It's an impressively timeless debut that suggests Howard should have no problem standing out from the overpopulated nu-folk crowd.

When Human Again ditches the feel-good stuff and goes straight into drama-queen territory, though, it feels like we're finally getting to watch Michaelson come to grips with her broken heart, realizing that the only way to make things better is to fix the damn thing herself.

The drumming that helps ground it all is elastic and malleable, making this follow-up a more successful and well-rounded album that seems to be just the beginning of something really good.

Invitation documents Dominant Legs' sound as it jells into something they can call their own; even when it isn't strikingly original, it's always enjoyable.

Vanity Is Forever maintains this same general feeling throughout its 12 songs, often feeling as if it's set in a coffee house on an easygoing ocean liner being filmed for a video in 1984.

cta is Hit the Lights' ultimate bid for mainstream acceptance and also the quintet's strongest album to date.

A subtle but confident change in direction, Have Some Faith in Magic suggests Mogwai better start looking over their shoulders.

These jaunty experiments are some of Hagerty's most insular work in a while, but that doesn't make Wilson Semiconductors any less enjoyable.

Familiar they may be, but some credit has to go to De Backer for managing to weave these eclectic retro sounds into a cohesive affair.

The result is an album that manages to sound both elegant and organic, like classical music made by people living off the land.

The Coldest Winter for a Hundred Years may not be the most cheerful record you'll hear all year, but it's one which proves that a curmudgeonly middle age demeanor isn't a barrier to producing triumphant indie pop.

While it doesn't quite live up to their early hype, it's still an encouraging first offering, suggesting that they might do with album number two.

Those only aware of Pepe Deluxé through their Levi-assisted one-hit wonder won't know what hit them, but fans who have continued to keep up with their abstract brand of electronica should enjoy most of the ride.

Blues Funeral, while an adventurous, strident, and complex album, will likely polarize longstanding Lanegan fans; but if they can't follow him into this new terrain, it's their problem.

As with much of their late-career output, Old Mad Joy begs for a few spins before it reveals its charms.

A brave and uncompromising debut, Always Want is an always intriguing listen which appears to have fulfilled the potential of her fairy tale beginnings.

Improvisations is probably easier to enjoy, with the extended format offering a more broadly sympathetic palette for Osborne's forbiddingly austere aesthetic.

Tramp offers plenty for listeners to enjoy as she goes.

No One Can Ever Know reaffirms that the Twilight Sad are unafraid of challenging themselves or their listeners, and for better or worse, there's something admirable about that uncompromising attitude.

It's not a deep, demanding album, but it is a pleasant, often charming listen.

What Happened to the La Las kicks off the new partnership with a mix of heady Southern rock and rootsy, festival-friendly funk.

Of Montreal grow less accessible with Paralytic Stalks, but it's respectable how unconcerned Barnes seems with anything besides staying true to his freakily fractured vision.

In its own way, Onwards to the Wall is just as exciting as Exploding Head was, managing to sum up the band's sound and move forward at the same time.

Six Cups of Rebel is chock-full of the kind of bizarre, cartoonish, sci-fi lunacy and cheekily maximalist, gonzo musical odysseys they've made their stock-in-trade.

A calling-card track like their debut's "Enter the Ninja" is absent, making this album more an exciting celebration for established fans than an easy entry point.

It delivers the goods with its collection of summery jams while keeping nothing, not even the chord progressions, secret.

Each track has its own kind of hushed and easy-flowing grace to it.

It's a much more focused and intriguing follow-up that may provide a much-needed shot in the arm for the guitar-bass-drums three-piece formula.