There's a density to these tracks that belie the airy, simple nature they seem to suggest and it's this quality that gives them such life beyond the initial listens. Through his channeling of other artists imaginings, Sam Amidon is earning himself a place in the folk world that's genuinely his own.

While Junior lacks the mystifying guitar work that she built her name on, it is her most visceral and down to earth release to date.

Bleeding Through's self-titled album is yet another Bleeding Through release that tries to skirt by on the bare minimum. For every good idea presented, there are three more trite and tired ideas weighted to it, dragging it down into the abyss.

The magic of the live performance is watered down and he only momentarily looks to test his voice. One can’t help but get the feeling that the potential is there with Castro, but one must wonder if his laid-back disposition could not only be a strength, but also the weakness which limits his capabilities.

What Go lacks in depth- yes it really is this cheery, eat your gummi bears- it makes up for in being honest. Go is the most candid, open look into Jonsi Birgisson we've ever received.

It's not very ambitious, it's not very original, and it's not very deep, but what it is is fun and what it does is give you a half hour to lose yourself in a little sun-dried nostalgia.

Fans of the genre will likely find it to be one of the better releases of the year. It seems that Red Sparowes, though, are missing a special part of their sound and it's holding them back from becoming the band they could be and indeed, may well be with a future release.

Unfortunately, it is hard to embrace these strengths on such a predictably unfocused album.

Option Paralysis equivocates the maturation of musical ideas over the Dillinger Escape Plan's storied career, as Miss Machine and Ire Works are currently looking as mere test samples leading up to this point. In all, Option Paralysis is a work of art, but don't think for a second they've gone soft on us.

Basically, Oversteps is solid to chill to. But don't expect to be entertained/enthralled in the slightest.

My World 2.0 is effective and innocent Top 40 material, if not terribly inventive.

All these songs just sound too much like Gorillaz songs, in an uncomfortable, self-conscious way.

Liars successfully created a stimulating, challenging, and disturbing record and while it may click immediately for some, don’t get frustrated if you find yourself lost in the woods.

Broken Bells is the crown jewel of each musician's discography and is a necessity for fans of either one.

By all means engage yourself in Tomorrow, In a Year, for the prize at the end is one of the essential experiences of the young year. Just understand the scope of the expedition you’re embarking upon before you go.

Ultimately, jj has the concept and the intrigue down; if only they could get their music to match.

It's not just the sound, but the structure of the songwriting which can lack variation. Nevertheless, Big Echo, especially its first half, proves my initial thought when first running the record through. The Morning Benders definitely are a band worth getting excited about.

Bandit is a smart album made for smart people, and something that garnered them critical acclaim in the past is lost. So yes, One-Armed Bandit is a good record. But Jaga Jazzist can do better.

Similes is, while a pretty record, oddly disjointed, a collection of pretty chord changes without an identity to give it life.

With its return to a more straight-forward approach, ‘This Addiction’ does hark back to the likes of ‘Goddamnit’ and ‘Maybe I’ll Catch Fire’. Unfortunately, while not being a bad album, it is not a patch on those seminal earlier releases…. Simply a solid recycling of their much-loved sound.

I feel like I can whittle away my days listening to this album and only this album for the rest of my life, and never have to feel anything except what this album makes me feel. Which is to say, everything.

Despite the minor grievances and sore-thumb songs, and the fact that it's unreasonable to compare this record to its near-flawless predecessor, I Liked It Better When You Have No Heart is a sterling addition to Butch Walker's celebrated discography.

The room for improvement only makes this consistent, catchy and accessible album all the more successful.

A solid, if formulaic, LP which clearly adheres to the K.I.S.S (Keep It Simple Stupid) formula.

Odd Blood delivers a series of earworms that are undeniably catchy but leave a legitimate question in their wake: why should we care? Yeasayer ultimately fails to answer this question, and Odd Blood sort of just runs its course unimpressively.

Yet there's certainly no shame in falling behind three albums that are as brilliant as those are. For the fans, this is a blast - suddenly, trip-hop's Godfathers are back on track.

Black Noise is something worth delving into. It is something intensely personal and emotionally gray, but it’s also grounded, accessible enough to welcome you inside.

Quite simply, Mechanize corrects all of the band’s past missteps including those made prior to Dino’s departure. It is a collection of everything that made them great without any of the extraneous influences that came later.

The music takes a decidedly darker, slower note, further delving into the folk rock of The Trials of Van Occupanther and losing the powerful orchestration that made Van Occupanther so special.

Perhaps it’s too early to mark this out as a game changer, but there’s something undoubtedly visceral here, an untouchable element that tugs ever so bristly at the connection to the depths of music that not even time might seek to mellow it.

Fans of the band are either going to be blindly loyal, or extremely disappointed with this release. Meanwhile, those who felt that Editors were overly generic will either be interested in their new direction, or simply feel they are now generic in a different genre.

The multi-genre approach of The Colossus is refreshing.

