It’s weird, (but not annoyingly so), it’s catchy (but not annoyingly so), and it’s fresh (but not annoyingly so). Face the Truth is the work of a songwriter at his finest hour.

Crimson may not be AK3s best album, but it’s a welcome, mature effort from one of Vagrant’s best bands.

Push Barman To Open Old Wounds is a rare species indeed; though all of the songs could be considered “hits,” the album avoids all of the tackiness associated with greatest hits collections.

The Secret Migration has the power to cast a spell over you with its dreamy, wraithlike keyboards. Many won't fall for it, though, and will undoubtedly find them too melodramatic.

Mixing breeds of folk, psychedelica and white bread hip-hop, Why? is genetically predisposed to the same experimental tendencies as Pavement, Grandaddy, Enon, the Beta Band and They Might Be Giants. Each song is a musical Frankenstein, pieced together with live parts of the bodies of all those acts.

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.

Fun, emotional, experimental-ready and personally uplifting.

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

Nearly every song comes off as unassuming in its rightful place. Each track has a designed role, and for that reason you won’t need to use the skip button.

Some songs are worth a listen, but the overall package sounds and feels redundant and, putting myself at the mercy of =W= fans everywhere, renders itself irrelevant.

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.

Carousel Waltz is an extremely personal album, sublimely disguised as a sweet bit of pop fluff.

It wouldn't be inconceivable to describe 13 & God as the predictable outcome of a Notwist/Themselves collaboration, but, considering the degree of originality demonstrated, this is by no means a shortcoming.

It’s similar enough to past efforts that one can trace his artistic trajectory with a steady arc, but it’s the point in the arc where the slope takes a radical increase, making the name change seem like an appropriate signifier.

This is it, folks - this is the Go-Betweens album you’ve been waiting since the joyous news of their reunion. Oceans Apart captures the lushness of their earlier works, the separate-yet-complementary songwriting beauty of Forster and McLennan and their ability to paint the doldrums in charming pastels.

This isn’t just Almost Killed Me 2, it’s an exploration of what lies beyond that initial surface – and the truth ain’t pretty.

The Wedding is certainly a new direction in some ways, but it’s still the same brainiac rock that Oneida has been dishing out for the past eight years.

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.

If you’re looking for a roaring, well-executed good time, look no further: the Ponys are practically peerless.

Further Adventures of Lord Quas is a record that can satisfy the cult fan just as it will sate anyone who has an open mind to music that creates its own barriers.

Hart’s multiple layers of sound keep his unadventurous song structures from becoming trite; though Our Thickness is pure verse-chorus-verse-chorus fare with no flashy bridges or codas, it will still take months to dive into every piece of instrumentation.

There is nothing here that pushes past what we expect from New Order in their current incarnation, but it is facile, shiny, bright and well-behaved around strangers.

A masterpiece that celebrates life, in all of its horrific, painful, magical and wondrous glory.

The Mountain Goats find a way to bounce back from the psychiatrist-worthy lyrics with strong, vibrant but subtly crafted compositions.

If you’re looking for a record whose smirk is as intoxicating as its smile, or one that proves that pop doesn’t have to be straight-laced to be delectable, Laughter’s Fifth should be sly enough to sneak its way into your favor.

Where inexperienced programmers might collapse under the weight of such complexity, Autechre utilize it with precision. As punishing as it is, it never sounds too cluttered.

Cinematic and purposefully clumsy, coy and cutesy and sprawling in intermittence, this is music to prance to.

On the whole, The Sunlandic Twins makes almost everything else today seem diluted and stale.