Sure, the sound of Shriek may scare off people who need guitars to be the focal point of their indie rock, but for anyone with a slightly more experimental nature or anyone who likes synths and subtlety and wonderfully emotive vocals, it's a great and welcome surprise that's a brilliant step forward for Wye Oak.

Sometimes a willingness to toss off responsibility once in a while is a sure sign of maturity, and if you want to hear a golden example of this thinking in action, the Old 97's have one for you with Most Messed Up.

The loving layers of static, submerged guitar progressions, and effortless meshes of naturalistic themes and glitchy processing all play into a language of sound distinct to Fennesz and reaching some of their clearest articulations here.

This album evidences an expanded creative reach for the pair, even as it re-engages the sharp edges they displayed on earlier recordings.

Get Back isn't pretty--this is a sloppy, wet kiss of a record that leaves a little sick on you--but it's heartfelt enough to win you over and dangerous enough to wish you had told someone before you got into the car with it, which is what rock & roll in its purest form should be.

Romme's tales of woe manage to transcend the usual trappings of traditional singer/songwriter confessionalism by adopting a universal miasma, leaning more toward the dark English folk side of the chamber pop spectrum.

These tracks amuse and torment in roughly equal measure.

Dalle sounds comfortable, confident, and liberated on Diploid Love, and she gives listeners a more complete portrait of her artistry along the way.

Upon repeated listens, the sorrowful undertow of Everyday Robots becomes a comfort, a balm for moments of alienation; it's the kind of record that when you're lonely, you press play.

Shrink Dust has some truly inspired moments and fits right in with VanGaalen's building mythology.

After more than 20 records, Motorpsycho remain inexhaustible in their creativity, fully, energetically, in command of a musical vision that is boundless.

There is much to like about Green's music, but if Haul Away! is indeed part of a potential trilogy, let's hope the songwriting on her third offering outweighs its stylish ambitions.

Granular Tales is a pleasant surprise--an album that acknowledges the Woodentops' frantic glory days while offering them a way to move into the 21st century gracefully, and demonstrates how dance music can mature while still getting the party started; this doesn't exactly pick up where the Woodentops left off, but certainly finds them just where they want and need to be.

When taken together, the tracks on III provide incontrovertible evidence that 15 years after their career ambitions went up the chimney, Death continued not only to make music, but to evolve and grow as a band. Even though this music is less intense, it retains the trio's trademark sound throughout.

You don't have to love baseball to love the Baseball Project (though it clearly helps)--on 3rd, this band has made an album that listeners who love a good story with some tough guitars can like, even if they're foolish enough to prefer football.

Plague Vendor have captured the feeling of youthful defiance that spurred the genre's pioneers to action, and while their debut might not be long enough to be the soundtrack to your late-night antics, it's the perfect album to light the fuse on a night you probably won't remember in the morning.

Not easily understood as dance music, experimental music, or rock music, Enclosure considers, rejects, and reconsiders all of them on a second-to-second basis and stands as one of the more listenable of Frusciante's ever-obtuse solo albums.

It's a joyous thing to hear, a record that recaptures much of the magic of Leon's Shelter records without being fussy.

The world of Future is as wobbly and as wonderful as ever, and thanks to Honest, it just got grand.

Taken in as an album and Azalea's constant "bow down" attitude makes this a cuckoldish experience, so think "some will pay for what others pay to avoid" and approach accordingly.

Love Without Fear is a strong, mature work and it's great to hear Wilson step out from behind his collaborators to present his own work again.

Even if Neon Trees sometimes try a little too hard to be serious on Pop Psychology, it's some of their most heartfelt music and some of their finest.

With few duds to speak of, The Space Project sees most of its contributors turning in high-quality material, interacting with the sounds of the unknown in inventive and inspired ways.

Compared to their chameleonic debut, The Way and Color sometimes almost feels too consistent, but hearing TEEN's fondness for reinvention focused into songs this good is even more rewarding.

Fear of Men come all that much closer to the mastery of their uniquely conflicted perspective on pop music with Loom, offering a set of songs as effortlessly enjoyable as they are smart, as inspired as they are hopeless.

While there isn't much separating Rented World from the Menzingers' sophomore effort musically, there's a contemplative aura surrounding the songs that shows all of the hallmarks of a band growing into more nuanced and capable songwriters.

This set is sly, funny, cunning, occasionally evil, and entertaining throughout.

What saves this album from being just another version of some guy at the bar going on and on about some lady he lost is E's subtle and easy way with a melody, and even though some of these songs are so slow as to barely have a pulse, they flow well and easily into and out of each other.