For all of their serious, avant-garde inclinations, Can could be awfully fun to listen to, and this alternate universe hit parade is a sterling demonstration of the group at its most immediate, energetic, and enjoyable.

Girl Band have similarly taken advantage of their expanded recording budget in order to craft their most bracing work yet.

Quasi's crass sense of humor is in full force, but throughout their witty criticisms Quasi are imaginative songwriters and conscious of their curiously cool indie rock style.

What it lacks in discernible hooks, Das Not Compute accounts for with tautness and subcutaneous bad attitude.

Bows + Arrows may not be a drastic change from Everyone Who Pretended to Like Me Is Gone, but their music, built on loud guitars and organs and strange reflections and remembrances, is so unique that drastic change isn't necessary, and simply having more of it around is more than enough.

There's a real fire to his writing here, turning Revival into a missive as immediate, effective, and telling as Neil Young's "Living with War."

Our Own Masters is an album that's ridiculous without being ironic, and fun without being silly, making it an album that will not only appeal to the die-hard Thorriors out there, but also to anyone who appreciates heavy metal and hard rock and is not afraid to cut loose and have some fun every once in a while.

Among the handful of earlier tracks is Steve Poindexter's crucial "Computer Madness" (1989), technically a Muzique release. The compilers could have just as easily included "Work That Mutha Fucker" from the same EP.

It certainly won't spawn four number one U.K. pop hits the way his platinum-selling fourth album, Tongue N' Cheek, did, but it's a necessary re-evaluation and re-focus of his talents, and proves that he's far from finished.

With engaging basslines that act as the hooks and the glue to Maus' carefully contrived sound, Screen Memories succeeds by basking in its murky splendor.

Hints are abundant that they are on the cusp of stylistic and sonic evolutions balancing bold and experimental elements, but their commitment to the material, as well as their energy and focus, aren't forced but are occurring naturally. This is easily the band's strongest outing since Leach's return.

The album is warmer, friendlier, and fuller than anything Hardware has presented before, yet somehow just as emotionally naked.

The album goes on to offer a range of dreaminess, arguably reaching its lushest and loudest point on the jammy outro to "Superglued," its liveliest on the appreciative, post-breakup "Lights Light Up" (though there is a case to be made for the jaunty but fatalistic "Pick"), and its sparsest on the brittle, comfort-seeking "Henry," which still features a full band. The musical contrasts aren't far-ranging, however, and similarly, even the most optimistic lyrics seem to be biding time.

Final Summer is another strong album from a remarkably consistent band, but it's the wisdom, maturity, and joy Cloud Nothings bring to it makes it an especially satisfying listen.

With In My Dreams, Frisell pulls you into his western reverie, a wagon train journey into his soul.

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

On its own, KicK iii may have the smallest range of any of the project's volumes, but its relentlessness is a key part of the anthology that provides lots of fascinating moments for those who love Arca at her most outlandish.

It's an orchestral record for those who prefer the simplistic, a darker one for those who prefer theirs twee, love songs for the scorned and sad songs for the content, an engaging and alluring combination that makes Marry Me nearly irresistible, and one of the better indie pop albums that's come around for a long time.

The funky soul groove template that Jones helped create in Memphis some 40-plus years ago never really goes out of style. One wishes there were more of that here.

Lanterns on the Lake allow themselves to build on and expand the sound of their debut for Until the Colours Run, bursting open at times with purpose, while drawing on the cinematic sounds and folk storytelling that bind together a magnificent collection of tracks.

One might not have expected the Coathangers to still be making interesting music 12 years after their debut album hit the streets in 2007, but The Devil You Know reveals growing up doesn't have to be a bad thing after all.

There's an endearing tenderness to Trifilio's personal songwriting style that mostly avoids emo clichés, and the band's cautiously buoyant indie pop walks the line between sweet and muscular on this solid debut.

Every part of Purgatory/Paradise has meaning for the band and its listeners, making it a satisfying artifact in a time when music is becoming increasingly disposable. May they ever go against the grain.

Tucker and Brownstein are in the process of figuring out what Sleater-Kinney can do as middle-aged indie survivors, trading their signature catharsis for reflection and mild experimentation. They haven't landed on a solution, but listening to the duo lost within their process is rewarding, feeling emotionally direct even when the angles are somewhat obtuse.

Her respect for the power of the groove results in one of her most cohesive projects, and one that makes the dance floor that much classier with its presence.

Boy King may be some of Wild Beast's most consistent and accessible music, but at a price: It comes dangerously close to predictable, something the band never would have been called before.

It's the contrast between their writing styles and voices, slight as they may be, that works to make Sainthood another rich and rewarding album.

As rewarding as his earlier slow-paced drones are, so is his incremental development as an artist with each subsequent album, I Love You being one more step along the way.