Other People’s Lives is a record to get lost in, especially for those who can close their eyes and trust a sly old cuss to bring them back.

Whereas previous efforts spawned a shrouded sadness that sought engagement by keeping a distance, this work squares its shoulders at once, fervent in its desire to have its audience lend an ear for at least a moment.

The album has a mood that runs throughout, unfolding from nothing into something extraordinary.

Perhaps their best outing yet.

Although they do show some potential, the Capitol Years do not rightfully deserve the hype they are getting.

Still, don't expect the bruising cut (or any herein) to set any tone whatsoever as Thing arguably represents Trans Am's most eclectic offering yet.

Realism is a significant departure from the bands previous outing, Distortion, which was quite a departure from its predecessor, "i." And although the group continues to change sounds, Merritt's enthralling voice and songwriting dexterity continue to shine.

Release The Stars swoons and sweeps until the final curtain and Rufus Wainwright has delivered music perfectly suited for the elaborate set of the world around us.

MGMT seem determined to break the mold they made for themselves, and while they deserve credit for trying, the outcome just isn't as much fun as the MGMT whose tunes could punch up movie trailers.

Hometowns has an earthly fragility, folksy without being folky. Score another one for Canada.

Fab Four Suture is a solid, satisfying listen front to back.

There are enough interesting things going on throughout the album to keep it fresh for several listens.

It’s apparent that this album was made with particular care, as most of John Vanderslice’s works are, but there are many cases where a more mature display of music appreciation is taken; previously, when met with such dogged emotional complexity, Vandersilce would rely on experimentation. Here, he stares straight on.

Viva La Vida does find Martin and his bandmates willing to extend their musical boundaries, making for an occasionally brilliant album that's exponentially more vibrant and engaging than 2005's generally stale "X&Y."

As for the claim that Romanian Names represents the pinnacle of Vanderslice's recorded output to date, the argument certainly holds water. The dozen songs are all inviting, catchy even, in their own way, and aurally consistent with the history of "sloppy hi-fi" production at Vanderslice's Tiny Telephone studio.

This is one for the ages, an album that you will covet, listen to, and live by.

Farina and MacKaye have created a delicate and beautiful masterpiece that transcends their punk and post-punk routes.

Each of the eleven tracks within Grand Animals can be broken down and taken apart as a stand-alone piece--individually they hint at manner of pop rock sounds--but none carries enough weight to eclipse the album.

The lag spots that usually accompany albums like Pink Graffiti are negated by the surprising fun quality of the rest; a perfect wake-and-bake companion.

Although it teases at the contrary for its first half, the idea that we really have no idea quite what to expect from the future of Bon Iver is the greatest gift this four-song breath gives us.

Twelve Angry Months is Lucas' best album in a decade, and arguably his catchiest. Not his most powerful.

When not so buried in dank sonics, Farrar's familiar songwriting drawl feels more crisp and lively; being able to hear the record's engaging pop hooks is a revelation. On the other hand, this newfound production clarity reveals that Farrar might be running out of ideas.

His band's former work may be referenced, but Adams' personal stamp is unmistakable.

Thanks largely in part to founding member/mainstay Robert "3D" Del Naja, there still remains that indefinable, singular aspect to Massive Attack that still carried the group over the hump of 2003's tepid 100th Window and onto the superior Heligoland.

As it is now, decidedly un-personal, In Our Nature falls flat.

At times perplexingly distant.

Travellers appears top-heavy, with a mid-section whose only correlation to time travel is that its melodies could've felt predictable in the 1890s, with the limitations of straight 4/4 beginning to wear. But listeners are rewarded for not giving up after that stretch.

X & Y is uninspired adult pop that drops jaws only in its capacity to elicit yawns.

All things considered, Washington Square Serenade is a bit nonchalant by Earle's standards.

Ultimately there's so many ideas vying for attention on this album that there is not enough room for its songs to breathe. And the discordant styles, some of them on their own of much merit, never truly mesh together.

The problem is simply that Gang of Four got Entertainment! right the first time, whether they like it or not.

And desperate single aside, it all works pretty damn well.

Genuinely soulful and unhindered by a slavish devotion to traditional Americana, The Opera Circuit is a tour de force for Hinson.

