All in all, it's a solid debut effort and one that never spares on electronic dramatics and an extensive array of far-ranging ideas.

It's the bold, adventurous and grandiose album that the Top 40 charts needs right now.

This is something that has no expiration date.

Animal Joy represents a remarkable band in their prime of their career and is a stunning success on every level.

Uncompromising, gritty and intense.

Once again, they have created an album that sounds very little like their past recordings and yet still sounds exactly like The Twilight Sad.

Despite the uncommon thread of the vocalists' raspy deliveries on each track, Be The Void never really settles into any sort of discernible pattern.

Like a rare, truly-great creepshow, it's the type of harrowing ride I want to experience again and again.

While they don't throw any curveballs or stir the pot too much, the band definitely stays true to their core, crafting yet another memorable piano pop-rock record with these stories.

These Ohioans escaped the abyss and emerged with the definitive Hit The Lights album, one well worth the three-plus year wait.

Those who enjoy seeking out the layers of composition and the finest of details will no doubt appreciate and gravitate towards a record as expertly crafted as this.

Garden Window shows how a band can be just as destructive without cranking ones volumes up.

Seeker Lover Keeper is a beautiful, harmonious and captivating listen from start to finish.

This could be the record that provides that breakthrough [to mainstream].

The sincerity displayed by Green throughout just makes it very easy for any listener to be fully transfixed by Beautiful Things.

A Flash Flood of Colour is daring, thought provoking, and utterly unpredictable, making it the first bold record of 2012 and Enter Shikari's defining moment.

Employing help from not only Vernon, but also Norah Jones and Francis and the Lights among others, Voyageur is a true gem.

It's basically the third time Attack Attack! have written the same record.

The Maccabees have returned as a highly evolved beast more than ready to be released into the wild world.

A multitude of outrageous pieces that form a solid whole.

A good, solid, rock album that's certainly worthy of Four Year Strong's song writing talents.

A beautifully hazy indie pop record, perfectly suited to hot summer days.

Animals as Leaders have proven that they can rise above the trends that Tosin had a hand in creating, but have not done so perfectly.

For most, the record will be too much--it's messy, it's overdone, it's arrogant, and ultimately it's disappointing – making Radke's return not really worth the wait.

There's much to like about Office of Future Plans, though I suspect its appeal beyond being a throwback to the golden age of angst-ridden but pop-sensible rock music may be rather limited.

Getting Paid is nothing but a precise groove of excellence.

It should be viewed as a major step-up from Reach For The Sun.

Hollandaze is a compelling enough release on feel alone, an album that smartly incorporates a subtle sense of tension, preventing its gauzy textures from devolving into directionless bliss-outs.

While Sea Lions blow through fifteen songs in less than a half-hour, it's startling how nice they all sound as they fly by, and even more so how little remains in memory even a few seconds after the last sweetly chiming note fades into silence.

It does have sort of a Swiss Army Knife Effect: Use what you want only when you need it.

This album is a great start for anyone who leans on the more accessible sides of ambient/indie music.

As one of the last big album releases to close out 2011, it's highly fitting that Ceremonials should be considered perhaps the most beautiful and absorbing of them all.

Although Hot Chelle Rae obviously aren't doing anything new here either, they've mastered the art of cheese pop and took a much more "natural" new route in sound compared to Lovesick Electric.

During the 30 odd minutes of Avalanche United, you hear a revitalized band that's eager to take over the country and at the top of their game.

Despite lacking value in the originality department, though, This Time Next Year has manufactured an album that listeners will be happy to jump around their living rooms to for a while to come.

Much of My Brother's Ears/My Sister's Eyes does tend to bleed together for the most part, but it's a wonderful blend of an experience at that.

Aside from that rather flat conclusion, Nightlife is a solid offering from a unique act who possess a sound all their own, who seem unafraid of exploring all aspects of that sound.

