Archer Prewitt returns to the whip-smart pop sensibilities that defined his first two LPs, upping the ante to reveal an altogether new sophistication and complexity that spur his music to unexpected heights of brilliance.

Selling Live Water follows the Anticon party line (double-timed, singsongy half-sensical ramblings countering slow, lumbering beats) through to conscious hip-hop's most logical dead end.

Poetic, languid, spoken/sung vocals similar to Lou Reed weave between lovely melodies whose appeal is evident usually after repeated listenings.... Its highlights recall the past glories of this commercially overlooked band, and adds a handful of keepers to their best work.

Ambivalent and unexceptional.

The ladies of Northern State deliver funky breaks and tight grooves on Dying in Stereo, and keep the hip-hop flavor without being vulgar and crass.

And just like their studio LPs, this one works so well, not just because the tracks are so excellently produced, but because Underworld is so good at placing sympathetic tracks next to each other and creating effortless-sounding transitions.... excellent track selection (evenly distributed from all three LPs) and a winning performance let the band get nearly everything right on their first live album.

So even when Lucky tries to turn down the glow, it still radiates with the oomph of a solid power pop release, making Nada Surf's fifth album a fine finale for a weekend well-spent.

Away from the World is a bit of a rare thing: a return to form lacking an ounce of nostalgia.

On Privateering, his seventh solo outing, Knopfler has crafted his most ambitious and pugnacious set to date.

Though none of this will be particularly useful to anyone who isn't already familiar with the band (and if you're one of those people, run out and buy Oceanic and Panopticon right now), but for the initiated, Temporal makes for an essential and illuminating listen.

The Raven That Refused to Sing and Other Stories is the best of Wilson's three solo projects; let's hope this particular group stays together awhile.

While Hard Boiled Soft Boiled's polarized presentation sometimes makes these songs seem more monotonous than they actually are, the album's highlights are on par with Odonis Odonis' previous bests.

Faulty Superheroes sounds like Pollard and his cohorts were aiming to make a solid rock & roll record rather than killing a few days in the studio, and that certainly makes the difference, especially if you're a fan of the man's endless well of melodic invention.

An extension of their ever-evolving canon, The Sovereign Self is possibly Trembling Bells' most colorful journey yet, with a wayfaring rock & roll spirit and a madcap zeal that keep it sounding fresh.

International Blackjazz Society is not only smartly conceived, Shining's songwriting, arranging, playing, and production are also completely inspired.

Manual elevates more often than it wallows, and most importantly, it never fails to surprise or entertain.

The album sounds as billowing and ethereal as one would expect from a solo harpist, but Lattimore's sense of experimentation gives her a distinctive sound, and At the Dam is simply a magnificent album.

All of these sounds may not surprise, but they're comforting in their familiarity, particularly because Sweet's execution as a writer and producer remains precise.

Keyboardist Cleo Sample and singer/songwriter Kendra Foster are among the variable cast that joins that trio, so the set unsurprisingly has the densely layered, spaced-out, and fiery qualities of D'Angelo's Black Messiah.

It's the final nail in the coffin for their garage roots, but they sound rejuvenated and excited in their unbridled exploration of new sounds.

Both confounding and compelling, Office Politics, like much of Hannon's work, feels a bit like a magnificently rendered lark, but as per usual, it's hard not to admire the craftsmanship.

When it's good and the band comes across as confident and focused, it feels like they made the right choice to head off into the pillowy dreamland. Other times, when a duff synth sound or a tinny drum machine lets them down, it's hard not to miss the traditional Moon Duo approach.

Given its mercurial disposition and fleeting playing time -- nothing here reaches the three-minute mark -- Lily We Need to Talk Now ultimately feels like a sampler, if one that whets the appetite for more.

It's difficult to discern how 72 Seasons could've been tightened yet it's hard not to wish that it was about a third shorter: the force would've had a greater impact if it wasn't quite so diffuse.

Though Cat Power Sings Dylan: The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert doesn't -- and couldn't -- have the same revelatory feel of Dylan's original concert, Marshall's wise, loving performances strengthen her reputation as one of her generation's most gifted interpreters.

The finished product is so muddled in many of its would-be fleeting spaces as to elicit the phrase: Just because you can doesn't necessarily mean you should.

The result is an album full of songs like "For the Girls" and "Many A Day A Heartache" that come across like best case scenarios for what one have hoped that the band might sound like someday, blending together elements of all their eras to end up with a powerful rock & roll sound, while the ballads, especially the album ending "Everything Now", have an emotional depth that feels earned.

Not only did Moore record Trees Outside the Academy with some of his closest friends, but the album's good-natured sprawl is so appealing that it makes its listeners feel like friends, too