Set Free gives 2001’s Know by Heart - critically acclaimed and widely regarded as Amanset’s masterpiece - a serious run for its money.

Kenna has the indie roots to bridge the gap between pop and everything left of center. This effort has already created some stir between the two. My only concern is that the album's lack of balance may make for a one hitter quitter.

The good news is that the album is downright delightful. The bad news is that if you've followed Holland since her first release, you're probably not looking for an album that's merely consistent singer/songwriter fare: no, you want the highs and the lows.

A genre-bowing indie masterpiece as gorgeous as anything released since Sigur Rós’ ( ).

Heart Like a River takes you on a journey, and does not leave until every sight is seen and pathway is walked.

In this case I've been compelled to return a lot. Weird accomplishment for a pop singer. It's a five-or-six-listens album.

This album is not only the Like Young’s most diverse, is also its best.

Imperial Teen have again made one of the best records of the year.

While the album is based around the repetitive choppy hook and big beat, some quiet building moments of the heavy songs lack a sense of creativity and movement towards a real climactic edge.

While the similarities to Morretti's other group are what make Little Joy so easy to digest, they are also what make it seem somewhat unremarkable.

While the best tracks are the most uneasy and strung-out - like when bearing the deranged, astral colors of the Of Montreal kin, “Marry Me” or relishing the fabulous debauchery of the Pixieish devil’s waltz, “My Wicked Wicked Ways” - it can never be denied how honestly happy Lopez sounds on Knitting Needles & Bicycle Bells.

Playtime is Over, Wiley's third album, is full of tunes long on hookcraft considering their thrifty origins.

A Colores’s most glaring failure is its reluctance to shift from the narcotic tone it so quickly assumes.

Where Soul Coughing was defying specific genres and pushing norms, Skittish was scaled back, raw; Haughty Melodic is plugged in, not quite as downtrodden and surprisingly accessible.

Not an album for a sunny day, What the Toll Tells can seem gloomy and filled with shadows.

Raw beats, sick rhymes, nothing obvious or tired.

While the album fails as a cohesive and sharp sounding endeavor all the way through, it certainly showcases a creative effort that can’t be faulted.

Wolf, ever so self-aware, makes The Bachelor's most intimate moments its most powerful ones, where the frivolity stops and the artist reverts to his eccentric, idealistic nature.

As casual pop, Causes of This pleases effortlessly, though the listener doesn't get the sense that that's what Bundwick is all about here.

As presented on LP3, it appears Ratatat's music works best as a fleeting burst rather than a long player.

Decidedly unremarkable.

Terry has clearly reached a new level of musical maturity on this album, but flirting with sounds that don't quite fit in the face of such progression only keeps Or Give Me Death from fully harnessing his newfound growth.

Kidnapped by Neptune... finds an exponential increase in her reach while still relying on some of her time-tested tricks; the results are wryly melodic and never ever boring.

As a primer on The Greenhornes, Sewed Soles works best.

Along with Sounds of Silver, Myths of the Near Future is thus far the best dance (rock) album of 2007 that you can rock (dance)-out to.

[An] enjoyable, if slightly inconsistent, album.

The prospect of Midnight Juggernauts completely reviving the new wave scene is a long shot (perhaps thankfully so), but the trio has gone a long way toward proving that, when only the best parts are culled, the fairly dead genres of yore can, when bolstered by modern sounds, result in something beautiful and memorable.

Every one of the eleven songs attached to Blacklight is a stunner in purely musical terms.

Spellbinding and eclectic with the ability to be both eerie and gentle, Detrola is the best of the best of what His Name Is Alive has to offer.

For some reason, the band seemed to strip things down on this album, as the tracks are less sophisticated and experimental than on previous works, (which is fine for most bands, but for ones that aspire to keep their crown at the forefront of indie-pop, just not going to cut it).

The creative engine has stalled on Baby 81.

Nine of Arm's Way's twelve songs start with legs, but ultimately suffer from an inability to respect their limits.

Textual descriptions may be difficult to understand without listening through the album's 11 songs, but for someone who has been a faithful listener since their eponymous 1994 debut it is important to know that Beacons Of Ancestorship is surely a keeper.

