For a band as talked about as they are, Voices needed to be a lot better. For now, it’s just okay.

If you want a refreshing, imaginative, heartfelt record which manages to be fun and emotional at once, So Long, See You Tomorrow provides everything you could want. Bombay Bicycle Club are the best at what they do.

The album represents a triumph for Have a Nice Life after six years of mostly silence, and is a more-than-worthy follow-up to Deathconsciousness.

Temples are a promising band that definitely has a great record--or perhaps several--in them, but this one isn’t quite it. It certainly does make for a colorful and fun listen though, so just unplug and enjoy the ride.

Kozelek’s rich, detailed lyrics here are revelatory, and the way he delivers them, in his sad, low, heartrending baritone, is nothing short of entrancing.

Echoing themes that bubble beneath the surface of all his work both with TSMZ and Godspeed, Menuck spins vitriol and tenderness, desperation and hope into a narrative that is both vivid and somewhat frightening.

Overall Wig Out at Jagbags isn't exactly a disappointing release, especially since it's far better than the breed of record many other artists multiple decades into their respective careers make. It is a frustrating one though.

Whereas Sinners... felt transitional, Cavalier Youth feels thorough; these tracks are freshly waxed and radio-ready.

Metropole is very close to being a masterpiece, falling just short of their own standard set by The Greatest Story Ever Told.

Sophomore albums always find bands trying too hard, struggling to live up to their magnum opus and Mind Over Matter has all the hallmarks of exactly that.

Transgender Dysphoria Blues has an universal appeal that will resonate with anyone.

If the whole record were as explosive as these final two songs, it might have been Switchfoot’s best. As is, Fading West feels like a somewhat minor release from a band that has never lacked for dependability.

These guys have created a pop-punk album that isn't timeless, but that's not the point. Wishful Thinking, by design, tells the story of a point in time, one that only has meaning because it won't last.

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.

The title track kicks things off with a familiar formula, with ghostly vocal samples and static noise building into a beat that kicks off, and from there things start to feel a little less familiar than they have in the past.

Place A Wilhelm Scream into whatever brand of punk genre there is, it doesn't matter. It is unquestionably the best album released this year in whatever genre you choose

This is plainly Beyoncé’s most personal album yet, one forged in the fires of public miscarriages, a wrenching journey that does as much to combat this years Yeezus-led political misogyny as it complements with its own version of black empowerment and self-love, one that is staunchly, inclusively, womanist.

Memorial is arguably Russian Circles' best work to date. It's certainly debatable, but this is undeniably an staggeringly strong output for a band on their fifth release.

With her second proper full-length, Dessa has been cemented as one of the most important voices in not only hip-hop but all music today.

A Christmas Album captures the essence of any early Bright Eyes album whilst putting a new twist on festive favourites.

With Common Courtesy...love it or hate it as you will...A Day To Remember is getting started all over again. And the album ensures that this band hasn't yet seen the peak of its popularity.

While his best songs may yet be scattered about the internet or buried in his friends DJ sets, Guilt Trips works better as a cohesive whole than anything which has come before, yet leaves you clamoring for more.

There’s a real dynamic arc here, not just for the album as a whole, but also within each and every individual song, and whether or not you’ve gravitated toward county music in the past, that unrivaled depth of passion makes this record an absolute essential.

Direct Hits is a solid, predictable, and wholly enjoyable look back at the Killers’ tumultuous first 10 years.

Often misty eyed and always misty, the sophomore album from Blood Orange makes a compelling argument that a stroll on the beach can be as affecting alone as it is alongside a partner.

Matangi can be looked at as a return to form, but it's more fitting to think of it as a "getting back on track" kind of record.

Burials is an album you’ll want to replay, especially as the days get darker and the weather gets colder.

True to its name, this record is one of the finest debut pop-punk records of the last five years and easily among the top tier for the genre this year.

Save Your Breath have released one of the best albums in the genre this year and one of the only ones I think can truly be called a throwback to its golden age.

It's a very satisfying record, and it's the type of album where every song will probably be your favorite at some point, and you'll almost certainly have each of them stuck in your head at some point in the next week.

When it's all said and done, I have a feeling Jaar's solo career won't be the only thing he's known for, as Psychic has put Darkside up there with some of the best groups making music today.

They’ve re-affirmed their place as one of the best bands in the world and have created an album that is insightful, emotional, fun and just damn amazing.

