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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This self-aware mortality is the trump card of Beauty & Ruin, as Mould neither denies his youth nor his age; as he explores his pain, he finds emotional and musical narrative to tie his past to his present and the results are powerful.

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.

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.

The Phantom Band's material is of a higher grade and their eclectic sonic blend only adds to this strength.

The result is an album of beautiful juxtapositions, steeped with poetic gravitas that nonetheless never fails soar.

What makes it a better, richer work is how it simultaneously holds every side of White, existing at the crossroads where modernity, tradition, hard work, and inspiration all meet.

While listeners will have to wait a little longer for a break in the clouds, Ndegeocello and her associates have soundtracked yet another emotional storm in vivid, enthralling fashion.

While Early Riser was pieced and patched together, it flows as a gleaming focused set that combines left-field electronics, alternative R&B, and futuristic jazz.

Invisible Hour is a beautiful, haunting collection of songs that only Joe Henry could create, and whether you're familiar with his work of not, you're likely to find something that will impress you on this album.

With a genuine sense of melancholy that is far beyond their young years, the Söderbergs have taken the mild success of their sophomore record, Lion's Roar, in their stride, and with the expert hand of Bright Eyes' Mike Mogis once again producing, the lush harmonies and melodies of this album show that they are worthy of a place in the mainstream.

Copper Gone is a mix of tried and true plus smarter and new, and it's an excellent reason to check in on Sage's evolution.