The album is a whole effort, not just one or two overachieving songs that make the entire thing seem better than it really is. Along with Brazilian Girls, one of this year’s hotter electronic releases.

On Our Love to Admire that world-weariness goes from strikingly haunting to fairly monotonous.

Whereas their back catalog centered on decidedly un-rogue waves of distortion, My Heart Has A Wish That You Would Not Go is a collection of quiet, often surreal songs that border on balladry.

Once Upon A Time is simply derivative, a rehash of the band itself.

Memory Man will be one of the strongest efforts released in 2007.

Although the material could certainly stand on its own without all of its dressings, Canopy Glow is a more complete, dynamic experiment because of them.

For such a tortured swarm of piercing feedback-drenched feedback and electronically-manipulated electronic manipulations, this record feels surprisingly coherent, almost to the point that it’s comforting.

The band is learning to play their instruments better, but they’ve lost some aggression, which was the key to the little charm they had from the get-go.

Mostly, the overkill of professionalism just makes me yearn for the early Green Day material I grew up with: sloppy, abrasive, and most importantly, aware of what they can and can't pull off.

The Equatorial Stars renews a partnership of a more than historical value.

The Cave Singers' methods are clearer and less complicated than say, Joanna Newsom or Sufjan Stevens.

Imperfect as it is, you still have to admire Free To Stay as a gleeful paean to the joy and freedom of being young and a happy.

On their third album O, the day-glo Omaha quintet Tilly and the Wall spoons some peanut butter into my mouth. After an initial scare with the typically saccharine, non-album single 'Beat Control,' they diversify after all, which doesn't mean more overdubs.

The Nein has done what so many other bands have tried and failed to do. And that is that they've managed to make something so unique and off the wall seem ... well, accessible.

Spacey, ambient, and vaguely tribal, Alpinisms creates a landscape to get lost in. Despite their differing musical backgrounds, the band has a cohesive sound.

The tracks are both individually strong and do work as a whole, though not in the way the group necessarily intended.

While this is definitely a likeable album, and an extremely contagious pop effort at that, it's a hard one to get attached to.

We know in their perfect pop moments, Fountains of Wayne can be inspiring, but Out-of-State Plates proves that in imperfection, they can wear even the most admiring fans out.

With a Cape and a Cane feels more like it was made by a band of salty old musicians hoping to revive a past success instead of a sophomore album.

King For A Day is part-pop, part-prog rock, but all cultured and colorful.

Like it or not, the 1980s are part of who we are and Gonzales' homage to the decade is the closest thing to perfect he's achieved.

The band’s ability to sound unforced, unpretentious, unusual, and most importantly, real, is a breath of fresh air.

Despite their tendency to wade dangrously close to parody, the Black Heart Procession's continuing themes of despair, gloom and doom are still what make them so appealing as they continue to defy their sunny upbringing.

Few bands have managed to blend so many divergent sounds and styles together to make such an interesting, great-sounding, and cohesive [key word] record as Evangelicals have with The Evening Descends.

Overall, A Hundred Miles Off is less intense than one may expect; there is no "The Rat" on this record.

Even with song subjects nicked from movies, the only false thing here is the title: Get Awkward my ass. It's extremely difficult to imagine these hyperdrive darlings as anything but fully adept.

While Joan of Arc’s latest is a relative failure as an album when compared to everything else coming out in indie-rock these days (dropping them under .500 in my book), it is a winning effort, relative to the whole of the Joan of Arc/Tim Kinsella catalog.

Their singles have always been enjoyable, and the increasing diversity and confidence exhibited on Day & Age could hint that it might not be so far fetched to expect great albums from the Killers in the future.

The third time is not the charm, at least in the case of this album, which is polished to the point of being ultimately less appealing and without any angles from which to approach.

With hooked beaks and mighty talons, Brightblack Morning Light rip and gut the carcass of psychedelic rock, leaving it exposed and decomposing on the side of the road.

An entire album as powerful and immediate as Scars sounds enticing in theory, but Basement Jaxx knows better than turning a single, creative sound into a stale, contrite formula, especially when an unprecedented amount of talent is at their beck and call.

From the first song to the last, Speakers And Tweeters is an audio trip back in time, but not in the poignant sentimental way that one might hope.