While Nielson would be well-served by sticking with the colorful mess of sound the band seemingly effortlessly creates, he could go the melancholy troubadour route and make that work too. Blue Record is certainly proof of that.

Rather than subverting culture, the band goes one step further, subverting the expectations of listeners by performing the songs without irony. Most surprising, however, is how well these songs work with Bad Religion's driving and melodic style and Greg Graffin's distinctive voice.

She makes listeners wait for her still-formidable skills with hooks and melodies, displaying them most stunningly on "Bad Girls," a sinewy, menacing track whose origins date back to 2007 sessions with Danja.

Sure it's mature, soulful, and often beautiful, but it's also mostly forgettable.

Rice's sepia-tone tales of worry, wisdom, woe, and wild-at-heart love feel authentic and lived in, and while they may lack the spark needed to light a fire that's big enough to bring him out from behind Lewis' shadow, they still manage to provide enough light to warm the bones of even the weariest traveler.

Recommended for those interested in classical-rock fusions.

Those who enjoyed the wooziness of Talabot's 2012 studio album ƒIN should find much to enjoy here.

This is the kind of album that appeals primarily to hardcore fans looking for a new spin on the familiar; in other words, this is unlikely to convert EDM listeners to the pleasures of Linkin Park.

It's a serviceable bit of self-generated fan fiction that's as slight as it is artistically obstinate.

Not surprisingly, Luque, a verbose and enigmatic lyricist, is the perfect match for Bejar (they're also both hirsute rock & roll outliers), and the five-track collection requires little in the way of translation.

No End will not appeal to everyone--especially not all Jarrett fans. But those who've closely observed his processes and evolution will likely embrace it, as will fans of experimental guitar-based rock.

It's mellow in the canyon tonight, so lie on your back and stare at the stars, let the music wash over you and don't "stop paying attention to the things that used to make you shine."

For most of the album, however, Jessie J shows how wide her range is.

The beefy, Steeleye Span-meets-MGMT rocker "The Sixth Wave" are spilling over with ideas, and would probably have fit right in on Terra Firma's ambitious back end, while the amiable title cut, a breezy two-chord shuffle that should please fans of the band's hook-filled debut, delivers the EP's most instantly gratifying moments of pop acumen.

Hansard and company play it safe on the title cut... while the three original cuts, the evocative "Pennies in the Fountain," the soulful "Renata," and the empowering, completely a cappella "Step Out of the Shadows" should please fans of the Once star's 2012 solo debut, Rhythm and Repose.

What follows is a sort of half-comforting, half-sad jamboree with Oberst and a small army of friends at his house playing through Christmas standards.

Deaf Havana are certain to set themselves aside from peers We Are the Ocean and Lower Than Atlantis with this release, yet they still have the hallmarks of a young band in transition.

Sometimes, Davies' blend of hard rock and healing doesn't quite jibe--it can lose form and drift or it can hammer its points home too hard--but there's a dogged individuality to his mission that's appealing even when the music itself is not.

A Mary Christmas won't likely reach the high status of, say, Mariah Carey's Merry Christmas, but it's a full-effort holiday release that many of her fans should be able to enjoy for several years.

Ocean Colour Scene are agile within the confines of their wheelhouse so it's enjoyable to hear them play and construct records, even if they rarely give you a reason for a return visit.

Frustratingly, the quality of Diary does dip in and out, with "What Am I Supposed to Do?" providing an unimaginative guitar bounce, for example. But when it works, it really does produce some memorable moments.

Cobble out the stellar EP inside or consider it a pre-mall mixtape because the puzzling Underground Luxury mixes mack daddy music with mall rat tracks, even if B.o.B's conviction throughout suggests he sees them as equals.

September Girls sound like a copy of a copy of a copy, not quite reaching the heights of their immediate predecessors, let alone the classic bands they're all aiming for.

No one doubts the power in Nettles' throaty contralto, but some of these songs feel too calculated or require more subtlety to completely pull off. That said, these simple shortcomings won't--nor should they--deter her fans.

While much of Have Fun with God will be reserved for Smog and Callahan superfans, or those who loved Dream River so deeply they'd need to hear it in dub, casual listeners will find something to ponder in the mumbling percussion, deep basslines, and scattershot echo vocals of tunes like "Expanding Dub."

When it works, it feels lived-in, loved, and just occasionally lurid enough to satisfy the fans who hold "Golden Streams" as the litmus test by which all Hidden Cameras songs must be judged, but tracks like the slight, early Depeche Mode-throwback "Carpe Jugular," and the seemingly endless, dub-kissed "Afterparty" feel like they were tossed in to make what would have been a solid EP into a filler-laden long-player.

They've found a capable formula that will appeal to many, but some more personality would go a long way to seal the deal.

As a collection of unabashedly melodramatic, dear-diary poetic, and tastefully lush happy/sad dream pop anthems, In Roses delivers the goods with the sort of restrained panache that’s sure to win over the NPR crowd.