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

It's incredibly insular and sure of itself, but it's also smartly innovative.

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

Ostensibly an album about finding hope and navigating through the pathways of solace, Augustines is a shimmering, first-rate slice of pensive and passionate indie-rock.

White Noise stands to be one of the most promising and impressive debut album of the year, but more than just deserving that title, it stands to be one of the best albums of the year.

At the end of the day, I don't know exactly where I'd rank Koi No Yokan--somewhere in the top three, but really it's not important. What's important is that this is a f***ing great album.

The duo shows an uncanny ability to write engaging pop nuggets.

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.

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.

We Don't Even Live Here is the weirdest, angriest, and best P.O.S album to date.

Twelve Years is a record that can and should become the soundtrack to many a young person's life in 2012.

The musicianship and songwriting is easily on par with Magic and exceeds the output on Working On A Dream, and as a whole, Wrecking Ball stacks up considerably with The Rising, which to this day I consider a top-5 Springsteen album.

The heart and intent behind the lyrics and music, the effort so clearly put forth is what is supposed to translate and it does. Most of the growth on this record comes in the form of more textured and dynamic instrumentals, and glossy, but not necessarily overtly “made for radio” production.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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.

Easily digestible, wholeheartedly inoffensive and very much DIY, this is an album that makes the forty minutes more than worth the investment. If only every disc could be this much fun.

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

Uncompromising, gritty and intense.

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.

It's a record full of beauty and heartache, confidence and fear, and these ends pull at each other for one of the most captivating records to come out this year.

It's doing more with less, on a level that simply demands attention. That, ladies and gentlemen, just might make Dawes something you'll pass on to your children.

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

Transformative, entrancing and wholly confident, Sigh No More is head and shoulders above the competition.

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.