The simplicity of it all (only one instrument and vocals) highlights her vocals even more and even when the disc closes out with the more upbeat "Sea Of Love," you'll still feel a bit of melancholy hovering over.

The group shows that their goofy sides can peacefully coexist with their harmonious, pop-song writing ones.

Again shows that Eitzel is a total gem of a singer/songwriter.

Probably now their most accessible album, as they change things up a lot more than they have with past releases, implementing different sounds in nearly every track.

This is Jens Lekman, and what he does best is create overly-sweet pop songs, so it's hard to complain too much.

It's one of those releases that reminds you that with all the experimenting and genre-blurring, there is still something simple and nice about an album that takes fairly base elements of rock and roll and creates a disc that's highly catchy.

An excellent release, albeit a bit short.

A remarkably efficient album that zips by with plenty of highlights and begs for a press of the repeat button.

One Word Extinguisher opens and closes with a batch of great songs, but gets a bit soggy in the middle, treading similar ground several times over again and tossing out tracks that feel too similar to what we've already heard from him.

Among his best work to date, Cosmos finds Corona expanding his boundaries even more and in the process creating something more timeless.

With the field recordings, the release at times resembles the more sublime moments of Set Fire To Flames, but with more strings and a slightly less bleak sound.

Although a couple tracks towards the end don't work quite as well, it doesn't detract from the album as a whole very much.

It's a fun, varied excursion.

However slight it is, there's a measured optimism in some of the lyrics on the release that make the weight of things just a little easier to bear.

I have to admit that this release usually manages to give me a little boost when I listen to it and it has the added bonus of scaring little kids.

In terms of sheer weight alone, the album can almost be a bit crushing. With 12 songs that run nearly 70 minutes of time, Cave takes his time getting there, but you really don't mind.

A subtle, great album that moves along with a pastoral feel but never feels boring.

Layered, and a bit rough-around-the-edges, Sean Lion is also a heck of a lot of fun, and marks The Ruby Suns as a young group to keep an eye on.

If you're a fan of the darker energy that the group brought to their earlier releases (like Dubnobasswithmyheadman), you may find this release a little soft in the middle.

He jumps styles of music effortlessly, all the while managing to pull things together with touching and inventive lyrics.... One of the best releases of the year.

We Are Monster is one of those fun albums that sounds great whether you're in the mood to move or just sitting down and listening on headphones as you ride to work on the bus.

It's All Around You has both serious ambience and serious grooves, it rocks occasionally, and it doesn't dip into jazz nearly as much as some of their past releases.

A very good slice of experimental pop.

It's definitely a great step for the group.

This is by far their most polished and clean sounding album to date, as well as one that doesn't have the sort of immediately catchy tracks like on previous releases.

The brief disc contains enough gusto and punch to get your spastic swerve on heartily.

Instead of exposing any weaknesses, the group has highlighted their strengths by stripping things back to their essentials for A Vintage Burden.

Sure, they make use of their obviously higher budget and Source Tags And Codes sounds more rich and layered because of it, but like Modest Mouse with The Moon And Antarctica, they've used these new elements to accent their music, not destroy it.