The true brilliance of Cancer For Cure is its refusal to find common ground, to come to the middle and meet anyone.

This is a grownup album, made for grownups.

Make no mistake, there is still plenty of rock--it's just doled out selectively instead of consistently.

The group's bleak, sinister quality has always been one of its best assets, and in humanizing themselves, even in the record's shinier latter half, the musicians take on a slightly stronger shadow.

Darnielle's usual knack for detail and word play is surgical here, as usual, but All Eternals Deck is notable for its wide sonic palate.

Sampson's penmanship here is the most minute and observant among a recent batch of great songwriting

If anyone questioned whether or not Jayceon Taylor had what it took to stand on his own post-G-Unit, Game answers all of his critics with a resounding yes on Doctor's Advocate.

The type of searing instrumental rock Explosions in the Sky has helped put on the map is the modern-day heir of the aural expressionism of Debussy and Wagner.

Kind of like the whole idea of a disco album, a collaboration with a visual artist about African-Americans' tragic history is something you would never expect from Destroyer, and yet once you listen, it seems perfectly authentic, inspired, and essential.

Come for the shrill dopamine triggers like you knew you would, but stick around for the miles and miles of quiet rolling country rendered in this multitalented artist's flooring instrumental sweeps.

Each track stands on its own; there is no filler, and it highlights each musician's strengths.

There Is Love in You is expertly sequenced, played, and produced from start to finish. It's the work of a restlessly creative auteur circling back and turning out his most confident, definitive work to date.

They act as a constant reminder of the power of music that isn't afraid to be ugly, blunt, and confrontational.

On its own merits, Phantom Punch is an assured, absurdly tuneful record, and one of the best of the year thus far.

Metal Moon could be the soundtrack to an hour from now.

The elements that make the band's performances distinct are all there: Finn’s rapid-fire, sometimes nearly incoherent delivery; the chemistry between the band members; the between-song banter that is equal parts inviting and human and kind of crazy.

I think The Shepherd's Dog is probably Iron & Wine's best record to date (Beam has never once even made a mediocre album, so this says a lot).

This is the kind of music we should be hearing all the time, instead of the deathly boring muzak we (and our ears) generally expect.

No matter what music critics might say about the album, Karen O scores a direct hit in her most important demographic. That she was able to do it without pandering or obvious compromise is a tribute to her artistry.

Love and Curses is filled with great melodies that burrow deep into the skull without being cloying, and offers lyrical sentiments that tug at universal truths without pandering.

On Devotion, Ware demonstrates a knack for weaving everything together. And just like in the best-tailored clothes, it's difficult to see the seams.

Arm’s Way represents a step forward from "Return to the Sea" creatively if not as an artistic whole.

Smilers proves Aimee Mann still has plenty to offer doing the same thing she's already been doing for the last fifteen years.

Ugly is ultimately an album that finally finds the Screaming Females completely confident in their own identity, no longer trying to straddle the line between their headier rock aspirations and the DIY punk scene that gave birth to them.

Nobody is putting out music like Pop Levi's right now.

Throughout it all, it still feels like essential, singular Waits, like moody and manic are two sides of one very marked coin.

Well-worn, well-defined, Heaven is the work of band with nothing left to prove.

Honeys is the band's ultimate thesis statement, grounding their past triumphs in cruel reality that, if not buffered by their expert sense of humor, would hit too close to home too many times to count.