Born to Die is a brilliant album, but it's one that leaves room for a few improvements, and inspires confidence that they'll happen.

One of 2011's premier releases in alternative rock.

It’s all very Ryan Adams-esque, and the overall quality of the songs here live up to that comparison. Caretakers is at its best when it leans right into its own clichés. The more romantic, summery, and spellbound the music is, the more successful the album becomes.

Carly Rae captures the glitz and glamour and grime and sex and directionless sadness and anxiety of her listeners so, so well, and the way it’s wrapped up in an endlessly compelling composition of synth jams, funk accessories, and modern electro-pop makes it even better.

Its a richly textured, layered, and almost earnest stab at everything this artist ever attempted to do before, all rolled up nice on one album.

The Eternal is simply just another confirmation that Sonic Youth is one of the most essential---if not the most essential---indie collectives of the past thirty years.

Overall, for a band that will soon enter its fourth decade of activity, Laibach sound impressively fresh and relevant. I am sure Also Sprach Zarathustra will raise many eyebrows, but also receive critical acclaim for its effective minimalist approach.

Eery other song on the album has great lines that are now more easily understandable to boot. Pig Destroyer may have switched from a chainsaw that cuts quickly to a hacksaw that takes a bit longer, but they’re still creating phantom limbs, and the blood and viscera are still present.

None of this is as nuanced or beautiful as Sailor’s Guide, but it’s not supposed to be. It’s a momentary pardon from the insanity of daily life. That’s as good of a reason as any to get down and dirty with Sound & Fury – Simpson’s most straightforwardly enjoyable offering to date.

There are enough interesting motifs and musical adventuring on Reflektor that the negatives seem inconsequential on the whole.

Real Emotional Trash is a simultaneously funny and interesting record, shaped with just the right kind of meticulous care to strengthen its band-jam aesthetics.

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.

Stars are quickly carving out their own niche among their peers. And in doing so, they're writing some of the most fluid and organic music of their lives.

Animal Collective is a completely different beast on Strawberry Jam, and it’s beautiful at times, it really is.

It illuminates very real, very constricting emotions that you know you’ll have to either deal with in true form, or kindle within someone you love upon your own passing.

Even though it might not rank as essential Brian Jonestown Massacre, Revelation is a lovely experience.

The material is of a consistently high standard, nary a clunker in the bunch, but while many will be surprised by Send Away The Tigers, few will be bowled over.

All that needs to be said is that C I V I L W A R was well worth the wait.

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.

This is an album for coffee and rainy Sunday mornings. For driving your kids to the park on an unseasonably warm February afternoon. For unwinding at the end of the night with a glass of red wine. The older I’ve gotten, the more I’ve found beauty within rare moments of calm. Hen’s Teeth is an album that matches that mood, and perhaps you can chalk it up to a personal aligning of the stars, but right now it’s everything I need.

Andorra strikes out further, reaching deeper into Snaith’s box of musical curiosities which are, at once, tasteful and fruitfully tawdry. Phantasmagoric and stunningly organic, another crowd pleaser for fans of Daniel Snaith’s aural hallucinogens.

"Marks of the Evil One" and "Umbra" (I hope you like cowbells) could have easily been singles, they’re that good, and they solidify Skeletá as a worthy new chapter in the history of the only mainstream band that is able to sing about Satan in stadiums while having the ultra catholic zealots silent as a grave.

Youth Lagoon's debut consistently delivers on the suggestion of its appellation: youth.

URGH is creative, scary and club-worthy all at the same time. If you're a fan of industrial music, techno, hip-hop and/or post-punk, there will be something for you to enjoy about this album.

This is a laid-back kind of record, inclined towards porch sitting or walks in the wods. There’s still plenty of exceptional musicianship on display, though, with the guitar work remaining immensely appealing. In addition, despite the mellowness of the material and the seemingly-throwaway album title, Yay! can be surprisingly emotionally potent upon occasion.

The Golden Casket reveals itself to not only be the group’s most colorful release in quite some time, but also one of their most consistent.

The more muscular sound apparent second time around assists the much-discussed lasting value of the sextet, making this album as much of a grower as it is immediate.

With Shake, Shook, Shaken, we get an album that has never sounded truer to The Dø’s strengths as a band.