Young rappers take notice: you want to sound like this when you get older.

Den is a great complement to Tank and like its predecessor, its main fault is that it's far too short.

The tech-house producer has attempted to cultivate his dusty electro landscapes, leaving the listener with seven hearty compositions built upon loose and fertile groundwork.

What we get on Psychedelic Pill are stream-of-consciousness attempts ("Driftin' Back"), along with musings on the grim reality of old age ("Ramada Inn") and the regrets that come with it ("Walk Like A Giant").

Civil Disobedience functions well as a single purpose stoner rock record, but fails to offer anything new or exciting.

The lyrics are still full of cutting observations and social critiques (take the anti-capitalism slant of "Corporate Elect," for example), but the urgency driving 2010's Absolute Dissent has shifted into something more akin to a sense of anticipation.

Hidden Orchestra occasionally skirt the borderline of cheese, but thankfully manage to stay on the right side of it, for the most part.

There's a hidden level of responsibility in his words, with Mill striking a balance between the glorification and the lamentation of his actions.

Fourth album Mirage Rock is a bungled mess of poor production and half-assed songwriting.

While the execution has become more precise, more considered, the gigantic, swooping structures of the songs remain as thick and muscular as the Midgard Serpent, undulating around and encircling the world.

With its comparatively morose yet still lively sound, Animator is just as instrumentally adventurous and aurally beautiful as the Luyas' enchanting debut.

Many of the tracks, all recorded since 2007, echo the questionable cacophonic splurges of 2008's Skeletal Lamping through to this year's lacklustre Paralytic Stalks. But there are some respites.

Long Slow Dance is a record designed to earn them new fans, but also lose some old ones by ditching the scratchy, unpolished production of their previous work.

There is still strength, a tenacious hopefulness that coils around every song, even as Stay Awake revels in its delicacy.

This is clearly their best work to date.

The band compel with each of their unique flourishes, which work together to enhance the listening experience, making Beyul a thought-provoking, yet easily digestible album.

This is a violent force of targeted creativity.

There are a few shining spots, some merely okay ones and an overall sense that K'Naan is savvy enough to play things on the safer side for now.

Oddly accessible and intriguing in its damaged form, Lonely is much bolder than the MOR, left-field beat music one might initially believe it would be.

The Haunted Man is defined by a more refined sensibility, drawing back the playful clatter of her first two albums in favour of sparser arrangements and a slightly elegiac tone.

It looks like there may be some wind left in this crew's sails after all.

Mayer's instincts, developed behind the decks, come subtly bleeding through on Mantasy, but his sophmore album also shows an artist that's comfortable with revealing lurking melodies and smearing the lines between genres as a producer.

Clark can do it all and it's entirely likely that Blak And Blu will be recognized in the future as a moment when American music suddenly got a great deal more interesting.

By giving their songs more directness, Local Business succeeds in what the band set out to do: present Titus Andronicus as a charged, dynamic live band.

A heavily introspective tour de force, Lamar has created a stubbornly parochial soundtrack to his life in Compton, CA.

Bossalinis & Fooliyones is a taut, humble and profoundly aware medley of late afternoon joy--the best time to listen to it.

Black Moth Super Rainbow's fifth release may not be their most resourceful work to date, but it's undoubtedly their most sublime.

Free Dimensional is infectiously positive, building off of similar foundations as his previous tracks while boasting a fuller, more dynamic sound.

Pound for pound this is another very solid album from an awesome band.

Vast and breathtaking, RIITIIR is simply stellar.

If Brasstronaut's fans are willing to go along for the ride, Mean Sun will reward the patient.

With The Parallax II: Future Sequence, Between the Buried and Me have managed to craft metal that's not just for metal heads, but will excite them just the same.

There Were Seven may not be much of an evolution, but it still feels like revolution.

While fans of the show will certainly get extra layers of inference out of Dethalbum III, the most amazing thing about it is, all on its own, it stands as a hilarious and skilful example of the genre.

While it is unlikely that many listeners will find this song [Just Waves] worth revisiting, the rest of the EP is strong, and recommended especially to those already familiar with the group.

Numbers proves that MellowHype are capable of making a good album without employing the over-the-top antics or shock themes they initially used to capture attention.

These songs feel ripped from sets you'll most likely never see, as the technical skill of Villalobos conspicuously reminds the listener of the less boring record it could have been.

Mac DeMarco may assume a trashy façade, but beneath that lies a genuinely talented songwriter who writes what he knows and keeps us entertained while he does it.

Stunt Rhythms is by far an auditory treat.

Suffice it to say, Zygadlo comfortably defies the sophomore album slump with this one.

The album benefits from its fluid, improvisatory feel, not quantized to death like so much electronic music these days.

The album is not without its bright spots, as much of the Brooklyn duo's soundscapes waver somewhere between engaging and downright daring.

Fans of previous Boys Noize release Oi Oi Oi will be pleased to find the elements that made that record so vital are still present.

A unique, immersive and trippy release full of unusual, angular samples and disorienting beats that recalls the early days of techno with its sci-fi themes and bold, (retro-)futuristic approach.

Reconstructed is a comprehensive and well-curated collection that showcases the diversity and talent of this exceptional California turntablist and producer.

The cohesion the album does offer is its seamless passage to club land, its capacity to get the listener up and moving, and its ability to surprise.

