It’s the sheen and almost reflexive attentiveness to commercial accessibility that’s placed on a good handful of the songs that can make them sometimes fail or falter or seem weaker than they truly are.

They put together nearly perfectly produced and arranged songs, tight and precise yet still urgent and fast.

A bravely uncompromising yet often richly rewarding affair all told.

The results are far better than you'd imagine.

Common Era is remarkable for a variety of reasons that transcend textual directness. It defies expectations in ways most musicians don't even conceive, let alone attempt.

While Nocturnes doesn’t have the immediate impact or supremely sticky quality of Little Boots’, AKA Victoria Hesketh’s, high-caliber dance-pop debut, Hands, it does display a slow-growing (Or is that glowing?) charm that rings true to the album’s muted title.

Like the music, there is always a vast amount of territory enclosed and in that same sense, Alpers covers a lot of ground with careful trepidation. The meticulous feel of the album stems from its creator and the calmness of the music is a sheer result of it.

If you aren't at least a little cozy to the sound commonly produced by Whitney and company, you certainly won't be any more into Jaguar Love. Well, that may not be totally accurate, as I can see this being some of most accessible stuff spawned by any Blood Brothers alumni.

Rather than break new ground, Rademaker, Losielle, and friends have chosen to have some fun making a record that would have sounded fantastic 20 years ago. While maybe not quite fantastic today, somehow it manages to sound fresh enough in 2004 that you’ll be glad you gave it a chance.

Neck of the Woods may not be album of the year material, but it's the best album in this band's catalog by a long shot.

The album magnifies both Meloy’s core songwriting and the group’s gifts for bold ambitious arrangements. This brings out some dynamic juxtapositions between simplicity and elaboration that serve proceedings in a refreshing fashion.

These aren't the most outlandish songs but they also aren't the most invasive either; it's all about how much you're willing to let go and enjoy pop music in one of its most honest states. And even if it doesn't move you, Animal Feelings will definitely have you grooving and shaking for quite some time.

Like their name, Wires Under Tension's music is fraught with restlessness, and in a music industry that still generally rewards and promotes the familiar and commonplace, a little agitation might be just what we need.

The result is slightly overlong and occasionally repetitive, but it’s also a determined sounding reappraisal of the abilities of the three musicians and also an album that could slide unnoticed into the myriad of Indie releases of the last decade, raising only one or two significant ripples as it does so.

Each of these tracks will peel your face off and serve as the equivalent of hooking your brain to a nuclear reactor.

[It] would be a shame for you to miss.

This truly is a beautiful collection.

Overall though, this is quite a solid and fun debut EP.

He has composed devastatingly clever lyrics to go with music that completely rocks out, tugs at your heartstrings, or both.

It's by no means a progressive statement for a band long revered for its innovation and influence, but Earth Division is still a fine compendium of Mogwai's prowess with more sedate atmospheres.

Overall, what could have been yet another cash-cow milker actually turns out to be a curious and compelling piece of therapy for Frank Black as a writer and performer.

With a few shining moments, the band seems like they've given up. Rather than pine over an album full of memorable hits, Damnesia falls short in many ways.

Folds' wit is less biting, but it's still present. And he's still got style.

It's hard to dislike this album because it is capably performed and the sounds and voices work up a dreamy headspace, but it's also difficult to be really enthusiastic about it.

Whilst this self-titled Mice Parade set may struggle to push Adam Pierce’s envelope much beyond a well-sealed blue-print, it does at least keep the momentum of his low-key career moving along at a respectable and occasionally unpredictable rate.

Ringle is easily one of the few that can do it so well and lucky us, Thistled Spring is an exemplary example of what folk music is capable of when done right.

An entrancing, accomplished, and often uplifting record that will be heralded by the time the semi-tropics of a British summer arrive. A triumphant return.

Based on the music alone, No World For Tomorrow, like all their work, is a phenomenal accomplishment and remarkable introduction of Progressive Rock into the mainstream cannon.