Astro Coast sounds like an honest representation of four gifted songwriters writing what they know and how they know it. What they know is a refreshing change of pace for the indie rock narrative.

They’re darn right they still belong, since Lostprophets have delivered an excellent album that is a reminder to all and sundry that this is a band with not only a storied past, but also a very bright future.

This is a much, much more consistent album, it's got nothing as immediate as "Mansard Roof" or "A-Punk", and it moves a little toward the pop end of their sound, but other than that it's business as usual.

There is still much to work on for OK Go, but at the very least, the progression on display this time around is rather admirable.

This is Animal Collective at their finest folks, inviting everyone in to see them at their peak and loving the freedom that comes with being on top of the world.

Battle Studies, by comparison is relaxed and laid back, it’s feet in the air and stripped of extravagance with Mayer simply doing his thang with ease and pazazz.

As the marginal progression of Waking Up attests, OneRepublic gladly mix things up a little. Unfortunately, whether it be through compromise, confusion or otherwise, they are still to find their consistent sweet spot.

Sure, there are a handful of half-decent cuts included here, but even they have limited lasting value. Meanwhile, the filler (arguably half the LP) is mind-numbingly boring.

When Slug is at his most Atmospheric (ie, emotive storytelling), he's at his best, but it really doesn't matter. Nothing here really sticks with you, but it's more or less the Aesop Rock show through and through; hopefully he puts out more in the future.

Overall, Attention: Deficit should be considered a successful debut, albeit mildly uneven.

There are just a few riffs and grating melodies that spoil what could have been an album that was at least as strong as its predecessor.

The dressing is a little different this time around; a few more jokes, a couple catchy tunes (this is most definitely not the worst Weezer album ever), but once again Weezer are content with churning out sugary pop tunes that go down easy and unimpressively.

Pretty much, Say Anything offers more for fans and opens up the Say Anything sound for new ‘users’ to come and enjoy. It’s the perfect balance of a step forward and a redaction to a more “safe” sound.

The group has expanded its vocabulary and in general made its sound more broad and enjoyable.

Between the Buried and Me have refined their sound and improved their songwriting ten-fold, and while The Great Misdirect may not match "The Silent Circus'" raw energy and intensity, it might be their most coherent album yet.

To be fair to the songwriters behind this record, "Make You Cry" is actually the worst thing here - when the sound abandon the '90s and either tries to sound like the '80s ("Heaven" is pure Stock, Aitken, and Waterman), or to be a bit more modern, the quality remains solid. But therein lies the one major flaw of 3 Words - it's simply not consistent enough in terms of sound.

Lungs is one of the most exciting, compelling, fearless and ultimately promising debuts of the year.

They’re some decisive stuff, yet tend to leave the listener strangely alleviated, especially the title track: it’s the perfectly weird, yet high-energy song to get anyone out of their bedroom. That is, when they return to listen to this album again, of course.

In general, 'Axe to Fall' speaks towards the stagnancy of most bands in the metal genre. The collaborators here can't even help a band as good as Converge make a solid record and when examining Converge's almost flawless discography that is wholly unexplainable.

Far from a unified artistic statement, Other Truths refuses to pin itself down, and marks itself simply and modestly as a showcase of some of the best talent in genre. A minor miracle, if you will.

Impeccably produced, Conditions is a legitimate contender for debut album of 2009.

Exploding Head holds as one of the most consistent, mind-blowing releases this year, unwavering of an any possible identity crisis.

By sheer strength of will the band has salvaged an album that could have just been a derivative mess and created something pretty damn good in the process, and for that brand new eyes should be praised while we await something even greater from these boys (and girl).

Crash Love doesn’t demand the listener’s attention to the same degree as Decemberunderground did, but closer inspection reveals a more intricate and well-constructed album.

It is a legitimately excellent record that lives up to (and sometimes even exceeds) the song writing standards set by the band on "Dirt" or "Jar of Flies."

It's hard not to inflate the rating of a record with some truly incredible joints, yet it's difficult to ignore the two-thirds filler combined with Ghostface's least complicated rhymes in years.

Faith takes every single ounce of her experiences and infuses them into her music. It results in one hell of a theatrical roller-coaster ride that holds attention from beginning to end.

Brand New found a way to create a complete, effervescent album.

Despite being a solid, sometimes gorgeous album of songs from a very well-matched collaboration of artists, Unmap’s ultimate effect will be whetting appetites everywhere for the next Bon Iver record.

The second half of the album is much more consistent if you still feel like listening, but beyond a spare moment or two (“This Blackest Purse” is surprisingly touching), most of Eskimo Snow is easily surpassed by other songs from Why?’s catalogue.

As it stands, Us lies at a precarious crossroads of self-help preaching and black history compendium, succeeding at neither and exposing a serious disconnect between lyricist and producer.

The Big Pink’s A Brief History of Love will elicit a response of some kind. It’s just that kind of album.

