While it starts strong, the weaker second half makes Serpentine Prison a mixed bag. It doesn’t feel like a definitive statement album, more like an opportunity for Berninger to stretch his legs. There’s a good amount of work to enjoy here, but it’ll mainly make you want to listen to The National instead.

Perfect Pussy constantly find new ways to stimulate that teenage bit of your brain that wants to scream and punch things and has a lot of things to say but doesn’t know how to say them.

Where The Volunteers falls down, surprisingly, is in the excessively slick production. Despite the ethos and lyrics, musically this is not the handmade, indie effort you might expect.

To really get the most from Margerine Eclipse, consume it in its entirety in one sitting: songs that appear to be fairly average when dipped into randomly take on new elements when they take their place in the overall sequence.

Woods should take the cue from Bill Callahan and what he accomplished with Smog: if you are going to delve into the restricting realm of lo-fi, there has to be emotional and appealing substance and quality in the songs themselves. Lowering the production quality does not, as in a double helix, imply that the songwriting quality will improve.

The band is categorically known for their disciplined uniformity, an approach that gives the band more room to inject more personality into their straightforward rhythm section; seeing as the indie rock landscape has also considerably changed, it’s actually a welcome throwback that’s aged well.

Asleep on the Floodplain is more than an acoustic showcase.

Weirdon is a melodic and enjoyable rock album.

Payola picks off right where their last one left off while completely ignoring that the past decade even happened, which sounds like a harder feat then it might appear.

Rave Tapes is a cohesive piece of work, its perspective blended despite variance in approach.

Her voice single-handedly eliminates all accusations of the sameness that could be shot at the songs, evens the pace of the album, and although it may not make up for the album's flaws entirely, it certainly helps hide them and is reason enough on its own to find enjoyment on this album.

Trouble in Paradise is at once sleek and solid, every track pulsing with a kind of confidence that invites closer listening but is equally pleasant as a collection of mood-heightening jams.

Memoirs at the End of the World, as ambitious as it seems, never seems to overstate it’s welcome.

1,000 Years is an uplifting album, despite some of the painful imagery. Sometimes wallowing in the past isn't such a bad thing, especially when, like it did for Corin Tucker, it moves you forward.

Although there's nothing spectacular or innovative here, it has to be difficult to simultaneously have a foot in a variety of styles while constructing something that's this easy to listen to.

While Lekman certainly knows how to use a sample, it is his songwriting talent, his storytelling ability, and above all his remarkable emotional honesty that make I Know What Love Isn't the finest achievement of his career.

When this album hits, it hits hard, but for the first time in their career, the barrage is intermittent instead of constant.

Most of Beyond the Fleeting Gales hits with a uncompromising positivity that often contradicts the sorrowful gentleness in her words.

Ruins is an affecting, comforting listen, but not one that will imprint itself too vividly in the memory.

It's great when artists learn to produce work that has more than one dimension to it. Robyn's has two. I'd just like to see her develop one or two more.

The songwriting is versatile but cohesive; every song clearly has its own place on Shrines, and each one has a strong hook, at least one beat or lyric you'll find yourself thinking over for a little bit.

No gripes here as IDLES deliver their most consistent album to date with a handful of their most rough-cut diamonds sparkling through.

Time Skiffs isn’t terrible; it’s inoffensive, nice, surprisingly easy-going.

It's a solid album throughout, with satisfying builds and a cacophony of beautifully symphonic music.

All things considered, as long as you don't go in expecting an album to change the world or to tax the grey matter, you'll find much to enjoy in Parallax Error.

On A Mission is the sound of the dancefloor being brought to the pop charts.

It’s very ambitious but also very flawed, but moreover it’s great to hear him take all these risks.

It's difficult to say that there are some great songs on this album, but it's true; unfortunately Lewis fails to take advantage of this fact by lagging behind the innovation and originality of the preceding 80's revivalist movement.