Thorburn anchors every note, every contribution with a personal outpouring of emotion and heartbreak, the likes of which we've never seen from him before.

Thanks to his varied songwriting, there's nary a weak link in Burst Apart. It might not benefit from the easy hooks of a concept album, but if you stick around till the end, it is every bit as rewarding as Hospice.

Barnes's most personal and emotional album to date.

Zammuto excels at the opposite: deconstructing life into easily digestible songs that make you feel something.

Her music-box arrangements have a child-like giddiness about them, but this collection of glittering songs has an emotional and sonic maturity that will keep you listening long past bedtime.

If More Fish isn't as good as Fishscale -- and there's just as good a chance that it is as good -- it's the tapestry method that doesn't make for a cohesive listen.

As a funk or electro album, As U Were is fun to listen to. A little cheesy, maybe, but it gets the proverbial party started, which is always a clear sign that something's going well. It's when Lyrics Born tries to hang on too tightly to his old roots that things start to get messy.

The record's general aesthetic stays the same, docile sounds, pitter-patter polyrhythms, and shimmering vocals, but the ear-tickling mutations along the way is the appeal.

There's no doubt that Grimes has drawn from a sea of influence to craft her dark, structured, idiosyncratic sound, but those influences have all passed through a filter so thorough, have been pulled so far from context, that the most striking thing left is Claire Boucher's point of view.

The tracks span from 2003 to 2009 and encompass all of the band's fascinating, frustrating, illustrious stylistic progression. If it is truly Excepter's last release, it is an excellent send-off.

A stunning, grandiose pop record.

Lyrically, it's all sort of inscrutable and encumbering to follow, but the music is so good it scarcely matters what he's on about.

Even with its brief lapses, Hypermagic Mountain is Lightning Bolt’s most accomplished effort to date, one-upping 2003’s Wonderful Rainbow with a fresh sense of maturity.

The Dodos have released what is at once perhaps their most interesting, strangest and even most concise work to date.

Outside Love is brilliant, disturbing and powerful.

Hardcore 97’s fans may be disappointed by a few omissions (only two cuts from Wreck Your Life?), but Alive & Wired is a pretty complete package.

Many of these new forms shift her into the role of a band leader - a role that, maybe, could solidify her as the "voice of a generation" that overzealous press releases have claimed her to be.

'Sno Angel Like You is not only beautifully performed and recorded, but also wonderfully written.

Madonna and some of music’s edgiest producers have again brought an underground sound to the forefront of pop music.

Everything is more complex, more daring, and simply more produced than anything else they've done. In that sense, it's the best kind of EP, existing because of a discernable creative spark, not as a clearinghouse for also-ran songs or a victory lap following a knockout year.

While some songs appear to have a cleaner polish (the pleasantly danceable "XXXO" and the epic "Tell Me Why") than others (the freewheeling "Born Free" and the ultra-compressed "Space"), every song is structured like a concise pop song with just a few rough edges.

This irresistible combination of intelligent production combined with a simple four-four tempo guarantees that this music isn’t just for spiky-haired kids with their fingernails painted black.

You can come for the psychedelic pyrotechnics, and you can stay for the hooks: this debut is endlessly replayable.

There is a lot to be said for good chemistry. Nothing about this album is jaw dropping, but Murs and 9th play off each other so well throughout this short but sweet album that I don't really care.

It's the most cohesive and listenable record he's made to date.

The album is at once sparse yet warm and layered, lush and thick lipped, engorged with beauty. The Church have proven yet again they are masters of dreamy and dark rock, prolific and inventive.

Control System is one of the better mixtapes to come out this year.

Albatross is a slow bloom of an album, as likely to frustrate those looking for immediacy as it is to reward those looking for substance in repeated listens.

They display a loose, gritty feel that ought to please metal fans as well as those who still think this is Crow’s version of Spinal Tap.

We Have Sound is one of those albums that rarely has a down moment, and it’s all thanks to Vek’s ability to bring his diverse tracks together.

Instead of spoon-feeding you how you’re supposed to react, they challenge you to understand them.

Parallax is easily Atlas Sound's best-sounding album to date.

Heretic Pride lifts those shadows--it's the most optimistic Mountain Goats record yet. It’s uplifting and soulful, genuine and sophisticated--full of tender moments enhanced by remarkably pretty melodies and arrangements.

