Tidelands takes the Moondoggies in some glorious and unexpected directions, and you'd have to go back to Wilco's Being There to witness a group upping the ante on the potential of their second album with this much success.

For all the piecemeal recording, technological obsession and sheer ambition on the Fuse, Urban manages to fashion it all into a (mostly) working whole and maintain his identity as a contemporary country artist, even as he reaches for the mainstream pop fences.

Blitzen Trapper have always been at their best when the rubber meets the road, so to speak, and highway-ready anthems like "Rebel," "Stolen Hearts," "Dance with Me," and the soaring title cut don't disappoint, delivering a perfect blend of pathos and Pacific Northwest wanderlust, which incidentally is exactly what made Furr so compelling.

Thought and care are in these songs, and they all fall together in a nice flow.

Autechre certainly aren't launching any new styles, and there's no innovative music to be heard here, but Untilted does represent the duo returning to the green fields of their youth after a few years sowing their wild oats.

Given the atmospheric and diaphanous makeup of most of the tracks, along with titles such as "Casiopeia" and "Redshift," Whorl is more likely to enhance stargazing than to provoke movement.

As a debut, it has enough standout moments to pique interest in a future when Smith could stand toe to toe with his many inspirations.

Send Away the Tigers never seem heavy-handed, which is something that even their best albums often are. So, this isn't merely a return to form, then--it's also a welcome progression from a band that only a couple of albums back seemed stuck in a rut with no way out.

It was inevitable that as his skills matured he was going to move away from the strictures of reggae as a musical style. That maturity is fully in evidence on Light the Horizon, and the songs have indeed spread out into new stylistic territory.

For all the people camping out in the cold, The General Strike definitely has enough fire to keep you warm.

Perhaps what's most interesting about the album in the end is how something that theoretically consists of dated approaches in its bubbling mix of electro-rock and '70s dub and more seems to suit 2012 just fine, a sleek collage no more out of place than any other number of similarly backward-glancing efforts around the globe.

At its best, Pink Palms is quirky in the best sense of the word; it's got a lot of personality and plenty of unexpected twists. Though it might be wise for the Bots to narrow their focus next time around, wondering what they'll do next is a big part of this album's fun.

The resulting album successfully fleshes out Shlohmo's previous sound into his most accomplished work so far, and ultimately manages to find hope in darkness.

This is the first Lawrence Arabia album that fully reaches the promise shown by the first three albums, the first that works from start to finish, and the first that edges Milne close to the rarefied air his heroes occupy.

As a whole, Home Wrecking Years is worth a number of complete spins to let it decant and work its magic.

It's not Crass, the Clash, or the Pistols, but it's certainly of its generation.

His mix of wistful tenderness and cerebral darkness plays out in the songs' twists and turns as he pits Bon Iver-ian robo-soul and folk gentleness against sometimes menacing basslines and frigid atmospherics. It's an approach that agrees with him on this strong sixth effort.

Whoosh! is musically superior to its immediate, Ezrin-produced predecessors, but it's more, too: If it's the last album Deep Purple release, it should be remembered as among their best.

It's too relaxed, too casual to be considered major. Its low-key nature is also the appeal of Willie Nelson Family -- it's the sound of an informal jam session by one of the best musical families in America, so it's easy to enjoy even if it feels decidedly minor.

There are still some hilarious bon mots to be found throughout, but now there's a sense of maturity and creative evolution that's starting to creep over Justin Hawkins and the gang, adding depth to their catalog whether they intended it or not.

Certainly more mature and thoughtful, with no "Friends of P" in sight, but plenty of songs that sound like timeless hits, and plenty of powerfully felt and delivered songs that hit hard right in the nostalgia zone, drawing blood and tears with every blow.

The Wytches show some genuine promise on Annabel Dream Reader, but they need to come up with a few more ideas of their own in addition to the many clear influences they draw from.

The tracks that follow are, simply put, eclectic. At times, almost frustratingly so.

While it is obviously a showcase for Kotche's admirable skills as a drummer, more importantly it reveals his considerable abilities as a composer, too.

It may not displace Toro y Moi as Bundick's most satisfying project, but as an outlet for his dance music urges, Les Sins works very well.

Head of the class, leader of the pack good, and you won't hear many rock & roll records better than this in 2011.

Anastasis will more than likely please longtime fans--and to be fair that is who it seems geared to--rather than win many new ones.

With plenty of hiss and maxed levels, Live Forever is hardly perfect when it comes to sound quality, and the laid-back show doesn't stand up against Marley's live masterpiece Babylon by Bus, but fans who want their reggae party a little less "punky" will find this a great, chilled alternative.