It starts off deceptively strong, with standouts like "I Got the Keys," "Nas Album Done" and "For Free" all loaded near the beginning. But once the album advances past this bit of clever sequencing, it barely strikes a chord.

It's safe to call Outside CFCF's magnum opus; it's an immaculate zenith that represents every brave, leftfield musical choice this young musician has made up until this point.

Hard Believer has a simmering urgency, but though the album seems like it's always building to something, when it ends, you can feel how far it has come.

With Radiance and Submission, the Montreal musician attempts a serene matrimony of the two musical sides that struggles to strike a balance between stimulating and stale when it comes to the record's overarching sound.

Psychedelically haunted and spiritually free, Life After Death isn't just an escape from the world we're confined to, it's a multi-dimensional confrontation, compositions conversational as they are challenging.

Overall, Cosmic Wind is free of obvious flaws. But while it's a pleasant album, there's no song distinct enough to elevate it from passive listening.

It would be unwise to view Amnesty (I) as the rebirth of Crystal Castles; it's simply the next step in the band's evolution, a welcome return.

Hot Cakes contains vestiges of the brilliance that once helped make The Darkness a massive cultural force (at least in the UK). But too many of its songs feel like toss-offs and half-formed ideas.

With Nun, Teengirl Fantasy sound pleasantly restless and resourceful, but there aren't enough transcending moments here to make this EP anything more than a stop-gap.

It's all weird and ramshackle, but it fits the music so well. With each improvised yelp, clap and audience holler, Butler has created a record that captures his sound, in spite--or, perhaps, because--of his unwillingness to stick to one.

While Howl falls squarely into a no man's land between soul and pop, Brooks's smooth style ultimately proves refreshing.

There's no doubt the songwriting is there--but the LP's best tracks ("All Our Wonder" and Old Haunts") share the lo-fi production that was a boon to the atmospheric beauty of their EP.

Preventing such weighty topics from becoming too exhausting are the upbeat instrumentals with which they've been paired.

Some of its improvisations feel more impenetrable than others. But the album's unpredictable nature gives it some of its finest moments.

Her solo album is indicative of her strength alone, but it also highlights her importance as a member of Warpaint.

DJ Shadow's solid fifth LP shows that he still has the chops to cut a good record when he's not doing a complete gear change (The Outsider) and then turning down the wrong road at full speed (The Less You Know, the Better).

This album won't change anyone's opinion of Rick Ross, but fans will get everything they love about his music: some standout tracks, an abundance of charismatic luxury raps and a slew of incredible, lavish instrumentals for you to cruise around to.

Tinashe's Joyride is a stop-start journey that doesn't quite stall out, but does feel like some ground has been lost. It does move, however, and it will be interesting to see where things go from here.

For an ambitious release that obviously reaches for such lofty heights, Taiga is peculiarly light on hooks and personality, forcing Danilova to fill many of those gaps in with glittering aural cosmetics.

Elephant Stone haven't lost anything here; rather, they've refined their songwriting and production, and the results are quite exciting.

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

While they don't break a ton of new ground with this record or introduce any drastic new elements, Only Ghosts is still a great new addition to their canon.

Some of album's more pedestrian elements slide by — bouncy, sing-song verses that Pitts can obviously write in his sleep and which come off as a bit insubstantial sometimes, the whole thing threatening to blow away with the faintest breeze. Carefree Theatre is certainly pleasant enough to get swept up in however, and a good capstone to a decade's work.

The 11 tracks on Magpie and the Dandelion were recorded during the same Rick Rubin-produced sessions, and now stand as a well-timed response to those that found The Carpenter too weighty for its own good.

The band's natural tendency toward tightly knit pop music, combined with an increasingly evident and more fully realized awareness of their strengths, makes Shaky Dream a great release.

Chesney's folk-pop Songs for the Saints is a charity album that although compassionate and kind, carries few memorable and catchy country tunes.

They're not back at their best, but on Everything Now, Arcade Fire once again sound like the world-beaters they were on The Suburbs without forgoing the acidity, swagger and scope of Reflektor.

Without Goodman's unique artistic voice anchoring and guiding the proceedings, Music for Listening to Music To feels set adrift, done in not by its makers' stylistic diversions, but by their unwillingness to give the album a proper focal point.