While earlier albums hinted at the kind of open-air pastorals that the band was capable of, Rook delivers on all the promise.

As a result, Know Better Learn Faster is (with the exception of the last track, an awkward dance number called "Easy") an album full of radio-ready singles, each as infectious and heartfelt as the last.

An almost-perfect blend of '60s-style Britpop, '90s-style Britpop, and the post-punk of the new millennium, Inside In/Inside Out is the rare debut that features not only the kind of exuberance/naivete that only bunch of nineteen-year-olds could produce, but also the thoughtful consistency characteristic of seasoned professionals.

The conceit of The Dirtbombs covering dance music is genius.

Radio Dept. caught flak for being derivative early in their career, but Passive Aggressive posits that they may have sounded like a lot of different bands during their run so far, but they've always just been themselves: an overlooked band deserving of more attention than the little they've received. This comp should fix that.

The Runners Four may not come off as innovative as Reveille (2003) and Milk Man (2004) did, but the real innovation here is in making chaos sound so serene.

A curiously good time from beginning to end.

Crafting a decidedly more difficult record was likely something Krug intended, considering these songs seamlessly segue in and out of each other. That means some parts sound almost superfluous, as if they were written expressly to maintain this continuity. Still, the effect succeeds far more often than it fails.

With Spooky Action at a Distance, Pundt proves he can walk the tightrope between listener-friendly anthems and cerebral digressions into edgier terrain with aplomb.

Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix showcases a band that has only gotten better with each album.

He's doing something he hasn't done in years: approaching each concept, no matter how trite or overdone, as if it's his first time, surprising himself as much as he surprises us, and in the same breath.

This is another hyper-energized, beautifully crafted album by the Mountain Goats.

One of 2005’s most pleasurable albums.

Whether or not you think antipathy and self-destruction are legitimate themes for music, or you feel that even the pretty remote handling of rap that Salem has done as three white kids is too much, you can't dismiss what started all this hub-bub in the first place: the fact that the trio has crafted a sound that still doesn't really sound like anything else. Whatever else it does, King Night stays true to that.

Lopez sounds like the long lost bastard son of Guided by Voices' Bob Pollard; his songwriting showcases this kind of semi-illuminant pop that's infused with sugar-coated placidity.

Often eccentric and unpredictable, Love Is Simple is wholly listenable because it is compelling, honest, and joyful.

[Casablancas] builds atmosphere out of evocative lyrics and emotional scenery, and he does it without leaning on linear narrative or songs with singular interpretations.

With Freak Puke, they continue to embody the creatively restless heart of independent experimental rock.

Stephen Malkmus is back with Mirror Traffic, in a way he wasn't with the Pavement reunion, which is to say in a way that reaches past nostalgia and easy money and is based in great music built to last.

Built to Spill has managed to elevate rock's pre-eminent instrument to a pedestal while creating something that's both approachable and timeless.

The duo has mastered the strange art of countering divides marvelously on Red Night.

Advaitic Songs is Om 2.0's second full-length album, and it is far and away the most entrancing document the band has released.

With The Warning, the band again forces listeners to drop the safety of labeling and comparisons with other bands.

Sure there’s a lot of questionable ethical implications with The Black Ghosts mixed in with a good ones, but a goth band with a rock conscious is successful even if their success in breaking through the mold of navel-gazing is Pyrrhic.

Tycho is worth any self-respecting electronic fan's time.

This vocal sound gives Whitmore authority with his words, and, more importantly, we believe him when he speaks.

Menomena now has to be regarded as one of today's more intriguing rock outfits.

Authenticity is a concise, cohesive effort that finds The Foreign Exchange again successfully pushing the boundaries of R&B, soul, electronic music, and hip-hop.

While I See the Sign might not quite measure up to the staggering "All Is Well," this is still a hell of an album. One that, like the songs that populate it, could resonate for a good long while.

With Visiter, the Dodos have made one of the year's best albums, one that mixes folk traditions with impressive sonics and texture. It only hints at what they may be capable of.

Family Perfume Vol. 1 wafts with a brilliant array of aromas, drifting from atmospheric psychedelia to homegrown folk melodies that leave a lingering sweetness in your mouth.

Patti Smith's voice is clear and powerful, an embodiment of her singularity as a poet and musician.

Pixel Revolt simply and beautifully reminds us that no matter how great a rock producer is, songwriting talent is as essential as it’s always been.

