If the Go! Team can make a record this much fun, with this much style and skill, with this many well-chosen collaborators, and with this many hit songs every couple years, by the time they are done we'll be voting them into the Brilliant Pop Hall of Fame.

Life Among the Savages isn't the easiest Papercuts album to love, but over repeated listens the mood the restrained sound creates and the subtle emotion the songs convey are more than enough to win over anyone who decides to stick with it.

"Blue Deal" is much more easygoing but still intricately arranged, playfully juggling drum breaks and James Brown samples into a funky audio puzzle. Not every track on Second Language keeps up this level of curious energy, but its most exciting moments are concentrated bursts of sheer otherworldliness.

Not so much a retreat as a celebration of what Sleigh Bells do best, Texis' finest moments thrive on the razor's edge between sweetness and annihilation.

Revitalized, Bush is reborn with The Art of Survival, an essential late-catalog installment that re-energizes their sound with fresh tricks and newfound purpose.

The way he blazes through so many songs in such a short space is a little overwhelming, but Cloud Nothings is a solid step forward for Baldi as he gets ready for what comes after teenage wasteland.

More of a well-crafted showcase for Benson's always strong tunes than a greatest-hits collection, You Were Right feels like a proper album and meets the same high bar set by his previous work.

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.

The truth is that Ellipsis is a pleasingly efficient album that never sounds incomplete or labored. If anything, Biffy Clyro have discovered new ways to boil down their more complex thoughts and emotions into snarling, meaty pop slogans.

A pitch-perfect blend of Black Heart past and present, and a recording as accomplished as any that navigates similarly dark seas.

Beach Fossils may be very 2010 but they aren't just along for the ride, they're driving the bandwagon.

The various elements of grueling, confused rock nihilism and clear-headed spirituality result in some new kind of cosmic punk, existing on a strange galactic plane somewhere between chaos and enlightenment.

Undying Color seems like a strange experiment at first, but it ends up being one of the most enjoyable releases in the Mind Over Mirrors catalog.

There are a few other bands treading this same sonic path (Omni being the best around), but with Offers, NE-HI show they have what it takes to compete.

It doesn't hurt that these moments of unfiltered introspection are matched with infectious, uplifting melodies. Working with longtime executive producer Malay (Lorde, Frank Ocean), as well as collaborators like Jennifer Decilveo and Jesse Shatkin, among others, Fletcher coalesces all of the atmospheric vaporwave and clubby electro-pop that marked her previous work.

Dirty Jeans and Mudslide Hymns shows that John Hiatt is well served by a more hands-on production, though one might also imagine Kevin Shirley isn't necessarily the best person to do the job.

The Light the Dead See [is] not just an exciting meeting of troubled minds, but a well designed full-length, offering a persuasive rainy day soundtrack that works even when there's not a cloud in the sky.

La Futura is the best album from ZZ Top since that '80s landmark but it flips Eliminator on its head, using synthesized elements as accents, not as a skeleton.

Remarkably, Turbines makes the right choices at almost every turn, never meandering or spending too much time indulging one idea but instead leaving just enough unsaid to keep drawing the listener back.

A record that's not only easier to enjoy than most of his solo records, but also stronger song for song than many of the early Eagles albums.

While the pieces that put the orchestra at the fore are the most dazzling, Central Market is a tour de force that only grows more fascinating with repeated listens.

You could single out any song on the album for praise or inclusion on a killer summer mixtape and you wouldn't go wrong... this album is one of the sleeper picks for best-of 2011.

While not as immediately accessible as the all-star run of their first three albums, WE will at least be a course-corrector for fans still alienated by Everything Now and the underrated Reflektor, a satisfying journey that realigns the band's heart and soul.

If Stuff Like That There isn't as revelatory as Fakebook, it's a splendid, beguiling album that's perfectly suited for late nights and rainy afternoons, and a welcome reminder of one of the many, many things Yo La Tengo do so well.

Conceptual plots aside, this is an album that finally lives up to the heavy metal promise and unapologetically delivers the goods with a full head of steam.

At its core, it's moodier than most of his records.

A deeply satisfying hard rock record.

Good Bad Not Evil isn't a major leap forward for the Black Lips, but it shows their sound is slowly but surely evolving, and they still rock with a nasty enthusiasm that's bold and compelling; this is quality stuff for your next black light party.