Once the initial shock of hearing this Mazes' brand of distorted but highly melodic rock wore off, it gave way to pure delight.

We Do What We Want is far from perfect – the track sequencing is awkward and doesn't feature the technicality of previous albums (this is where they really miss Shelton) – it is still unlike any other Emery release.

Wasting Light isn't perfect, but its flaws are essential to its being.

Light, more than anything I've heard lately, sounds complete and self-contained, and like most of the TV on the Radio catalog, it largely transcends genre. No other context is necessary. Nine Types of Light simply is what it is.

Human Hearts, their new fourth album and first release in almost four years, is no exception, and in fact may be their best work to date.

From the onset, it's apparent Shaolin vs. Wu-Tang is meant to be a nostalgic look back on the Wu's glory days.

There will surely be those who really want to hate Pedals, and they won't have any difficulty finding justification for their scorn within the album's ten tracks. Nonetheless, it's a winning return, though perhaps not entirely worth the wait.

No Devolucion is inventive, remarkable, and the first true masterpiece of 2011.

t may take a few albums for him to perfect the new sound, and we should expect that, keeping in mind that when he does, the results may very well be awe-inspiring. At the moment, however, Kiss Each Other Clean just isn't there yet.

As High As The Highest Heavens And From The Center To The Circumference Of The Earth doesn't just sound good, it grabs hold of every intricate audible sense in your nervous system for the entire journey of the album.

If I had to describe Scurrilous in one word, it would be indulgent, and that's not a bad thing. When you have this much talent, I want to hear it.

Each and every song is a living, breathing entity, separate in their own way even as they meld into a single cohesive collection.

Awesome As Fuck captures the intensity of a live Green Day show while giving you a nostalgic throwback into what made you fall in love with this band in the first place.

Angles is the best Strokes album since their 2001 debut, and they still sound just as fresh and youthful as they did when they released that record.

When You're Through Thinking, Say Yes isn't Yellowcard's best work, as Paper Walls still retains that title in my mind, but it's exactly the album that fans should be hoping for.

The only thing I want to do at the end of Vices & Virtues is hear it all over again.

They have dared to venture in the loud, the textured and the big sounds, instead of the more minimal, tangy and clean indie rock we are hearing far too much of these days.

Top to bottom this album feels like a classic; a show stopper. No thrills, no cheap tricks and gimmicks.

On their second go-around, the production is a lot cleaner and the transitions move a lot smoother.

While fans of the band's previous albums might find fault in Last Night on Earth's less cluttered, electronica-tinged songwriting, it is Fink's simple songs and flexible voice that carry the most enjoyment.

The record isn't bad, it's actually enjoyable. But the band has continued in its trend toward becoming more of a hard rock band and less of the punk icon it used to be.

Fiasco has since gone on record as saying he both loves and hates this album. After all he went through to get it released, it's hard to blame him. But all the hard work he supposedly put into making sure Lasers remained true to his vision seems all for naught.

Almost two decades later, and they prove why everyone continues to keep tabs and standards for not only the band, but everyone around trying to live up to the influence.

Pyramid of the Sun not only remedies the sporadic deficiencies of Inventions for the New Season, it does proud the legacies of Jerry Fuchs and Manuel Gottsching; it also serves as both a challenge and heuristic experience for the alarmingly proliferating post-rock contingent.

The Valley is equally intimate and gorgeous as it is rough and realistic.

It's good to listen to a record like The People's Key, if for no other reason, just to appreciate a songwriter who knew exactly what he wanted to do and executed it perfectly.

Although The Greatest Story Never Told almost never saw the light of day, Saigon is an artist that needs to be on every hip-hop head's radar if he isn't already.

The final outcome of this is an extreme lack of consistency. The high spots are high, but the low spots are even lower.

Welcome to The Low Anthem's Smart Flesh, where folk music doesn't need to be reinvented for it to come alive – just performed. If you're looking for a solid folk spooker to open the year, your search ends here.

The themes present on Killing Time aren't too in-depth or out of the norm for what you might expect from Bayside, but this band has steadily improved on the lyrical front as it has released more music and Killing Time is no exemption from that rule.

Much like the band's discography in general, Little Joy is new pair of shoes you have to comfortably break into. Best played as background for a while, you'll find yourself losing track of your tasks and picking out some beloved tracks and parts in time.

Hardcore Will Never Die has a good amount of brawn to it but ultimately falls into the category of breathtaking music that isn't made too often.

Gutter Rainbows may be the most accessible and varied album in his discography.

Shad's most recent album, 2010's TSOL, builds right where The Old Prince left off, and is even more impressive.

This is The Get Up Kids years later folks. The familiar nuances have been rearranged and built into something stronger, but the attitude and depth is all the same, if not more adhesive and much more endearing than before.

