This ambitious use of resources and influences could very easily end up creating an album that sounded severely disjointed, even incoherent, but k-os is able to make something that, despite the diversity between tracks, works very much as a whole.

Highly recommended.

It does signal a turn toward a more thoughtful, artistically ambitious sound than before, not just maintaining the Scottish neo-prog quartet's penchant for forward movement but catapulting them out of minor-league status.

Yet although his mixture of politics, heart and intelligence with taut guitars and a sweet falsetto will presumably be engaging forever (and Leo hits much more than he ever misses), it's getting hard to ignore that little voice inside that wants something more from him.

Two skills he has mastered in the past, mood and texture, make this record especially good.

It's sturdy, well-written power pop, but it falls prey to some of the faults of craftsmanlike pop -- mainly, it's possible to hear the craft behind the pop instead of just getting sucked into the sugar rush of the melodies.

Perkins avoids reveling in depression and instead follows the route that other singer/songwriters like Leonard Cohen, Nick Drake, and Bob Dylan have put down before him, telling detail-driven stories of people and life.

This album is the prescription for anyone who thinks rock has imploded or has nothing new to offer.

The Magic Position loses a little focus near the end, but flashes of inspired lunacy like the jarring arrival of a spectral Marianne Faithfull on the spooky "Magpie" help to make this unpredictable collection of Victorian-peaked electro/folk-pop so hard to dislike.

Mark's laid-back stride keeps the affair surprisingly buoyant.

The album is just so uniform in its beauty that tracks simply blend into one another.

This is a record that gives up its secrets slowly, while being charming and delightful at every turn.

While it's nice to have another Mary Chain record, what makes the record even better is the presence of Linda Reid.

It employs all his strengths as a writer of lyrics and music and stretches the canvas of his colorful if sparsely arranged tapestry.

As admirable as Life in Cartoon Motion's eclecticism is, it could use more focus.

Her musical vision and production skills are almost astonishing in places. [But] American Doll Posse is a work that has its problems due to its sprawling nature.

This is a sleepier record than 2005's Dimmer, but it rewards the careful listener with enough waking dreams to fuel a hundred overcast Sunday mornings.

Another gorgeous album.

A mixed bag.

An enjoyable next step for the Academy Is..., this album shows that the guys are still growing, but maybe just starting to figure themselves out.

What At the End of Paths Taken means for the Cowboy Junkies: it's like a renaissance.

They've given up some of the whimsy and trippiness that marked their first two releases, but they've gained direction.

We'll Never Turn Back is the kind of album we need at the moment, one that doesn't flinch from the tradition but doesn't present it as a museum piece either.

Those whose favorite form of Wheat is the aforementioned major-label effort, or even the elegant chamber pop of Hope and Adams, might consider this willful album an exercise in self-indulgent noise, but in the context of the duo's career as a whole, it sounds much more like a deliberate stylistic retrenchment.

What it does has pretty much been done before -- but it's done well, and done right, and in the end, it's successful.

Strength & Loyalty doesn't overcome its challenges; it just sidesteps them and works hard to reward fans for a decade of patience.

Where Wolf Parade dips into more than their fair share of upbeat, even disco beat-driven, music, Handsome Furs instead pull back and strip down their songs.

Easy Tiger delivers what it promises: the most Ryan Adamsy Ryan Adams record since his first.