Twins might not completely match up to the perfect storm of Slaughterhouse, but it is another solid addition to Segall's discography.

Nirvana are actually a better comparison, not so much for the sonic similarities (though they are certainly there if you want to make them), but for METZ's ability to channel primal screams and squelching guitars into hook-laden earworms.

Converge have managed to once again best their only competition: themselves.

While many black metal albums attempt to approximate the sound that might issue from the depths of hell, Verdonkermaan actually comes close. Terrible and fascinating.

Tejada has done a fine job of giving each track its distinctive personality without sacrificing the flow of the album as a cohesive piece.

Although decidedly a step up from their last effort, the sloppy and forgetful Sidewalks, Lightning still finds the duo stuck in the same routine.

Provider moans with the stuff of life--fatherhood, working full-time, joy, death--and it's one of the most mesmerizing things any songwriter can lay claim to in recent memory.

There are enough great moments, such as "Why Are You With Me" and "All My Love," to make this his strongest solo record in quite a while, but it is still far from his best work.

Album number five, Sugaring Season, is her purest work yet, stripped right down to the bare essentials and, as a result, it fits perfectly on an English folk timeline.

This is one of the most rewarding and beautiful albums of the year.

It's a solid, long overdue return of one of America's great rock'n'roll bands.

An easy 12-track listen with smart, if not epic, storytelling and a variety of sounds.

Whether or not Give Me My Flowers lives up to expectations as a proper sequel may be of some debate, but this album in its finished state definitely impresses.

As I Lay Dying bring no surprises to the table, they just continue to hone their craft and do it better than the countless clones that have popped up in their wake.

Even though there's a dramatic shift thematically, Collett maintains his signature sound of acoustic slow jams and the occasional up-tempo number.

The arrival of Little Heater, only Irwin's second solo album, is therefore a notable event, and nothing about it disappoints.

Vocals, samples and soundscapes are all treated as equals, resulting in a slurry of sound that remarkably works both as a mixtape comedown and as a salient whole.

Tempest is a mixed bag of ideas at best, many of which would be better served by someone like Tom Waits.

What makes Sun so exquisite is that Marshall finally sounds in control of her chaos.

Sensual, artful and accessible, it is easily one of the best pop albums of the year.

Cruel Summer has too few of these transcendent moments and is decidedly less than the sum of its parts.

The 47 minutes diced into 17 tracks that consitute Breakthrough demonstrate what Gaslamp Killer is capable of.

This is beautiful stuff and my favourite yet from Deepchord.

Minerva (née Juur) takes a few steps closer to the blurry line that separates quirky, home-taped experiments and straight-up club cuts.

Total Loss is a brave effort by an artist who's clearly not afraid to show vulnerability through risk-taking and soul baring.

That's not to say Young Blood is bad, but mediocrity shouldn't attract attention so fast.

Despite sounding more like Radiohead's wistful indie-pop nephews than the genuine article, alt-J are a group offering moderate experimentalism that'll serve as an effective gateway for younger fans.

Rather than make giant artistic leaps every few years or so, Woods are content to push forward incrementally, showering fans with material that nonetheless gets better every record.

I Bet on Sky isn't the immediate winner that Farm was, but it's emphasis on tunefulness versus smack-you-in-the-face noise makes for a surprising winner and a pleasant late career left turn that gets better with each listen.

It's a shame to find Grizzly Bear spinning their wheels.

Their no-frills approach to doom is dark and incredibly heavy, but deliciously uncompromising. While it takes a few tracks for the band to shine through, it is worth the wait.

Coexist is far from a bad effort. Gentle sophisticates that the XX are, however, it's hardly surprising that the cutting edge got a little too sharp.

A hip-hop blues record is an interesting concept and in Koala's nimble hands, a unique listening experience.

The results are sporadic and schizophrenic, in the sense that it's hard to pinpoint a solid foundation within the album, and easy to get lost in its infectious melodies.

Overall this is a meditative collection that eloquently expresses a great deal of uncomfortable feelings few other songwriters are capable of addressing.

Instead of taking the easy route of creating a love letter to New Orleans, the band went in the opposite direction, continuing to lead American music into the future.

There's definitely a familiarity to their sound, but once you get past the derivativeness of it all, there's much to like about Toy.

Steam Days should finally break Fake free of Boards of Canada's imposing shadow. Fake is for real.

It is the best electronic extrapolation of the beauty and subtlety of one of the world's great rhythm nations since Bill Laswell's Imaginary Cuba almost 15 years ago.

Eight is a solid album of bass-heavy, tribal dub techno that employs plenty of analog synth and is among Deadbeat's strongest releases to date.

It's this constant dynamic of push-pull throughout that makes Ancient Future a compelling listen.

Mungodelics remains an uneven effort in design alone, promptly adding another layer of mystery to this hard-to-pin-down duo.

Emerald Forest and the Blackbird is far and away Swallow the Sun's most theatrical release.

The songwriting is more refined and consistent yet subtly surprising, and the production is smooth yet punchy.

2 Chainz's debut album is a triumph on so many levels.

Joe, Joell, Crooked I and Royce trade quality rhymes over a varied catalogue of original productions that allow the four-piece ample room to spit their different brands of venom.

Nine albums into their career, Animal Collective continue to deliver records far ahead of their time.

The North isn't Stars burning their brightest, but they're a long ways away from flickering out.