If you're looking for some great lo fi fun, WWII delivers, but anyone who wants to hear some top-shelf pop-centric rock & roll really owes it to themselves to give this a listen.

A Dream a While Back is an essential additional document in Higgins' legacy and adds to, not diminishes, Red Hash's legacy.

The Sleepwalking Society is a stunner; a jazz-pop record with brilliant R&B and folk undertones woven throughout.

At times, the extra grit quotient in Chesnutt's songs seems in turn to inspire a tougher approach on the part of the Junkies, but more often, the late songwriter's quirky, agreeably crooked structures are given a fulsome, flowing quality that would probably never even have occurred to Chesnutt as a possibility.

It's true that Tre3s still finds Chikita Violenta seeking a sound completely their own, but they're closer than ever, due in large part to the improved quality of the songwriting and arrangements.

It's a stronger and more satisfying piece of work than most of his other post-millennial albums, and it's the closest thing he managed to a truly effective rock & roll collaboration; it's an impressive finale to a genuinely remarkable career.

All in all, Stay Home is a step up from the Beets' debut, though it's hard not to imagine they're going to have to face the choice of either learning to play or hitting the creative wall some time in the future.

Last of the Country Gentlemen is a demanding listen; its wandering pace, startling, emotionally jarring terrain of uncalculated honesty, and obsession can be uncomfortable. That said, it is a recording of surprising originality and great beauty.

Ultimately, by pushing the dance beats and the slabs of synth to the foreground, the Sounds have increased their pop appeal and delivered an album that pleases your ears while also demanding that you leave your blood on the dancefloor.

They may not have as much depth as their influences, but at their best, their shiny surfaces are a lot of fun.

Like the trio's eerie, 2010, eponymous debut, 2011's Nightingale feels like a relic that's been spruced up, remixed, and then planted back in the earth for some future generation to stumble upon, crack open, and germinate a scene with.

They deliver thrilling song after thrilling song that'll have you hyping them to all your rock & roll friends as soon the album stops spinning.

Even if there's a fair amount of affected British accents and overdriven guitars, it's a far cry from the mall-punk rebellion of Underclass Hero, the melodramatic bombast flavored with metallic flecks and solipsistic acoustic pity, all giving Screaming Bloody Murder a grander, richer palette than any other Sum 41 record.

Thanks to the hooky and familiar songs, the exciting performances, and the perfectly executed aesthetic, Too Young to Be in Love is simply and truly a great rock & roll record.

Mind Bokeh is a masterful, thoughtful album, and even if it's not quite the dazzling leap Bibio made before, its subtler gifts are just as rewarding.

Navigating this 21-track session is the hard part, but once fans do the necessary trimming and pull out their favorite 14 or so, Doggumentary becomes a fine addition to Snoop's catalog.

Really, they show a lot on Belong -- that they can take their sound to the next level, that they haven't lost any of their good-natured band-next-door charm, and most of all, that they can make a great-sounding modern rock album without selling their souls.

Nothing here's likely to attract new converts quite the way those tunes did, but this is still a very easy Mountain Goats album to like and to recommend, whether it's your first or fourteenth.

Just like any given Bone album, Khalifa's chilled and confused Rolling Papers is an acquired taste, and while it's misrepresented by its single and the mixtapes that surround it, it is purposeful mood music, perfect for bong loading or just hanging out.

The photo of the band in the CD booklet shows three guys in a tight circle playing heads-down intense, and it feels like this camaraderie and dedication has paid off in a record that may not save their career commercially, but will prove that they are still vital and exciting.

What the Obits do reasonably but not remarkably well isn't as important as where they excel on Moody, Standard and Poor, and when the pieces mesh just right, this band does guitar back-and-forth as well as anyone since Television, and rocks a whole lot harder to boot.

As it is, Yelle will have to settle for having made a merely awesome album instead of double awesome one, which is still pretty awesome when you get right down to it.

Sonically, it has everything except hooks, either in the rhythm or the melody; it's all surface style, driven by sound and given shape by hypersexual lyrics Britney sings listlessly.

Even without many fast songs, it's a well-paced album.

In sum, Live at the Aragon is a mixed bag aurally and visually, though the Crack the Skye movie is killer.

Ultimately, while it is clear based on Factorycraft that Found aren't the same band you'd expect to hear playing at an art opening anymore, they are a band you might be pleasantly surprised to run into at a local pub, and that's something a lot harder to find.

It digs deep into emotional territory by way of tight, almost suffocating songwriting and killer arrangements, making this one of the defining Brit folk-rock albums of the period. It holds up well in the 21st century as a true testament to the excellence of Chapman's craft.

On their sixth album, the Caribbean find themselves in perhaps their strongest sonic mode yet.