The set is both familiar and fresh-sounding at once.

Rarely does an independent album sound so assured, so polished, and so agreeable.

Peñate's enthusiasm for not only his source material, but for the empty canvas of 21st century commercial music itself, feels genuine enough, resulting in an infectious club- and radio-ready collection of cosmopolitan pop that feels both familiar and expansive.

Even if he doesn't quite have the vocal presence to fully inhabit this stage, his taste and melodic skills are suited for this bigger scale so My Old, Familiar Friend winds up as an effective showcase for his craftsmanship even if it never quite grabs ahold the way "Lapalco" did.

Most of the album stays true to a light flavor, and Welcome Joy is a nice, comfortable listen, right up there with "Invitation Songs."

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.

Ultimately, Blood from Stars is the most sophisticated, redemptive, and romantic album Henry's cut; the love songs are simply raggedly breathtaking.

It's overrun by the dissonance of half-step progressions and minor-chord crunch, and it's constantly excruciating.

Wind's Poem strikes a balance between accessibility and ambition that offers something for every kind of Elverum fan, but never sacrifices its purpose in the process.

Throughout, You Can't Take It with You represents the sound of a band striking a delicate balance between emotional directness and artful experimentation.

Here, Ledisi wails and belts with a kind of power previously untapped--in recorded form, at least--all the while maintaining remarkable finesse.

This is essentially a thinking man's album, though, more indicative of the band's breadth than its ability to make hit singles.

Treat Ursa Major as an EP, forgetting the second half.

Wolf has often stated that he has no allegiance to styles when it comes to recording, but The Bachelor feels most alive when it's wallowing in its own dusky ruin.

To be sure, this is recognizably within his comfort zone--as always, when you do it as well as he does, there's no need to change--but beneath that supple exterior there are a few surprises, chief among them the re-emergence of Strait the songwriter.

That eagerness to sell out can be grating, especially when her 2009 debut slides into glassy ballads, but fortunately she's also picked up (perhaps unwittingly) on the underlying oddness of Aguilera and Perry, turning out purportedly mainstream pop that puts together familiar ingredients in weird ways.

We could have used more of the Incredible String Band or Richie Havens! But these are individual complaints. The set as it stands is the ultimate document--thus far--and will likely be for some time to come.

Hot Mess is a complete success and shows that the band could possibly grow past the comedy and become something else entirely.

Middleton and company burn through a set of excellent songs with confidence, ranging from other quick-as-hell rundowns to calm reflection.

The songs generally sound as tuneful and well-crafted as her earlier work, but Stupid Love sounds curiously chicken-hearted when it reaches for its pop gestures, a shame since the songs where she pushes hardest in that direction are the ones that succeed the most.

The trio dives even deeper into the grooves that drive their music, expanding them and streamlining them into something challenging yet fresh and immediate.

It's a joy to hear, and it's comforting that Sainte-Marie is still writing amazing songs, taking firm social and political stands, performing with spirit, joy, and passion, and pretty much doing what she's always done.

Their music is solid, Southern-style meat-and-potatoes rock at its best; it's a formula they've mastered over the years, and Lean Forward shows it's still delivering soul-satisfying results more than a decade and a half on.

Love and Curses features 14 songs driven by soul, strength and fierce belief, and with a voice as strong as Greg Cartwright fronting a band this tight and effective, Reigning Sound are just about unbeatable; they're one of America's great bands and they're firing on all cylinders with Love and Curses.

Call it sloppy pop (or poppy slop), but even with the raw aesthetic and tinny resonance, the songs are entirely sweet and hummable, sometimes to the point of being unshakable.

Well-chosen guests like Fatman Scoop and Pharoahe Monch increase the thug appeal while earthshaking productions from the Alchemist, DJ Khalil, and Mr. Porter seal the deal.

They're innocent, they're simple, and they're filled with blindingly good hooks. It's all thrown together with a superb sense of knowing what works.

Sometimes, this approach is entirely too slick, particularly when the rhythms are pounding too hard on 'Wild at Heart' and 'You Said,' but at their best, Gloriana can evoke the forgotten charms of '70s studio-centric soft rock in both its mellow and rocking incarnations.