Into It. Over It. have become a group that show us that the innermost workings of one mind can represent so many. All different. All the same.

For a group of guys who are now 22 years on from their debut album and 15 years past their prime as one of the biggest and most important groups in rock ‘n’ roll, Lightning Bolt is a strikingly stellar set of songs that belies the band’s democratic nature.

It sprawls and can feel tenuous, even precipitously close to collapse under its own weight, but the moment of calamity never arrives. It stands instead as a monument not to the person who has erected it, but to the multitudinous influences that brought it into being.

Its a testament to the fact that Tim Hecker is one of the best artists making music today, constantly pushing his sound to new heights while keep his signature style at the core of it all.

My Name Is My Name is one of the best debut albums of the year, but since Pusha T is far from a new artist, he's got a leg-up on many of the newcomers to the genre.

It’s easily his most exhilarating and challenging record to date, keeping you on your toes throughout by juxtaposing subdued verses with huge, soaring choruses.

It is a testament to Devine’s self-awareness of his ability as a songwriter that Bulldozer is not bloated to compensate for its lighter fare, and he sticks the landing with aplomb.

Morrison’s occasional lyrical forays into cheeseball territory can detract from the record, but taken as a whole there’s more to like here than there is to hate.

John is still going strong and better than ever. A few listens to The Diving Board proves exactly that.

Yours Truly is more tempered and less likely to put you in a beaming state of catatonia.

The different moods and soundscapes take awhile to digest and let sink in, but every trip back to the dim dance floor has your feet leaving the disco with fresh moves and new accolades.

Wherever you place Adult Film in the Kasher canon, it’s hard to deny that it’s one of the best albums of the year, and arguably his most versatile yet.

11 tracks of stick-to-the-roof-of-your-eardrums music that sounds all at once immediate and laid-back.

Danny Brown is taking the route everyone wants an artist to take: putting out forward thinking, self-expressing art that is setting the bar rather than merely attempting to reach it.

If you're willing to take the time and patience required to give this album the attention it really deserves, you'll find the rewards will exist long after you turn off the album.

Timberlake throws every influence he’s ever touched at the canvas here, and he somehow gets away with it.

MGMT is truly the sound of two artists in the studio with the goal to entertain no one but themselves.

Nothing Was The Same is the best Drake album yet.

Is Survived By is a genuine, life-affirming piece of art that’ll move even the blackest of souls.

Saves The Day is another feather in the cap known as the band's illustrious career, marking the return of the band we all fell in love with many years ago while successfully beginning the next phase of the band’s career.

Mechanical Bull is the sound of real life. It’s the sound of Kings of Leon realizing that sometimes where you were is better than where you ended up.

He has done his best to deliver the kind of care-free, gaudy rap album that will be blaring from the speakers of house parties everywhere for months to come, and B.O.A.T.S. II #METIME readily delivers on that promise.

This is what those album reviewers mean, when they talk about setting the bar high.

More than anything, Moving Mountains feels complete.

AM is a tight and focused record that sounds huge and retains Turner’s personality and charm in a way previous releases haven’t always done.

For everything Smith lacks in wordsmithing, his bandmates make up for in straight up dramatic songwriting.

Repave is integral to retroactively understanding Vernon's canon and also establishes a path forward from the runaway success of his past.

It’s an enchanting odyssey that is steeped in the tantalizing mysticism of the unknown.

Though Ty Segall often seems like he makes records at inhuman paces, Sleeper indulges his very human impulse for a good wallow, and proves that there’s more to the man than the distorted ripping guitars would make you believe.

Simply put, this record already feels timeless.

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.

When listening to Doris, you're going to want to have lyrics nearby or else you're going to miss well over half of what's being said. It makes for an album that's hard to listen to without putting in some effort, but the results speak for themselves as Doris proves to be both a rewarding and engrossing listen, even if there are still a few kinks to be worked out.

With Tracing Back Roots, We Came As Romans have shown just enough progress to make me believe that LP4 could be the game changer they’re looking for.

He still lacks the kind of technical rapping skill that made A$AP Rocky reach star status. Regardless, A$AP Ferg has constructed an album that surpasses the quality of Rocky's Long.Live.A$AP from earlier this year.

While the album doesn’t have the dynamic genre-hopping sensibility that made both Continuum and Born and Raised instant classics, it’s still a solid set of songs that follows one of today’s best songwriters as he establishes a new comfort zone.

