The songs depict a torrid breakup, and she has restless yet tightly controlled electronic backdrops that suit her mood. Whether she merely had to get this out of her system or has found her true voice, it's one transfixing emotional hell of a follow-up.

It's a thrillingly bright and shiny noise pop album that is a positive addition to all the participants' already impressive résumés.

Despite this somewhat disjointed feel, Situation Comedy should still please most of his fans, whether or not they've kept up with his busy release schedule.

It might not be the full-length follow-up to You Are All I See that Active Child fans are waiting for, but brevity aside, the high quality of the songs on Rapor more than fulfills on Grossi's promise.

In some instances, it helps to not be much of a Donna Summer fan. Afrojack transforms "I Feel Love" into a graceless barrage of battering noise and reduces Summer's vocal to pulp, while Greene's "On the Radio" has Summer so heavily echoed and distant that it could be titled "On the Radio (At the Bottom of a Deep Well)."

While the band's elemental sound doesn't show much in the way of innovation, the spirit of true rock is so strong within it that it doesn't really matter.

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.

It's too bad the EP is saddled with a couple duds, because when it clicks and the music, words, and playing all get it right, one is reminded of the energy and fun that made the band worth checking out in the beginning.

Even if Shulamith isn't as strikingly original as Give You the Ghost, the growth in its songwriting and emotional complexity suggests Poliça are in it for the long haul.

Prism [is] a tighter, cleaner record than its predecessors--there are no extremes here, nothing that pushes the boundaries of either good taste or tackiness.

The extra flair of random trumpets, strange tape experimentation, and walls of fuzz bass contributed by the rest of the band just add to the colorful wash of sound, up there with the best Elf Power compositions of the past.

Horseback makes extreme underground music from the mysterious South; this compilation is the indisputable proof.

All of which helps to make That's It! a vibrant, engaging work and one of Preservation Hall's best albums.

There are too many shifts in mood here from track to track--but it is without question a worthwhile record, as its best moments are strong, substantive reinterpretations that illustrate just how good a songwriter Peter Gabriel is.

Put Summer Camp in the category of bands that are too good to ignore, but too uneven to truly embrace. Summer Camp is frustrating proof of that sad fact.

In Vagrant Stanzas' 52 minutes, Simpson has taken us not only though the music of the British Isles and America, but through his own history, directly, honestly, and poetically.

Although at times they come close to overshadowing the subtle instrumentation provided by Major and Dan Rothman, it’s actually the intrinsic balance between the contributions of all three that defines their sound.

The combined effect of the sometimes tortured words and the gentle, never-conflicting currents of folk, anthemic rock, cinematic instrumentals, and mannered pop create a welcome impression of a group that acknowledges that they've entered a comfortable middle age but are happy to fight against complacency however they can.

It's a variation on the JBs' dubbed-out compound of synth pop and post-disco, and it suits Lanza's voice to enticing effect.

While rap-rock is a sound that's prone to disaster, the band has the confidence to make it work, finding just the right blend of angst and swagger to pull the whole thing off.

Temple is very good at indie rock, and his indie folk was always pleasant, but he seems to have found his true niche on Good Mood Fool, and it's his first album to carve out territory that is unique and truly interesting.

Lissie's strength is how she uses the past as foundation, not aspiration, and that's why Back to Forever is a lithe, unpredictable, and seductive collection of modern pop: it places equal emphasis on song and sound.

An album in the old-school sense, with expansive tracks and detours that still add up to a cohesive whole, Last Night on Earth offers more proof that Ranaldo's music is just as satisfying, if not more so, on its own as it was as part of one of alternative rock's supergroups.

Carve out the ultimate party EP, or consider the highlights too high to miss, because this is Dizzee at his breeziest and is best taken in little bits.

Melophobia is a thoroughly modern rock record, where all the past is alive in the present, so if you've ever had affection for any alt-rock sound from the '80s through the 2000s, it's hard not to find something to enjoy here.

It gives old-schoolers a reason to dust off their jungle hoodies and drum'n'bass shoes, while the 2013 set get a bottom-heavy, funky, and passionate alternative to the current crop of bright EDM and light indie electronica.

Not only is it a welcome return, it's one of the Fratellis' most consistently engaging albums.

Each song on Fetch feels so meticulous and so conscientiously crafted, it's hard to listen to it without arriving at a cliched but undeniable truism: good things come to those who wait.