Full of heart and soul, it's clear the band is putting in a daily grind and continue to impress in terms of ability & energy - it simply lacks the hooks, the feeling and everything we've previously seen in stellar fashion from a legendary band.

On The King is Dead, The Decemberists decided to fully immerse themselves in a style they've flirted with for years.

Showroom of Compassion, is an amiable disc, even somewhat pleasant, but entirely too much of the effort feels tepid, ho-hum and downright uninspired.

They may not be quite as distraught as Smith was, and they certainly opt not to strum as fast as he did, but the shared sentiment is still there. And on The Unfazed, that sentiment carries a savory beauty.

So even when he's writing winning pop anthems, Page One, ultimately becomes a mirror to his personal life: brilliant, impassioned and articulate, yet undeniably hinged to hiccups, pitfalls and moments of sheer idiocy.

Paperboy has done it. I mean, I don't really know what he's done. He's made this album, Come and Get It, that truly stands in its own category in 2010.

With Man on the Moon II: The Legend of Mr. Rager, it seems he's on the road to finding what works, with varying degrees of success.

My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy is exactly as advertised: it's a journey through West's deepest thoughts, showcasing all the facets to his persona (from his bravado to his insecurities) over a pristine collection of all his signature sounds.

Nothing continues the trend of unique and fun music the N.E.R.D. name has become synonymous with.

The elements of the band complement each other instead of over-powering, thus making Ø (Disambiguation) brutally beautiful and instantly memorable.

Overall The Fire is the essential Senses Fail record to own. Time and time again, Senses Fail proves that whatever doesn't kill only makes you stronger.

With Sometimes the Blues Is Just a Passing Bird EP, he does more than just add to his collection of tunes--he reaffirms his commitment to expressing the human spirit. And as identifiers with that spirit, we lean forward, eager to hear more.

Musically and lyrically, The Age of Adz is exhilarating, challenging, and thought-provoking.

For any other group purveying hardcore-influenced post-rock (or vice versa), Recitation would be a career-defining moment; but for the band that created All the Footprints and A Dead Sinking Story (releases introducing a new language in aggressive independent music), and to a lesser extent Insomniac Doze, Envy's latest is a bit too middling.

Wreckorder is the sound of a songwriter firmly embodying the spirit of Britpop and testing himself. "Sing Me To Sleep," and "As It Comes," also point towards signs of maturation that were never seen in the Travis back catalog.

The sonic evolution of the group is remarkable, and the dark, introspective lyrics of Sykes will not only be cathartic for him, but for many.

Jimmy Eat World have not just changed the game - they continue to reinvent and redevelop it entirely, each and every time.

Certainly, this is the band's greatest overall work since Recipe For Hate. It's tightly condensed, compellingly charming and whipsmart storytelling.

Upon repeat listens, there's not one point of Halcyon Digest that feels like it was overly thought out.

Truth be told, finding a clunker on the second half is a tall order and that simple fact is what makes History of Modern so rewarding.

The Big Deep shows that The Sleeping will not be pigeonholed into one genre, and the track that best sums this up is final track (and lead single) "Young Vibes...Don't Run Away From Me." Still full of the urgency you've come to expect from The Sleeping, but it also incorporates all the progress shown throughout the album, thus creating a nice balance between the old and new.

The production from song to song remains strong, but many of the tracks tend to blur together on repeated listens.

Though You Get What You Give is not their strongest offering to date, it certainly points to a most promising future. And that in and of itself is probably all the music world really needs.

John Legend and The Roots have followed the most important rules when covering material from other artists: you need to keep that signature sound that made the original important, while also adding that something special to make it your own.

Hurley is a reminder of why we fell in love with Weezer in the first place--the power-pop anthems, grungy rock songs, the gawd-awful yet quirky lyrics--it's all here.

While Flowers is a bit more reserved in his solo outing, Flamingo still retains a bit the thematic charm of a typical Killers album.

In the end, Plant sounds more comfortable in this genre than he has on any of his past solo albums.

What draws me most to Lisbon is the exciting reinventions on the band's own formula.

It's fairly apparent throughout the album that Anberlin was definitely in their element, as Dark Is The Way, Light Is A Place is exactly what mainstream music needed: a challenging and engaging rock and roll album anyone can relate to. Their songwriting and musicianship have never been better.

Aside from some quirky song titles, there's little about Land of Talk that's abnormal. In the end, they're just solid all the way around.

Though he's reluctant to vary his sound, the end results are far too magnetic, far too majestic and far too masterful to even allow a twinge of disappointment.

It was obvious the writing for this album was at its earlier stages when Camu passed away, but the production does a very good job of making up for the low quality of the vocals. Fortunately, Camu's fantastic voice still breaks through. I love distorted, uneven recordings, but fans of cleaner audio work may be put off by the album's overall quality.

Though it is lengthy and a lot to sit through--more than 70 minutes of music--there seems little reason to think this won't catapult Arcade Fire to even greater heights.

