Though it's very different from Dream Wife, So When You Gonna… is just as genuine, and the duality in Dream Wife's music only makes them a more interesting, and more relevant, band.

Trying Times continues a trend of the abstract and foggy elements of Blake's artistry falling away, and he manages to make this transition without fully shedding the mystery that made his earlier sound so intriguing.

Like its predecessors, Harvey's canny charts, arresting dynamics, and deliberate, reverb-laden production provide the glue for Delirium Tremens. Gainsbourg's work is now often recorded in English, but Harvey remains one of his finest interpreters.

Savage Times is indeed raw, desperate, and chock-full of new ideas and sounds, making this a creative breakout for El Khatib.

This clear-eyed view of the past and the care put into the sound make this one of the most rewarding albums Thorn has made in a career full of great records and classic songs. She shows no signs of slowing down on Record; her voice and songs are as impressive and important as ever.

Even though Gathered is very much a creative patchwork, it coheres thematically as well as musically, and sounds both sly and sincere. Howe Gelb's evolution from the most distinctive roots rocker in the desert to Arizona's most unlikely lounge singer is coming along nicely, and Gathered is a welcome addition to his catalog.

El Dorado might not boast enough shredding for King's usual audience, but if their interest in roots music goes beyond barroom blues into vintage soul, they should find plenty to enjoy here, and he's a more capable vocalist than some would expect, making this worth a spin for listeners who enjoy modern-day soul.

Local Honey is an inside record that's better-suited for humid mornings and overcast afternoons than the open highway. In looking stridently inward, Fallon has crafted his most homespun and relatable outing to date.

Even with the more tuneful tracks, the album has enough bizarre lyrical imagery, unexpected outbursts, and general freakiness to keep Man Man from losing the weirdness they built their sound on.

Lyrical themes orbit around topics he often returns to: crime, struggle, and street vengeance. With Beyond Bulletproof, however, the delivery is shades more relaxed and even introspective, allowing for a clearer view of Mozzy's pain as well as his personality.

Bright New Disease has some jarring sonic clashes, but both bands seem to be on the same wavelength in terms of their modes of cathartic expression and their disregard for stylistic boundaries.

They blend numerous influences and don't conform to any traditions. More than anything, their music is exuberant and immensely enjoyable.

Bombay Bicycle Club's 2011 album A Different Kind of Fix is a melodically compelling work that builds upon the band's eclectic guitar-based indie rock sound.

Spider Bags didn't seem like a band that would welcome maturity, these songs show they're growing into it in their own slightly sloppy way.

This is as strong anything they've recorded in their forty-plus year history.

A breakneck blend of craft, experience, fun, and excitement, The Death of Randy Fitzsimmons is the most concentrated dose of the band's magic since Tyrannosaurus Hives.

The pop textures are more evident, the melodies are more hook-laden, and the overall vibe is more laid-back than past releases, varying in moods from positively gleeful to terribly melancholy.

Luckily, the endlessly creative and surprisingly fluid Forgiveness Rock Record dispels any notion of opportunism by sticking to what the group does best: crafting clever, ramshackle, occasionally soaring bedroom pop songs (listen close for sirens) in a big expensive studio.

There are times on Wheelhouse where Paisley simply has too many balls in the air and they're destined to fall.

The Kennington MC puts forward some of his finest work to date, with a bold three-act that dips through the various strands of his career. While the sustainability of such a wide-ranging approach remains in question, Music, Trial and Trauma provides too strong of a tape to dispute, staking claims for the rapper across the U.K. spectrum.

Garden Gaia is a varied presentation of the different routes Pantha du Prince has taken over the years, but its different styles contrast more than they conflict, offering up some of the project's most captivating material to date.

Neither a straightforward score nor a collection of kid-friendly indie rock songs, it lies somewhere intriguingly in between--and it's just as good, if not better, than the music these artists make with their main projects.

Castlemania does sound like the product of several happily productive days in this band's life; this album sounds less sinister and more playful than the bulk of their previous output, and if a lot of this is still going to seem chaotic and off-putting to anyone not flying a similar freak flag, it's an easier way in to Thee Oh Sees' curious musical world than any of their albums to date.

Fans of both bands will want to get In the Reins because it rates favorably with their best work.

There are a lot of bands playing indie pop in 2008, but very few do it as well as Headlights do on Some Racing, Some Stopping.

Wilco's Yankee Hotel Foxtrot and White Denim's D are examples of similar-sounding albums that successfully pushed the respective bands outside their comfort zones, and Saltwater takes Brazos to a new plateau in the same way.

Young Modern is a highly ambitious work that happily jumps from glam rock to sweeping orchestral pastiches and almost everywhere in between.

Working in long phases of slow development, Death After Life manages to pull energy from the darker corners of several splintered fields of techno to craft a strange and menacing hybrid that reaches dizzying places of both ugliness and resolution on almost every track.