The Letting Go benefits as much from diversity as from Valgeir Sigurosson's recording.

The strength of the album rests not on one aspect. From the dense lyrics spanning a wealth of topics to the perfect production, The Art of Love & War proves that Stone isn't going anywhere.

We Are Beautiful might not be the pinnacle for Los Campesinos!, but it does prove they’re rapidly on their way up.

It is worth repeating that Far takes everything Regina Spektor has done in the near ten-year span of her career and mashes it up to perfection.

Damian Abraham's vocals are still the star of the show, but the cleanness of Couple Tracks shows how, with the right kind of engineering, Abraham's behemoth-unleashed singing, rather than alienate non-hardcore kids, ices the cake on an already great band.

If "just trying to play with passion" is the ethos, then consider the band's sophomore album, Death Dreams, the perfection.

Rainbow is simply the record she needed to make. And at a time where most pop music is either designed by committee or drowning in beigeness, it’s also the kind of individual and achingly honest record we needed to hear.

At times the results might sound strained, but they are entirely consistent both with the principles of free jazz, from which the record emerges, and with the spirit of Don Cherry, towards which it returns.

The most apt comparison would be Dylan's more recent comeback albums; if not quite the masterpiece of Love and Theft, it beats the hell out of anything McCartney, Jagger or Simon have put out in the last fifteen years.

Couple the immaculate playing with a contagious, everlasting energy, and you have a true representation of My Morning Jacket on top of its game.

Those who stick around will be treated to a sort of musical security blanket, jam-packed with hooks and an overall sound that should appease to fans of both the lightly melodic and relentlessly heavy.

An exquisitely produced magnum opus.

Unlike the Darkness or Eagles of Death Metal, these guys don't think this shit is funny, and instead of making them ripe for mockery, it makes Wolfmother that much more respectable.

A subtle, intricate album that simply gets better with every listen. A bittersweet pleasure from beginning to end.

Though some of the oddball, art-house tendencies have been lost in this new translation of the band’s music, there has never been a better, brighter or more immediately satisfying pop soundtrack to Das Kapital.

Compilations of this sort can rarely stand as both, and The BBC Sessions, through innovative and intelligent sequencing as well as a dedication to the band’s history, stands well above its peers.

Lucifer transforms the mundane into the magnificent, slowly but surely edging out all other summer listening options.

You'd be hard pressed to find a big ticket R&B album quite as restless, tuneful and fearless this year.

It's garage rock, sure, but it's so much bigger and heavier and totally bloody-knuckled from a bar fight.

This is perhaps the first Isis album since Oceanic that both demands and inspires repeat listens. It might very well be Isis’s best work to date. At the very least, Wavering Radiant affirms that we still have good reason to follow the band's every move.

Most notably is how these songs manage to seem loose, fun and deliberate all at once.

When Oxford Collapse pull off the throttle, the results are remarkable, and the songs are perfect for soundtracking the nights the band can’t remember.

Lisbon is another great record in an admirably consistent discography. It's got a drive and precision to it we didn't see on the last record and it reminds us that, for all their intricacy and texture, The Walkmen are one of the great rock bands going.

Hombre Lobo: 12 Songs of Desire is another record that hones and refines what it means to be Eels. Mark Oliver Everett continues his daring and heart-baring, and we continue to be the better for it.

It is tugs and pulls like these [going from raw, minimal stutter to a serenade of a "foreign-language female vocalist"], that take you to the edge and then let you down quickly but softly, that showcase the heart of what is most appealing about footwork and the genius of Mind of Traxman.

Suckers fire off Wild Smile, an album that exceeds all possible expectations and lays down a challenge for all debuting bands this year.

Cassadaga represents a next phase, one that will prove enduring even as the kids latch onto their next rock 'n' roll savior.

The stylistic buffet has enough strength to survive a handful of duds.

It strikes a perfect balance between musical invention that will leave you cupping your ears, semiotically puzzling lyrics that will leave you scratching your head, and catchy pop style that will leave you tapping your feet.

The songcraft on display here indicates that a similar crossover future is not outside the realm of possibility for these young Brits.

When Machines Exceed Human Intelligence contains some of the most interesting bass-centered tracks to come out in some time, and represents a progression in the current bass scene as a whole, no matter what specific genre each track belongs to.