Though the sonic palette may be tweaked a little, the band's sense of disdain and frustration toward the little things is still gloriously intact.

Live in Europe, 1969 makes obvious that on this tour, Davis' creative vision was holistic and completely assured.

A heady and quirky mix of Regina Spektor, Leslie Feist, and Joni Mitchell, the second album from Nataly Dawn, the female half of heady and quirky indie pop duo Pomplamoose, is held together by the French- and Belgium-raised, Stanford-educated, American singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist's gift for gab, unique phrasing, and sophisticated musicality.

One quick listen to The Messenger brings all his signatures rushing back--the intricate, intertwining arrangements, the insistent riffs finding a counterpoint in the elastic yet precise melodies, a romance with the past that doesn't negate the present.

In other words, this is another Thom Yorke solo album, and it sounds really nice on decent headphones.

Stripped down but nonetheless gorgeous for it, the album is an inviting combination of heavy themes and unassuming delivery, and easily some of Hayden's most colorful and intriguing songwriting.

To say this album is a return to form wouldn't be quite correct. It's an extension of it.

Iceage have developed a record reaching out in many directions without straining to make any points.

While this album's predecessor evidenced his accomplishment in the instrument's creation and operation, The Orchestrion Project reveals that Metheny's possibilities with it have only been tapped.

Oh, Mayhem! won't make anyone forget Palomine, but it is an amazingly strong album that shows they have plenty of life left in them. And truth be told, this isn’t really that far off from Palomine.

All in all, Clash the Truth is exactly the record Beach Fossils should have made at this point, reinforcing all the things that made them good while adding some excellent new wrinkles and boosting the production values.

While any new album from Shorter is an event at this juncture, Without a Net is special even among the recordings made by this outstanding group.

Untogether's aloof beauty comes as something of a surprise given how free-flowing and whimsical Blooming Summer was, but while this change takes some getting used to, it's an impressive debut from a group that has taken the time--and space--to refine and develop its sound.

As with the first album things follow a basic title format of band name and number, giving the sense of installations in a larger process. Sometimes that results in things that steer away from re-creation to new inspiration.

Not surprisingly, it's the less propulsive numbers that truly resonate on What the Brothers Sang, as Oldham and McCarthy sound less emotionally constricted at a more measured pace, and when they allow their muses to meet, as they do on highlights like "Breakdown," "What Am I Loving For," and the beautiful closer "Kentucky," the results are transcendent.

Ford is a rare talent and, for now at least, she's got the right band and seems headed in the right direction, not that Untamed Beast is a transitional album. It's a full-tilt arrival.

As a fully realized collaboration, this record sees STRFKR dimming the lights just a little bit and coming into their own more than ever before.

Total Folklore is not for everybody, and the act of playing junkyard synths through scorching feedback is gimmicky by design, but he's successfully found his own niche in noise, and his creativity and determination to reinvent music is worthy of high praise.

Ultimately, even layers of fuzzy noise and fully saturated weirdness can't obscure the band's hooks or their unique pop perspective.

Welcome to 21st century Appalachian string band music. It hasn't changed that much. It doesn't have to, because it still works fine.

As it is, with the improvements, revamps, and overall more interesting arrangements, Somewhere Else manages to be the equal of Disco Romance, and the only reason it isn't better is that it lacks the surprise factor that made Sally Shapiro's debut so breathtaking.

Flowers' best moments are often the loudest, and they sound all the fresher because they're just as inviting as Sin Fang's more intimate music.

Rose isn't trying to be all traditional country here, or even all straight pop either, but somehow she effortlessly melts the two together, and this set is definitely a winner, full of solid playing and, of course, Rose's easy and comfortingly wise vocals.

These songs, and the album as a darkly moody whole, show the band to be growing into masters of crafting modern psychedelia with dark swirls instead of day-glo, and bad trips instead of sunshine days.

Overall, Ores & Minerals is a showcase of the band's strengths that finds an original band settling in and taking their ideas to the next level of clever.

House of Woo is more of the same, providing soundtracks for chillout rooms where the minds are satisfied and no one can even remember the definition of the word "dour."

When it works, it runs like a stallion, but for fans whose allegiances lie with Carter and Carroll's previous incarnations, the engaging but jarring Anthems will probably prove awfully hard to digest.

It has all the fire and fury of the debut, the same live-wire dual-guitar attack, and a similarly top-notch batch of songs that deliver plenty of rock-hard punch and are loaded with a nicely strutting power that has as much swing as it does thud, but also a few that show just the smallest bit of restraint and Spoon-like attention to sonic detail.