Though Infinity Overhead isn't exactly a return to form for Minus the Bear, it does find them moving back toward what they do best, and is a step in a promising direction for fans hoping for the band to return to the more vigorous sound of Menos el Oso.

The experience of this album is to have listened to an Elliott Smith record and not an Avett project or to anyone else--a testament to Smith, certainly, but also to Avett and Mayfield's tasteful if fail-safe renditions.

Sting sifts through familiar territory with songs of protest sitting alongside songs of yearning and love and it all adds up to record that's simultaneously unassuming and revealing: through its modest nature, 57th & 9th stands as testaments to Sting's inherent gifts as a songwriter and recordmaker.

Having the songs preserved on record undercuts that intention slightly but this is still an odd, delightful collection of tunes and it's nice that non-musicians--and listeners with an aversion to homemade YouTube renditions--get to hear these now too.

The affection that Sweet, Hoffs and company display for this music is the reason to hear this record: they're having such a good time playing their favorite songs, it's hard not to smile along as well.

While that inspired recklessness is missed, this brisk, cheerful collection of pop is a relief after the operatic ambitions of 21st Century Breakdown.

Devising a new way of playing heavy music is nothing if not a brave undertaking, and Hexadic rewards significantly with each repeated listen.

Despite it missing the fire of his first record, it's a worthy piece of work.

Toher's music has become more powerful as he's made it more delicate, and Wuthering Drum is a compelling debut that casts a lingering spell.

While his imagery-laden, generally safe distillation of American roots rock leans harder on the AOR/soft rock side of the railroad tracks, it's a train that is worth boarding for a stop or two, if only to admire the lovely view.

He’s an amazing ringmaster for the age of mash-ups and wonky pop, and for his debut album he’s equally thrilling as the main attraction.

Ultimately, it feels as much like an exercise in self-justification as it does in personal revelation.

Snow Patrol's hungry rock sound only gets bigger and better this time around.

Snowflake Midnight works as a soothing, gently inspiring song cycle, the likes of which Mercury Rev hasn't made since "See You on the Other Side."

The contrast between Khaled's all-positive demeanor and his facilitation of buccaneering misogyny is stark as ever here, most evident in tracks like "Work It" and "Pick These Hoes Apart."

Spinning through 29 tracks in just under 50 minutes, Scott Herren's sixth proper LP as Prefuse 73 offers more of the same musical madness for fans of his no-attention-span cut-ups--and that's a good thing.

Enigk's undeniably rich and powerful voice has never sounded better, and his enigmatic lyrics remain resplendent with biblical imagery and magnetic poetry-engineered spiritual vagaries, but in removing the complex arrangements that have haunted nearly every one of his post-Sunny Day projects, he's exposed his weakest batch of songs to date.

The performances are hit-or-miss--and many of them are trumped by Folds' own pair of songs--but the originality remains fairly consistent, yielding an album that should delight a cappella enthusiasts and, at the very least, interest the average Folds fan.

The bottom line here is that Keep on Loving You may jar some longtime Reba fans on first listen, but despite the record's sound it's all her in this mix, and they will more than likely celebrate this.

Albums like this pretty much ask you right away to either turn it up or throw it out, and there's no denying the polarizing nature of D.I.Y. indie rock, but Jookabox is consistently visceral, darkly funny, and wholly unpredictable enough to warrant more than a cursory spin around the neighborhood.

Not only are the songs so perfectly patched that it's hard to tell they were ever fractured, but in the age of Pro-Tools editing, they seem like relatively standard pop songs.

H.I.M. isn't a band known for profound lyrics, but, at the same time, most fans of the band don't want to philosophize, they want to hear the group rock out, and this release shows them doing precisely that, even harder than before.

The rather aimless and derivative '90s drum'n'bass homage "Hocus Pocus" aside, No More Idols is a consistently impressive and intriguing listen that has the potential to be the drum'n'bass genre's defining studio album.

They may have done some drastic reshuffling and tried some new things on Move Through the Dawn, but it's a Coral record at its core and it's one of their most satisfying, too.

There are experiments with ambience, risky beat switches, theatrical and hook-free pop, and orchestration that Scott has never attempted before. The multi-platinum guest features might set the album up for global conquest, but the most exciting moments come when it sounds like Scott is discovering a new way to push his craft forward.

Ultimately, Outside's exercises in nostalgia are pretty, smooth, and inoffensive, but not nearly as interesting as CFCF's debut album or the EPs that followed it.

He fares better on "Silver and Gold" and "Humour Me," where more energy and sensuality keep things afloat, proving once again that soul-searching and dancing don't have to be at cross purposes.

While it's nice to have another Mary Chain record, what makes the record even better is the presence of Linda Reid.