As the album wears on, however, it becomes clear that Einstürzende Neubauten has spent more time cultivating their bristling sonic elements than exploring compositional variety or subtlety.

What sets Franz Ferdinand apart is their unapologetic adherence to the pop formula.

Whatever their motives, this return to rock and roll is a welcome one.

Albini captures a recording full of heart, a sound quiet and full, rough and clear.

Phantom Planet, although obviously representing a group still searching for its sonic niche, nonetheless manages to entertain, perhaps proving there can be life after "California."

Unfortunately the band sometimes overdoes the sweetness and ends up being too precious.

The first pleasant surprise of 2004.

Fans of dream pop and chamber pop alike will find a lot to enjoy on this one.

While the group treads similar musical and thematic ground to [Nick] Cave, the results are nowhere near as ominous.

Swathed from head to toe in ecstatic fuzz.

Sonically, it's well-tempered between its beat-driven and its acoustic pieces; lyrically, a unique, personal pain drips out from Stewart's whispered vocals, providing the driving force of Muscles' challenging, diverse ensemble.

In the band's able hands, the music still sounds dangerous, unpredictable, and potent.

Standout tracks include the Breeders' "Wicked Little Town (Hedwig Version)," the Polyphonic Spree's "Wig in a Box," Spoon's Stones-y take on "Tear Me Down" and the whisper-to-a-scream romp that Yoko Ono and Yo La Tengo let loose on "Hedwig's Lament / Exquisite Corpse."

What separates them from their peers is a refreshing feminine perspective that draws from '60s girl groups and the conflicted teenage angst of Leslie Gore.

He's simply not an authoritative enough singer to give many of his songs the treatment they deserve. Nevertheless, Lanois is an expert craftsman, and Shine is a rewarding, extremely enjoyable album.

The concept is difficult to follow and the music occasionally unpleasant. But the band’s willingness to stretch in new directions is refreshing.

Twice is a summery, psychedelic treat.

Are you worn out by your Travis and Coldplay CD's? In the market for some new Brit-Pop? Clearlake creates songs with equally appealing melodies to the aforementioned bands, while eschewing the relentlessly anthemic quality that occasionally mires the genre.

Immediately more accessible than their last effort.

What the band lack in cohesion they make up for with a healthy mania.

Mansions end result is a scarred mess, a fitting aesthetic for such introspective music.

Beggar Boys may not change anyone's view of the band, but it is another strong outing in what is turning into a pretty consistent body of work.

And though she may be running in place lyrically, her melodies have never been keener and her vocals grow richer and more confident with each release.

L'Avventura is a pleasant side-trip, a chance for Luna fans to see Dean let his hair down for 40 minutes.

Hypnotic and dreamlike, the album presents a vision of pop music's future glimpsed through the lens of its past.

The years are beginning to show on Smith, especially on the opener, "Green Eyed Locoman," but his backing band hasn't sounded this energetic and enthusiastic in years.

Is Malkmus treading water? Well, maybe. But despite the complaints of those fans who can’t let Pavement go, he’s still making valid, adventurous and - most of all - fun music.

Occasionally, Memphis' songs coast on an attractive soundscape rather than going for a compositional or lyrical knockout punch. Nevertheless, I Dreamed we Fell Apart is often quite beguiling.

A disarmingly beautiful album.

[Has] a mysterious backwoods vibe worthy of Murmur-era REM.

Mason's songs wander from folk to rock and dip their toes into country, but sound fresh, and never boring.

Manzanita may be too diverse to be cohesive, but it is filled with interesting songs and the continued potential for great things.

Betke's more minimal application of sound has opened up acres of sonic real estate between the beats.

More often than not it's stylish, adventurous and damn fun.

Dramatic and dark.

It's all Around You isn't their best -- or most challenging -- work, but it's a sign the band is still making music in a bubble.

Occasionally, you might wish for a more generous-sounding lead vocal or concise song structure, but 10th Avenue Freakout is populated with stimulating, rather than easily accessible, music.

The record... is able to maintain a thrilling tension between bright, dream-like songs and an encroaching darkness.

30 minutes of bluesy punk-rock raunch.

People tend to like Joan of Arc when they play songs, but get all worked up and annoyed when the band stretches out with the experimental stuff. This record is a bunch of the stuff that would have pissed off that latter group of people had the music been bunched in with So Much Staying Alive...

Both Costa and Lindsay Anderson have an uncanny ability to evoke multiple emotions through their lyrics. The downside seems to be their lack of range; all the songs feel the same.

Black Dice doesn‚t shy away from risks, and this record is just as daring as Beaches and Canyons or Creature Comforts.

Whether you find Kinsella's brand of experimental pop insufferably pretentious or delightfully challenging (I find it a bit of both), you have to give the man credit for his vision.

For those who prefer less academic wave crushing and more pop elements in their electronic music, Player, Player pleasantly delivers the goods.

The Grotto isn't the type of record that will win Hersh many new admirers, but it will send longtime fans into fits of ecstasy.

That Kinski succeeds at knocking you over with noise on one album and then killing with you silence on the next is something to marvel at.

Faking the Books loses some momentum beneath a glut of precious, minimal electro-ballads that dot the album.... But the album succeeds brilliantly on the louder numbers.

The one thing that holds the whole record together stylistically, though, is that Shipping News play Very Serious Rock Music.

While the new album doesn't quite topple 1998's Silur from its Tarwater throne, The Needle Was Traveling is certainly a more than credible addition to the band's discography.

