout, The Silence doesn't rush, it slowly emerges; it doesn't bludgeon the listener with cluttered instrumentation or sonics, but it is seductively heavy due to spaciousness in the mix, warmth, and colorful imaginative textures.

Distilling discomfort into something more palatable is never easy, but with a name like the World Is a Beautiful Place & I Am No Longer Afraid to Die, the band probably knew that going in.

Throughout 7, Beach House feel more concerned with capturing moments fully rather than conforming to notions of what a cohesive album is. That these songs sound like they came from different albums is ultimately more refreshing than disorienting, and the excitement that courses through each track is palpable.

For Neale, the grainy imperfections and surreal experiments of Acquainted with Night open her songs up to an unforeseen world of solitary beauty and personality, where the clean, professional sound of earlier work rendered them a little bit anonymous.

The sleek, dramatic title track sets the stage with a lush, grooving indie rock bolstered by shimmery synths, textured guitar effects, and a somewhat oversaturated sound that permeates and distinguishes the album.

Sunlandic Twins is an album to leave playing while you're going about your daily business. Then see how quickly you discover its 13 tracks burrowing so deeply into your skull that it's as though you'd lived with its jerking, burbling, and never less than transcendental swirlings for ever.

Given the the Heavy Eights' strengths throughout, it makes more sense to say that Kilgour's definitely found his own personal Crazy Horse.

What they lack in stylistic originality, Rozwell Kid make up for in spirit and craft, delivering a smart and highly entertaining power pop record in an appealingly familiar style.

What isn't bleak is just as powerful.

Their heavenly mix of mix of giddy silliness, pop smarts and pop culture overload makes Hey Hey My My Yo Yo a fun-filled, joyride from beginning to end.

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.

Somehow at once entertaining, comforting, and challenging, Lily-O sees Amidon again pushing his distinctive perspectives through songs that belong to everybody.

Great Chicago Fire is that rare collaboration where both sides seem to inform one another equally and derive new strengths from teaming up.

A haunting debut, Communion finds Rabit living up to his potential in stark, beautifully ugly and angry ways.

The album reshuffles a deck of familiar reference points, but it still deals a hand that's engaging and holds a bothered beauty of its own.

Anyone who liked the debut and was filled with apprehension about what would happen next will be pleasantly surprised, and might even end up liking this record more.

Sure, they're not breaking the mold, but with After the Party, they manage to toe the line between subtlety and vigor, aging into their next phase with another solid release.

A triumph of ambition and heart, each of its songs feels like an epiphany.

Hallelujah Anyhow is another outstanding exercise in record making from Hiss Golden Messenger, and it's recommended to loyal fans and curious neophytes alike.

[Moffat] exposes a seething rage that was only occasionally revealed on the earlier albums. In the minds of some Arab Strap fans, this is a breakthrough; others, sadly, hear a betrayal.

The music and images of Hazlewood singing to Axelman's family, running the Gotland marathon, and convincing Swedish children to take sides against Nixon turn both movie and album into a celebration of the enduring friendship between artist and director.

For a band that often got lost in a hippie haze, this all-business approach pays off great dividends: it's easy to hear how the Robinsons are ideal collaborators, tempering each other's excesses and accentuating their shared love for the best of classic rock.

With Sweeney on hand, Oldham has kept some of his less appealing musical eccentricities in check -- this is one of his strongest and best-focused works in years.

This album comes to the listener as a gift wrapped in tattered paper, making it all the more precious to receive.