It makes the album a true pleasure to listen to, and Physical World gives Game Preserve a run for its money as Davenport's best stuff yet.

This band's disciplined, sensitive unity expresses Adams' fresh, expansive musical vision with elegance and grit, humor and pathos, tenderness and sensuality.

Cope is more than just the sound of a band getting by; it's the sound of Manchester Orchestra at their best.

While Hot Dreams is slightly less immediate than Creep on Creepin' On, its potent cocktail of menace, glamour, and vulnerability is nothing less than transporting.

With more memorable tracks and a slightly more accessible feel, the album is less distracted and more tuneful than before without losing any of the freewheeling spirit that made his songs and persona so attractive in the first place.

There's a refreshing, devil-may-care cavalier attitude to Education, Education, Education & War that eradicates much of the desperation that was beginning to creep in after 2007's Yours Truly, Angry Mob, but it still doesn't change the fact that you've heard it all before.

Miles at the Fillmore - Miles Davis 1970: The Bootleg Series, Vol. 3 is an essential addition to the Davis canon.

Just Because doesn't break down any walls in its bid for pop/rock superiority, but with voices this pure and earworms this painless it doesn't have to, as the Gruskas have crafted a timeless-sounding collection of songs with contemporary tools, and most importantly, they've done it with finesse.

Even if it's not quite as striking an achievement as WIXIW, it's a lot of fun and shows, once again, that Liars are unquestionably themselves no matter how much they push their boundaries.

Dissed is the kind of record that feels like it came out of nowhere to blow minds, and even though you can trace it clearly when you check out his previous work with the band Ovens or early solo recordings, it trumpets Molina's arrival with 12 short blasts of perfection.

Some of these versions work better than others, but they're all imaginative and worthy and, best of all, they prove the producers' thesis that there is a lot to discover within Dylan's '80s catalog.

In a lot of ways, Stereolithic sounds like a classic 311 album.

Strangers wavers between the sad and joyous sides of life, but Felice finds something out of the ordinary wherever he looks, and this record confirms this drummer just so happens to be a songwriter and frontman of the first order.

What underlies the handclaps and radiant melodies on their sophomore album Divisionary are songs that noticeably delve deeper into philosophical and darker themes than the wide-eyed optimism that engulfed their debut, and marks the evolution the band have undergone.

[It] doesn't necessarily mean that every cut is cohesive but Shakira is the rare pop star who can pull an album together through sheer force of personality.

Imperfections aside, this is a strange, oddly compelling addition to his catalog.

The lush, colorful songs combine orchestral arrangements, choirs, drums, and a variety of singers in an ambitious multinational pop collaboration.

Issues put enough of their own spin on things to feel like something new, which feels like a praiseworthy accomplishment in an increasingly homogenous genre.

As with Until Tomorrow, McFarlane produced the whole thing--an understated yet dazzling second album that is more imaginative than the impressive first.

Sweet, smooth, sincere, and smart, Dreams is an unexpected plush pillow from the group.

Toujours is an album of true originality, executed with humor, warmth, and spark, and captivating from beginning to end.

Bless Off is a single-minded beast of an album that seeks only to inspire the listener to hit the streets and take some risks, making a case for the idea that a life that isn't lived dangerously is a life that's barely lived at all.

Ragan's insightful writing lends itself to both anthems and love songs, revealing the singer/songwriter's maturity and savvy. He just needs to trust his vision more.

Its varied tones and moods settle into an exciting, vivid bigger picture and represent a clearer collection of Wilson's intelligent lyrical portraits and shifting stylistic muses.

Tokyo Police Club worked with co-producer Doug Boehm, who has also collaborated with the French Kicks, and Forcefield often recalls how that band managed to sound sophisticated and unpretentious at the same time

Somewhere in between his rich, weathered baritone and his self-deprecating lyrics, the listener is charmed into submission, and it all goes down like a perfectly sessionable ale, albeit one with peculiar origins.

World of Joy's second half isn't quite as cohesive as its first.

The album reaches its apex on the soaringly beautiful "Flight Song," evoking at once the best elements and most reflective shades of Eno, Aphex Twin, and free jazz saxophonist Marion Brown.