Bad Books' II is the band finally discovering its sweet spot, as the album's eleven tracks are firing on all cylinders.

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

Come Back As Rain is a pleasant...not a surprise, but reaffirmation...that Good Old War is one of the most talented bands around at this point in time.

While it’s certainly not what anyone thought a new Deerhunter album would sound like three years removed from the world of Halcyon Digest, the band certainly succeeds in their goal of crafting “nocturnal garage, and the album’s high points--namely “Monomania,” “Punk,” “The Missing” and “T.H.M.”--are some of the best songs the group has ever recorded.

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.

Despite being fifteen years in the punk rock scene, My Shame Is True is a showcase of a band continuing to be vibrant and vital, when lesser bands have become stale and irrelevant.

From a technical standpoint, the album does little to challenge, provoke or push the envelope. From a thematic standpoint, there's no cerebral or overarching theme, there's no incendiary political or social statements. At its core, it is a safe, sun-kissed collection of 11 utterly harmless light rock songs about the delights of newfound love.

For a stopgap release that no one expected, assembled from outtakes, B-sides, and covers that all but the most ardent Bruce followers would call inessential, High Hopes is still a remarkably cohesive and consistent record, and serves as a wonderful way to kick off 2014.

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

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

If Move Along got the name in lights, it's Kids in the Street that ensures The All-American Rejects to be burning bright for years to come.

This is an album that will hold up over time, keeping us more than satisfied as we wait for Chvrches to give us something even bigger.

It may not be groundbreaking or shocking, but it’s quite a good record nonetheless.

If you’re looking for something heartwarming in the short term or an album to warm cold nights, give The Bunkhouse Vol 1: Anchor Black Tattoo a go, however here’s hoping that the second volume of The Bunkhouse holds something a little more defined and innovative.

Overall, if you’re going to listen to one seasonal release this year, Los Campesinos! have created an EP which provides that festive hit whilst maintaining exactly what it is that makes them special with their usual work. Another stellar release from one of the most under-rated indie rock bands in the world.

It's a version of All Time Low that not only has zero interest in moving past its pop-punk roots, but is embracing them with more vigor and pride than ever, laying the groundwork for punk bands that imagine a world where "maturing" doesn't mean leaving behind what you grew up loving.

In a genre that seems to be heading downhill in quality and popularity, Norma Jean pump enough blood into it with Wrongdoers to keep it going.

Picture Show may not have as much mainstream appeal as a song like "Animals", but it definitely shows a band honed in on creating enjoyable, addicting tracks that seem fresh without losing the hint of the past this album seems thankfully unable to shake.

His propensity for pushing boundaries is carried over onto an album that devotes more than a third of its runtime to previously released songs. Terje took the remainder of that time and expended it on bold, successful new iterations of his aesthetic.

Even if The Damnwells feels a bit anticlimactic as a big reunion album, even if it isn't quite as good as either One Last Century or No One Listens to the Band Anymore, and even if it could have been improved substantially through the addition of a few more EP songs (particularly "Along the Way," a bittersweet Boyhood parallel that stands as arguably the best song Alex Dezen has ever written), it still largely succeeds on its own terms.

While the record’s bloat does kind of compromise its overall consistency and cohesion, Lost on the River probably still has more of the year’s best songs in one place than almost any other album.

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

Lights Out is a more-than-satisfactory entry in the singer's solid discography, and easily one of the best pop albums of the year so far.

Even if this isn't your preferred genre, there is no denying that Life Cycles is one of the most personal and genuine albums of 2012. There's nothing manufactured here.

It has all of the right things going for it to make anyone even slightly interested in metal sit up and take notice.

Overall, Tame Impala have created a steady sophomore album.

Chances are, his best work is still ahead of him, but for now, Tomorrowland is another fascinating statement from one of music's most promising young players.

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