Pearl Jam's ninth album sounds a lot more optimistic and positive than the band ever has. More importantly, Backspacer sees Pearl Jam finally escape the slump they fell into with "Binaural" nine years ago.

It's a shade better than Send Away The Tigers, itself heralded as a return to form, and in a year that hasn't really been anything special so far for straight-ahead rock, this is a standout.

Sort Of Revolution is nothing short of brodacious.

Temporary Pleasure is a glitterball of an album, shining just right when the light hits and falling where it doesn’t, but like any party, it’ll get you moving if you’re in the mood.

Time To Die has its heart in the right place, but the product is not as nearly lovable.

Even where the record shines--and it does at points--it really only does so against a background of blinding light from Muse’s back catalog, which is an unfortunate, but inescapable point.

Instead of rhythmic exploration Braxton is working with a variety of harmonic and melodic developments and in doing so has made a refreshing and similar counterpoint to 'Mirrored'. Central Market may not be as calculated, but it is more fun and in general more easy to digest.

With The World I Want To Leave Behind, Moneen have grown up and taken a turn towards a more mainstream sound. The concern has to be whether they have turned too far and become just another run-of-the-mill radio rock outfit.

What can be viewed as a weakness can also be seen as a strength, and for the most part one can conclude that The Chair in the Doorway is a successful return to form.

The important thing to note when it comes to In Prism is that as hiatus records go this is one of the best in the last couple years.

Everything about Only Built 4 Cuban Linx Pt. II demands worship and solidifies Raekwon as one of history's best with a continuation that exceeds his original debut in every way imaginable.

Regardless of the circumstances surrounding its creation, Curse Your Branches is Bazan's best album to date.

The Used have taken the best elements of their previous releases, refined them and delivered the strongest album of their career.

If Turner can return to his best--and there's reason to suspect he can't--then the possibilities open to them are potentially limitless. Then, Humbug will be seen a stepping stone. That's certainly how it feels now.

While sounding more like a compilation of singles than a fully cohesive album, One Love could in fact be the release that finally wins over both the dedicated weekend club-goers, as well as the stay-at-home older generation looking to revisit their youth.

Simply put, No More Stories… is accessible without being overbearingly so, experimental without sounding too abstract and ridiculous, and most importantly, one of the year's most endearing records.

Colbie’s soothing vocals, the warm sound of the music, and the memorable choruses are all well worth listening to this for when the mood for something easy hits you.

A more confident, complete record than its predecessor, No Baggage sees Dolores O'Riordan building on old strengths, while broadening her artistic scope farther than it's been in thirteen years.

It’s obvious Hospice is an album Silberman made for himself, one that we’re just privileged to listen to and enjoy. So sit back, listen, and consider yourself lucky, punk.

Pissed Jeans have polished up their sound as much as is seemingly possible and because of that they've crafted their finest record yet.

Chasny has completed the move started with "School of the Flower" into a more polished sound and Luminous Night seems to be the finest example from this new period of Six Organs of Admittance.

You Can’t Take It With You sounds like a proper album par excellence, gelling together with a cohesiveness so many strive for but never really hit.

A rousing vessel in which Wolf has finally had the chance to channel his newfound zany confidence into his most extravagant and captivating record yet.

Slaughterhouse hearkens back to the early days of the New York hardcore underground, and it's a travesty that it does nothing more. With commonplace soul-influenced boom bap at the fore, compositions this anachronistic just don't cut it in 2009.

Japandroids' (or JPNDRDS) first full length--Post-Nothing--is the perfect embodiment of the post-teen angst, excitement, anxiety and fuck-it artlessness of finally packing your bags and moving on, wherever the destination as long as it’s at least a million miles away from home.

Skyscraper is filled with those types of Banks lyrics, the kind of trademark brain-vomit that produces words that sound cute together but lack any semblance of cohesion.

Blank by the numbers, blank’s the result.

A lyrically potent, melodic, and danceable piece, make sure to cop one of the best records the year has to offer.

I’m Going Away finds the band embellishing on their debut, the criminally underrated "Gallowsbird’s Bark," which also found the band at their most melodic.

Riceboy Sleeps isn't quite awful; on the contrary, there is enough warmth and prettiness to give the record some value. But by the same token, it's certainly not fantastic either, and therein lies the great problem with the whole project.

The record doesn't particularly sound like anything Our Lady Peace has done in the past, but maybe that is what's so exciting about the quartet's seventh release.

The music is, as ever, varied and interesting. The Satanic Satanist is a guitar-centric album and it is all the better for it, as Gourley has a unique knack for riffs and leads.

Not much is worth listening to here; the record's second half saves the abysmal first, yet never approaches the greatness they're capable of.

Taking into account that half of Leave This Town was never intended for headphone listening, and is better heard blasting on a car stereo or a jukebox, it can seem somewhat picky to criticise the album for being poorly-written or for sounding like compressed dog poo.