Carnival, Vol. 2 strives to give the immigration problem a face, turning those thousands of marchers seen on the news into a thousand personal stories of struggle and hope. It does so while pulsating with life and displaying an unabashed love of music that's rich, daring, and delightful.

Era is another solid album; with the laser-like focus Disappears have, it's hard to imagine them delivering anything less.

All in Good Time is well-rounded and balanced perfectly between punk energy and poppy songcraft. Though Eddy Current Suppression Ring may not have wanted people to make a fuss about their return, it's kind of a big deal and this record is proof of that fact.

Warning may not be an innovative record, per se -- it's a pop album through and through -- but it's tremendously satisfying, finding the band at a peak of songcraft and performance. There hasn't been a better pure pop album since Supergrass' In It for the Money, another record by a young band that did it all and did it without a trace of self-consciousness.

At 17 tracks/diary entries, some of which feel like cast-offs from previous sessions, it feels a little bit indulgent, but maybe, considering the subject matter, that was the intention after all.

This work reaffirms her status as one of the leading artists in contemporary folk.

Seamless yet challenging, All Worlds should appeal to Lust for Youth's more open-minded fans, but the new vistas it opens for the band are what make it exciting.

Common Existence is largely an enjoyable record that gives as much attention to mood and melody as muscle and might.

Wavves sometimes gets carried away--"Neon Balloon" and its sea of synth gurgles and helium vocals is near silly--but when Williams finds his stride and carves the tube of punky psych sonics, the results are totally awesome.

Dulli thrives on atmosphere, and while his inability to write the kind of sharp hooks or memorable choruses that have elevated other semi-dystopian malcontents into the relative mainstream is evident throughout the album, that sense of place makes Dynamite Steps feel less like a collection of songs and more like a long, dangerous, and unpredictable night on the town.

Nearly all of this territory has already been plotted with more detail and flair on Handley and Turner's first three records.

An interesting album, spooky in spots, but other than the terrific "Slow and Steady," this one's a curiosity.

Owing to its themes, Fuckin A is a shade or two less exuberant than More Parts Per Million, but it's no less passionate or energetic.

What the album lacks in ambition and social commentary it makes up for with deep soul.

As displayed on I Am the Last of All the Field That Fell: A Channel, it's also simultaneously holistic, maddening, erotic, bleak, bright, and most of all, visionary.

She pleads, yelps, and croons, alternating between agitation and desperation, and that raw emotion is the true hook on Soul Sick.

Such an intense, sustained focus does mean Positions succeeds in sounding sexy but it doesn't do much outside of that: apart from the title track, few songs stand out as individual songs, the rhythm and productions are all painted in shades of grey, and Grande disappears into the setting of her own design.

While Butler may have the chops to captain his own ship, he'll need to put some more water behind him before he can successfully steer the beast into port.

Mr. Lucky works because Isaak and crew don't overplay their hand.

It's one of the few effective Euro-flavored club numbers to be fronted by an R&B artist. Altogether, this is one of 2010's finest pop-R&B albums -- Ciara's best yet.

The extra flair of random trumpets, strange tape experimentation, and walls of fuzz bass contributed by the rest of the band just add to the colorful wash of sound, up there with the best Elf Power compositions of the past.

Oscar displays a light touch that ensures Cut and Paste is a charming, unpretentious confection of an album, as well as a promising debut.

Stewart is content to work on the fringes of the synth pop underground, and that's the kind of iconoclasm that makes It's Immaterial worth seeking out for fans of the sound who are sick of how omnipresent it seems.

Though Ware co-wrote all the songs and is in full command from start to finish, the album has a stitched-together quality that starts to slowly unravel during the second half.

The Way Is Read's sequencing, which mixes songs and connective tissue, sometimes within and across tracks, has the effect of an album-length work, if one with distinct tunes. Perhaps its biggest achievement is that it so often seems the work of a single group of nine.

Snapped Ankles' wild eyed formula is better taken in one song at a time, as sitting through the entire album can quickly exhaust the senses. Even though Stunning Luxury is an overwhelming blur at times, small doses of its feral excitement can be infectious and even catchy in their own surreal way.

While the balancing act between the Hives' new and old approaches is a little lopsided, making this album less amazing than "Tyrannosaurus Hives," The Black and White Album should satisfy most fans while giving them a few challenging moments to chew on, too.

Bell X1 don't fit comfortably into any of the pigeonholes of modern indie rock: more down to earth than Radiohead; more fun-loving than Coldplay; and too sophisticated to be lumped in with Franz Ferdinand. Bell X1 occupy a niche all of their own, and long may it continue.