Out of Love is old-timey, fun (yet dark), and deep enough to merit sinking your teeth into it a bit.

Parallax is one of the best albums I've had the pleasure of hearing all year.

Overall, the EP works wonders, given largely to the fact that it contains unreleased tracks from sessions of the band's greatest, most straightforward work to date.

Spills Out is a satisfying album that puts a unique spin on otherwise trite indie-pop touchstones and a marriage of dissonance and charm seamless enough that, at times, it's almost difficult to tell one from the other.

The honesty behind Hello Sadness is remarkable and incredibly appealing.

The full blown cathartic experience that many savor through a live set sometimes mishits on the album, but not so much to be trash-bin worthy.

Take Care does a beautiful job of giving Drake the best group of features that complement his style while rarely outshining him.

It'll be difficult to find many albums (regardless of genre) that stimulates as many emotions as Camp. Years of hard work and perseverance from Glover has finally paid off and Camp is the culmination of all that, making this one of the best albums of 2011.

So it is in just nine short songs, Kinsella has crafted something deeply resonant, deeply impacting and most importantly, timeless.

Tarot Classics so efficiently sets to buoyant, energetic music a viewpoint that is not only discontent but increasingly disinterested. And it's all somewhat hidden, because party tunes these can still be.

There's a determination in the undertone of the album. That determination in crafting of a band's best record to date, only covered by the confidence it lets off as well.

Though it is probably not Coldplay's best, it is indeed a memorable listen and another chapter for a band whose place in rock music is firmly cemented.

When Best Intentions closes, the rapid growth of the young band does not go unnoticed at all.

Youth Lagoon will never reproduce anything like The Year of Hibernation. I think in 2011, this is called The Bon Iver Effect. The result of fame is that Powers will never be in this place again. But maybe that's best.

Make no mistake, Indestructible Machine is the sound of promise, the sound of hope and ultimately the sound of something truly special unfolding.

The best thing about Lenses Alien: its incessant begging for you to spin it again.

Every song on Soul Punk bleeds confidence and assurance--that these songs are what Patrick Stump is happy creating--music that he's proud of.

In the Pit of the Stomach is truly a feel-better record--in whatever way that resonates with you.

It'll be difficult to find many albums that can top the type of creativity Odd Soul contains, making it one of the essential must-have albums of 2011.

The Hunter is another polarizing yet captivating (and incredibly fun) effort from one of the most talented bands in modern metal.

All in all, People and Things hits home as an almost surprisingly diverse record from Jack's Mannequin.

The Whole Love is much more encompassing of everything vital in the Wilco catalog, the twangy, the noisy, and yes, a little of the leisurely.

Gravity The Seducer has its fair share of tremendous moments, but unfortunately those moments begin to lose their gloss when entangled with fragments of inconveniently placed filler.

If you have the patience to wait and persevere until Paradise fully blossoms with you into something spectacular, rest assured, it will be a record that won't stop giving when it finally does.

A hard-hitting, purely enjoyable album from South Florida's proudest sons.

It's one of the most organic and genuine albums of 2011.

Agitations makes wrecking balls out of playground jacks in that it uses the same amount of destructive velocity as it does stimulate youth.

It's a fun album with lyrics that, while they are not exactly impressive, apply to me and are fun to sing out loud.

This is the best record released so far this year, and there very likely will not be one that can top it.

Whether it was "the right way" or not, all of the days that we have waited for Neighborhoods have been well worth it.

The Jayhawks are still crafting music that should be emulated. And that in and of itself is why Mockingbird Time is worth its 50 minutes.

It's a take it or leave it, and for arguably the most consistent band in the scene over the last decade, Major/Minor is a triumph. What else and to whom do they need to prove anything anymore anyway?

Nothing, and nobody, is broken beyond repair, and Unbroken showcases that beautifully.

If she maintains this faith in her abilities, her albums will continue to awe, inspire and provide tough competition for the rest of the world.

