A New Testament is a charming, compelling and overwhelmingly genuine piece of work from an artist who seems determined to confound expectations.

Neon Icon is the weight the internet has left us with. It’s a much-delayed product of Tumblr art, Big Brother reality TV, corporate worship and urban fetishism. Or, maybe it’s pushing against these things. I dunno, whatever, at least it’s pretty fun.

In his honest debut Id, Chris Laufman, the mind behind the joyous noise-pop project Wise Blood, nobly outlines the neurotic impulses of those of us who don’t have a seat at Miley Cyrus’s lunch table.

With a mixture of electronic guitars, field recordings and slight percussion, the album is extremely peaceful--maybe a little too peaceful.

As its title implies, the record is full of a dynamism that sometimes sets it apart from others out there, and will undoubtedly show listeners a good time.

It’s a darker, angrier album and it shows that the duo is adventurous, but the experiments don’t quite cohere.

By the time that the closing track has concluded its schizophrenic barrage of drumming, the album has exhausted and enthralled its listeners, who will be ready to press rewind and live through it again.

There's a lot to enjoy in the Gringos' second effort, but mostly if your musical tastes never got past 1969.

[A] rock-inspired electro-alien world that Lindstrøm has carefully crafted.

The Big Pink has put out an electro-rock album that does not exactly redefine the future of music like the album title may suggest, but it does redefine the Big Pink.

Derivative without bringing anything new, Not Nothing is lo-fi at a mediocre level.

Ra Ra Riot's third LP, Beta Love, is a lot like a colorful box of candy--a bright and infectious collection of songs that hooks you on first taste.

You may find yourself cringing along to these missteps, but the album also a pretty fair split between between good and bad.

Despite its inconsistencies, La Liberacion undoubtedly mixes it up.

This may not be as exciting as people expected, but it’s detailed, coherent, and worth a spin.

On record, there is an irresistible sprightliness in the songs that says these guys haven’t worried once about their near-tribute sound.

Jarvis finds his stride when singing about the uncomfortable.

Forming an identity is a difficult task, and Reasons To Live is honest about the painful and revelatory nature of that process.

So this is the real Temper Trap: less fuzz, more grit.

NONONO are Swedish afterall, so while uneclectic, the album is not without its well executed, catchy genre charms. But what NONONO does well on We Are Only What We Feel, other people have done better time and time again.

Love Is The Law sounds like what would happen if The Memories took Lou Reed’s “serious musician” face and splattered it with neon-glow paint after a particularly inspirational train ride.

The album a treasure, yes, but unarguably generic too.