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.

It's a nifty record: a double-edged throwback, evoking the singer/songwriters of the '60s but sounding like a different part of that decade, which is why its retro-ism winds up as invigorating.

This is a surprisingly, satisfyingly vigorous record.

Whoop Dee Doo is the Muffs playing near the top of their game.

It could be argued that Brooks trades intensity for pleasure on The Grand Tour, but as the album moves from dazzling to serene and back again, he sounds more assured than ever.

Cold World is an example of what Daptone and the retro-soul crowd are doing right, and it's an authoritative and affecting piece of work.

They Want My Soul is more of a welcome return than a comeback, and too complex to be considered back-to-basics--especially when they reinvent the basics on each album.

It's uncompromising yet masterful, an auspicious and perhaps even magical first offering.

Despite being only a side project, the sheer quality and array of styles found on Owl John's self-titled debut is testament to the prolific songwriting skills of Scott Hutchison.

Perhaps it'd be better to sample this ten-disc travelog in pieces--perhaps that's the only way to listen to a box as large as this--but each individual installment provides its own peculiar, satisfying pleasures and, when combined, all the discs paint a deep, detailed portrait of a rocker unlike any other.

Wild Onion makes a huge impact from beginning to end, and serves notice to all the bands out there who think they are playing rock & roll the way it should be played that there are some new kids on the scene who can show them a thing or ten.

FKA Twigs' music was already so fully realized that LP 1 can't really be called Barnett coming into her own; rather, her music has been tended to since the "Water Me" days, and now it's flourishing.

Get Hurt shows that so long as they're passionate about their music, it doesn't matter where the band are getting their inspiration from, because genuinely caring about something is always compelling.

While the music, all weepy pedal steel, soft piano, finger-picked electric and acoustic guitars, and on-the-nose handclaps, points to the West Coast, Johnson's lyrical tone is one of firm yet agreeable Midwest stoicism, all self-effacement, polite disagreement, and weary acceptance of one's place in the world.

End Times Undone is a fine addition to a long career of near brilliant indie rock.

All of it fits together surprisingly well here--a satisfying, if imperfect, sampling.

Crafted with artist Chris Shen, the album is a spatial wonder, reflecting the outdoor nature of its title with a soundfield that sounds like the great outdoors.

Country funk, no matter how one defines it, might not be a real musical style per se, but as presented here, and in the first volume of this series, it emerges as a reminder that no musical style stands in isolation.

Lucero are musicians and showmen at the same time, and Live from Atlanta captures both sides beautifully. If you're any kind of fan, this is essential.

From years six through ten, Hyperdub has remained as reliable and forward-thinking as it was during its first five years.

Creed's commitment to Chrome's vision is as strong as ever, and the results will put a demented grin on the face of longtime fans.

Twenty-six albums in, Loudon Wainwright's signature is etched even more deeply into the American songsmith grain on Haven't Got the Blues (Yet).

Beal quietly weaves an environment for listeners to drop in on, ignore, or linger in as they choose.

This is Yorkston's world and story, and his gently picked guitar and rough-hewn voice provide the heart of yet another fine release.

An album that just becomes more engaging with time, The Golden Echo lives up to its name: it refashions the best of what came before it into something alluringly modern and a lot of fun.

The album and its production make catharsis part of an evolutionary process, not an end in itself.

Even if Junto isn't quite as brilliant as Basement Jaxx's early EPs or nearly flawless first three albums, it doesn't sound irrelevant or like the duo is chasing after past glories either--instead, it's some of their most exciting music in quite a while.

Manipulator is a reminder that Ty Segall knows his rock & roll, but he knows a lot more than just that, and this '70s-inspired madness results in one of Segall's best and most pleasurable efforts to date.