There's little that moves one to sing along here, unfortunately. The tempos are all slow, dramatic, and melancholy.

The whole album is pop on the one hand but pop of a self-consciously other kind, transformed from easy hooks and direct flow into an arch blend of past and present, something where 1981, 1993, 2001, and 2012 recombine and intertwine.

While the Intelligence may not sound quite as inspired here as they did on that album [2007's Deuteronomy], Everybody's Got It Easy But Me is still plenty of fun.

At their best, Daphni and Jiaolong definitely have a vitality that some dance music--and even some of Snaith's other work--lacks, but its hyper-simple approach actually makes it more challenging to appreciate than something with a few more flourishes might have been.

An ambitious work by an artist intent on developing her total sound, Halcyon finds Goulding poised at the edge of artistic and career possibilities.

As a collection of songs, and particularly as a "pop" record (inspirations for the group reportedly included Rye Rye and Whigfield, which seems far-fetched at best), Ultraísta feels a bit unfulfilled, but as a work of sound and atmosphere, it's captivating, predictably excellent work.

Something that is notable throughout that's been a hallmark of the band's work is the attention to the drumming--for all that there's the flowing wash one might guess, there's also an actual sense of impact rather than simply skittering along.

Released in celebration of the Preservation Hall's 50th Anniversary, the album is a rootsy, high-energy, and spirited mix of New Orleans jazz and blues with some gospel and country inflections.

Fans of Golightly's earliest work might miss the garage days, but listening closely will reveal that the spirit of those days is alive and very much kicking.

The Afterman: Ascension is so ambitious it's actually a bit of a mess, but with so much here that works, this small lapse in focus can easily be forgiven.

All in all, though Bugg's debut may not share the wordy precociousness of Conor Oberst's formative steps or the political astuteness of Willy Mason on Where the Humans Eat, it's his sheer earnestness and rare gift for writing simple, hook-filled tunes that ultimately charms the listener.

Focus and restraint might not sound exciting in and of themselves, but The Haunted Man is more direct than any of Bat for Lashes' previous work, and manages to keep the air of mystique around Khan that has made her one to watch and listen to since her early days.

While this is their debut release, there is a sense that Dog Is Dead are still growing and maturing as a band.

A Different Arrangement might not be the kind of album that one could cozy up to on a sunny summer day, but on a cold, wintery night it just might be the kind of sound you want to hear as you burrow under the blankets.

For a guy whose 40th year as a solo artist is appearing on the horizon, he's sounding as full of ideas and energy as a guy half his age, and Mystic Pinball confirms he's still delivering the goods in an impressive fashion.

DeMarco is still a befuddling character, but the compressed landscape of 2 takes steps away from his cartoonish beginnings toward something equally strange, but possibly more grown up.

Fans of the deep-friend earth tones that made up the group's earlier works may not be completely sold on the hi-definition beats and growly synth tones of Cobra Juicy, but newcomers to the band will still have a lot to digest and enjoy in trying to sort out the catchiness from the craziness.

What's delivered is another robust collection of business as usual, with the surprising diversions adding just enough dimension to the album to even it out.

Despite a few tracks that should have stayed unreleased, Daughter of Cloud succeeds by showing the most extreme versions of several different sides of Of Montreal, from their most intense and suffocating to their most uncommonly tender.

The pristine sound is easy on the ear and easily appreciated. That said, it can sometimes detract from more organic surprises inherently written into these songs.

Hidden is not merely a second step for this duo, but real deepening in a highly individual sound.

Traveler reveals that with its four brand-new songs and revisioned versions of live staples, Anastasio's creative force is healthy and his taste is, as ever, impeccable.

Nothing on the album truly startles or surprises, its sources are clear, and its impact song for song is the kind of satisfying fix one might expect from labels like m_nus and Kompakt as much as Ostgut Ton itself. Where things stand out are in the smaller details.

With a sound this strong, Miglis could quite conceivably have gotten by with a series of random abstractions, but in fact her lyrics show a strong poetic sense that enhances Hundred Waters' promising maiden voyage even further.

Ultimately, while Vital is Anberlin's most challenging album to date, as the title implies, it is perhaps the band's most rewarding album.

On these songs Banks fashions more of an identity for himself as a solo artist outside of anything he's done before, and arguably works even harder here to separate himself from his established project. Some of Banks' songs feel unpredictable even after a few listens.

There's little here that suggests Swedish House Mafia is more than the sum of its parts, and as Axwell, Angello, and Ingrosso split into three equally powered powerhouses, it seems this supergroup was more a fun lark than a focused project. Still, it's as fun as larks come.

Psychedelic Pill [is] yet another oddity in a catalog filled with them: it's noise rock as comfort food.