A loose, engaging collection of songs that won’t knock your socks off the first time you hear it, but begins to work its way under your skin on subsequent spins.

There’s a consistency in quality throughout the record, but nothing stunning enough to send you running to your stereo to hit the repeat button.

The New Wave sensibilities and unorthodox flows become predictable, and the absence of APC's Priest and Saayid is felt by the end of Tomorrow.

Of Montreal have safely entrenched themselves as an institution in the indie rock world, and Satanic Panic shows them as dependable as ever for some of the best pop songs around.

Moments of the overfed ambience familiar to the band's debut, Feel Good Lost, poke through as the album drags on.

Silence's instrumentals - choppy samples, organs, and horns, set to the tune of a staccato digital pacemaker - sound great, but they hardly stray from the formula laid down by Vocal Studies and Uprock Narratives.

There's a layered, almost psychedelic feel to a lot of these songs, suggesting that Beam may not be the died-in-the-wool folkie some might have pegged him as.

What worries me about the obviously talented Junior Boys is their tendency to round their corners. The music is so safe, so pleasant; it's not hard to imagine it in the Starbucks CD rotation without raising an eyebrow.

While the record isn't necessarily an instant classic, the unabashed embrace of simple pop sensibilities, both old and new, make it a record that is hard to stop listening to.

Bright Yellow Bright Orange is a much better album than Friends of Rachel Worth primarily because it largely abandons the formers' modern rock ambitions for a reflective and more natural folk-rock sound.

A record brimming with potential.

Surprisingly, the time frame covered by the collection does not detract from the listening experience, rewarding Cursive-completists with moments of power punk and the angular guitar work the band has come to be known for.

A loose, fun collection.

Songs is heavy on romantic longing, but the music is so coy and smart that it rarely feels mushy.

A timely twinkle of apple crisp bells, hearth-warming handclaps and belly-rubbing brass.

Though it is at times a forbidding and daunting listen, piercing through the dense thicket of sounds reveals a wealth of melody and funk underlining Autechre's irregular electro rhythms.

The advantages that The Capitol Years have over many of their compatriots are the excellent voice of lead singer Shai Halperin and swoon-inducing harmonies.

This record is a high-quality package of music that will keep most DM fans happy, but is not exactly earth-shaking in any way.

Delightfully pushes boundaries.

It's not always pretty, but even the mistakes have a remarkable charm.

They have all of the grandeur of the best REM ballads, but Snow Patrol leader Gary Lightbody sings with indie rock's characteristic understatement.

A solid collection of the most talked-about bands in the New York underground.

With Shamelessly Exciting he's starting to get good. In other words, on this record, once you get the idea, you're still going to want to listen.

The abject despair of The Mess We Made can become tedious, and, more than most artists, Elliott depends on a listener who is willing forgive him his lack of subtlety.

She's lyrically sharp as ever, and switches gears and works in nice melodies just enough to soften the edges, luring fans in before she pummels them.

Highlights the band at its most exploratory.

The album has a sonic cohesiveness that makes for a consistently pleasant listening experience.

A good album that finds Oldham retreating from the layered solemnity of his most recent releases in favor of a mood that is as intimate and delicate as it is bittersweet and biting.

Summer Sun doesn't have the collective impact of its predecessors, a problem typically attributable to song selection, sequencing and mixing.

The found sounds on Digital Ash can seem an affected and unnecessary embellishment in certain places.... But in other places they work.

In recasting these wilfully off-kilter tunes and investing them with his trademark warm and inviting melancholia, Mark Kozelek need not be modest: Tiny Cities is a big success.

Awfully Deep, on the whole, is a bold, ambitious swing for the fences. But, like it or not, the game's done changed, and Manuva '05 sounds way too much like Manuva '01.

Like the band's first two albums, Winchester Cathedral is solid. But also like its predecessors, the album suffers from the "Hey, didn't I already hear this song?" syndrome.

The band shows an incredible level of bravado on their album of fun summer hymns, but has a hard time breaking through the barrier the lackluster vocals create.

Broder puts art before music -- as if he's recording an audio version of a painting.

Excise these less-than-enthralling moments and the forty-nine remaining minutes of Ultravisitor are satisfying.

So New York. So everything. So new. But yet, so much like the hippies saying, "Man, if we could only get Nixon to smoke pot, then we'd have world peace, man."

An album of both phenomenal concentrated bits, as well as some disappointing gaps.

A puzzling release.

Often dreamy, sometimes rockin', but rarely more than pedestrian.

Starting with track six, Laughter's Fifth verges on unstoppable.

The problem with Blueberry Boat is that, while it's a musical marvel, it's not an album that I'll keep listening to.

When the songs work – it's some of the best material Faithfull has ever produced. But when they don't – you're left... falling asleep in the car.

An uneven mish-mash of musical ideas that is only occasionally thrilling.

While Waves is not quite a knockout, it delivers some undeniable pleasures nonetheless.

The results are not for the faint of heart – beats stutter uncomfortably, disappear without warning, and practically scratch out the walls of your speakers from the inside.

For every misstep on the mostly acoustic Spooked, there's an undeniable classic.

Grand Mal takes a connoisseur's approach to classic rock, and when it works, the best of Bad Timing can stand tall next to its forefathers.

Second disc Chirpin' Hard is the crowd-pleasing Speakerboxxx to Hill's less-accessible Church Gone Wild.