Whether or not it's as good as The Luca Brasi Story is irrelevant, though at this point the two are about even. The highs on Luca Brasi are higher and the lows are lower, but Stranger Than Fiction is a much more consistent listen.

With Archambault’s vocal performance stronger than ever before, the band sounding fresh and the lyrics seemingly closing out this chapter in their career, Letters Home is one of the most thrilling albums they could have created.

This album is more than just an album-of-the-year candidate, this is a disc that is far-reaching, endlessly appealing and as strong as anything that's been released in the Americana genre in the last half-decade.

With Last of the Great Pretenders, Nathanson captures the organic energy of a city full of exuberant personalities, legendary landmarks, and gorgeous vistas, and the result is one of the most bulletproof summer discs to come along this year.

Overall, Rudimental have shown themselves to be a talented band of men.

Skyer is one piece of art, obviously. But it’s not going to do the same thing to you as it has done to me. And that’s a special thing.

[The songs] are nothing short of radiant, from the perfect vocals to the organic, full-bodied arrangements, from the heart-rending lyrics to the way that producer Charlie Peacock surrounds everything in a smoky ambiance.

Hawthorne Heights gets better with every release, and Zero is their best effort yet. The band has honed their talents and refined their music nearly enough to be a different band, and one that sounds better than ever before.

Long Way Down has just enough flaws to show that Odell has room to grow and progress. If you listen to one pop album this year, this is a pretty good bet.

It is a wonderful debut effort, and all of the buzz and the attention they have garnered up to this point is likely only the beginning for AlunaGeorge.

Kinsella has, yet again, created music as an art form and has provided us with a soundtrack to all of those moments between the events.

What Saaab Stories lacks in quantity is easily made up for in quality.

Ultimately, Mayer Hawthorne has created his most complete and compelling piece of art yet, taking risks, experimenting, and looking to expand his already defined palate.

Jinx leaves the band with more paths to explore going forward; they may either continue to refine the warmly gothic sounds found here or may embrace a different facet of Sports. It seems apparent after Jinx that they will deftly execute whichever option they choose.

The songwriter gets primary production credit on nine of the 12 tracks from The Blessed Unrest, and on many of them, she uses that position to build the sort of stunning and nuanced arrangements that elevate her songs beyond traditional singer/songwriter fare.

Run The Jewels is its own beast, and the combination of Killer Mike and El-P creating rap music together is one of, if not the most exciting thing happening in hip-hop right now.

With Love is the most focused and refined release from Zomby yet, which is quite the feat considering it's a double album.

Given the proper attention and respect, Letlive's The Blackest Beautiful will reveal itself as a masterpiece--a record that will redefine your musical preconceptions and tastes for the better,

Inheritance is as strong an opening statement as any released this year and with it The Last Bison firmly cement themselves as a band to watch in 2013 and beyond.

Whereas 2011's Want More felt uneven, Howl is dynamic, controlled and with few, if any holes.

The anxiety-ridden sound of Kveikur is the best the band has produced since their breakthrough album, and seems promising to yield only more rewarding results in the future.

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.

By teaming up with some of the best producers in the r&b/hip-hop genre right now, including frequent Drake collaborators T-Minus and Boi-1da, Kelly Rowland has managed to make one of the best sounding r&b albums of the year.

This album is going to be important for a number of reasons, but above all, it's going to be important because it is a great album. Very few people in the realm of pop music, if anyone, take risks like this.

As has always been the case with City and Colour, this record is at its best when it forgoes sonic evolution for the bare bones simplicity of human emotion and the warm, gentle wash of pleasant nostalgia.

There’s still a great album somewhere in this Philly quintet and we hear flashes of it throughout.

It's bold, intelligent, and demanding--taking all your emotions and senses and beating them to a pulp while going to a place sonically that’s essentially been untouched by its peers.

While their third record The Wack Album may be the group’s weakest effort to date, it still shows off their abilities as hook writers and as the preeminent hip-hop satirists in today’s industry.

These songs aren’t just lovelorn poetry or odes of heartbreak; they’re full stories, five-minute films, expansive novels written in staves, rests, and music notes for the rest of us to bleed to.

While he may not hit the mark every time, he hits far more often than his misses. And when he hits, he hits hard, as some of the best songs on this mixtape are among the best rap tracks so far this year.

This is the kind of record where everyone will have different favorite song, where what someone calls dull or overlong or indulgent will resonate perfectly with someone else, depending on that listener’s past musical tastes and experiences.