Birds isn't a commercial risk, nor will Oasis fans find it a challenge, but that doesn't take away from its smart craftsmanship.

Bands in need of a catchy pop sound with a light edge should visit Chris Walla in Portland. The Death Cab for Cutie guitarist and producer can seemingly get this result from any artist he works with, including Michael Benjamin Lerner, aka Telekinesis.

Admirable attempts are made to emulate tourmates Lymbyc Systym on Blank Pages, but they fall short of that band’s visceral energy and edge.

Wrapped up in a tidy 10 songs is an album full of kinetic exuberance, rawness and sweat that retains just enough of a pop sensibility to keep things both memorable and erratic.

Emotional, stunning and one of the strongest debuts of the year so far.

Sometimes the best music happens when experimentalists indulge their inner pop music fan.

The songs are old, and the album sounds really old.

Anyone who's spent time digging through crates of dusty vinyl would be thrilled to find 12 previously unheard boogie songs that stand up this well.

Topping off this overproduced, underwhelming effort are Roberts's over-enunciated lyrics. Even at his best, he comes off like a guy crashing an Of Montreal album.

A combination of insipid songs and uniformly soulless performances, it deserves high placement among the other legendary Macca misfires Pipes Of Peace, Press To Play, Off The Ground, Tug Of War and Red Rose Speedway.

A Place to Bury Strangers are adept at capturing a certain kind of aggressive energy, but too often they bottle it in middling pop songs.

Little Broken Hearts is held back by a lack of intimacy and the unemotional stiffness we associate with Jones. Still, it's almost a great album.

Production by El-P, Aesop Rock and F. Sean Martin gives this album that trademark Def Jux feel, but the rock-driven direction of a few tracks may be a deal-breaker for fans of Cage’s earlier sound.

Now the songwriting is more ambitious, cerebral and not always out to attack, and third vocalist Wade MacNeil is increasingly putting his stamp on the sound. It doesn’t always come together.

Too Young To Be In Love leans less heavily on pervy wisecracks, with fantastic results.

Sometimes his experimental tendencies and pop impulses mesh perfectly, but the sudden shifts between abrasive noise and New Age mood music are heavy-handed and clunky.

Despite coming in at 19 tracks, the album lacks a searing song like Politically Correct, which Jeezy released free during his involvement in the recent Million Man March. He's come a long way, but we may have to wait until the next term to see his full political potential.

4:13 Dream is slightly better than the misguided hype suggests.

Arrangements are unfussy--at least by today’s standards--and Cash’s rich, familiar baritone is in fine shape.

Rather than the thoughtful songcraft and inspired peformances of Banhart's pre-Roberts Young God recordings, what you hear now is the zoned-out noodling of someone who foolishly believes his own genius hype.

It’s essentially a continuation of "Ballad Of The Broken Seas," with Lanegan’s world-weary baritone bellow completely overpowering Campbell’s wispy waif-like purr and making her come off like a background singer on her own project.

White-reggae lovers haven't got a lot to latch onto here, since from the first strums of opener Mountain Top, Soundclash appear to be taking a welcome leap into a Vampire Weekend-type indie vibe.

At times there's too much going on to be comfortable, but that sonic complexity also keeps things interesting. Shlohmo deserves kudos for making an instrumental electronic album that expresses anxiety, despair and sadness so vividly.

The album revels in the clean, streamlined production elements and beautifully realized nocturnal atmosphere favoured by the OVO camp, but that sonic branding, if you will, swallows up any sort of personal flavour or perspective that might set Majid Jordan apart.

It's perfect mellow background music, with just enough going on that it's still interesting when you pay attention.

It’s a remarkably consistent dance album in a singles-based genre that usually fails when it comes to full-lengths.

They're still doing that brooding medieval ambient pop thing, but with less drama and inventiveness.

The result still falls within the confines of lilting indie pop but this time goes beyond cutesy pastiche.