Trill O.G. is a decidedly clashing album. Bun B's old school tendencies are constantly at odds with genre conventions prevalent in today's scene. Sometimes that works, and sometimes it doesn't.

Sure she's unconventional, a bit puzzling but in the end she is undeniably rewarding and compelling. Hell, come to think of it, Hunting My Dress might be one of 2010's most pleasant surprises.

Basically, Fortress will surprise some and maybe even anger others. But with the right Feel Good mindset, it can be a wonderful journey through the mind of some a.) interesting people or b.) interestingly intoxicated people. Plus, there are boobs on the cover.

Though there is a good chunk of filler ("Wesley," "Target Heart," "Go On," "The Game,") the memorable songs mark this disc as something worth purchasing and something worth coming back to.

The album is a perfect mixture of the band's first two records, blended with an equal part of their rock swagger and part their post-electro swing.

Known as much for their rambunctiousness as their literate ways, Steel Train have managed to take all the hallmarks of their sound but pushed them even farther. And yet never once is their sound compromised.

To put it simply, Eminem is back. There are some truly essential songs on Recovery, and even the weak tracks are an improvement from the debacle that was Relapse.

The Five Ghosts is the band's most consistent album yet, and their best since 2005's "Set Yourself On Fire."

It's the ambiguity of styles, the insistence on bringing the listener along for a journey, that makes Total Life Forever such an endlessly interesting statement.

American Slang takes the best of what the band has shown they can do, and moves it into early '60's Motown, combining it with a rich Springsteen/Strummer sound (which is just how Fallon will always be; it works for him, get over it) over a soulful rhythm section, with sprinkles of Sam Cooke, Otis Redding and Smokey Robinson in there for good measure.

With its laid-back atmosphere and relevant lyricism, Thank Me Later is a hip-hop album that successfully balances commercialism with art.

Trash Talk have stepped up with their new album. While many are still getting turned on by the word of mouth of the band's live outlet of aggressive showmanship, Eyes and Nines also shows that heart shouldn't be lost on the idea of moving forward as an artist.

The surprise is in just how much White Crosses succeeds at blurring the dividing line between punk rock ethos and boistrous radio rock.

Unfortunately, the album delivers nothing remotely as snappy as Furr's more immediate sonic treats and there are only a scant few moments when it seems to aim at serving up anything more than your garden variety folk-rock songs.

While sticking to his A-game has served him well so far, it's worth noting that the songs themselves just aren't quite as resonant this time out, resulting in an album that's merely very good instead of incredible.

Like its predecessor, Pigeons is also delicate, but it does much more than shimmer and sound pretty. The rhythm section takes a huge step forward, the arrangements are more varied and robust, and there are countless actual hooks.

Champ as a whole isn't the most coherent album I've ever heard, and a maturing sound isn't the easiest thing to develop and capture on a record.

Forceful is just what is capturing about Treats. It is what makes it so hardcore to the bone. Miller puts together gritty guitar licks and hammering beats worthy of an opening slot with Ghengis Tron in my eyes and matches it to the beautiful, yet aggressive sound of Krauss' mouth.

Unbridled youthful vigor may now be but a distant speck in The Futureheads' rearview, but the joy of pop music still rings through in their every note.

Big guitars, big hooks, and JT Woodruff's best vocal performance yet.

As a complete work, Stone Temple Pilots is sturdy and probably more surprising for the fact that it was ever made than for its actual contents.

Truth be told, it never feels completely on-target, however it's hardly inept - just a touch disjointed. For every minor imperfection, listeners are rewarded with boosts of adrenaline from the bludgeoning opening track "Deafening" and breakneck "Dear Enemy."

Brothers is a rock and roll takeover, as The Black Keys flex their muscles and make their presence known towards all imitators. The variety between tempos, melodies, and genres will keep you coming back to this record.

All the band's elements coalesce in a remarkably cohesive way to elicit the desired moods.

Chaplin, Rice-Oxley and drummer Richard Hughes, chased down something different while still remaining true to their former records. Not only does it work, it provides a valuable lesson for bands that are far too afraid of taking risks.

Not only is The Powerless Rise As I Lay Dying’s heaviest album to date, it also features a splendor not heard on past releases.

If you dig songs with twang, Here's to Taking It Easy is as tuneful and affecting a set of them as you're likely to come across.

With Heaven is Whenever, the most consistent band in rock and roll remains reliable, as The Hold Steady give their sound a fresh update while not straying too far from what makes them so endearing.

Diamond Eyes is full of layers and dimensions, making it an auditory treat that listeners will want to continue to indulge themselves in. This is an album you can blast from my car stereo and then later dissect through headphones.

The album is something of a rollercoaster of musical styles, songwriting approaches and emotions. But most importantly, transcending it all, is Ritter's astounding power to make us hang on every word.