Some listeners may find the results to be a little bland for their tastes.

Rejected Unknown is a musically rich, catchy-as-hell, sad-as-all-fucking-get-out journey.

While devoid of the manic energy and double-time rhythms that were almost the group's trademark, songs like "Sweet Marie" and "Tu-Whitt Tu-Whoo" maintain a fiercely rocking edge via slowly evolving song structures and explosive, crunch guitar-driven choruses.

Saying that the man knows his way around a hook is an understatement: he throws hooks around like an incandescent bulb does photons.

This is one of Cave's best album in years, if not an immediate candidate for a career highlight.

It's all very sweeping, operatic and inviting.

If you can't get enough Xiu Xiu, this album is definitely for you.

While there are plenty of MTV2-ready tunes, the record doesn't bear much repetition.

Though it's not the emotionally draining follow-up many were expecting, Seven's Travels succeeds. Its saving grace is the fact that Slug and Ant remain ignorant of, or choose to completely ignore, the hip-hop conventions that have handcuffed similar artists for almost a decade.

All the best songs here seem to launch from the point at which Technique left off; they have the same bounce, the same speed and many of the same hooks (especially in "Bert's Theme", "Kashmere" and "I've Got a Feeling") as that Hook-dominated New Order record.

What this strange cast of characters eventually creates is a groovy mish-mash of up/down tempo breaks, hip-pop sound collages and the odd bout of guitar-driven frenzy that, while nearly impossibly to dance to, manages to expose most other DJs as the talentless, not to mention painfully derivative crate-raiders they truly are.

Their songs routinely beg for a spoken message, to the point where their originals sound like dub versions.

From a new band, Get Ready would seem like an accomplished if uneven effort.

The short-but-sweet syrupiness of the past is gone, and the sound that has taken its place is heavier, mustier and a hell of a lot harder to swallow.

Perhaps their sloshing disintegration, whiplashing folk-crunch, honeyed melancholy and deliquescent time-lapse... never quite settle into a stable Gestalt, but the music hints at the presence of more looming somewhere behind it.

Though sampling has been done to death, the stealthiness which which Deakin and Franglen incorporate their borrowed material will be required study for wannabe producers and hop-headz; in that regard, it's on a par with the seminal Paul's Boutique.

Let Them Drink may not be as accessible to the mainstream as the band might have hoped, but The Capitol Years' updated blend of classic sounds is an addictive and refreshing change.

While the Big Chorus and post-hardcore theatricality are hardly disparate stylistic traits, it's odd that Rogue Wave would embrace them after establishing themselves as a nuanced pop outfit.

Not only has Grohl released a fantastic album, he has done a wonderful job giving several aging metal vocalists another fifteen minutes of fame.

Terroir Blues is an excellent album released by a man who knows he's at the height of his powers, whether anyone else knows it or not.

The disc's effectiveness comes from the subtlety of the theme as much as its pervasiveness.

Power is only a slight variation on its predecessors, yet sounds more vibrant and alive than almost anything in the band's canon.

Haunting, gorgeously inward-looking, yet laced with memorable melodies, Feathers is Dead Meadow's strongest work ever and an early contender for one of 2005's best records.

Vanderslice's stories differ from those on earlier albums largely in setting, but Pixel Revolt's musical elements have taken an astonishing leap from their predecessors.

Hefner are at their best when they stick to their primary theme, which is love that's been confused, bruised and downright disappointed.

Though marred by a few missteps, it's mostly enjoyable, if unchallenging.

While not as thrillingly consistent as its predecessor, Man Mountain is another beautiful synthesis of man-made ingenuity and machine-generated textures.

It is unsettling, starkly beautiful, intricate and minimalist all at once, and if it lacks the immediate impact of Fugazi, its aura lingers long after it's over.