While less varied in the style department than its predecessor, Thursday is another intimate look at the Tesfaye and the life he lives as The Weeknd.

While overall House of Balloons carries a chilling vibe, it proceeds to rock the listener with exciting tempos and relaxing melodies that intertwine to form a beautiful piece of art.

There is a sense of urgency and maturity here that few in the genre will be able to replicate. So forget the throne, The Devil Wears Prada doesn't need it to prove that they've released the best metalcore album of the year.

It may not supplant Through Being Cool or Stay What You Are as your favorite Saves The Day album, but you can safely put it in the upper echelon of their discography.

Annie Clark stands out with her work because she is one of the few artists that can take something mournful and make it jarring yet angelic all at once.

However, despite losing a key member, the Red Hot Chili Peppers come out triumphant with I'm With You.

Tripper sounds like Hill and Seim naturally hashed some tunes out--just with some better years of experience behind them to reflect back on.

Their talented musicianship signals they are out of step with their peers experimentally as grindcore architects; likewise, Darker Handcraft will trap you easily in frenetic whiplash mode.

Mirror Traffic, Malkmus's fifth post-Pavement album, is proof that the singer, now 45, hasn't lost an ounce of what made him an iconic figure in the '90s.

If anything, Tha Carter IV feels like a party, one that Wayne is throwing for his contemporaries in the hip-hop scene.

The issue is that it's these screams and actual emotion that could have saved parts of Am I The Enemy, rather than the overproduced instrumentation and insipid vocal delivery that replaced The Red Jumpsuit Apparatus' edge. Thus, as the record ends, it's clear that third time proves not to be the charm here, unfortunately, as many of us who were fans of DYFI keep hoping for that band to return.

His latest release with the Black Widows, the pop-tinged, rock-and-roll based The Spade, is a collection of reasons why. It's tough to imagine why any band or artist would pass over a chance to work with Walker after hearing this release.

So sit back and grab a bag of popcorn, because Vacation is chock-full of aural acrobatics rolled up into its withered plaid sleeves. You just have to be daring enough to push that button.

It is all-at-once beautiful, infectious, impressive and brilliant.

Sympathy isn't all cartwheels and picnics. But even in the face of death, there is optimism in Eiseland's songwriting that makes you want to listen regardless of mood.

As long as they keep making records as good as Drifter, they can stop wandering around, and stay as long as they like.

The instrumentation is luscious and variable, the harmonies are wonderful, the lyrics are solid and compelling for the most part, and with such a lovely blend of slower and up-tempo tracks to choose from, Overlook is something you definitely don't want to do in regards to what might just be considered Maria Taylor's finest solo effort to date.

It's nice to have a few good new tracks to add to the collection from one of the scene's finest.

Much like his public persona, Kanye West's presence is hard to ignore on Watch the Throne. Every track is, without a doubt, his and his alone.

Because the band took the songs from Carlile's solo sessions and integrated them with the songs the band wrote during the front man's absence, The Flood's final product lacks some cohesiveness.

The biggest problem with When Fish Ride Bicycles is the overall dull presentation and atmosphere.

Timez Are Weird These Days is the perfect example of what London is capable of, snatching elements of popular music from across the decades to create a sound that's both nostalgic and refreshing.

Timez Are Weird These Days is the perfect example of what London is capable of, snatching elements of popular music from across the decades to create a sound that's both nostalgic and refreshing.

Mind-blowing and catchy, Black Up is an album too progressive to pass up. Get on this as soon as possible.

Of course, it could have potentially been trimmed down and rearranged slightly more efficiently, but for an official debut full-length, it's a wonderful achievement and a more than worthy listen.

The songwriting on Burning At Both Ends isn't nearly up to par with other prominent pop-punk groups, and Set Your Goals only stumbles more in the execution of their sound.

The resulting songs sway in and out pleasantly, but are too often as easy on the brain as they are the ears.